The Front Porch Swing

[Lacy Blues]

T
Thank you! It's definitely a labor of love, but I enjoy it so much. If only there was more of a local market for them, it would make it easier for me to keep the flock sustainable. What I've found out is that people see them and want them, but they don't want to pay more than $5.

Of course, they take about 4 hours to complete. I love getting all Zen when doing them. It helps me get to sleep late at night. Mixing paints is therapeutic, for sure.

Maybe you could try listing them for sale on eBay? Have a premium on them (a certain amount that you want and nothing lower) and then if someone offers something for them, you can decide whether or not to let the premium stand.

 

[Beekissed]

That is going to be the best part of moving back to Wisconsin. Wonderful fishing! I miss the bluegills and bass. I discovered I am not a big fan of trout, and trout is about all you can find, when you can find a place to fish, out here in Wyoming.

I don't eat the fish we catch...not a fan of fish, really, but we love trout fishing because of the beauty of the places you find trout.

But we like all kinds of fishing. I bet you have some mighty pretty trout streams out there!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Bee, I will try to get pictures of my little chickies tomorrow to share with y'all.

We've been getting rain here (shock of all my days) so if something around here blooms in this arid place, I'll try to remember to get pics for our spring share-a-thon before they get roasted by the summer sun.

 

[Gldnrose]

Good morning everyone. I want to thank everyone for the help.
I'll be going to the store and setting up my arsenal.
Only problem with the ivomec is my husband is pretty much against it.
I may have to just go with the permethrin dust.
In my researches I have found other products I could spray my coop down with so I continue to check those out online.
It will be a busy day treating all the birds and stripping the coop down.
I have a wood stove so I also have plenty of wood ash too.
Last night I went out to coop to see if I could find any evidence of mites in coop or on birds and still saw nothing. Still intend to treat everyone and coop though.
Also, when I was shutting birds up for the night, I did another check on some of them. Everyone got on the roost but one. Guess what I witnessed....she jumped up and grabbed "skirt" feathers of the others as they sat on roost. I dont think she was being a bully per se, it looked like she wanted to get into a certain spot on roost and wanted someone to move. I wonder if she does that every night?? That still doesn't explain her feather loss in the same area though. Ironically she is the tiniest of all of them.
Thank you again.
hugs to everyone

I hope everyone has a beautiful day!

 

[Gldnrose]

Woot, I'm so excited! I'm going to the feed and farm store tomorrow to purchase a couple more chicks to add to the brooder box. I want to have a good amount of late-summer laying pullets and maybe I will have a couple extra that I can sell, God willing.

I got so much work done today, though! I finished my internship and came home to finish painting an egg. My sister's cockatiel laid an egg and she told me to blow it out and paint it, funnily enough, haha! I told her it'd have to wait until tomorrow when I have more time. I didn't want to tell her that I'm afraid the egg will be too small to blow out, haha!

Here are some pics of my newest painted egg! So excited about it!









A lot of time went into it. I'd like to hang it on the porch, if y'all don't mind. It looks lovely in the sunset.

Beautiful job!

 

[Triple Willow]

Plastic bottle live mouse trap... (if anybody can tell exactly how he is setting the trigger part in the back please explain)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Here is a link to an article from the WAPF (Weston A. Price Foundation) website ... http://www.westonaprice.org/farm-a-...yOntpOjA7czo0OiJlZ2dzIjtpOjE7czozOiJlZ2ciO30= ... about starting with hatchery birds and breeding them for a localized "egg machine" that is (somewhat) free from commercial feeds. I think there are a lot of things in it that make me think, and am curious to know what some of you here might think about the approach detailed in the article.

Here is a quote from the article ... some of which I've heard repeated in "radio" interviews ... (it's just one part of the article that got my attention, but it is one specific thing I've been doing a lot of research/thinking about in the past year) ...

---------------

If you seek out eggs from a small local grower, consider asking the following questions to learn more about the eggs you buy:

What do you feed your chickens? The ideal feed is a combination of organically grown grains, legumes, grasses, greens, worms and insects. Less than ideal but still acceptable to many is organic lay pellets and organically grown corn and soy. At the bottom of the heap are commercial lay pellets, conventionally grown corn and soy and cottonseed meal.

-----------------------

The article goes on to ask many other questions about the housing and care of the birds and egg handling stuff.

Along with the whole Paleo movement, the WAPF has been a big influence in spreading the word about the health benefits of eggs (as well as some other animal products). I'm quite certain some of my customers are strongly influenced by the WAPF. I'm planning on writing to the WAPF and ask them for an "update" on their practical recommendations for small-scale poultry farmers ...

 

[lindz8504]

Plastic bottle live mouse trap... (if anybody can tell exactly how he is setting the trigger part in the back please explain)

He poked a hole through the bottle. Then twisted the paper clip so he could put bait in it. Stuck the end of the paper clip through the hole in the bottle and looped the thread over. So when the mouse pulls th he bait the paper clip slides out of the hole and the thread comes off causing the rubber bands to pull the trap shut.

 

[Triple Willow]

He poked a hole through the bottle. Then twisted the paper clip so he could put bait in it. Stuck the end of the paper clip through the hole in the bottle and looped the thread over. So when the mouse pulls th he bait the paper clip slides out of the hole and the thread comes off causing the rubber bands to pull the trap shut.

Ahh okay! I couldn't see that on my phone screen. Thank you much. I wonder if a 2-liter would hold a rat...?

 

[lindz8504]

Ahh okay! I couldn't see that on my phone screen. Thank you much. I wonder if a 2-liter would hold a rat...?

I'm not sure. I would think that you would have to find them pretty quick or they would just chew out.