Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Stumpfarmer]

I just wrote a check for $9,971.50............................and now I think I need a nap !

Well, that would tire me right out, no doubt.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Well... poop. Dog, to begin with: I spent ten minutes picking up dog bombs for every one I was doing anything else, and THEN when I went out to shut the final pasture gate into the orchard* I found a coyote marking poop, maybe ten feet from Ian and Sylvia's pen, and was not ready to go retrieve dog poop to counter it. I buried it under mud (I've got an infinite supply of that right now, if you need any) and cow-pie.

I'm idly considering the complications of wiring a shock cage for the suet boxes, one I could turn on when the starlings attack but which would also come one at full dark to zap rodents. It is possible I'm getting evil in my old age.

Evil, evil, evil...

*which I nearly immediatly had to open when a cow showed up on the wrong side of the gate. Stupid lack of clear sight-lines.

what a day you are having !!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was pretty average: at least I didn't have any cows OUT! The grass is still growing, so they're only going through one round bale every other day, and the Spitzenberg and Grimes Golden trees are dropping apples, so they're not hungry but they do want attention.

Yesterday I had a Heather in, and before that I got a spam text on my phone at 4:50AM, so I was on the edge of falling asleep all day. We got a whole lot done in the time she was here, although that included going into Lacey to buy groceries and make a payment, and sealing up some drafts and vacuuming and getting the cardboard and plastic recycling off the place, and zero construction work. Today I have to deal with the incredible destructive powers of a bored sheep, so I won't get any of the few things I can do by myself off the past-due list, either.

The dogs are pretty obviously at the point in their lives when they're not digesting things efficiently, which makes for lots of poops. They're also both too stiff to self-groom, and I do as much combing as I can, but still end up with giant chunks of shed hair to clean up. I'm always a little suprised they're both alive in the morning, and have to admit that feeling is something I will be glad to be done with, when the time comes.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Flour works well too. I have even used DIRT in a desperate move. See it was a rush trim of goat feet at a show. The judge was really coming down on feet. Well I was hurrying to get all my goats and a friends trimmed. I quicked on and nobody had anything to put on it so I stuck it in dry dirt to get it to clot then wiped it off. Yes not the best but some times ya gotta do what ya gotta do!!! FYI the goat never had any problems related to the dirt. But I don't recommend it unless ALL else fails.

Oh good idea !!!
Seriously !!

I think DE would work pretty well, too. Any fine powder.

And of course the old folk medicine for bleeding is cobwebs.

 

[Chickielady]

Someone else posted the link on the Barnevelder thread, I was just sharing from there.

Thanks !!!

 

[Chickielady]

See I knew you must be WAAAAYY older

than the rest of us youngins. I have no memory of such things (that I would admit) !

HA !!! I bet you do remember them, on the other hand you always had a real dragon, so had no use for a cardboard fireplace !!

I got one for our kids as they were so worried that Santa could not get in, when we had no fireplace, and there was no place to hang their stockings...the cardboard fireplace solved all their worries !!!!
How they figured Santa could get in through a vortex in a cardboard fireplace I have no idea.....a time warp......another dimension ???????????

 

[Chickielady]

Sevin Dust or Eprinex?
Well, I'm almost out of Sevin to dust for the probable mites on my BSL. I don't much like dusting chickens so I'm thinking about switching to Eprinex. But I've never used it and don't know the pros and cons. It sounds like it's easier to apply and lasts longer than Sevin, is that true? What would y'all do?

I use Permetrin II (a small super condensed little bottle) add 3-4 Tablespoons per gallon, and spray everything, even birds, coops, everything.
Directions are on the bottle.
In early spring I buy 4-5 bottles to last me all year...oh I use it on some trees & plants also, but it has a tad of oil in it that can irritate some plants.

