The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

CC I am so sorry that you have been having problems with dogs that is horrible. Your back yard is not fenced in? What about electric fence wire?

 

[CanuckBock]

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Glad you like...I can take NO credit for how pretty the plants are past I plan on keeping them alive and well.

Good choice on the calla. You didn't need our help.

Oh yes I did...only way you learn to do the best you are able is by testing what you think you know by asking for advice and input from others...and keeping at it. I would have never pursued the Calla Lily after my first big flop with them. When I whined at the one friend there and found out what I was doing wrong with them (planted in a five gallon bucket, poor thing could not "fill" up all that space I gave it fast enough in our short season), I learned something I will value and use now. I really loved looking at the Bourgainvillea (got the deer in headlight looks asking about them at the plant stores..."Duh, uh what?") and even the Corn Plant was potentially doable if'n they weren't so pricey. I love having this "inner war" and jumbling up what you figure is best in your situation...even if you go back to what you originally wanted, you are that much more assured what you do is what you should be doing and it is the little tricks that you learn along the way that make life better and more enjoyable.

I was still SO tempted to repot that Calla...so squished in there but it seems pretty happy. Kinda like living in a small house...you gotta really like your roomies and say in a more oriental like culture with paper walls...build a decent set of tolerances to not let the little things bother you and turn a blind eye (or ear) to what is really none of your business. I worked at a vehicle dealership as the accountant for a few years and the biz really outgrew the space it had--too successful which was nice! I really got on with the employees and owners well as we were in each others faces constantly...stacked in like sardines. They went and built a great big new dealership and it was never the same again...I found that interesting how the space made all of us more distant, not just physically but in our relationships ever after.

We know us old folks get set in our ways and sometimes tossing things up brings new life and discovery which is a whole lotta fun we might otherwise be missing out on. I don't mind leaving things that work alone (KISS & if it ain't broke principles) but if you never inquire what others enjoy, you never get to experience something neat and different! Spice of life...

Do this sometimes with recipes...try a new one and HATE it...sounds good the ingredients and you mix it up and blah! Sometimes a ton of extra work to make a new meal and one just resolves to not do that one again 'cause it was disgusting! But last Friday I had a craving for soup that evening and tried a potato and chicken based soup (had three kinds of potatoes on hand; regular/new potats in red and yellow) added a ton of odds & sodds of veg we had on hand and final step after all was cooked up (simmered in chicken soup stock) was to add a roux (1 tbsp flour whisked into 2 tbsp melted butter + two cups of warmed milk), brought back up to temperature and BINGO...made a new favourite for us.

​

Both Rick and I liked it and reminded us of cream of potato soup from a can but way better. Heated up in the mic quite nicely too and I know when Rick likes something when he mentions "you got any more of that soup left over?," which tells me he's on board when I try out a new recipe.

Great way to use up some extra chicken plus I usually have chook soup base on hand in the fridge. I'll take the chicken parts like the back, neck, extra fat and such, toss in a few bay leaves and make up a soup broth which normally I use to moisten up the dog's kibs--they'll be giving me the ugly evil eye every time I steal it now to make that Potato Soup!

Like Rick said..."what's not to like about a soup based on potato?"... Those men folk and the "meat & potato" comfort foods! LOL

I still hafta to drench his "broccoli" in cheese sauce or he sneak feeds it to the dogs when he figures I am not looking. At least I "think" I know most all his bad habits...har har har

X2! I love the places you chose! I've always been a big fan of calla lilies and I love that color. I figured you must be busy on the ranch since I thought we haven't heard from ya in awhile. I love that cute little building that will be your new hatch house!

So I had chick fever! I had a friend who's cousin was hatching Easter Eggers and was going to bring me some from TN, and I was really wanting a different family of them so I can breed them in the spring. Well time comes and he says they weren't ready, it'll be next month :-( I was so disappointed! I don't know if the hatch went badly or if he just gave them away to friends but I was sad to not have my fuzzy butts. So my boyfriend said he was going to buy the next batch anyway, so to start looking, yay! So I proceeded to fall in love with BLRW and I WILL have some babies in the spring, but I couldn't find any local and I just can't pay $15 a chick after shipping and BF wasn't prepared for that either! So I had major chick fever one night and went on the search. I ended up getting 5 Easter egger girls and 2 boys to breed with my girls I have now, and 5 of an assorted "rare egg layer"breed, all girls. I'm so excited to know I'll have ten girls, no guess work! I'll post pics when I get them next week, yay! :-D

Extended daylight AND warm so takes less energy to do what needs doing (comparing it to winter temps that is!).

