The Old Folks Home

[Arielle]

Arielle, saw something really great on another website. You have probably seen it but just in case you haven't it is the quote from Fred Rodgers. I think it is an excellent thing to say to kids during these times when all you see are horrible things on the news.
Something to take our minds off the hours of reporters interviewing each other as nothing new is happening.

Love it!!! Fred ROgers is one of my favorite people. Love his soothing voice in this crazy mixed up world. I would watch , or listen, to his show even when I didn't have kids. A little sanity in this insane world. But since his voice is silent-- I'll take those awesome serene photos . . . . .

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I tripped over a hose yesterday and had enough time going down to think "Roll" and managed to hit the ground rolling-- I was thinking of you and knew I counldn't get hurt being here all alone. SOrry you are still hurting--- it saved me from a potentially bad fall.

My heart goes out to all involved. I'm curious as to what changed in the hearts of these boys. Something triggered this. VEry sad. Perhaps the youngest boy, now that he is in custody, will reveal why this happened. All very sad. Including SCG not getting her eggs in a timely manner-- wonder how this was related , if it was, or just a co-incidence, or someone hoping to capitalize on distracted authoriites. Just a waste.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I had the stomach bug soooooooooo bad from the middle of Thursday night that I swear my liver and kidneys were dissolving. They hurt!! Hubby left the tv on when he went to work and I lay here half-conscious listening to 12 hours of developments only waking enough to run to the bathroom to worship the porcelain god...no luck finding the remote, so I absorbed every detail over time. Odd situation. I find it sad that people can hate so easily- both the perps and the public.

Truely. THe lack of compassion is stunning-- eager to label in the worst ways. Even Kally Cosley was supporting the reporters efforts thru this day to day reporting ad nasium. Much of the infor was off, or totally incorrect but because "sources" said it was true, it must be. SHe fell a notch. Easy to paint some one black. sigh.

Hope you are feeling much bettter . . . and found the remote. Mine is missing too!

 

[Wisher1000]

I need your help!

Please go to the tie Breaker Thread and vote for your favorite poem.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/770469/cinco-de-mayo-poultry-poetry-tie-breaker-vote

It ends at midnight tonight, so hurry!

 

[Arielle]

The pictures some of you are posting are so pretty. If that is what you see on a daily basis - I am so envious. Compared to this dust bowl where I live - your landscapes win big time. LOL I am in the Flint Hills, and although there is a certain beauty to the prairie and the miles upon endless miles of rolling hills and pastures, it is very subtle. I do get to see an impromptu cattle round up now and then and get to see a prairie fire from too close up also.

Mosquitos - it is those tiny little ones that come out in mass at dusk that I hate. They attack so viciously I usually go in and wait a couple of hours to finish anything outdoors that still needs to be done. Anyone know anything about mosquito fish? I am looking into getting some.

I ordered, and received, a few Nankin bantams. Love them!! They put packing peanuts in the box. Now, what am I going to do with 14 packing peanuts that are eating and growing like there is a race to be the biggest chick on the block? Uggg I am hoping that some of the smaller ones are pullets, not likely though. I could use some standard size hens for some bigger eggs.

Did you know that a little bantam egg is perfect for some of the microwave in a cup breads?

I love cake in a cup!!

Wow what a way to answer a question!

Are any Alabama, LF raisers here?

Not AL, but MA LF raiser. ANd a few ducks and turkeys too! lol Welcome.

Babies! Australorps. Love them for them thar eggs! Keeping a few of these for sure.



So, our weather is going to warm up! Can't wait. We are supposed to have one more day this week that will dip below freezing in the night. Hoping that prediction changes. I'm ready to go out and plant some petunias! My Tulips are coming up. I face the north, so they are just getting pretty on this side of the street, when the neighbors across the street are finishing up. Tulips are my favorite flower. Wish they would stay nice longer.
What's your favorite flower?

I love the spring flowers: daffodils are up. crocus are a littlel slow on the west side. Tulips, love tulips. Love crocus too. THey herald SPRING. Lilacs-- I pick lilacs--do they count?

