The Old Folks Home

[ChickenCanoe]

Cynthia love your little froggie in the yellow mums. Your flowers are gorgeous.

I have a red one like yours, I can't get over how packed with blossoms they are. I suppose the nurseries force them to bud. I had one free giveaway plant that survived several bad winters. Then the mild winter killed it -

. Bought 3 replacements two years ago, lost one during the winter.

,and a second one the next. Had the one survivor that croaked early this spring. Bought two more this year. One is booming like gangbusters, the other (yellow) was starting great, then bugs attacted it ( but, not the red one.) Yellow is 1/4 the size of the red. I've been nursing it along but, I'm sure it won't survive.

Just got two more and put them among hostas so maybe they will protect them from whatever has been killing them. They are supposed to be hardy. Oh well.......

I picked up 2 flats of eggs this morning that I left out in a chair overnight and there was a little green frog hanging out in one of the open cups.
I've had a lot of frogs and toads this year, thanks to the excess rain. Not as many lizards as normal but lots of snakes.

Flowers are dying here too... Trees that havent deep roots are tying. people dont realize when they stop watering lawns the trees die too.

Some lovely specimines are dead right here on this street.

San Diego is known for its Zoo... But what people dont know is San Diego county has the larges collection of endangered and even extinct botanicals... MORE than any of the animals in the zoo.

I just hope the botanical gardens both private and public are given dispensation for water usage.... sigh.

deb

When I was a kid about a century ago, they said the 3 best zoos in the country were San Diego, St. Louis and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I've been to the latter once. It is really worth the visit.
One of the nicest things about the St. Louis zoo, other than the great exhibits is that it always has been and always will be free to the public.

ron, believe it not, I only watered those flowers probably 6 times this yr.! Serious. It rained here and there, but I only got the water can out a few times for the flowers. I didn't even water the veggies that much this yr., and you should see all of the tomatoes we are just now getting. What? If you can see the lawn in the third photo, didn't water that much either. My DH and I just didn't feel right using that much water this yr. A lot of us here were not using much. My lawn is usually very green. Very. The flowers..? We face the North side is all that I can think of. So, if this is the trick, to not water so much to get them to bloom, that's great.

We had one of our wettest years. It has been dry for almost 3 weeks though and nothing in the forecast.
Pretty pictures.

I have lived in California my whole life, so the concept of not watering in the summer if foreign. During the summer, we usually have a trace of rain.

Like Perchie(Deb) said, people are forgetting to water trees and bushes here. On the fourth of July, someone tossed a firework into a tree. The tree was so dry that it burst into flame and caught an apartment building on fire!

The trees need to be watered.

Climates across this great land are so different. It makes chicken keeping very different from place to place.
Does anyone do drip irrigation for their trees?

Morning everyone!
Sitting here supping my morning cuppa and trying to get caught up with y'all.

Deb, I understand totally. There is no expiration date on being a mom.

FINALLY! Got the last of my tomatoes processed last night. I now have 18 pints of chili starter cooked up and ready to go for winter. Just add meat (preferably venison) and beans and I have a warm homemade supper waiting when it's -30 w/o the windchill and my sweetie has been out digging a trail to the coop for me. Yum

...

Have a beautiful weekend everyone, I know we will. The geese are really on the move overhead and the fall colors are just becoming brilliant this year.
Lord, I truly love this time of year and really appreciate it so much today, last year at this time I was sitting in a wheelchair staring out the window by now.
Sorry but I have to say it,
I am just so BLESSED!

Mornin'. I just finished processing 2 roosters. One had a beautiful cape so I cut out the cape separatedly for fly tying.
I had 11 roosters/cockerels crowing yesterday and playing hell relentlessly raping the hens. I have another 10 or so that are getting ready to crow.

I think I'll put 3 or 4 in a bachelor pen to take the load off the hens. The girls are really stressed. The odd thing is they are only chasing and breeding the mature hens and not the pullets that are the same age as the cockerels. Must be that big floppy comb turning them on.
I may process another 3 or 4 in the next couple days because my birds are getting blood tested for NPIP on Tuesday. I'm going to try to get some cages made by then so I won't have such a hard time catching them. They have to blood test every bird on the property that is over 4 months of age.

My wife went with a friend to a Southern IL wine festival. She was telling me what I can cook for dinner. She does that every time she goes out of town. I have to remind her that I know how to feed myself and that I did all the cooking when we started dating.

 

[ronott1]

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We had one of our wettest years. It has been dry for almost 3 weeks though and nothing in the forecast.
Pretty pictures.

Climates across this great land are so different. It makes chicken keeping very different from place to place.
Does anyone do drip irrigation for their trees?

People are starting to use drip irrigation for their lawns! A strip is cut every foot and the strip is placed in the trench. The water goes directly to the roots. Our new courthouse is using this.