I could work all night too and not get all the things I wanna get done like dinner!

Next week will be week eight so I can move the two pairs of Buff Tufted geese and the Crested Duck adults into the main flocks (the ducklings I moved to the wabbit brooder last night--I figure they need more time to put on more feathers--was only +3C/37F this morning so still a bit burh!). Time seems to fly by but not when waiting on quarantine to be so over and finished! I wanna get everyone into their bevies and gaggles and manage them in bigger, easier to care for groupings. Then I can go about being distracted by summerish duties with more time to play play.

I have had to be good this year regarding fuzz butt fever and only subsisting on natural hatches thus far (but cheated, 'cause the girlies obliged me and we hatched all winter--so not really all that toughin' it out, eh?) with the Hatch House being where Buster the 'bator is to be set up permanently. I can wait I figure...Rick is on standby and I delivered the bundles of insulation to the building yesterday evening (it don't help we have two 45 foot tractor trailer units to "hide" building materials in and forget about!--I even found two bundles of 2x4 insulation and I figure the last time we used those was when we moved in and renovated the "garage"--some 15 years back..agh--vortex of a black hole!). So now Rick can stuff the insulation in the waiting wall slots and away we go from there's with vapour barrier, plywood and caulking the seams. He came home last night and split another pile of Birch firewood. He has one more "set" of Birch rounds left which he may do tonight I expect--another nagging at you project completed--no moss gathering under those clod hoppers of my hero's.

Rick figures about two pails of the grey porch enamel paint to do the inside of the Hatch House walls and do another coat on the floor...another eighty bucks but gives me an eight by twelve foot building to play in. He figures I should brood some of the young'uns in there too (talking about making me some more shelves) but not sure I will or not. Hard getting use to new options and I am quite use to brooding babes in the Duece Coop. What works seems best not to mess with altering but he might be right. I know the one incubator in that House is gonna look pretty silly all there by its lonesome. I do hate the dander that builds up any place where you hatch out poultry. Dusty fire hazard and just down right annoying. On the Coast, we never had the whitish dust...so much moisture in the air we just got this slimy goo like coatings from the landfowl dander. I had to move here to discover chickens have white fluffy dander that floats in the air and coats stuff.

They have. This guy and his brothers, uncles, etc. have attacked several times. They killed 9 the first time, 4 another time and couldn't get into the coops and pens on several other occasions.



I've had other attacks too, a stray beagle, another neighbors pair of huskies, my wife's friend's lab. That was an ugly scene. I warned her that she wouldn't be able to control the dog if she let it go all the way back where the chickens were ranging. She said, "oh he won't do anything". I told her, "don't make me kill your dog".

Oh cripers...have a friend I grew up with that runs teams of Siberian Husky dogs for sledding. She has had them leap up on a kid holding a rabbit and make short work of the bun buns right in front of the child. Course her further worst fear is that the dog will get over rambunctious and take out a young person next. The pack use to bust out on occasion and run deer...never caught the deer but you run a prey animal long & hard enough, it stresses them and they die from a weakened state later on. Yeh, the Husky breed can't help itself. The humans have quite the responsibility on their hands owning the more wolf like breeds...even the bird dog breeds are bred for generations to show interest in fowls.

I too have had a male dog I never EVER trusted around young birds. He had good enough sense to mind his manners around the adults but did I ever trust him 100%--NOPE! All our girl dogs have figured out right off that the "stock" is under their care and to be protected, not harvested. I won't run a young dog on any type of bird until I have complete confidence they will ignore flapping wings and have a calm, collected demeanor that usually shows up at around age 4 years in the ACD's. I don't figure a dog is any good if it harms the very critters you are suppose to be caring for. My take of course and I realize there are dog breeds that are not suppose to be any good around stock.

As a young kid, we had neighbours once with a sight hound mutt...they never let the poor thing run and whenever it did break free (poor thing), over it would come and though we never did lose a bird, I can say it sure gave me an awful fright.

