Washingtonians

[Rainwolf]

I won tickets to the SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival)
I'll be going to see the documentary "Buck" about Buck Brannaman
http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44457&fid=206
Should be a great watch.

I best get my work done tomorrow so I can take off wed night!!

Today I got:
The rest of my garden plants planted.... another 8 tomato plants and 15 various squashes.
Made a simple barrel rack and cut the top off 2 plastic barrels. for my composters
Covered barrels in a small hoop greenhouse to help keep hot
Helped my nephew make his cedar benches... taught him how to split a 6-7' log in to 2 equal parts.
lost my camera so I can't take photos..

Tomorrow I need to do 1 basic thing.... dig/level/form my footings for the retaining wall.
Hope my back and muscles don't go on strike.

can't catch up with you guys so if I missed anything just let me know.

 

[Rainwolf]

oh and thanks for the spirit award guys

I know I'm a little slow
I just noticed

 

[VelvettFog]

Good day at the office yesterday. I was just being paranoid I guess

Didn't do much after work - ran a couple sets of sprinklers and worked out a roosting system for the new tri-plex. Tinkered around with some chicken nipples, I'm curious how the birds figure out water will come out of those funny orange things if they peck at them -- we'll see how that works out. I put the nesting pads in the Hen House - that structure is funcually complete, just needs some trim, and I think some additional ventliation.

For today -- hopefully a normal day at work, out of here by 2:30. Maybe at lunch I'll scoot over to the feed store. Few roosts to finish in the Tri-Plex, and I can always keep working on painting it. I hate that part. I found some nifty clasps at the Re-store, but they require a slight modification to the doors, so I have that adjustment to make too.

I really enjoy the life of a Cooper

Dave

 

[BarnChick]

Quote:
Oh thats so great, i was going to take him, but it just didn't work out to go and pick him up from her. He is beautiful. So glad you can give him a second loving home.

 

[BarnChick]

Quote:
i don't think it was paranoid, I think it was cautious. You have been through a lot, and now that its had time to settle for you, its something you don't want to bring right up into the forefront all the time. Its understandable actually. Glad it went ok.

Would LOVE to see more pics, hint hint.

 

[ByN8ureHomstead]

Quote:
East of the Mountains? Pretty much all of summer and into early fall, although up in Okanogan and Omak where RFF and 4312 live fall comes earlier; West of the Mountains it may get hot enough for AC a week or two every summer, if you can't close your blinds before the sun hits the windows. It was over 100 degrees on the wetside five days in a row in... 2009? 2008? and that was *half* the triple digit weather for my whole life. And last summer it only got over 90 once. On the wetside.

East of the Mountains there's places that are true deserts.

HA!!! I wish I didn't hit 100 degrees every summer... But every year that I have lived here, "so 4 years now," my backyard has gotten up to 115... Now keep in mind that I have 0 shade except for the AM hours and at dusk... During the hottest days we will hit 117 no problem, normal days we are sitting at over 95 degrees... I have figured out though, that if I spray the rocks around my back porch, it cools my yard off by about 15 degrees... Kinda like a swamp cooler. My chickens are lucky, they have the only shady spot through the entire day.

I don't think we get that high but we are already near 100, we have been in the upper 90 for about a week with heat index above 100*. I am trying to imagine what 100*+ would be like without humidity. Maybe like the kitchen when we cook Christmas dinner.

 

[broodytood]

Quote:
HA!!! I wish I didn't hit 100 degrees every summer... But every year that I have lived here, "so 4 years now," my backyard has gotten up to 115... Now keep in mind that I have 0 shade except for the AM hours and at dusk... During the hottest days we will hit 117 no problem, normal days we are sitting at over 95 degrees... I have figured out though, that if I spray the rocks around my back porch, it cools my yard off by about 15 degrees... Kinda like a swamp cooler. My chickens are lucky, they have the only shady spot through the entire day.

I don't think we get that high but we are already near 100, we have been in the upper 90 for about a week with heat index above 100*. I am trying to imagine what 100*+ would be like without humidity. Maybe like the kitchen when we cook Christmas dinner.

Yeah, except your the one being cooked!

 

[broodytood]

I read this on the Old Fashioned Broody thread and thought it was fascinating! Maybe you pros already know all about it. So maybe there is something to clucking at your eggs in the incubator!

CayuseRanch wrote:

I thought I would share something that I read the other day in the magazine Popular Farming Magazine; Chickens. Some of you may already know this but to a newbie like me it is pretty darn amazing!

The article is titled, Psych 101 by Carol Ekarius

"When a hen is brooding eggs, itis very desirable for the hatching of those eggs to be synchronized," says Dr. Mench. "There is communication going on between the hen and the chicks (or chick embryos at this point) that ultimately leads to the eggs development either speeding up or slowing down so that they hatch around the same time."

Scientists have discovered (using tiny microphones connected to eggs and placed in the nest) that the hen hears vocal responses from the embryos to her vocalizations. These responses give her clues as to how the embryos are developing compared to each other. Based on that communication, she turns the eggs at different rates, moving one that is maturing a little more quickly out to the edge of the pile to cool off and slow down, while moving one that is maturing more slowly to the center of the nest to speed development.

 

[Ogress]

.... the rain is back; it is going to be a challenge peeling the dog bombs off the lawn again.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
At the big ranch in Ione OR I worked on, we sunk two posts about 3 feet apart in between sheep pastures, and sunk a 8" deep LONG trough in the ground & used the bleach solution in it.
Animals had to walk through it several times a day.
We still had to "prune" hooves, but had no thrush, no hoof rot.
Works for cattle too, just have posts farther apart, and hang a lice bag between the two posts, and the cattle KNOW and will rub all over under the lice bag to powder themselves.
Saw too many big nasty worms in their skin..had to use a box wrench to pop them out..but the lice bag worked & hoof trough worked great!

Now that brings the question to my mind... How would you go about making a trough big enough for the horses to have to step in it? What would you use? Cause thats a great idea! lol

You can line up the 2 posts between the feeding area & pasture, so they have to walk through..dig with a shovel a long through inbewteen the posts, line with heavy plastic, and fill with the bleach solution water.
After a while their weight may cave the plastic in, so you would have to reline it.
Concrete would be better & more permenent...but costly.