Washingtonians

[VelvettFog]

Wind storm last week blew down half of a very very old chinese elm on the property where I work. My office window looks right at this tree so when the crew showed up to cut it up I went out and asked what they were going to do with the wood. "Uhh, do you want it?". Heck yes .. can you cut it into 15" rounds? "Yes". Sweet! I will end up with about two cords of the stuff. Some of the rounds weigh about 300 lbs.! I'll have to load up the splitter and take it to work. I already went down there this morning and loaded up everything that one person can lift by themselves. (and a few that I should have probably not tried to move... lol)

Now -- it's raining still (in Yakima, WTH?) so I'll be 'shopping' all day. That's good news for RW's quail hutches. Oh, and someone sent me instructions on how to build a bee hive. And it just so happens that I have plenty of pine boards...

I'll be sure to check in here during breaks

Dave

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

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Oh, dandy!

And what a concept: coops first, chickens after!

Oh if that were only true!!!! I had about 36 chicks before the coops ever came to mind!

You only realize how fast they grow when they are in your family room. And that many can stink things up quick, so we found!

Then we found those crates on Craigs list and the fun began!

My incubator and hatcher are in the house so the chicks are in there in a brooder a few days. DH has been buying scented candles and lighting them.

 

[Ogress]

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Me too, especially when I can them! But I like the ones at the grocery store too. My kids hate them, but they love the ones I can, well all except the last batch where I cut the sugar back to 1 cup for 12 quarts of peaches.

 

[Ogress]

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Nice work!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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I have a cinderblock wall like that too, and I am planting it full of mint plants because I heard rats don't like mint.

Mint is a great source of bee food and blooms very late.

 

[Ogress]

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Where is everyone getting their rat zappers? I want a couple!

Farmtech - they are kind of spendy; $54 each for the ones with the 2 year or 40 rat battery life. I bought 2.
No rats in the traps today. Pulled the traps in this morning and will set them out again on the next dry day. Maybe it is the rain. They are under an overhang and behind a hunk of plywood so they stay dry. The manufacturer recommends putting a couple out and leaving them there, but my dogs walk off with them. It worked anyways. I caught a rat the first night the traps were out. I usually have the second one in the storage area of my coop, never seen rats in there, and never caught one. They say rats are smart and will often wait 2 weeks to investigate something new in their territory.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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Not sure if it is the mouse version of the rat zapper but I got an electronic mouse trap at Walmart. They go in and touch 2 metal contacts and it shocks them. Works very well for mice.

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

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How many hives to do I need to build you?

CR, sounds like the powers that be are trying to tell you something. Beekeeping may be your new profession!

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

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I have to buy canned peaches by the case at Costco for DH!

 

[Ogress]

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I have a cinderblock wall like that too, and I am planting it full of mint plants because I heard rats don't like mint.

Mint is a great source of bee food and blooms very late.

Thyme is too - I had thousands of them on my patio yesterday when the sun was out. Not honey bees though, but the fuzzy yellow, orange and black kind.

I have a bush near my window that gets covered in honeybees late each summer.