Washingtonians

[KMHunter]

How exciting! I haven't even put finishing touches on the huge coop and run I already have and I want to add to it! LOL Darn chicken math! I have figured out that with 11 hens all laying we'll only have an extra 1-2 dozen eggs after our family eats what we need. I guess that's good. But I'd rather have way too many eggs than not enough and if they go into a moult we won't have enough

Are coops ever finished?  I'm always thinking of the next thing I want to do to mine.

Not that I am aware of! Lol! Always a work in progress.

 

[itsren]

Ren - can you detect a slight skunk smell when you see these owls? If so, then they are most likely GHO. GHO's prefer skunk Also GHO's will have the 'scary movie hoot' like someone else mentioned. Males have a deeper voice than the females, and they will often times talk back and forth. Owl's like to sit in trees and then swoop down on their prey. Unlike hawks who will soar above an area and then dive onto their food. So, if you see owls in your trees, there is a very good chance they are 'stalking' your birds. I have also heard of Owls landing in the run and then walking up the ramp into the coop and dragging a bird out. GHOs are big enough to carry off a 6 lb bird.

The Owl I saw last night was a GHO -- at times I wish it was not illegal to shoot them.

It is very rare that we smell skunk. And their "Whooo, Whooo, Whooo" doesn't sound scary at all. I like to hear it. It's one of my favorite things when I take an evening walk through the neighborhood. I still forgot to ask DH what he thinks they may be. He's a bird hunter - he knows different bird sounds pretty well.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Allthough I never work with metal, I totaly agree with you. I hate the measurements of wood, makes what should be a short and easy task into a longer prosses and cutting when there should be none. Then buying more or trying to fix a piece if you cut wrong when there should have been no cut to begin with.

 

[itsren]

It's because wood working and all the measurements are STUPID ! ! ! ! !

I laugh... because when we were working on our run, I was surprised my run didn't look as big as it looked on paper. My DH very kindly told me my measurements were wrong because the size of the wood was not the real sizes that they are called. Doh!

And, we ended up with a run that was 1 foot thinner than it was supposed to be... not exactly sure how that happened!

 

[itsren]

I forgot to post this the other day...

Coastal Farm and Ranch carries #2 (3/16") size Cherry Stone. $13.49 for a 50 lb. bag. It comes in a large brown paper bag.

http://www.cherrystonegrit.com/grit_sizes.html

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Ok, finaly cought up after 300 some odd posts!

Today the kids started school. I am always excited for them to go back to school but yet I feel so lost with out all of them here. Also today I delivered 5 chickens to their new home at the neighbors of my DF. Yesterday said neighbor wanted to pick the chickens that would be going to his house from mine. RonB and KMHunter had both donated 2 hens each. I figured because the hens they gave me were so great that if he could pick which ever ones made him happy. Turns out he wanted four of mine and took one that I had recived from KMHunter. Everything worked out great.

I think I may have found why so many of my hens are not laying. As I was catching up in reading posts, ya'll were talking about scratch treats and I think somone mentioned that if you feed it to them to much it slows down production. Is that right? Well if so that is why I don't get nearly the amount of eggs I should, a lot of times I feed it to them every morning. So no more treats for a while as far as that stuff and we will see how it goes.

Well, got some chores to do around the house and the hen house and I will be back later.

Here is what I have learned and my opinion. IF you are only feeding say 16% protein or less and you give them much corn it will drop the % and reduce egg production. IF one is feeding say a 21% then you have more leeway to add the corn. Bottom line is that lower protein = less eggs.
Here is an example. A while back we were given a bunch of canned corn that was "out of date" Well DW thought she was doing good. She fed about a gallon of it to the chickens. We had nearly a total loss of egg production for several days after.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Why is all the drama happening to me lately?! I had a friend over for an hour and we kept telling her son to leave the cat alone. Ike is generally pretty tolerant unless he gets afraid he will be hurt (her son is quite the bruiser). We ended up losing track of him and shrieks from my bedroom ensued. Ike bit him in the face. It looked pretty bad, the teeth marks were deep. She was already on the way to a doctor appointment for herself so I told her he would definitely need antibiotics; cat bites are ALWAYS awful! Haven't heard from her but I think she's still at the appointment. I feel awful and don't really know what to do. Animals are animals and can't be trusted, and it wasn't the cats' fault in all honesty, but it doesn't mean I don't feel bad for her 20 month son. It seemed as though she was a bit upset he was hurt, but not at the cat in general (I don't think she blamed him). *sigh* now I need to figure out how to poke and prod and see if she's upset or if it was just another day with a bruiser toddler for her. (This is his 3rd animal incident and he's always going to urgent care because he has NO common sense and literally jumps all over and runs into things. The kid needs a helmet!) ugh

 

[Hinotori]

Still very lethargic. But she does drink water when I dip her beak in it. I don't have much hope.

My hen that was survived the dog attack and hauled herself home 8 hours later was very bad. She had a large hole opening into her side behind her leg, many shallower puncture wounds to the leg and rear, and a head wound. I don't know how she got home looking like road kill.

