The Old Folks Home

[drumstick diva]

Moxie, that is hysterical. The only odd thing I've ever found in my bedroom was someone else's socks (my son's). I would have kept the dog.

 

[chickadoodles]

omg..I just found a Bassett Hound in my back bedroom!! She apparently crawled through a hole in the floor of another bedroom (which we havn't fixed yet), and has been in the house for 2 days now! Neighbor lady has been looking all over for her too!! I called the neighbor lady up, and she was so happy I found her doggie. I never heard anything till this morning.

They say dogs will find a warm place to sleep. lol It did! How funny, yet how wonderful that you found it and called her and she got her dog back

 

[Pozees]

I had never eaten potato pancakes until I worked in a diner during my first try at a Bachelor's - everything was homemade, and leftover (real) mashed potatoes were made into potato pancakes. They were served with maple syrup, sour cream, and/or applesauce - some people wanted only one topping, others more than one. Delish.

BunnyMomma, so nice to see you again Many breeders keep records like yours, actually, although it is less common to see them knowing which specific hens laid each egg they usually know among a small number of hens chosen specifically for a certain male, so you are not crazy - it is really the only way to know which trait came from which combination. I applaud your effort!

Renee, sounds as if your new setup is really nice, I'm envious! I have power in one of the coops and a heavy duty outdoor extension cord powering the heated waterers in the other two, but my fantasy is to have power and running water to every outbuilding on the place ... and having several LOL

Moxies - what a huge relief for your neighbor! Bassets can do some pretty amazing contortions when they take a notion to.

Winter has returned to CO this morning, single digit temps and a bit of snow, but tomorrow it's supposed to be back in the 50s. Saturday I'm heading up to the National Western Stock Show to look at chickens and pick up a nice RIR male from Greathorse who has very nice birds and is always at the NWSS calling Draft Horse classes, very neat guy. His place is like paradise. Exquisite RIRs and SLWs quietly and calmly foraging about, great big old farmhouse, gorgeous Belgians in the pasture, just amazing.

I have had a busy month both at home and work, have had hatches every weekend and next week I'm off to Denver for two days to teach a class, thank goodness DH is retired, he's been more than my right hand the past few months.

Stay warm, fellow keepers!

 

[ronott1]

Thanks Ron. I had icesickles hanging off my fence from the hose dripping. The chickens were eating the icesickles.
I hope Calif. gets enough rain soon to help everyone

Smart chickens!

We have broken the record for most days without rain during the rainy season. Today is the 46th day without rain. December and January are the two wettest months. If it does not rain by May, we will get no rain until October at the earliest.

Woodland currently has 2.5 inches of rain since July first. A normal winter will have around 20 inches. The 10 day shows clouds but no rain for next Tuesday. Other than that, bright skies and sunshine

 

[chickadoodles]

Smart chickens!

We have broken the record for most days without rain during the rainy season. Today is the 46th day without rain. December and January are the two wettest months. If it does not rain by May, we will get no rain until October at the earliest.

Woodland currently has 2.5 inches of rain since July first. A normal winter will have around 20 inches. The 10 day shows clouds but no rain for next Tuesday. Other than that, bright skies and sunshine

Yes they are smart... lol

I continue to pray that you all will get some rain! It is awful when they make you do the water rationing. I can recall it many times.

 

[ronott1]

Yes they are smart... lol

I continue to pray that you all will get some rain! It is awful when they make you do the water rationing. I can recall it many times.

We have all been asked to cut water usage voluntarily by 20%. Some places have Mandatory rationing.

We have been declared a State and Federal Disaster area already.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...

I really feel sorry for all of those out in the cold part of the Country. I just can't Imagine!

I hope this will be the last of it.

It got to 2 above overnight, same tonight and only up to 11 today. At least it is over zero. A couple weeks ago it never got above 0. We have about 3 warmer days coming and then back down to zero by Monday night.
'09 and '11 were much snowier winters than this but this is one of the most brutal winters I can recall. We usually got a week under zero when I was young but this year we're going into the third spell of these temps. I may be wrong but I don't remember it ever being this relentless.

