The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[getaclue]

Wow! That's not bad at all.

 

[speckledhen]

2 years ago it started at $3/lb. This year it was $4

I stopped into the closest little mom and pop meat shop down the road from us. Saw their prices. Ground beef looked very lean, was $4.50/lb. And they had all sorts of stuff in their freezers, can't remember the other prices, but we did pick up a price list and it's here somewhere. These are their own cattle and they are on pasture, then are finished out on grain, apparently, or that's what the lady said. At least, they aren't fed chicken litter, disgusting!

 

[speckledhen]

More snakes! I was removing a rotted piece of log from the outside bottom of the garden fence to put some grass clippings down to serve as mulch and uncovered what I thought was worms that began wiggling violently, then I noticed the triangular shaped heads. They were baby snakes, three of them! Good grief, what is it with snakes? Sheesh.

We tilled up the garden some today. Will do it again later on. And I found a pretty, late blooming wildflower.

 

[MistyMountain]

Yikes to all the snakes!! We don't have many around here, but some corn snakes like to hide in the rafters of the barn. Just about 5 miles away, over the mountain, DH's brother has found numerous timber rattlesnakes on his property. I don't mind snakes one bit, but those scare me. Especially with children.

I hope our beef turns out to be a decent price, though I have a feeling it's not going to be cheap. It's currently on the hoof in the back pasture!

We had future career day at school today. My 9 year old went to school dressed as a soldier--- he wants to be in the Army. My 7 year old wore his bibs, flannel, and DH's straw hat. He said he is going to be a farmer and have LOTS of chickens, a cow, and a horse. Hmmm, sounds like he is already living the dream here at home!

ETA--- That flower is lovely! Do you know what it is?

 

[speckledhen]

Yikes to all the snakes!! We don't have many around here, but some corn snakes like to hide in the rafters of the barn. Just about 5 miles away, over the mountain, DH's brother has found numerous timber rattlesnakes on his property. I don't mind snakes one bit, but those scare me. Especially with children.

I hope our beef turns out to be a decent price, though I have a feeling it's not going to be cheap. It's currently on the hoof in the back pasture!

We had future career day at school today. My 9 year old went to school dressed as a soldier--- he wants to be in the Army. My 7 year old wore his bibs, flannel, and DH's straw hat. He said he is going to be a farmer and have LOTS of chickens, a cow, and a horse. Hmmm, sounds like he is already living the dream here at home!

ETA--- That flower is lovely! Do you know what it is?

A soldier and a farmer, that's my husband all rolled into one, though he was in the Air Force.

No, I don't know what the flower is. I got a big bag of mixed wildflowers in late spring and spread them around the bases of stumps and along the perimeter fence line by the pasture. I am hoping that they reseeded themselves somewhat and will come back up in the spring. There was a big variety of them.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Speaking of reptiles....
I have used a red reptile heat bulb to keep the water in the top of a waterer thawed when the temperatures have dropped very low. The bulb I had was 75 watt and I could dial it up and down with a dimmer as needed.

I needed to replace the bulb and saw that they had blue reptile heat lamps in various wattages that would be better, in my opinion, for overnight when I need to run it.

But...here's my question:
Have any of you used a blue reptile heat lamp before? Do they get as hot as a regular light of the same wattage?

I keep looking for info on them and can't seem to find anything specific.

 

[speckledhen]

@Leahs Mom I only use black night heat bulbs, not the blues. They put out almost no light at all, though some do a barely perceptible glow. I use minimum of 75 w up to 150 w on those, but they don't last more than 2 seasons, if that.
Like this one. Either shape, the flattish ones or the normal lightbulb shaped ones.I just bought 4 bulbs from Walmart.com, 100 w each for less than $4 apiece, plus $5.95 shipping (covers all of them).

 

[Leahs Mom]

I didn't see the black ones. I'll look the next time I'm there.

Do the black lights put out a good amount of heat? And..are they coated with anything or just black glass?

 

[speckledhen]

I'm not sure about any coating. They put out as much heat as the blue ones, I'd think. Naturally, the higher wattage ones would put out more heat. Have used them for many years, no issues other than they do not last as long as the super bright 250w heat lamp bulbs. Isaac had one over his roost spot because of his severe arthritis and one of the old lady pens has one especially for poor Neela. The very old hens have a 250 heat lamp because two of them must sleep on the cold floor.

 

[Pyxis]

You might also be interested in a ceramic heat emitter - they don't give off any light at all.

Like this one.

Just make sure whatever heat lamp you use has a ceramic base and not a plastic one because they can melt the plastic ones.