Washingtonians

[DuckLady]

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Wow! I want garden boxes, just have not gotten around to building them.
Maybe this year!

 

[Chickielady]

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I have not had any problems with any bugs here.
Not any.
Except 1.
We were, in the first year of September 2009, and again in September 2010, visciously overcome by MILLIONS of ladybugs.
They could be seen flying towards our wee barn from way down the hill.
And they landed on us, the barn, the bird coops, in the water dishes, all over everywhere and they will bite !
My Mother said they are attracted to light colors, and then the barn was sky blue. But last summer we painted eveything this sagey green color, and the bugs came anyway.
They are in the attic, and do not bother us at all.
I can only assume the larvae hatch out and eay their little hearts out here on something...Illia will know, she is the bug girl !
We had those moths lay eggs all over the run netting...but nothing happened there.

 

[Chickielady]

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that's awesome! where do you get those boxes??

Couple miles away in South Bend.
They are 20 feet long and have a lid.
We bring several batteries and the Ryobi sawzall (love the sawzall !!) and cut it in half or in thirds, pile in the trailer and strap down.
We drill holes in the bottoms when we get home.
They are perfect for horse feed, rabbit hutches (add wire to the top, turn sideways or ?), garden beds, nest boxes (add partition)
critter cages.

 

[KMHunter]

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I will give you my opinion but I am not sure it is worth much. If your dogs are good and easily trained I would get chicks. You ca handle them alot and they will grow up used to humans and all the other animals, and you can get your dogs used to them too. Your Golden is a bird dog so you will always have to be careful, but I think I would go with chicks.

 

[SadieSue]

Gorgeous pics of the garden Chickielady! All this talk of gardens got me thinking about these large wooden boxes we need to get rid of in the common area behind our wine shop. They were here when we moved in, but I guess the landlady has been telling my cousin, (the manager) that we have to clear our stuff out. I was thinking of them for benches, planters, or ?
I need to find out for certain if we have to get rid of all of these but I think there's at least 10 of these boxes, along with some doors, and a big laminate desk with drawers and cubbies. I'll bet I could rehome some of these things.
I have a couple pics of them. How do I post pics here?

 

[Chickielady]

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There is a link in the Index on how to post pics, it is really easy. Sounds like you have some nice boxes.

 

[SadieSue]

Here are the boxes from the front. They're approximately 5' long by 14" high.

And from the side - The doors and some other misc. items are leaning against the boxes.

 

[Chickielady]

This being mostly for Greg:
I do not worry about electricity.
I do not use much anyway.
But I learned when we added the solar panels that using electricity is so much better for the enviroment.
And Washignton State (Idaho and Oregon) make mega millions of mega watts, so much so that it is plumbed by high towers marching all the way to Los Angeles.
THEY need to conserve, and THEY need to generate some watts.
My FiL got his solar set up and immediately got all electric heat, etc...point being he is using his own power, and making zero emissions.
We have our solar panels and make enough juice to run half the neighborhood.

No one down there is putting up solar!!
The people of California are protesting wind farms too, especially in Mendocino and other places of high dollar property, claiming it brings down the property value, and if that does not work, they insist the windmills will kill birds.
Please use as much electricity as possible !
And maybe the applesaucey people in California will start generating their own electricity, and taking responsibility for their own existence.
They feel they 'deserve' it all !
They are very user friendly, and get really po'd if told to conserve or they will have a brown or even black out.
Power up here is also ALOT cheaper than down there !
I am going to use some of the heat tape, and wonder rock cut down the center so will have 2 -2' strips. Like a counter.
If it gets "too" hot, it won't hurt anything, and it cannot get too hot DH says.
I will use my heat tape if I want to !!

I doubt if this heat tape makes even a $1.99 difference in our power bill, too.
We have 1 lamp.

The real power we use goes into the heat lamps (3) and usuallu only using 1, and the incubator.
We have no clothes dryer....use the solar clothes dryer

 

[RonB]

SadeSue
Thats a TOUGH question. It really depends on the dog. you have a bird dog so that might make it alittle harder. I have a 14 yr. old German Shepherd. I started with chicks but have added 5-6 month old pullets to the flock. My dog watches over them pretty good when they free range. she will even move when they move in the pasture. I have to worry more about a couple of my chickens picking on my dog .

she is gentle with them. but if they come up on the deck, she will bark at them and run them off it. She is Deaf but she KNOWS when a coyote or bogcat is in the field and she will bark like crazy and come looking for us. We DIDN'T train her to act like this, she just started it on her own. Maybe she saw that I was watching out for the chikcens when they were out and she started to do it .
I guess you have to try and show your dog that the chickens are apart of your family and are important to you. GOOD l LUCK. let us know how its going

 

[Chickielady]

Howdy stranger RonB

where have ya been lately ?????