I liked your question about chicken pedigrees! I have been working on some genetic projects for several years now and I have been keeping records (pedigrees) for my projects. It is not easy to do, so that is why most people do not create pedigrees for their birds. On pedigrees for the birds I am working on, I keep numbered leg bands for each bird. I name each bird and I keep just one rooster with one hen in a roomy pen. Keeping pedigrees for my birds is just a way of keeping up with the quality of offspring that I get from a breeding pair. I only use it for the really special birds that are part of my genetic projects. I use the pedigrees to keep records for any changes that I need to make for a breed. I sometimes can use 2 hens and one rooster in a pen. (If the hens lay different shades of eggs and I can tell who lays the light brown egg as opposed to the darker brown egg.) It is really helpful, but it is a little more work to keep up with. I also have to keep up with the hatching eggs and ID band the chicks for the next generation. After I have reached my goals, I usually stop keeping the records. I'm sure that if I told someone I had a pedigreed chicken, they would probably give me the "You are Crazy" look! LOL!
Oh, well! Maybe they are right!
...

I try to pedigree all my birds. Not real successful yet. I know who the father of all my birds is and when I catch a hen laying an egg I'll mark it with both parents. I have 3 units for pairs and trios and will be building at least 4 trapnests for larger flocks. Hopefully by May I'll only be hatching eggs that I can truly have a pedigree for all new birds.
Improvement can happen so much faster doing so.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I had never eaten potato pancakes until I worked in a diner during my first try at a Bachelor's - everything was homemade, and leftover (real) mashed potatoes were made into potato pancakes. They were served with maple syrup, sour cream, and/or applesauce - some people wanted only one topping, others more than one. Delish.

BunnyMomma, so nice to see you again

Many breeders keep records like yours, actually, although it is less common to see them knowing which specific hens laid each egg they usually know among a small number of hens chosen specifically for a certain male, so you are not crazy - it is really the only way to know which trait came from which combination. I applaud your effort!

Renee, sounds as if your new setup is really nice, I'm envious! I have power in one of the coops and a heavy duty outdoor extension cord powering the heated waterers in the other two, but my fantasy is to have power and running water to every outbuilding on the place ... and having several LOL

In good weather, I have automatic water on all the buildings which is a real time saver. I'm planning to have electric and automatic doors on most if not all of the buildings by summer. What a relief that would be. It wouldn't help much if all the coops didn't have auto doors. I don't remember what it was like not fearing I wouldn't be home by dusk. I've had bulk feeders in most buildings that last a week. If I had automatic doors, I could be gone several days in a pinch.
...

... next week I'm off to Denver for two days to teach a class, ...
What are you teaching?

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

That's just crazy about the dog isn't it. Neither of us heard anything for 2 days. She might have been under the house the first day, and only wiggled herself up through the hole the second day (yesterday). Poor thing. I feel bad because there is no food nor water in those two rooms for her to have accessed. I am just glad we didn't find her dead. That would have been terribly sad for our neighbors. I'll know to check those 2 rooms more often. I was just in them on Monday. We don't use them because the house is such a remuddled mess. There is a leak in the 2nd bathroom, and now we'll have to gut the whole wing. So we just keep it closed off.

 

[Arielle]

omg..I just found a Bassett Hound in my back bedroom!! She apparently crawled through a hole in the floor of another bedroom (which we havn't fixed yet), and has been in the house for 2 days now! Neighbor lady has been looking all over for her too!! I called the neighbor lady up, and she was so happy I found her doggie. I never heard anything till this morning.

Quote: I'll take frozen hoses to no water. We often coil the hoses and lay them on the kitchen floor to prep them. Having a hot water faucet helps keep the lines open but it is a PITA. Oh, and I don't let the faucets drip-- fills the last 8 inches with ice; better to have it frozen at the 8 inch mark inside the house and heat with the hairdryer. Even my boys can manage that task now. Honestly I hate the hoses in winter-- much faster to have boys man the faucet filling buckets even if only half full, and I lug full ones out to the animals, and they can carry the 1/2 full.

I really wish I had cut back as much as I had intended before January. Too many coops.

THe word is worst drought in 500years-- wonder who was keep the records in 1525?