OK I just have to share a tip I learned on the internet for making hard boiled eggs out of freshly laid eggs. I have tried all kinds of different methods. Salt in the water, Eggies (they really are horrible to clean), starting with cold water, putting the eggs in already boiling water and even tried the baking method. All of those produced the same result of losing a lot of the white when peeling the eggs. I just tried this new method on 18 eggs that were laid over this past week. Before putting the eggs in the water, take a tack or some other tool that will make a small hole (I used a small skewer that people use for baking turkeys) and pierce the large end of the egg just enough to get through the shell but trying not to break the membrane (if you break the membrane, no big deal you will just loose a little of the whites while the egg is cooking). Get the water boiling first (this keeps the yolk from getting that greenish tinge) and then slowly lower the eggs into the boiling water. You will see air bubbles escaping from the hole that you made in the egg. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes (depending on how hard boiled you want them). Right after they finish cooking put the eggs in an ice water bath for 15 minutes. You can crack them up a little before you put them in the cold water if you like. After chilling them, I like to crack the shells up a bunch to make it easier to peel them. It was sooooooooo much easier to get under the membrane and peel those eggs. I didn't loose a bit of the whites when I was peeling them.

Great timing!! I haven't found a great method that is reliable.

Here are some "teaser" photos of the new duck pond, but not all the construction shots.

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Whilst ducks accomplish submarine swimming all the time, I was really pleased to see Angus swim beneath the surface of the pond - the geese have never had enough room to do that in the stock pond!

Ducks move over, I'm jumping in!!

Hmmm Linda,. all you need to do is have a hot pool man come over every week to clean while you sit, sip a lemonade and watch him work. Maybe not - realize that's my fantasy not yours and I don't have a pool..

 

[Cynthia12]

Where did you get the hatching eggs?

Beautiful!

ebay! The white is a NN I hatched last week. Has a nice muff and bowite..and, if you look closely, there is a three week old Serama in there. She is small. The babies are almost as big as she is. I love Australorps.

 

[Cynthia12]

i have 24 Australorps in my bator in the philippines - among another 158 assorted eggs.

when i first started my crazy plan, they were the first on my list. it was amazingly hard for me to get their eggs. in socal its all designer birds

my favorite flowers in four season climates are ranunculus

in the tropics its gingers

we have several species but my mother in law has a spectacular half acre garden of tropical plants








our soil is basically sand. we have onshore sal laden winds during the US winter that bring havoc to our garden, burning just about everything within 100 yards of the beach.

our garden is only 4 years old.


here is the same view as the photo above before we rennovated

Wow, you live in a beautiful place! I love the flowers there! And, glad you got some Australorps. You will love those eggs, and they are big birds, if you eat the meat, they will make a nice table bird.

 

[Cynthia12]

gryeyes, nice! And Arielle, yes, lilacs count!

 

[thebirdguy]

Love the pond Linda!!

 

[ozexpat]

Today Mrs Oz arrived at the farm. Lots of dramas that essentially I bestowed upon my amazing wife.
· 180 (or something like that) chicken eggs, 18 duck eggs on day 19/20 in the incubator and the power was out
· The planned sad eggtopsy of the cotournix quail
· 20 Muscovy ducklings hatched 4 days ago under a broody with the second one hatching her ducklings any day.
The power was out for an hour and twenty minutes when she arrived. Ten minutes later the power came on, fans and lights in the bator came on and the temperature inside the bator was restored. The temp only had dropped to 95. That beast is well insulated and retained its heat well.

The Cotournix are trying to hatch – the spike in temps did some damage – it killed the initial early pippers but now we are on day 20 and we have eggs rocking. Two assisted hatchlings are in the bator warming and eggs are rocking. We have a drawn out hatch on our hands but may end up with Cotournix yet.

Mrs Oz went over to the bator house and found the brooder light on. Low and behold, there were 20 ducklings pooping in the brooder. We actually bought the trio of adult Muscovies off the family of one of our nannies. It appears that Azun had said that at her place, ants attack the ducklings and he needs to look after them for the first 6 weeks. Bernie, the gardener, so keen to get every bird to adulthood, heeded her advice. Now, my perfectly clean brooder, needed for the anticipated onslaught of chicks, is now home to poopers that could be free ranging with their mother.

On top of all that – I just got a text from Mrs Oz. Two chickens have hatched! Its going to be a crazy day on the farm. The text finished with Yippy Kay Yay Mutha Hen

I guess mrs Oz is happy