The Front Porch Swing

[bruceha2000]

Many of the people here are letting their lawns die. 300 and 400 dollar water bills are great motivators for Xeriscaping... The artificial Turf people are making a killing.

There is a reason lawns don't naturally grow in the desert that is So. Cal.

I am also glad that I listened when people said to use the deep litter method in that chick coop. Had I cleaned it out every time it needed new hay, the water would have turned the dirt floor to mud and all those young birds would likely have suffered through the night. Luckily, I have about 4 inches of hay built up that keep their feet from touching a muddy floor.

Remember why you like the DL when you go to pitch all that wet hay out

I had the excavator dig a curtain drain on the high side of the barn last summer when he came to fill around the new foundation for the house and trench a line for power to that barn. Before that, all the rain that came off the 70' long barn went downhill (naturally) and a lot of it into the chickens converted horse stall. 8" of WET pine shavings is HEAVY!

Hello

So right now I have 2 broody hens! Which is cool but I don't have a roo -_- So I put some duck eggs under them. Hopefully they will hatch.

I don't have a roo either but 4, yes FOUR, of my stupid girls are broody! Both Faverolles, Peep (Cubalaya) and Zorra (Black Australorp). The box isn't really big enough for more than 3 and getting more than 2 in without 1 getting out is tough.

rasa frasa no good broody chickens!

100 degrees to day and they are saying hotter tomorrow.

I had to capture a trash can and fasten it to a post....

deb

One of the reasons I left So. Cal when I graduated college, 115+ 3 days the week I left. The other reason was: WAY too many people and there are WAY more now!

I got a free trash can that way last year

Found it down in the wetland. Put it out at the road, left it there for 3 weeks, no one gathered it up so I claimed it. I'm sure it belonged to one of the 8 houses up the private road that runs up the south side of our property. They have to bring their trash and recycles down to the main road and don't have any sort of shelter for them. The guy across the street from me gets all the stuff that blows out of their recycle bins. He's not particularly grateful for the "gifts".

x2 Laura, why not get some ducks. Give you a greater canvas.

Or Laura could use some of Zorra's triple X jumbos, bigger than Leslie's ducks' eggs! Though, being brown, they might not make as good a canvas. But ... The guy that used to have the painting show on PBS used to paint white canvas black because you can't have light without dark

Every year Cowley does a town wide cleanup for a week. That's when we can all set stuff out on the town right of way and our town crew picks it up and hauls it off for free. They take everything but tires, batteries, paint and bricks, and refrigerators must be freon-free. Other than that the sky's the limit - and believe me sky high is how big some people's stacks of junk are!

I think they must have this in a part of Canada we were in last week. EVERY house had so much (I'll do it so the mods don't have to) **** out front!

The less-expensive formula is comparable to what we've been paying per bag, the other is about $1 more per bag, but will probably save me sneaking cat kibble into my FF.

Which would you choose?

Given I pay ~$25 for a 16 pound bag of cat food and ~$15 for a 50 pound bag of chicken feed, I'd go with the $1 more per bag choice

Looks like the goldfinch that was flapping up against the window yesterday morning. Not sure why, there is no sun on it until afternoon, so I wouldn't think it was reacting to a reflection. The cats enjoyed it though.

My Grandpa was talking to her last night at church (I've been ill since Sunday and haven't been able to go.), asking how she is and how she's making it. She shocked my Grandpa by telling him that she had an 11 year old sorrel AQHA show horse and needed to find him a new home, and she wanted to know if it was alright if she gave him to me.

The lady clearly thinks highly of both you and your grandfather. My bet is she found the best home possible for the horse.

Ha clever! A witty response!

Seems to run in Blooie's family! Sadly, the only person who hears my 'zingers' is me because I think of them 3 days too late!

I made it myself ... Part of a leg of Dad's old jeans. A little flat elastic. Scissors. Thread & needle. It only took a few minutes.

Rebekah made one of those for Andromeda though it never got used. For some reason, Zia liked to 'mount' her a lot and ripped a lot of feathers out of her back. Not so much after moult. Or maybe it was because I chased her down and hung her by her feet on the way to the broodie box that was then places on the ground. Eat the humiliation of being LOW bird! She started moulting right about then. Since they all moulted, it seems the neck and head feathers (of the Faverolles and Easter Eggers) are still favored, but not so much back ripping. Of course, Andromeda is the bird that was taken by a predator last month so the saddle sits, hopefully never to be needed.

Bruce

 

[RachaelS]

Quote: Laura, must have missed your post, that egg is Beautiful!!!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Bruce, the thing you saw in Canada is "Big Thing" garbage day. Most townships do this once a month, when your regular trash collection can include anything you want except brush or construction debris. (There's a separate day for brush, and construction debris you have to take to the dump yourself). What's fun is watching the cruisers, big trucks and vans going slowly up and down the roads the night before collection and every once in a while stopping and taking what somebody thought was complete junk but just might be perfectly useful to someone else.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
That's not really DL...that's just hay that's 4 in. thick on the floor. Deep litter, in the truest and most effective form, doesn't get cleaned out, is carefully cultivated and left in place to digest fecal matter. Hay is not a good choice for deep litter unless one lives in a very arid climate. If you are scooping out wet pine shavings those are just soiled and wet pine shavings, not deep litter, but merely deeply applied bedding.

