Washingtonians

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
Congratulations from me! I can do flowers for wholesale cost.

Thanks for the generous offer, although I'm oversupplied with florists in the family.

I'm also relieved that this is my son getting married and not my daughter(yet- there are rumblings in that direction). We may be able to swing the rehearsal dinner, but the obligations contingent on being the bride's parents are beyond our financial, physical, and certainly my emotional capacity. My own wedding nearly killed me: it was a week before I could even stack firewood, and I was twenty-nine years younger then. I always told the kids I'd pay for them to elope to Hawai'i, but we've been negligent in that part of our financial planning.

 

[ReiMiraa]

ok i have a question about the "wine bottle ducks"

how good of layers are they?

do they get along with chickens?

Do the have to have access to water (for swim not drink) or could they be more like 'weeder geese'?

I am thinking of getting a few eggs from any of you to hatch some, or i can get mutant duck crossed geese from my neighbor to hatch.... he even has a alpaca/lama.

still wishing someone had dewlap toulouse geese eggs.

 

[TouchO'Lass]

Quote:
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me: snowload is something that one needs to be prepared for.

Hahahaha, yeah, I don't want to do things twice, either, but I just can't afford a hard roof for my run just now.

Don't know what kind of covers you're getting, but I can tell you my experience: We had one of those 10X20 vinyl shelters for a hay shed that lasted almost two winters. The first winter, tho, was a nice SUNNY snowy winter, and the snow drifted right off every day. The next winter was dark and dreary and snowy, (we weren't paying attention) and with just a few inches on the tarp over several days, the legs buckled, but not the arches. After we got it braced up, we just had to go out after snow and whack the underside of the canopy to get the snow rolling. We took it down after the snow stopped because it was barely hanging on, and now I had all these scrap brackets and poles lying around...

SOOO! I had a 10'X24' dog run being unused. I cut the connector brackets down to sit on the top rails, screwed and mondo-zip-tied the frame to the run and put the old canopy back on. Last four feet I covered with sunshade and the ends got chicken wire...

I'm really hoping that all I need to do is watch and whack

this winter, but if it starts looking iffy, I'll try a heat tape on the rails and skip sheeting to stop the canopy from sagging...

afterthot: Uf duh! I guess my point is, the top is approx a 6/12 pitch, and was pretty daggumed solid with a vinyl top as long as the snow was not allowed to sit and sag the canopy, so depending on what you have, hopefully you can take this info and apply it to your covers, put your mind at rest and get some sleep!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
If there wasn't some fudge room, I myself would be quite dead by now. I miss at least one insulin shot every week, usually the least critical one (5 units Novolog before lunch) but once a month or so either the morning or evening 22 units of Lantus gets forgotten. I'm in pretty good control now, so missing a shot is just unwise and inconvenient, but when I was struggling with highs it would make me feel like garbage.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
I go to the Emunclaw one but only to take cockerels. I would never take the chance and buy something. There are too many diseases out there to worry about. There is rarely quality stuff at the auction. The times I've been however, I have never seen anything horrifying but that doesn't mean there never is. You want to spend money on birds, come to my place. I have lots to pick from and they are healthy and guaranteed. I am close to you.

There ya go !!!! While the auction can be a fun experience. It can also be very devastating. And for the $$ you save in gas you could buy lots more birds from CGG. Any type of animal auction is for the most part a dumping ground.

Well, they are now: in the day's before Craig's List they were the only reliable way to sell or buy whole classes of animals, especially started calves, feeders, replacement heifers, and springers. They were also the prime nexus for information transfer, which is sorely lacking now, and for disease transfer, which nobody misses. And they've always been a form of gambling: you could never be absolutely sure if that perfectly healthy looking springer you paid top price for wasn't going to be somebody's old 4H project with a history of calving problems, or the group of ten light feeders may not have been weaned that morning and never vaccinated or wormed: everything from age to actual ownership could be obscured, and five days of push feeding covers a multitude of sins.

The big once-a-year bloodstock auctions are a whole different matter, but I have to say that my native suspicion tells me that they can't have a lobster-and-prime-rib open buffet and an open bar without selling most of their bulls (or horses) at a premium price, and that the open bar especially does not seem to be in the buyers' favor.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
I had heard that it was ok from the farm or at farmers market but anything else needed lic. So I wonder if that changes by county.

It's a Ws-DOA reg, but the smaller Farmers Markets with no permanent buildings usually fly under the radar. It only takes one case of salmonella or listeria traced back to your eggs, or even to the market as a whole, for the hammer to fall, though. The Oly Farmers Market got assigned a permanent inspector when some bozos started selling clams from closed beaches at the Market (and not even at the Market proper but out of their car trunks in the parking lot) and started an infectious hepetitis epidemic, closed down all the home bakers and jelly makers and egg people.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

TouchO'Lass :

Quote:
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me: snowload is something that one needs to be prepared for.

Hahahaha, yeah, I don't want to do things twice, either, but I just can't afford a hard roof for my run just now.

Don't know what kind of covers you're getting, but I can tell you my experience: We had one of those 10X20 vinyl shelters for a hay shed that lasted almost two winters. The first winter, tho, was a nice SUNNY snowy winter, and the snow drifted right off every day. The next winter was dark and dreary and snowy, (we weren't paying attention) and with just a few inches on the tarp over several days, the legs buckled, but not the arches. After we got it braced up, we just had to go out after snow and whack the underside of the canopy to get the snow rolling. We took it down after the snow stopped because it was barely hanging on, and now I had all these scrap brackets and poles lying around...

SOOO! I had a 10'X24' dog run being unused. I cut the connector brackets down to sit on the top rails, screwed and mondo-zip-tied the frame to the run and put the old canopy back on. Last four feet I covered with sunshade and the ends got chicken wire...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/84860_100_0533.jpg https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/84860_100_0596.jpg
I'm really hoping that all I need to do is watch and whack

this winter, but if it starts looking iffy, I'll try a heat tape on the rails and skip sheeting to stop the canopy from sagging...

afterthot: Uf duh! I guess my point is, the top is approx a 6/12 pitch, and was pretty daggumed solid with a vinyl top as long as the snow was not allowed to sit and sag the canopy, so depending on what you have, hopefully you can take this info and apply it to your covers, put your mind at rest and get some sleep!

hallerlake (and Haller Lake) is right in the sweet spot of the Puget Sound Convergence Zone and in the way of the nasty substance called Cascade Concrete. I'm worrying about snow load myself which is why I'm going for hoop houses (except in the Wyandotte coop and run, which will get something stronger before winter) along with SW gale force winds and cattle getting out.

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
Well those were pretty interesting to look at! Beautiful books. I also think it's interesting that it seems the number of breeds is so limited to what I see even here on the board. I'm guessing the breeds listed here are more of the "heritage" breeds? I understand that different breeds and varieties are being added from time to time to the APA's list of accepted breeds for showing, is that correct? I've still so much to learn - I'll never know enough.

Those were very nice, vintage books - thank you for sharing.

 

[Chickielady]

Hi everyone, how is all?

I had been a vegie all day yesterday.everytime we tried to go out & get something done, it was absolutely raining cows & hogs.
I finally said APPLESAUCE!! and made myself a nest on the bed & watch old TV shows...with a good book too.
Today I now have 2X as much work to do since yesterday little got done.
So, I will be in & out when I can.

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
I would be up for a relay. I would seriously consider the full 400 mile hour drive to ensure he goes to a good home, if I can't find another taker.

I would be part of a relay.

If scheduling works out, I'd be willing to be part of a relay as well. I'd like to see that pretty roo get a good new home.