The Old Folks Home

[Arielle]

SCG! There are bees, right there, in front of you! In case ya didn't know.

That is great. I really like hearing that folks have bees. They are dieing off. I've heard of a couple of reasons, I think they are educated guesses. We sure need them. What in the world would we do without them! They really do pollinate our planet!

Those baby ducks are adorable with their mama chicken.

Wisher, sorry for your loss.

Europe apparently has started banning some chemical in an effort to help the honeybees ; of course we have made no changes as far as I have heard ( not in the loop mind you) as we want to keep using THOSE chemicals. We are surrounded by manicured lawns. . .

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My lawn is far from manicured.

BF was saying last night how everything is going to be downhill from here - the seedlings are all done, just need to water now and mound the potatoes, the babies are growing up, etc.

Woke up this morning to an army of carpenter ants marching across my bathroom and into the kitchen.

Never a dull moment around these parts.

 

[Wisher1000]

Set the babies on them!

 

[chickadoodles]

 

[dsqard]

Wisher, I wish (

) my chickens would go after ants. They do not care for them at all. There is even a nest in the chicken pen and as far as I can tell, the chickens don't touch them.

Now grasshoppers are a whole other story. Watching them chase grasshoppers (when they realize where to find them) is hours of chicken TV

 

[ronott1]

Wisher, I wish (

) my chickens would go after ants. They do not care for them at all. There is even a nest in the chicken pen and as far as I can tell, the chickens don't touch them.

Now grasshoppers are a whole other story. Watching them chase grasshoppers (when they realize where to find them) is hours of chicken TV

My Australorps eat ants...They eat everything....

 

[pickitfarm]

Joining in on the forum for the first time. Since we are in SC we have those lovely fire ants. They bite and burn at the same time...EEK! We have heard of some chickens eating them but guinea fowl are suppose to be able to take care of them. That may be something we add to the farm in the near future. Bug exterminating security alarms. Now there is a market.

In regards to bees, we have a hive (someone elses) on our property. Started a few months ago and the colony is growing pretty fast. DH took the certification classes but has not gotten around to setting up our own boxes and colony. Too much chicken stuff going on.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Send me some ant eating australorps! I've got ants in the hive, ants in the bathroom... ants in the kitchen but I can deal with those... they clean up my crumbs. Maybe I do need a house chicken. The cats just watch the ants march on by.


Went to go buy a baby goat today. I saw these people at the goat show last weekend. They had nice stock and all the goats were spotted. The babies they had brought with them to the show weren't for sale but they said they had plenty more at home that were for sale. Most of their herd is spotted and they said they had a bunch of spotted babies at home that weren't quite ready to be sold yet but that I could come look at them and decide which one I wanted and pick up later. And they said it was 400$ for a doeling, and confirmed that through email. A bit pricy, but they are from good stock. And I want another spotted doeling. Bad.

So... we drove 2 hours. I get there and park right in front of the barn and the lady in the barn tells me to go into the house. I knock at the front door, someone opens it, and leaves it open for me to come in. As I start to cross the threshold an old lady starts yelling at me to close the door or the dogs are going to get out. So I close the door in BFs face while trying to herd the dogs back into the house. I wanted to tell her I wasn't the one who opened the door and left it open, but I bit my tongue. Then she asked me if I was there to be disbudded. Choking back a smart response, I said no I've been emailing you about buying a goat, and you told me to come today at 1200 (and it's 1202). She tells me to go back to the barn.

So we go back out to the barn. Everyone in the barn ignores us for the most part. Finally the old lady comes out of the house and into the barn. The daughter grabs two brown baby goats from the baby goat pen and puts them in the barn corridor to run around. One of them has a small white spot on its belly. The old lady points to one and says "that one's 4, the other is 5." And I looked at her confused, and she goes "HUNDRED. FOUR AND FIVE HUNDRED... but if you buy both I'll let them go for 800 total." So I ask the most intelligent question I had which was "Do you have any other babies for sale? You told me they were spotted." She then gets nasty with me again and says "These are what we have for sale. They are champion dairy goats, you buy for confirmation not for spots. Buying for spots isn't a smart idea." Made me feel about this big.

Then the daughter tries to tell me that the babies of these goats will more than likely have spots, because you see this goat here, that's her mother, and this goat here is her aunt...

And these people just weren't getting it. They told me they had one thing for one price, and they didn't have it and the price wasn't even the same as previously quoted. And besides, if I wanted to be treated like crap I can find that somewhere else, too.

 

[stonykill]

Send me some ant eating australorps! I've got ants in the hive, ants in the bathroom... ants in the kitchen but I can deal with those... they clean up my crumbs. Maybe I do need a house chicken. The cats just watch the ants march on by.


Went to go buy a baby goat today. I saw these people at the goat show last weekend. They had nice stock and all the goats were spotted. The babies they had brought with them to the show weren't for sale but they said they had plenty more at home that were for sale. Most of their herd is spotted and they said they had a bunch of spotted babies at home that weren't quite ready to be sold yet but that I could come look at them and decide which one I wanted and pick up later. And they said it was 400$ for a doeling, and confirmed that through email. A bit pricy, but they are from good stock. And I want another spotted doeling. Bad.

So... we drove 2 hours. I get there and park right in front of the barn and the lady in the barn tells me to go into the house. I knock at the front door, someone opens it, and leaves it open for me to come in. As I start to cross the threshold an old lady starts yelling at me to close the door or the dogs are going to get out. So I close the door in BFs face while trying to herd the dogs back into the house. I wanted to tell her I wasn't the one who opened the door and left it open, but I bit my tongue. Then she asked me if I was there to be disbudded. Choking back a smart response, I said no I've been emailing you about buying a goat, and you told me to come today at 1200 (and it's 1202). She tells me to go back to the barn.

So we go back out to the barn. Everyone in the barn ignores us for the most part. Finally the old lady comes out of the house and into the barn. The daughter grabs two brown baby goats from the baby goat pen and puts them in the barn corridor to run around. One of them has a small white spot on its belly. The old lady points to one and says "that one's 4, the other is 5." And I looked at her confused, and she goes "HUNDRED. FOUR AND FIVE HUNDRED... but if you buy both I'll let them go for 800 total." So I ask the most intelligent question I had which was "Do you have any other babies for sale? You told me they were spotted." She then gets nasty with me again and says "These are what we have for sale. They are champion dairy goats, you buy for confirmation not for spots. Buying for spots isn't a smart idea." Made me feel about this big.

Then the daughter tries to tell me that the babies of these goats will more than likely have spots, because you see this goat here, that's her mother, and this goat here is her aunt...

And these people just weren't getting it. They told me they had one thing for one price, and they didn't have it and the price wasn't even the same as previously quoted. And besides, if I wanted to be treated like crap I can find that somewhere else, too.

geez. makes you wonder how they aver sold anything

 

[superchemicalgirl]

It does. We had met the daughter at the show, and she was nice enough. Not really friendly, but friendly enough. It was her mom that was the piece of work.

And I'm friendly(ish) and polite.

I guess they sell them because they're CHAMPIONS!

So I think Tuesday after work I'm going to go look at some LaManchas. He doesn't have spotted ones but at least has told me that. I liked one that he had at the goat show, but it's not for sale. His goat kids are only 250$ though... I'm wondering if the goat I liked might be for sale at the "right" price of 400$? (Since I already took 400$ out of the bank last weekend in anticipation of buying a goat at the goat show).