Ain't it laughable that when we FENCE our places...it is not so much what can get OUT but what can get IN that causes us to really step up. Most of what is in here is quite fine and easily contained for its own safety & happiness factors...it is the marauding stuff on the outside like the neighbour's loose dogs that has us on guard. People say they want to move out to the country to let their pets run free...in fact the country is less amiable than the city in those regards pertaining to animals at large. What the wild predators don't consume, the invaded farmer/rancher will happily shoot to heck for you and your perceived concept of "country living!" The only pity is that the animals that cause the damage are not at fault, their owners are the cause of the situation and the ones that deserve a butt full of rock salt. LMBO

Anyhoo, gotta fly...need to sort thru some of the Ruddy and Swan feathers I have set aside (Pearl's mate cob Piper's moulting and blowing wingy feathers all over) as I have a bus mechanic that ties flies. I promised to give him some of the more exotic feathers we have here since he spoils me rotten when I take my bus in for reg maintenance. One good deed deserves another, eh?

Have to take the bus in after my run this afternoon and "Well shucky darn and slop the chickens...it is JUNE now...so count down to when I am off like a silly goosey loosey for my summer of frivolous frolicking!"

I do know from past experiences that by the time September approaches...I am near crying for mercy to go back to the regular, "gotta quit" to go run bus times again. I often find myself in the summer out and about at ten p.m. wondering where in the heck the whole day has gone and just exhausted but giddy happy too. We had friends buy an acreage and we told them..."you will be looking forward to winter," to which they seemed more than just a bit puzzled. We did laugh on the "told you so!" parts because they found out in a hurry why winter is a blessing in disguise. Summer and spring...tis CONSTRUCTION season and your pocket book seems to deflate to *** POOF *** like your energy reserves do just as quickly.

I shall be looking forward to when the snow flies in a bit here and well, that be that and we can't DO any mores! Ah shucks, eh? Time to build up the fat reserves and do the re-charge...unless we get another bout of snow like the last winter we just survived...agh!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[insanity]

Well no more ducks for me. I got Muscovies last year and ordered babies this spring, they were great. Followed me around and feathering out nicely. Last night a skunk broke in and took them all. I give up. At least he wasn't able to get any of the chickens. Traps are set. This is war.

 

[getaclue]

CC, that dog in the picture would make a beautiful fur rug! Since he has so many relatives, send me one too!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Last night a skunk broke in and took them all. I give up. At least he wasn't able to get any of the chickens. Traps are set. This is war.

From one "assassin" to another, go get 'em!

Keep us posted.

 

[getaclue]

Quote: X2

 

[scottcaddy]

Pretty little fox ....I'm glad it's dead.

Me TOOOOOO!
Scott

 

[Pozees]

They have. This guy and his brothers, uncles, etc. have attacked several times. They killed 9 the first time, 4 another time and couldn't get into the coops and pens on several other occasions.



Here's some of the damage.



I've had other attacks too, a stray beagle, another neighbors pair of huskies, my wife's friend's lab. That was an ugly scene. I warned her that she wouldn't be able to control the dog if she let it go all the way back where the chickens were ranging. She said, "oh he won't do anything". I told her, "don't make me kill your dog".


So true. The aforementioned ankle injury sometimes gives me fits. Occasionally it will swell up for days. Sometimes when pulling off tight boots, especially ski boots, it will come out of socket and be excruciatingly painful till I can work it back in. It has even done so on the ski slope and it takes a while to work it back into place but it feels so good when I do. Luckily it hasn't done it when I've had to make an crucial turn.

I once had a ladder collapse under me on a stairway while holding a 4X8 sheet of 3/4 inch plywood. The tibia slightly cracked. I was on crutches but couldn't use them to go to work because they would have made me go on medical leave. It would have been a 66% cut in pay.

I know it isn't funny, or wasn't at the time, but this last just made me laugh - it's what we do to pay the bills I guess And to keep going. There have only been a couple of times in my life I haven't been able to get myself around, and I can't think of anything I hated more.

Dog attacks are impossibly contradictory. I love dogs. Always have. The last few years are the first I've been dogless in decades. Last year when one killed my Cochin hen who was protecting her chick, I never wanted to shoot a dog so badly. I visited the closest neighbors, found one home, and told him what happened. Turned out he had chickens as well, and understood. I mentioned I'd been to the neighbor nearby, that I thought it may have been their dog that was loose, and told him if he saw them he might mention the law that permits me to protect my livestock. It hasn't been back, that I know of, but since that event we have become gun owners, specifically for the purpose of protecting the chickens, and as much as I would hate to kill a dog, I would if I had to.

 

[Cynthia12]

Thought I would share my rose. Love this color. Just planted two rose bushes last yr. The other is yellow, one is just about to open.

 

[Cynthia12]