 

[RachaelS]

Bruce, the thing you saw in Canada is "Big Thing" garbage day. Most townships do this once a month, when your regular trash collection can include anything you want except brush or construction debris. (There's a separate day for brush, and construction debris you have to take to the dump yourself). What's fun is watching the cruisers, big trucks and vans going slowly up and down the roads the night before collection and every once in a while stopping and taking what somebody thought was complete junk but just might be perfectly useful to someone else.

Austin does this at least 2 times a year, maybe more, it has been a while since I lived in town. I still see though when I drive through my parents area. Yep, bunches of trucks with trailers cruising around. It is amazing the things that people throw out, but helps another, so that is good. Heck, if I knew how to maneuver my Durango with a trailer, I would be all in

. Bunches of free lumber.

 

[perchie.girl]

Bruce, the thing you saw in Canada is "Big Thing" garbage day. Most townships do this once a month, when your regular trash collection can include anything you want except brush or construction debris. (There's a separate day for brush, and construction debris you have to take to the dump yourself). What's fun is watching the cruisers, big trucks and vans going slowly up and down the roads the night before collection and every once in a while stopping and taking what somebody thought was complete junk but just might be perfectly useful to someone else.

Mom and me are master dumpster crawlers.... Its illegal here but if you dont make a mess you can get away with it.

I also drive the alleys between manufacturing companies.... OH mann the building supplies you can get if you have something to haul it... Here is what i have learned:

Sheet metal companies like Airconditioning duct makers have pallets that are eight feet long and made of three 4 x 4 x 8 and 1 x 6 x 4' slats. And often times they will load them up for you.

Carpet companies throw out odd remnants of NEW carpet..... And the cardboard rolls they came on.... Perfect for making Cat furniture.

Tile and marble companies often times have crates that are 4' x 4' x 4' with lids.... Perfect for a small coop all you have to add is hardware cloth. Also These places have broken tiles and marble and granite.... Perfect for mosaics..... Though I once saw the granite pices used as stepping stones in a very nice garden.

The usual things you can snag from my Grandmas street are Lawn Furniture, The occasional office desk, Book Cases, I got my son a cozy coop once that just needed a wheel. Mom wrote the company and they sent her a wheel and all the hardware for free.

Sometimes just asking will get you treasures... Next door neighbor had a wooden toy chest obviously hand made and very well done sitting next to his driveway.... I peeked in and it was empty... Then He hauled his kids playset out Little tykes with a climbing structrue... I asked him if he was getting rid of them.... "Why Yes" And I had him load up my truck. I use the toy chest for feed and for a seat.... The goats used the play structure big time.

Same goes for tree branches for fire wood. and Fencing..... Neighbor a couple of houses down was putting in one of those white plastic fences so popular these days.... The fencing contractor was removing the old fence in six foot sections... Dog eared about four inches of dry rot on the bottom..... But good and solid otherwise. I asked and he loaded my truck up with as many as he could fit... Saved him Dump charges. That fence is getting trimmed across the bottom and set up as a wall for the new chicken coop.

Oh andddd.... Those above ground swimming pools with the plastic sides... The pool goes in the trash but those four foot tall walls when they are unfastened give you about 30 feet of water proof roof ing material. It doesnt last for ever... but its free.

Old garage doors make excellent run in sheds without modification.... Again if you are on the spot they will load it up and give it to you.

deb

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

That's not really DL...that's just hay that's 4 in. thick on the floor.  Deep litter, in the truest and most effective form, doesn't get cleaned out, is carefully cultivated and left in place to digest fecal  matter.  Hay is not a good choice for deep litter unless one lives in a very arid climate.  If you are scooping out wet pine shavings those are just soiled and wet pine shavings, not deep litter, but merely deeply applied bedding. 

Sometimes things go ... wrong.

My first attempt at Deep Litter had to be removed and discarded. Not because the shavings got all wet ... I had already hand trenched around my coop, put in drain pipe and an extension of the hardware cloth, filled it with rock, so things stay pretty "dry" in the coop. BUT, back when I was feeding dry crumbles & using commercial round feeders my birds beaked several hundred pounds of feed on the floor and then refused to eat it. It smelled so nasty in there we hauled most of it out and started over.

I use hay in my nesting boxes, but I can't imagine it would make good bedding. It seems small particals like shavings and chipped yard debris are excellent because the birds can keep it stirred up really well and it breaks down like I want it to.

 

[chickenboy190]

Hi!

So today I trapped another opossum.So I wanted to pick it up. So I try to with my hands I cant' quite get it. Then I go get a fishing net to pick it up in and that works so I start to bring it up out of the trap then I get it out it's in the net but then it hops out of the net.Well I was running all over the place trying to catch it again. Which I did get it again thanks to a hole. This time I put it in a dog box. After that I get it out of the dog box and I got him so I finally did get to pick him up. Also I named him Fred.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Bee, maybe I missed this somewhere, how much land do you have?
I know you are making the most of what you have and are an inspiration to a lot of us.

We planted some pasture mix in the back yard. It was when we put in a couple of sprinkler heads during our irrigation project. It was all dug up, so why not. The clover is all that took, so the dog is now running through a field of clover.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Bruce and I had a Big Egg and a Small Egg contest going a while back. You'd think that I would have won hands down as I have over 100 birds including ducks and turkeys on my team. But Bruce has Zorra. She's a ringer.