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

[1muttsfan]

Warmer, but only relatively, and wet flesh radiates heat much quicker than dry. Last 2 winters were relatively mild and we had a big flock of redhead ducks that stayed all winter. Little boogers would splash and flap around all day, as if they were in a big heated bathtub. They could easily have migrated if they had wanted to, they likely will this winter as the water is freezing over quickly.

 

[speckledhen]

As predicted, 5* outside and 14* in the barn. Many of the younger birds have never experienced this kind of cold. The wind chills are -5 to -10*, they say. I guess I'll need several bags of shavings for a clean out after this week is over. By the weekend, temps will be more normal again, supposedly.

ETA: OMGOSH, the power just flickered off, then came back on. Geez. Pleasepleasepleaseplease, no power outage this week! I know my younger ones will be fine, but the older ones and the very arthritic ones like Snow, Amanda, Panda and Neela will really suffer with no heat spots at all.

 

[speckledhen]

Everyone is okay in the barn, or so it seems. Some waterers were frozen in spite of defrosters, but all are alive and active. The power keeps flickering, though. Hope it stays on until the worst nights are over for awhile.

 

[1muttsfan]

It's warmer here today, up to 17 and sunny, but the wind kicked up and it is quite uncomfortable to be outside. Opened the pop door in case anyone wanted to step out, and some of the younger birds are out scratching around despite the cold.

 

[speckledhen]

It's up to about 24* outside now so I expect the barn feels much warmer inside now. Just got back from town. Had to stop and get a new brooder lamp fixture to replace one of the very old shallow ones and April, the manager, had a torn bag of the Tucker Milling non-GMO 6 way scratch, which has no corn, discounted because it was a torn bag from $15 to $7.50. The ingredients are wheat, milo, whole oats, sunflower, peas, grit. She also had 50# bags of local corn for just $7 so I got one of those, too, and I can mix the two. The last bag of Knockout grain mix (11 grains) I got because it was also a discounted torn bag, and the bag of the 13 way cock conditioner I bought, my usual scratch, neither had much corn, not as much as they normally do so I wanted the corn anyway to add to them. They need some carbs in this cold, I think, in addition to their high protein pellets.

http://tuckermilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NC-Scratch.pdf

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, I let Hector out for a few minutes in the sunshine (still cold but not windy) and I saw a red truck down the power line easement near where the guy left his bulldozer after he made our middle lot into pasture all that long ago. I yelled to my husband that someone was parked near the equipment and when we walked down, with my husband prudently armed, it turned out to be him with his daughter and SIL and their golden retriever. Apparently, he was showing them that lot because this summer, he plans to bring larger equipment, clean up the bottom lot, which he now owns, and build a Park Model type cabin there for his daughter to have a vacation home to stay in when she comes to visit (he lives in Murphy, NC, the town we are practically in, we are so close to the NC line). So, I guess we'd better get on putting up a pasture fence soon so if they bring a dog, it can't really get to our perimeter fence near the barn. I'd feel better if someone was down there having a fence around that lot. And a row of evergreen trees along the divider between our pasture lot and their lot would also be a great idea, IMO.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sigh. I hate to hear that your view may change soon.

On the electric...I guess it wouldn't be too hard to bring the oldsters into your house and put them in kennel pens or something rigged until the electricity comes on?

 

[speckledhen]

Sigh. I hate to hear that your view may change soon.

On the electric...I guess it wouldn't be too hard to bring the oldsters into your house and put them in kennel pens or something rigged until the electricity comes on?

Well, maybe Snow and Amanda, but that leaves out very crippled Panda and Neela, who are still on their feet, but barely.

One possible good thing about this guy. He is a contractor by trade. He mentioned back then improving our road that comes from the main road up ours, one that was probably only rocked one time 20 years ago and left. He has to turn off of it to go to his lot, past the back of our house. Well, it's technically the front--I've never understood the way Floridians who build here face their houses with the butt end to the road.

It's very steep just before you get to our driveway if you try to come up that way, but back down it to the street we're off of, it actually becomes grass and runs beside a pasture to the road. There is a street sign, but it confuses people, seeing no actual road. It's kept folks from messing around back there, I guess, but if he's going to build her a little house, it may benefit us in a way. At least it's a vacation home, not a year-round one. I'd be fine with him improving that so we could go out that way (still would take a 4WD to get the last push coming back up to our driveway) without coming in on the main subdivision road. We'd be happy to pay him a little to help maintain the road we share that really belongs to no one else (yet--the lady across from me sold the lot behind her to her son, so he would be only the 2nd person with our road address).

 

[getaclue]

Our house faces the main road, and it's just weird. Our driveway comes off the main road, and continues a good ways before you get to our house. When you pull in the drive, you are facing the garage side of the house, because the front is facing the other way towards the main road. The garage door does not face the front of the house, but the driveway side. It would be so much nicer pulling into the drive, and seeing the front of the house, and having the garage door on that side too.

 

[speckledhen]

Our house faces the main road, and it's just weird. Our driveway comes off the main road, and continues a good ways before you get to our house. When you pull in the drive, you are facing the garage side of the house, because the front is facing the other way towards the main road. The garage door does not face the front of the house, but the driveway side. It would be so much nicer pulling into the drive, and seeing the front of the house, and having the garage door on that side too.

Most people here face their houses toward the main road, no matter where the garage come in, side or front. Seems almost inhospitable to face the end of the house toward the road your address is on. Mine actually faces the power line easement road, which we found after we bought the place, does have a stupid name, Pleasant Rd, but has never ever had a street sign on it. It had 6' pine trees and pasture grasses growing over it so who would ever think it was an actual road? But that would be the address of the bottom lot, I'd think, the one that Mark will be building his daughter's mini-cabin on. (Mark is also the name of my next door neighbor who owns the problem dog, Brody, so a different Mark).

The driveway comes in off my address street to the end of the house. The steps go up to the back of the house so everyone comes to the kitchen door. They'd have to go all the way around the house to find the front door. I know it is the front because it was the only solid steel door and it had the door knocker on it. Nutty, if you ask me, but I see houses facing like mine all over this county, which is full of Floridians. The son of the late owner of this place lives off the same road and he faced his house the exact same way, butt end to the street, not the front facing the street. I find that just so odd.

Here is an old pic of my house in winter. This is the power line easement road and this is the front of my house.