The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

It's not funny! He really is. Actually I had TWO pekin drakes. The other was also gay, and they were both in love with the rouen, who did not return their affections. The first pekin was so intent on mating the rouen we:



He was awesomely delicious.

Unfortunately removing him from the mix made the other pekin that much more determined to win the rouens affections. Allowing them to free range gives the rouen a bit more room to run from the pekin.

They're a hoot, those ducks.

 

[dsqard]

Hello Wisher! Thank you for inviting me to the thread.

I will probably only be on here sporadically since I have a lot going on right now. I start classes back up for my bachelor's degree next Tuesday and that takes up a lot of my free time along with trying to track down hay for the horses. Utah is a strange place to me. I am used to feed stores carrying full bales of hay and all they carry around here is compressed bales. That wouldn't be bad but they charge between $11 and $12 for 50lb "bales". I can't afford to feed my horses at that price so as the people who grow hay around here cut it, I have to go and get it. Just drove over an hour yesterday to get 70 bales of nice grass hay. Only $6 for about 50lb bales. I saved a ton by driving to get it but it takes time and usually at that price it is in the field so it took around an hour to load it (DH was golfing so I started by myself but got help about half way through) and then the hour drive back. I have to try to get the barn filled up for winter so I have been scouring the for sale ads every day. Most people grow straight alfalfa around here which I don't like to feed because of the calcium content. I would rather feed mixed or straight grass. So my next few weekends will be filled with school work and hay shopping. Hoping to squeeze 300 bales into the barn and then just top it off as we get closer to winter. Finding hay around here in the winter is nearly impossible unless you want moldy hay since a lot of the growers just stack it outside. Can't feed that to horses.
On a good note, DH and I just went to Page, AZ on a vacation to see the slot canyons (been wanting to do this for years) and it was awesome! SCG and I are plotting, er I mean planning on a Bryce/Zion trip with the BF and DH. We figure the "boys" can go play golf while we kill ourselves on the trails. I am stoked to go do that next spring. I love getting out and seeing new things. I can share pics of our last vacation if anyone would like to see them. Don't want to bore anyone though.

 

[Arielle]

Holy smokes!!! $11 per bale!!!!! Oouucch.

THe Grand Canyon is one place I would like my boys to see; that and the pyramids of Egypt. S Pictures are welcome, by me anyways.

You may want to reconsider buying the alfalfa. Not having enough hay thru the winter is worse than feeding alfafa. You can mix the Alf with the straight grass hay, especially first cut hay. Do you store enough hay to last past the first cutting of the next year?

I once could get 3rd cut alfafa-- I fed it to my broodmare in foal with her first, bred just turning three. She was a good size mare and still growing herself, so I supplemented her hay ration with the alfalfa . For anyone not having mares--the foals get soooo big the mares can hardly eat enough, so I give less feed in more nutrient packed mouthfuls. Big foal at 120 pounds. Full sib born 2 years later was 140 lbs.

Happy Hay hunting. Peace of mind is worth the drive.

 

[Wisher1000]

Dsqard- I would love to see some pics from your trip. I went there (it's quite a trip from Alabama) when I was a teenager (100) years ago. It was beautiful! I was disappointed because I couldn't ride the mules to the bottom. It seem you have to make those plans a year in advance.! I really want to take the boys out west to see Yellowstone and Rushmore but have made no plans in that direction. I wish I was close enough to go hiking with you two, that would be a hoot.

Arielle- Around these parts, alfalfa is $25 a bale. No one around here grows it so it is all shipped in. I don't think it grows this far south in our heat and humidity.

The lack of humidity is one of he things that facinated me when we went out west. I noticed that a glass of iced tea would evaporate as fast as the ice would melt and there was no condensation on the outside. No need for coasters! Around here, you have to wrap a napkin around your glass or it will drip everywhere.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Hello Wisher! Thank you for inviting me to the thread.

I will probably only be on here sporadically since I have a lot going on right now.

x2.

and thanks, Wisher. I've had a busy summer of conferences and travels, and now I'm in the process of applying to go back to school. So, this year will be madness: I'll be studying, taking tests, and going to interviews; DH will be buying a property in a state 16 hours away (which he is in route to right now to check out properties), fixing up our house, building us a new house, and moving our stuff. Then I'll quit my job of 10+ years, sell (

) my house, and try to move my chickens....

It's probably best if I don't think about it all at once like that...

I'm 30 with no kids. Instead, I have a dog, 2 cats, an aquarium of fish, and um.... 32 chickens, but many of those are chicks growing out. I've been tempted by ducks, goats, and emus, but I've been able to resist temptation knowing that we'd be moving eventually. Because of the chicks' different ages, I've got 4 groups right now, so my chicken chores have quadrupled and are taking much more time than I would like. Still, I'm a teacher on summer vacation, so it's enjoyable for right now. I'll have to find a way to streamline my chores before I go back to work in a couple of weeks.

I've never been west to the land of no humidity. It's so humid in my hollow (which is full of fog every morning) that I have to clean mold off the interior walls of my porch every summer. It's humid... I wonder what a "dry heat" feels like.

 

[Arielle]

Intestesting observation on the glass of ice tea!! Makes me thirsty just reading about the iced tea!

Lisa, I wouldn't feed alfalfa at that price either! Alfalfa was meant for dsard--she said straight alfalfa was available and she didn't like feeding it.

Always best to go with the local feeds available and supplement to fit the local hays. I know one woman in California feeds a lot of straw to her mares and gives them a supplement to meet their needs. Many ways to have a well fed horse. Trucking add a lot of cost.

I have been looking some of my best chicks to coccidia; treatment is not working as they are not eating and drinking. A lesson learned. I'm resigned at this point to lossing them all. I can only wait and see who can fight it off and which will not. I do find it interesting that the black copper marans died first, then the buckeyes. Nor sure what that means--maybe they ate the most dirt. I would like to know more about which breeds have better resistance to such things.

Lots to do today, will check back in later!!

 

[Arielle]

Nice to see you again!!

 

[hemet dennis]

x2.

and thanks, Wisher. I've had a busy summer of conferences and travels, and now I'm in the process of applying to go back to school. So, this year will be madness: I'll be studying, taking tests, and going to interviews; DH will be buying a property in a state 16 hours away (which he is in route to right now to check out properties), fixing up our house, building us a new house, and moving our stuff. Then I'll quit my job of 10+ years, sell (

) my house, and try to move my chickens....

It's probably best if I don't think about it all at once like that...

I'm 30 with no kids. Instead, I have a dog, 2 cats, an aquarium of fish, and um.... 32 chickens, but many of those are chicks growing out. I've been tempted by ducks, goats, and emus, but I've been able to resist temptation knowing that we'd be moving eventually. Because of the chicks' different ages, I've got 4 groups right now, so my chicken chores have quadrupled and are taking much more time than I would like. Still, I'm a teacher on summer vacation, so it's enjoyable for right now. I'll have to find a way to streamline my chores before I go back to work in a couple of weeks.

I've never been west to the land of no humidity. It's so humid in my hollow (which is full of fog every morning) that I have to clean mold off the interior walls of my porch every summer. It's humid... I wonder what a "dry heat" feels like.

Dry heat is 500 times better then humid.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Nice to see you again!!

You too!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I now have kids!

They screamed the ENTIRE way home. But thankfully they were continent.

They got into their new home, immediately evacuated bowels and bladder and then started munching on their hay and some maple trees. They are the epitome of cute. The girl is a fatty.