Washingtonians

[Totalcolour]

Any old-timers, can you give us advice how old chickens should be when you start to worm?

At this point, I'm still not planning on worming yet, unless someone can convince me otherwise. I got chickens so my family can enjoy eggs that come from chickens that are not heavily medicated. So far, the only medication my chickens have ever had was medicated feed, which we stopped at 18 weeks before they started laying. Mine weren't even vaccinated.

Well, all I can say is I've NEVER wormed any of mine. But then, I don't keep them older than two years/seasons. So far, I've never had a problem with worms; although I once had a chicken with mites.

 

[Chickielady]

It was probably !!!

Maybe it was LASAGNA !!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

Why do you cover it? I've never covered garlic and it has grown very well, and I don't have to worry about watering it. Even after last year's crazy snow/ice storms, my garlic grew beautifully.

Covering it is for 2 reasons:
First, it rains non stop, and the garlic cloves can rot before they ever get a chance to grow.

Second reason is to keep the soil warm, hence the mulch.
So they stay warmish under the mulch,frost and snow.
They do very well this way, as do other bulb plants.

Remember, this is garlic planted on Columbus Day, and harvested in Spring.

 

[Chickielady]

We wash them right before cooking, just in case. All that Salmonella scare stuff going around - we just don't take a chance. It's quick and easy. We quickly wash off the eggs we are going to use just before cracking or cooking them.

If your eggs have salmonella, it would be IN the egg from INSIDE the chicken.
Chickens infected with Salmonella, lay eggs full of salmonella, washing has no effect.
What you do get with dirty eggs, is e.coli.
And it is microscopic, and you cannot see it.

 

[Chickielady]

The method I use is a bit different and is detailed in the book "Reversible Quilts Two at a Time" by Sharon Pederson. I borrowed it from the library rather than buying it. I looked on-line for a video but didn't find one. There are several methods of assembling quilt blocks that have already been quilted, Fun and Done is one I've seen, and the Cotton method (that's her last name -- Cotton). I just happen to like Sharon Pederson's method. If you want more info. give me a holler.

For others that may be searching for information: I noticed that several of the "quilt as you go" videos on youTube don't show how to attach the blocks, so don't be fooled if that's what you find. The quilting is just one piece of the process. What CL and I are discussing is the assembly after the quilting.

I will look for that book too !

 

[Chickielady]

FlyRobinFly can tell you where to get them. I was wondering if people here on BYC wanted to pool together to buy a bulk order. Anyone?

As for the eggs... so far my girls are being faithful in laying. I'm usually getting 3 eggs a day, and some days I get 2. Rarely I get 1. I'm allergic to eggs, so I don't tend to cook with eggs. My kids will occasionally get scrambled eggs before school, and on the weekends I make up a huge batch of scrambled eggs for DH and the kids to eat. I usually scramble 12-14 eggs and whatever they don't eat, the chickens finish off. Even though I gave 6 away, I'm guessing I'll have close to a dozen to feed the family on our weekend scrambled egg day.

If anyone wants more of the plastic hex egg cartons, FlyRobin gave me half a case last year and I used maybe 6 of them...my customers prefer 12 or 18 egg cartons, so I have ALOT left !!!
P.S. I have 4-5 pages of stickers for safe handling instructions to go with them.

 

[Rainwolf]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/grd/3314220018.html
good rollx incubator for $200 for those still looking

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
I want in on those! Let me know how much per egg carton and I'll figure out how many I can afford.

 

[Chickielady]

I imagine they are very tired.
Hard work getting out of that shell.
In fact, your post brought back a memory of one of my favorite photos from Chickielady.
Took me a bit but I found it and here it is.
CL - love this photo so much!!! So, so funny.
I'd buy the BYC calendar if they used this photo!
(I hope it's not against any rules for me to go back and find CL's photo and repost.
Someone let me know if it is...)

You are very welcome, I am flattered that you remebered !
That was one tuckered out little dude !!!

 

[Chickielady]

OK... now that I see that CL has a device to measure temp and humidity in there. I keep reading that there's supposed to be something like that in there, and I don't have anything like that - now I'm getting nervous. How do you fit something like that inside a little Brinsea Mini? I have no idea what the humidity is like in there. I just keep filling half the water cup up to the top each day. Also I read yesterday I'm supposed to be using distilled water. Did I mess up big time? I'm using tap water with the Brinsea solution.

The wires that are to the left of the baby, are temp & humidity also...they stick through a little hole, and the reading device is outside the incubator.
Actually, it is on the window sill so I can see what's up from in the cabin, without ever going out to the hatching room.
Incidently, if you buy an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer, like I said there is one wire you can hang your window which measures outdoor temps, then the face also reads indoor temp & humidty.
They usually do not tell you outdoor humdity.
So Einstein moved the wires so that there are 2, so I get an "outdoor temp & humidty" reading when I stick the wires inside the incubator.