It Woodland, the city is giving a rebate to people that convert a pop up sprinkler to a drip system for their trees and bushes. They also offer a rebate on a moisture sensing system that will let the water run for irrigation. We are doing well in Woodland and are using 30 to 40% less water than the same month in 2013.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Drip irrigation is done for trees and shrubs and should be used to keep the trees alive. its surprising how much water they take.. but not nearly as much as a lawn requires.

I do believe there are drip systems for lawns... I haven't investigated it because lawns don't belong here. But there are drought tolerant grasses that can be substituted. and you can landscape a whole yard with lovely flowering and even fruiting plants that require little to no water.



The tree on the right hand side looks to be a Cedar of some sort... probably an original Shrub planting of the MidCentry house... say 50 years ago?

the tree to the left Looks like an Acacia... beautiful flowers in the spring. Watering for this garden is probably once a week for the grasses Never for the trees. they sip off what the grasses dont use. The mulch is gravel with a vapor barrier undeneath the use of a light colored gravel helps keep the roots from cooking.

This one was a lawn conversion


I actually prefer the decomposed granite surrounding the flagstone walk way... thats our soil pretty much.

The only drawback to planting a xeri-scaped yard is you have to wait... it takes a year or two before the foliage fills out and actually looks like something. because low water plants grow SLOOOOOW. Yet the plants get big so the spacing will look Odd at first unless you can spend the bucks on fully mature or at least partially mature plants.

deb

 

[Wisher1000]

I waved bye to two crates full of my Silver Campines (7 pullets, and 4 cocks) this morning. They left in the back of a small car, headed to Massachusetts. I sent them to one of my breeder partners, Bob Rhodes. Does anyone here know him? He is 80 years young and has been raising standard bred poultry since he learned the ropes at his dad's knee. He started his line from hatchery stock and has been working with them for a few years longer than I. He gifted me with 2 cocks at the Ohio Nationals last year and I shared one with my other breeder partner in Texas. I was honored that he wanted some of mine and that he was impressed with my progress, so far.

 

[Alaskan]

@chickisoup

Good to here from you and your garden successes!

It has snowed here twice... But melted. Water pans often have ice in the mornings.... -sigh-




@Wisher1000 VERY impressive!

 

[Alaskan]

@perchie.girl those are some great gardens.

I like the dry plants that grow quickly and flower beautifully when watered, but survive just fine when you don't.... Like all of the salvias.

 

[chickadoodles]

I waved bye to two crates full of my Silver Campines (7 pullets, and 4 cocks) this morning. They left in the back of a small car, headed to Massachusetts. I sent them to one of my breeder partners, Bob Rhodes. Does anyone here know him? He is 80 years young and has been raising standard bred poultry since he learned the ropes at his dad's knee. He started his line from hatchery stock and has been working with them for a few years longer than I. He gifted me with 2 cocks at the Ohio Nationals last year and I shared one with my other breeder partner in Texas. I was honored that he wanted some of mine and that he was impressed with my progress, so far.

I think Arielle was trying to get him to help her with her Buckeye as he also raises them. He is also on the FB Buckeye page from time to time I believe. I think Chris, and Laura work with him on some projects.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I was reading an old text from the 1800s on raising poultry called, The Business Hen by Collingwood and found the following poem.

I LOVE THE HEN.
There's lots of folks that love a horse
About as well as they know how.
We ain't all built alike of course ;
There's them that do just love a cow
Above their wives. Some folks will sleep
When cows or horses have the talk ;
But start a word edgeways on sheep,
And see the way their tongues will walk.
And some folks sit up half the night
To sing the virtues of the hog ;
And I know folks uncommon bright
Who rub their love thick on a dog.
I have, as now I must rejoice,
No quarrel with my fellow-men
But of all animals my choice
Forever is the laying hen.
She ain't so big or yet so stout
As hog, or horse, or sheep, or cow,
And yet she knows what she's about.
She pays her bill that suits me, now.
So let them brag up all their stock
And satisfy themselves ; but, then.
Mv mind is made up like a rock
You can 't fool me, I love the hen !

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I enjoyed reading that.


I am perplexed. I have a hen that's a couple years old. I hatched her from eggs of unknown origin. She has feathered feet and shanks. She started out her first year all black with nice purple-green reflective black feathers. The first year that she molted she grew in mostly black with a few white feathers. The year after that she molted and grew in mostly white feathers with a few black. Last year she molted and grew in all white feathers, so she was completely white.

I just went out there, and she's molting again, and the feathers she is growing in are black.

'Splain that, Lucy.

 

[Elaine Wright]

I enjoyed reading that.


I am perplexed. I have a hen that's a couple years old. I hatched her from eggs of unknown origin. She has feathered feet and shanks. She started out her first year all black with nice purple-green reflective black feathers. The first year that she molted she grew in mostly black with a few white feathers. The year after that she molted and grew in mostly white feathers with a few black. Last year she molted and grew in all white feathers, so she was completely white.

I just went out there, and she's molting again, and the feathers she is growing in are black.

'Splain that, Lucy.

New season - new fashion?