Logitech now has a mouse and keyboard combination that has better battery life. They keyboard goes for up to three years and the mouse goes for up to a year. I have the M310 wireless laser mouse and the batteries are six months old in it. It is my mouse at work so it is used 5 days a week for 9 hours each day.
how much of that is BYC?
how much of that is BYC?
I don't know why but I can't stop laughing! Maybe it's the beer. Did you only get one call? When I advertised free ducks the phone wouldn't stop ringing (probably shouldn't have put down our number) lol!
Good morning.
This one's for you, scg.
CanuckBock :
Yep. My girls have a "retirement home" waiting for them right here when they are done providing my breakfast.
The "rare" part with this one is this hen is barely a year old that appears to be going thru the change. It's ok, she (or he) still has a home. I have room for a freeloader
BTW - I would appreciate knowing what you think of the article I posted the link to.
YAH!!!! Love me old stuff and love you love them too!
Probably the one year old female had her ovary stop due to something like, what cancer perhaps? It happens, we breathe it seems and can get cancer...jest joshing here but yeh...sometimes sadly something happens...sigh! Here is a much more professional take than mine...
The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow, page 51:
Chicks as in ones already outta their eggs?...I agree with not leaping tall buildings to shore up already doomed birds (quick decision to dispatch is often the conclusion...I will exercise tough love to end the misery, eh) BUT other than chicks and poults outta the egg, I do decide when to assist with the pipping bantam Call Ducks (never the Indies, they SPROING outta their egg prisons, still wet from hatching snarking back duck starter...scary black buggers those...began with six unrelated lines <hybridized now> lines, eh!) and with the Dutch Hookbills, I don't often assist them outta the egg shell casings BUT note the ones that DO hatch (unassisted too) are very tired and not as strong as say the Appleyards and Crested Ducks. The Hookbill ducklings, they are tired because pipping and circling inside the shell to pop the eggshell top tires them out...long neck, stoopid curvature of the bills (and long bills, they resemble Runner ducks as juveniles!)...I don't get overly concerned if one or two in a Hookbill hatch die two or three weeks later...it is almost like the hard fight outta the shell sets them up not to prosper so well and some never quite recover--I am OK with that...again, strong survive to make more of the same and hope eventually to see the most vigorous ones continue onwards and by only breeding the most strong ones, we make more of the same to eliminate weak strains.
Blue Fawn & Self Chocolate - not yer usual Mallard Duck forms, eh???
To get the prized exhibition Calls, teeny tiny with short wide bills and ridiculous body forms compared to the Nature's perfect duck, the Mallards, you HAVE to have your "ducks in a row" understanding what is a physical inhibitor and what is more a lack of vigour, ability to thrive. I brood Call ducks here longer than other bantam breeds...they are tender as young'uns but super strong thriving tough duck birds once allowed to become adults...FTD. The lil boogers will blow your mind at how personable, persistent and vigorous they are. Have some that have lived to be near 15 years old. Now that's some duck load of funning troubles, eh...
Historically, the people over in Holland were said to set only the smallest of eggs in the bantam Call ducks but here, I set all sizes of the eggs, especially the ones that are relatively good sized for the bantam calls that are producing them. Some of those eggers from waterfowl are major OUCH...
Chant egg on left, top is...uh Appleyard I think...right is American Buff goose, bottom is heritage turk...center is .... Black Australian Swan
Our 10 to 15 pound Oz Black Swan Pearl lays eggs that are in the range of 255-260 grams. Icrumba...thankfully that is only about ten or so eggs thus far in a year...ugh.
May 1, 2013- various duck eggs; Indie Spotted 2 Appleyard then below one Call and four Dutch Hookbill
Ducks are much better converts of feed to eggs and some lines are better layers than the very best of the chickens...if'n you like to consume duck eggs, eh. Compared to chickens, Ducks can forage for more feed (10 to 25% compared to 5 to 15%), start laying two weeks before chickens, mortality rate is 0-3% compared to hens at 5-25%, higher protein and fat content in their eggs and meat, a duck's resistance to hot, cold and wet weather excels compared to chickens...yeh, FEAR THE DUCK...eh. Wah wah wah...
I have the theory that while the adult female bird (not pullets and cockerels, but hens/ducks and cocks/drakes) will produce a larger egg in their second year than they did in their first, there is NO real firm correlation between egg size and adult size of the bird...yes, a bigger bird outta the egg often seems more hearty but in the end adult size of the being is sorta like puppies...they all kinda are the same relative size from birth, but the Great Dane keeps on chugging away growing whilst the toy Poodle stops growing sooner. Too small a bird and they are often sterile, so there is a balancing act...as Rick asked me "when is too small for a bantam duck an issue?" Well the thing about that is if you make them so small that they are sterile, that kinda ends that...not making any more, so it fixes itself and they go extinct since we are not into cloning, eh?
Quote:
Genetics perhaps? The breed's required ear tufts on Araucana's are lethal in a double dose (similar to breeding crested duck to crested duck, but NOT tufted geese...I got those and the diamond bump of feathers appears to have no hindrance past extra CUTENESS) ...and at what stage the double dosed ear tufted embryo dies for this, I am unsure...I've only ever had one pair of the true Araucanas and HATED their temperaments...so never replaced them or bred from them. My experience, probably not others? I found the breed savage beyond reasoning, even more savage than my unruly Booteds can be if someone pokes at them...with the Araucanas they attacked unproved and the roo was just beyond mean. Probably a very bad strain I am hoping!
IF one was breeding Araucana's I suspect one would want a tuftless side to the breeding...would up your live chicks hatched...
Grabbing two pieces paper...doing Punnett Squares (NO laughing...)
Breeding two Tufted parents (by default to be alive and express ear tufts, one dose tufted and one dose non-tufted)...you would get ONE not tufted, ONE never hatches, TWO tufted.
Breeding one Tufted to non-tufted...you would get TWO non tufted and TWO tufted (no doubling up of lethal tufted in a double measure/dose). One more chick although not tufted but could be a potential breeder if you want all live chicks with no double dose lethals dud eggered ones.
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
