The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

How sweet LInda. Love the pics and the new light.

 

[Cynthia12]

Ron those turned out really nice. How did you pluck? There's not a single pin feather that I can see. Nicely done. With our scald method we also get that nasty yellow peely skin stuff, and I don't see that on yours, either. Very nice carcass.

The sum total of my accomplishments yesterday was taking a shower and dragging my butt to the store to get some cold medicine. I got up yesterday and felt like a truck hit me and that I was swallowing swords in the night. I was supposed to do the mite treatment and coop clean out yesterday, but I spent most of the day either on the internet in bed alternating with asleep in bed.

I woke up this morning at 0230 to start taking my medicine so that hopefully by 0430 I'd be at least ready to tackle the mites.

I was close - 0500 is when I was finally able to drag my butt out of bed and go Frontline the birds. I had calculated out 3 of the Frontlines to do my flock, and it took about 3.5. I had lost some in the melee and from some feathers floating into it and sucking it up.

Most of the birds had mites - although a few had none, and it really varied between a moderate and a mild infestation per bird. I did a drop at the neck, a drop under each wing, a drop on the back somewhere and a drop on the abdomen trying to get near the vent. Some biddies were extremely uncooperative (cough - the cornish games) and I was lucky to get 5 drops on them, somewhere, anywhere, without getting my eyes scratched out. The turkeys were also challenging. At least with the games I could squeeze them between my thighs to encourage cooperation. The turkeys, not so much. Try battling an estimated 35 pounds of really angry, uncooperative bird. I eventually ended up just hanging them upside down by their feet and squirting 0.25 ml of Frontline near their vent. Hopefully that works. If it doesn't, they're all getting butchered.

I still need to go back out and clean and treat the coop. I'm thinking another dose of pseudoephedrine for some energy, tackle the coop, then spend the rest of the day in bed.

I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on how the Frontline works for the mites. Frontline is used in the UK as a poultry lice treatment, but it's not approved there for mites. There's anecdotal evidence online that it has efficacy. It's pretty expensive, but if it works, it's worth it. If it doesn't work I guess I'll be moving to the individual bath in Adams Flea and Tick. I can't even imagine what that will be like.

Waiting for an update on this stuff ... hope it works great..sounds so easy to do. I am going to bookmark this page so I can keep an idea as to how much and where to put the Frontline.

 

[Cynthia12]

Wow you guys have been busy the past few days. I've been out of the loop taking Allie to her first hunt/jump show. She did really good. Cammi (the trainer riding her) did an awesome job with her. She took second in her first class and fifth in her second class. Not bad at all considering this is only her second trip away from home ever and her first ever show.


I also got to go out yesterday and get some fall pictures. I will have to share them later though because my dang computer is acting up and I have to take it in for a "checkup"

Oh DiDi, I love this. Congratulations! Great looking horse!

 

[Cynthia12]

Linda, those rock formations need names.................just sayin'..................

Good idea, and we should be the ones to give it a shot..at each one..or pick one and name it.

If you go for it Linda..I like this one as....

Owl Rock

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Linda, those rock formations need names.................just sayin'..................

Good idea, and we should be the ones to give it a shot..at each one..or pick one and name it.

If you go for it Linda..I like this one as....

Owl Rock

I see Moby Dick there... but then again I am the one who named Jay Leno rock and no one else saw that likeness but me.

 

[drumstick diva]

I agree it should be OWL Rock - I saw the owl eyes immediately

 

[drumstick diva]

OESDOG do the dogs still respect your husband after seeing him nekkid in the shower??

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

As the coop build progressed, and I blathered about it to other "regulars" at my fav hang-out, I got some eye-rolling responses and astonishment about using a "contractor to build a chicken coop?!?!?" I shared these reactions with John the Contractor. He'd got a kick out of them.

He always arrived around 9 a.m. - I usually got there any time between 10 and 11. (He unloaded his equipment, circular saw, ladders, supplies, etc. every day, reloading his work van every afternoon because it wouldn't be all that wise to leave tools there overnight.)

Anyway, one day he said "I got all the wire up," as soon as I got out of my car. "Uh huh, I see that."

"It looks better from the inside..." Okay, so I went into the coop to admire his work.

This was his surprise for me. He could hardly contain his glee.

..

Yup, he had replaced the ceramic light receptacle and CFL bulb with a pendant light! A sort of rustic chic "chandelier" for the coop!

"Better protection for the bulb against flying chickens" and "Less screwy surfaces to gather dust," said he. Riiiiight.

But isn't it wonderful?!? He obtained the pendant light from one of his other jobs, where the lights were removed for other fixtures.

And here are some of my favorite shots of a FEW of the rock out-croppings on the property.

All I can say is....lucky chickens.

 

[Arielle]

LInda-- love the lighting!! John is a keeper-- he clearly has as much fun building for your chickens as you do.

SCG-- hope you feel better soon!! Nice job getting the coop clean out done!!

tnspursfan--- you will find chickens are much like having children around-- into everything and making more work---nothing like a pile of leaves to jump in!

 

[gryeyes]

Linda, those rock formations need names.................just sayin'..................

Well, of course!

I named an old Cedar tree at the Olmstead Homestead "Grandfather Cedar" and another bunch all growing together "Five Sisters," so the rock formations at Thistle Dew Ranch certainly deserve names.