Washingtonians

[Kaneke]

scary thing about that Minnesota bridge collapse -- we were THERE, planning to take that route through the city, but decided to fuel up so took the "northern bypass" instead

while we were getting everything buttoned up after getting the gas, we saw several police vehicles with boats in tow -- made some smart remark about "only in the Land O Lakes"

wasn't until we got to the campground that night, that we heard what had REALLY happened, then thanked our guardian angel for redirecting us

 

[Chickielady]

Note:
Took Jack to the vet's Friday for his booster & rabies and wanted them to clean his ears.
Dogs with covered furry ears can get burs & wax and dirt built up and with the heat inside, infections can & do happen....had to watch my Labs as well.
So the vet says is there dyes in the dog kibble?
Yes, we said there is different colored chunks in his kibble.
Then the vet told us that dyes in dog food can cause ear irritation!!!!!!!!!!!
We immediately switched kibbles to another undyed brand.
Weird!
As far as I could read on the label, the dyes were from Vegetable extracts, beets & such.
Weird!

 

[Chickielady]

I have been wanting to post this on this butchering mini-subject we had going yesterday~~

I have "dispatched" birds in every way available.
Small babies can be dealt with held in a ziplock bag & head removed with a snip of bypass pruners or large electricians plyers.
It is instanteneous.
Zip the bag & no suffering nor mess.
The large birds you wish to process, however are a different, yet the same story.
I have often held them down while DH hits them in the head with a pumped pelletgun.
THIS has been found to be both foolhardy (richotes!) and cruel, as often times the bird recieves just a graze, and can suffer but live on & require a second shot.
We have settled on the same "dispatch" with big birds as with the small-head removal.
On our stainless steele sink, cleaned with the spray bottle full of bleach solution at 100%.....there are 2 killing cones.
A bird placed in a cone has its head hanging down, and DH grabs the head, and slits it's throat clean through, head removed completely.
I hold the body so it does not go round the yard, and the bird is GONE.
There is no such thing as "letting it bleed to death"

The body bleeds, yes.
The bird, however is long dead, it's head removed.
I hope this comforts those of you who were worried about "the bird bleeding slowly to death & thus suffering"
OK?
Butchering is never pleasant.
And some souls who have raised many animals in their lives have come to realize it is necessary, there is only one thing we farmers can do: and that is make it as quick, and FULL as possible.

OK...on with other things~

 

[Chickielady]

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Off topic, but also one of the many things I have wanted to discuss here, concerns you.
Many times you have mentioned your volunteer work...but I have missed what exactly it is that you & DH volunteer to do?

 

[Ogress]

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We're all glad you had a Guadian angel too

 

[Stumpfarmer]

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Mine stopped producing about a month ago..and during the dry heat they had a tad bit of those spider mites that web....so I had to hit the berry vines with the hose a few times a day to rid the mites.

Stay dry Julia!
maybe coming in your way in the next day or two, we need another 10# of GB from Margo........if she has any???

She just picked up a cows worth a week or so ago.

The berries I'm picking are Autumn Bliss, which I got from Burnt Ridge two springs ago, and which have given me fall berries three autumns in a row now. They're the earliest summer bearers- late June in warm years, early July this summer- and then at the end of August they start cooking out berries the size of the end of your thumb and keep it up until they get hit with a HARD frost. 27F doesn't even touch their buds.

They have two drawbacks- they root run like nothing else, and they're a little prickly. But: raspberries in the fall. I'd have more but I was run off my feet when I should have tipped the canes and now I'm just getting tip berries, except where the cattle got the tops, and those canes are branching and budding out right now.

I got Elvis some wind protection after I picked the berries, in the shape of two empty Layena sacks bungie corded to the Tower of Solitude; he is not best pleased at not being able to see out two sides but he was damp this morning. Everybody got weatherized, so I won't keep waking up in the night and worrying about chicken hypothermia.

 

[Chickielady]

This, was the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion.............burned 38 homes, an entire community.
More can be learned at San bruno gas explosion googles.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6863134n

This is the neighborhood of Crestmore, in the upper hills of San Bruno, CA..a few short blocks from the San Francisco water supply...where Hetch hetchy dumps into a reservoir.

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

Big thanks to dawng for the leftover roofing tiles! (No worries, Ariloveschickens, we left plenty for you!)
Now I can roof my outside community egg box and PromisedLand can roof her new doghouse!
It was such a pleasure to meet you and your sweet chickens and tour your coops!
BYCers are the best!
Thanks again!

 

[Illia]

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I had only 3 and that was enough! They TRASHED the place!! It looked like someone got a bunch of plastic containers and shredded them up, or someone dumped all their garbage on the yard.

Sheesh.I bet they do indeed make alot of curly flying feathers!
Worse than when we butchered 28 CX birds ??????????

I pastured my Geese, so, I guess I could say sure, even for my measly 3 geese. They dropped their feathers all over the pasture, that's what made it look so tacky and trashy. It wasn't just one place or one pen.

 

[hallerlake]

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Aaaaaawwww.