As for dust bath, 1/2 sand + 1/2 DE, mixed together and then add 1-2 cans of POULTRY DUST if ya want to...poultry dust is basically DE impregnated with permethrin..........I usually go biv-wackin at night with the red flash light & the squirt bottle of permethrin II, and spray butts all along the roost, works great !
Eprinex is a vermifuge, and I use it in spring & fall...same biv-wack in the night, with eye dropper, Eprinex is squirted on the back of each birds' neck (dig the eye dropper in so the Eprinex goes on their skin.)
Repeat Eprinex application again in 2 weeks.
Hope this helps, this is just how I do "it"...

 

[Chickielady]

If you can handle your chickens without trouble, and can use a syringe without dropping it, Eprinex is the way to go. It takes a tiny, tiny amount for each bird, placed on the skin between the shoulders. If you've got someone who can HELP you with it, it's even better.
I need to treat the Hamburgs, but everything to do with that pen has got me barred from access to them: design problems ahoy! Add to that the fact that I reliably drop everything smaller than a coffee cup*, and... yeah, ain't happening right now.
*Not neuropathy, thanks be. Rather a driving need for a Thoracic adjustment to take pressure off the superior inferior bracial nerves, so my hands don't randomly open at bad moments. Doing that withough screwing up the ribs means I need an expensive pro. This also makes typing a real treat.

I have gotten to the point of using a wide short coffee cup, pour a bunch of Eprinex in it, and grab the eye dropper and out I go to apply...this coffee cup does not tip over like the narrow bottle of Eprinex does !!!
First time we did it, DH knocked over the Eprinex bottle & spilled about 1/4 out before we grabbed it up again !
It is too expensive to waste...probably spilled enough to worm 150 birds !!!

 

[Chickielady]

It was pretty average: at least I didn't have any cows OUT! The grass is still growing, so they're only going through one round bale every other day, and the Spitzenberg and Grimes Golden trees are dropping apples, so they're not hungry but they do want attention.
Yesterday I had a Heather in, and before that I got a spam text on my phone at 4:50AM, so I was on the edge of falling asleep all day. We got a whole lot done in the time she was here, although that included going into Lacey to buy groceries and make a payment, and sealing up some drafts and vacuuming and getting the cardboard and plastic recycling off the place, and zero construction work. Today I have to deal with the incredible destructive powers of a bored sheep, so I won't get any of the few things I can do by myself off the past-due list, either.
The dogs are pretty obviously at the point in their lives when they're not digesting things efficiently, which makes for lots of poops. They're also both too stiff to self-groom, and I do as much combing as I can, but still end up with giant chunks of shed hair to clean up. I'm always a little suprised they're both alive in the morning, and have to admit that feeling is something I will be glad to be done with, when the time comes.

I had to take my dogs off any kibble/food with wheat, & corn.....after that they were fine !
Seriously the dogs would go out & poop in the side yard everyday...same poop spot...and it wreeked of Corn Tortillas out there !!!
That's when I figured out there was too much grains in the dog kibble...so we went with lamb & rice, works much better.
No more Taco explosions !

 

[Chickielady]

I think DE would work pretty well, too. Any fine powder.
And of course the old folk medicine for bleeding is cobwebs.

I have saved, in clear zip lock bags, 2 paper wasp nests, innards removed.
The Native Americans used this finely chewed paper to stop bleeding, and were known to have laid the fine paper on the outside of deep cuts were it coagulated and forms an instant scab.............and said to be pretty much germ & bacteria free.
But I doubt it would be of use on a cock's spur.
I do not anticipate bleeding, I just like to be fully supplied in case it does happen.

 

[Chickielady]

Well, I am going to work on the quilt plan again, cipgering how many different triangles of each color I need for how many 12" block I need...it is almost too much for my numerically challenged brain...I miss my accountant, who is busily cleaning rain gutters in California...he says it is absolutely monsooning there.....flooding....nasty storm.
Hope we do better here................if I have to crawl up an extension ladder & screw this giant tarp down in another 80-MPH storm..........I WON'T !!!

But it sure is getting windy.......