She wouldn't eat for almost three days. She did drink, though. I made sure she drank with me watching, to get the antibiotic in her. I was flushing everything with Vetericyn many times a day and hoping. After about the three day mark, she started feeling a bit better, and eating the boiled egg I offered. She limped for about 2.5 months, and the scab over the really deep hole took 4 months to fully heal. She has a slight indention there and no feathers. She has a droopy eyelid on the right side, but I've tested for sight and it's apparently fine.

I really thought she was a goner, but I couldn't put her down without trying after she made it home. I have two chicks of hers out there right now. I hope they have as good of constitutions as she does.

 

[itsren]

Why is all the drama happening to me lately?! I had a friend over for an hour and we kept telling her son to leave the cat alone. Ike is generally pretty tolerant unless he gets afraid he will be hurt (her son is quite the bruiser). We ended up losing track of him and shrieks from my bedroom ensued. Ike bit him in the face. It looked pretty bad, the teeth marks were deep. She was already on the way to a doctor appointment for herself so I told her he would definitely need antibiotics; cat bites are ALWAYS awful! Haven't heard from her but I think she's still at the appointment. I feel awful and don't really know what to do. Animals are animals and can't be trusted, and it wasn't the cats' fault in all honesty, but it doesn't mean I don't feel bad for her 20 month son. It seemed as though she was a bit upset he was hurt, but not at the cat in general (I don't think she blamed him). *sigh* now I need to figure out how to poke and prod and see if she's upset or if it was just another day with a bruiser toddler for her. (This is his 3rd animal incident and he's always going to urgent care because he has NO common sense and literally jumps all over and runs into things. The kid needs a helmet!) ugh

I'm so sorry Jessica!

It's so hard to know how someone is going to handle situations like this. Different parents handle their children differently. When my kids were toddlers, I was extremely watchful and accused of being over-protective. Some parents had the attitude that if a child got hurt - he'd learn from it. I didn't have that attitude - I felt I was the parent, it was my responsibility to keep tabs on my young child. My first thought is why wasn't the mother keeping an eye on her 20-month-old? He's pretty young to not be supervised. I asked my husband what he thought - and he had mixed feelings. He said the child should have been watched, but at the same time, if the cat was getting aggressive, it probably should have been put away. So... I don't know. I wish I knew what to say.

Chances are this will blow over. Give her time. She's a mommy who is worried about her kid. She might be worried about facial scars, or infection. Lots of concerns are probably going through her mind. But, once the fear is over, she'll probably get over it (if she's even upset with you or your cat). If there is facial scarring, she probably will get over it, but she may need time.

I recall one incident with a very close friend that left me not knowing what to say or how to react. My twins were 4 and we were at a birthday party on their land. The teenage boys and their grandpa were out in the field shooting a home-made hot dog shooter on the back half of 2 acres. My kids wanted to go out and watch and I kept telling them "no". I didn't want them near the hot dog shooter. My friend finally made a comment about me needing to stop being over-protective, and ended up making me feel bad, so I gave in and let them go out to the field with them.

The teens and grandpa were shooting hot dogs and letting my 4-year-old daughter try to catch them. The teens thought that was funny. A while went by and I began to relax about it. Suddenly, my daughter let out a blood-curt-ling scream and I went to get her. She had a huge knot on her forehead. The grandpa came in from the field, didn't say anything and left. I thought that was weird. I asked my friend what could have happened and told her my daughter was hurt and she blew me off and said "Oh, she's fine. It was just a hot dog." My daughter was pretty injured, and she didn't even look at her or her injury. I was upset and felt completely blown off. We ended up going home and I didn't know what to say to her, so I just let things settle. I didn't call her or tell her how injured my daughter really was.

A few days later, my friend called, was very upset and told me she was so sorry. Her father-in-law had called that morning and told her what had happened. The teens decided to start shooting PVC chunks out of the hot dog shooter. None of them, the grandpa included, didn't seem to think that shooting PVC pipe out of a hot dog shooter toward two 4-year-olds and a 6-year-old might not be the wisest thing to do. Well, my daughter, who was having fun trying to catch hot dogs, ran toward one of the flying PVC pipes, tried to catch it, and took a blow to her head. Time, some understanding from my friend, and an apologetic word were all it took to mend the strain between us.

So I guess my words of wisdom would be... give it time. Put yourself in her shoes and try to be very understanding about how she might feel upset. A kind word of apology will go far. Try to think how you might feel if that had happened to William at someone else house (the other child's personality aside... 18-month-olds really are not to blame for their personality at that age. Whether he is a "bruiser" or not, he's only 18-months- old).

Hope that helps.

 

[hallerlake]

Today was a lovely day for a ferry ride. We met up with Cheryl, who is kindly lending me her Brinsea Eco 20 incubator, in Kingston. I'll be starting some Spitzhauben eggs. I need to see what kind of chicks my new cockerel, Franz, is throwing before I start selling eggs next spring.