The Front Porch Swing

[Blooie]

They showed about a 2 second segment of the layers eating out of the trough outside of the cages. It looked like about a 4' x 4' cage and about 3-4 chickens in each. Yeah, right. After the camera was off I bet they added back the other 5-6 in that normally stays there. Isn't it 1.5 sq ft per bird in the normal cages? Two hundred fifty thousand layers in each house. Lets see, 4 million birds laying 300 eggs a year.......That would be 1 billion, two hundred million a year. Am I right?

And the irony is that the big ag producers are starting to get real nervous about so many people "getting into" backyard chickens to raise their own meat and eggs. Some communities which still have sales tax on food items are worried as well. Both are concerned that their revenues may drop if people stop buying eggs and chicken meat and feed themselves. Michigan's Right to Farm Act could have been a model for the entire country, but they sure fixed that a week or so ago. Overall the financial risk to both entities is slim to nil - but panic sets in and that ol' knee starts jerkin'.

I've been following the Michigan Right to Farm Act, what does it mean forum and what they have done to the people of that state is appalling. The scary thing is that it could happen to any one of us. So yeah, let's get rid of backyard chicken raising and force everyone back to looking at egg cartons and seeing "cage free" as a selling point. I'm glad we aren't as stoopid as politicians (and I AM a politician, by the way, on a small scale) and the commercial poultry executives think we are. How on earth would we tie our shoes on our own?

Okay, down off my soapbox now! BTW, the political column that I write for the newspaper is actually called, "View from the Soapbox."

 

[OHhappychicks]

Oh, Bob. She's got a crush on you.

They came and took our coon traps away ... never caught a thing in them (except Violet, who has since decided to return to the safety of GenPop), but also we did see the raccoon around after the traps were set. But on the third hand we did have that one Freedom Mutt hen hatch out the 18 chicks without incident while the traps were set, and she'd have been super easy pickings for a raccoon, so maybe our raccoons are just tourists?

Come bye to watch Chicken TV, like we're running a drive-in movie theater?

I think I'm happier now the traps are gone even though we know the raccoons aren't gone. They baited the traps with super rotten road kill type things, and that meant I had to keep the dog away from the area(s), and I think having the dog in the area is good (better than traps?) ... also I think having super rotting meat where dogs or chickens could get into it isn't so good.

I don't like having the traps either. I think we are going to get a Great Pyrenees puppy. I don't want to go thru this again. This has been the worst year we've had for predators, mainly fox. We did have a weasel a while back. So in the last 6-8 weeks we've lost 8 hens. 7 of them in less than 2 weeks. Our egg production is way down, but we put some of ours in a breeding pen, and they have stopped laying, and also, I think it messed up the order in the coops, or they are laying out somewhere, but I don't think they all are. We were getting 15-20 eggs a day. The last couple of days we have gotten 6 each day. Don't you just love watching Chicken Tv??!! We would take our lawn chairs out to the pen and set and watch them in the evenings. Soo relaxing!!

 

[OHhappychicks]

And the irony is that the big ag producers are starting to get real nervous about so many people "getting into" backyard chickens to raise their own meat and eggs. Some communities which still have sales tax on food items are worried as well. Both are concerned that their revenues may drop if people stop buying eggs and chicken meat and feed themselves. Michigan's Right to Farm Act could have been a model for the entire country, but they sure fixed that a week or so ago. Overall the financial risk to both entities is slim to nil - but panic sets in and that ol' knee starts jerkin'.

I've been following the Michigan Right to Farm Act, what does it mean forum and what they have done to the people of that state is appalling. The scary thing is that it could happen to any one of us. So yeah, let's get rid of backyard chicken raising and force everyone back to looking at egg cartons and seeing "cage free" as a selling point. I'm glad we aren't as stoopid as politicians (and I AM a politician, by the way, on a small scale) and the commercial poultry executives think we are. How on earth would we tie our shoes on our own?

Okay, down off my soapbox now! BTW, the political column that I write for the newspaper is actually called, "View from the Soapbox."

It is really scary, how much the big conglomerates run this country. We get some of our rights taken away every day, little by little. I haven't read the forum you mentioned, but you see it all the time. I find it amazing how stupid the politicians think we are. I wish there were real politicians in high office that really cared about the common person. I almost said cared about those who put them in office, but they already care about them, the big conglomerates. I believe it will come when it will be outlawed to raise your own food. What is the name of the newspaper you write for? I would love to read your articles.

 

[LindaB220]

It is really scary, how much the big conglomerates run this country. We get some of our rights taken away every day, little by little. I haven't read the forum you mentioned, but you see it all the time. I find it amazing how stupid the politicians think we are. I wish there were real politicians in high office that really cared about the common person. I almost said cared about those who put them in office, but they already care about them, the big conglomerates. I believe it will come when it will be outlawed to raise your own food. What is the name of the newspaper you write for? I would love to read your articles.

x2

 

[Blooie]

It is really scary, how much the big conglomerates run this country. We get some of our rights taken away every day, little by little. I haven't read the forum you mentioned, but you see it all the time. I find it amazing how stupid the politicians think we are. I wish there were real politicians in high office that really cared about the common person. I almost said cared about those who put them in office, but they already care about them, the big conglomerates. I believe it will come when it will be outlawed to raise your own food. What is the name of the newspaper you write for? I would love to read your articles.

I write for the Lovell Chronicle. If I could figure out how to post a link I could post video of Senator Mike Enzi using two of my columns in speeches on the floor of the US Senate. He butchers them when he delivers, but it's still the words I wrote. I like him a lot but his problem isn't that he doesn't get it - his problem is that he can't sell it! I heard that line in a movie once...I think it was The American President. There was another line in there that I like - "I was too busy trying to keep my job to do my job." LOL

Edited to add: Type Senator Mike Enzi Diane Badget into Google (just like that) and a couple of things do pop up.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I write for the Lovell Chronicle. If I could figure out how to post a link I could post video of Senator Mike Enzi using two of my columns in speeches on the floor of the US Senate. He butchers them when he delivers, but it's still the words I wrote. I like him a lot but his problem isn't that he doesn't get it - his problem is that he can't sell it! I heard that line in a movie once...I think it was The American President. There was another line in there that I like - "I was too busy trying to keep my job to do my job." LOL

Edited to add: Type Senator Mike Enzi Diane Badget into Google (just like that) and a couple of things do pop up.

Awesome!! I'm going to go do that right now! Then back to the beehive!!

 

[Blooie]

You can also type in Diane Badget column Lovell Chronicle and one of the first things up there is a video of Senator Enzi using a line out of one of my columns.

 

[Oldmomma]

Really wish life would quit pulling lifes rug out from under me. If I was a drinker a keg of moonshine would be needed about now. The young man whose been helping me find a house called earlier and asked about a deposit. I told him I would need to call my hubby and would call him back. Well hubby now informs me WE DONT HAVE MONEY I MISUNDERSTOOD HIM! Seems the money he was going to BORROW (home equity line) from our house in usa that we have paid on now 23 yrs. I told him no way in hell was I going to borrow on the house and if something happened to us leave my kids with nothing. Soooooo, im beyond ****** off, angry at the world and need to wallow in self pity for a bit here.
Told the young man to call the woman and tell her im sorry. Guess I need to go visit my sons grave tomorrow. Remind myself that this is only worldly matters. Til then I got to now figure out how to build a bigger hen house on the roof cause im not going anywhere anytime soon.
Got to quit hoping. ..then remind myself someones got it worse off than me.

 

[LindaB220]

Really wish life would quit pulling lifes rug out from under me. If I was a drinker a keg of moonshine would be needed about now. The young man whose been helping me find a house called earlier and asked about a deposit. I told him I would need to call my hubby and would call him back. Well hubby now informs me WE DONT HAVE MONEY I MISUNDERSTOOD HIM! Seems the money he was going to BORROW (home equity line) from our house in usa that we have paid on now 23 yrs. I told him no way in hell was I going to borrow on the house and if something happened to us leave my kids with nothing. Soooooo, im beyond ****** off, angry at the world and need to wallow in self pity for a bit here.
Told the young man to call the woman and tell her im sorry. Guess I need to go visit my sons grave tomorrow. Remind myself that this is only worldly matters. Til then I got to now figure out how to build a bigger hen house on the roof cause im not going anywhere anytime soon.
Got to quit hoping. ..then remind myself someones got it worse off than me.

So sorry, Lovie, life is hard. Lack of money causes a lot of grief. I know personally.

 

[Blooie]

Really wish life would quit pulling lifes rug out from under me. If I was a drinker a keg of moonshine would be needed about now. The young man whose been helping me find a house called earlier and asked about a deposit. I told him I would need to call my hubby and would call him back. Well hubby now informs me WE DONT HAVE MONEY I MISUNDERSTOOD HIM! Seems the money he was going to BORROW (home equity line) from our house in usa that we have paid on now 23 yrs. I told him no way in hell was I going to borrow on the house and if something happened to us leave my kids with nothing. Soooooo, im beyond ****** off, angry at the world and need to wallow in self pity for a bit here.
Told the young man to call the woman and tell her im sorry. Guess I need to go visit my sons grave tomorrow. Remind myself that this is only worldly matters. Til then I got to now figure out how to build a bigger hen house on the roof cause im not going anywhere anytime soon.
Got to quit hoping. ..then remind myself someones got it worse off than me.

I'm so sorry things turned out the way they did. Ma used to tell us that every time we feel that something isn't fair, we need to remember that it's even less fair for others. It's just hard to remember that when you're down, so allow yourself to have a moment or two of self pity before you get back up a little more determined. Dad, on the other hand, was a big proponent of whether we saw the glass as half full or half empty. He used that on us all the time, until one day I told him, "Dad, it doesn't make a darn bit of difference if that glass is half full or half empty. Either way I just have another glass to wash!"

You go do whatever you have to do to make yourself feel a little better. And we're all right here with some pretty strong shoulders if you need to lean a little while.