Washingtonians

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
I'm wondering where one finds hydrated lime these days (or quicklime, which Dad preferred, I suspect mostly because it was dangerous to handle). I've looked for it at Del's, with no luck. I used to buy it at the late lamented Western Farmer's.

come on over to my place, I have an entire garbage can full of the stuff (more likely to find it at garden centers than feed stores these days) -- got it off Craigslist to discourage moss in the lawn, then decided I actually prefer the moss -- you don't have to MOW moss !!! plus the volunteer lupines seem to like to grow in moss

The garden stuff is often in need of sifting or re-grinding for that purpose, though- at least what I've gotten recently wasn't whitewash grade. I've used it in my ongoing war against creeping buttercup, although I suspect one needs quicklime or even lye for that to work (right now I'm trying heavy doses of dolomite lime under cardboard and sheet compost).

Sorry, the weather and pain makes me prone to nostalgia in a big way.

 

[Kaneke]

yes, I remember the annual whitewashing party at my aunt's dairy farm --- they were smart and used large industrial type windows in the milkhouse where the big tank was ... so it was bright and airy --- and the milking parlor behind it was also brightly whitewashed, since the cows don't seem to like to go into dark places ...

they had a herd of about a hundred, mostly Holsteins, but a few Guerseys and Jerseys -- the "house cows" --- and the electricity would go off and we would all head out and milk them by hand when that happened ... aunt Julia, uncle Ken, cousin Dave, his wife Jean, cousin Nancy, Melvin the hired hand, and me if I was staying the summer

they named the calves alphabetically, starting every new year --- and if you had a calf named after you, you got half shares in whatever that calf earned .... was a nice addition to my college fund

when they finally got tired of milking (and running the rest of the ranch as a stand-alone since they also raised potatoes, corn, wheat, alfalfa, and hay) -- they transitioned into growing mint -- to this day, as you drive through central Oregon --- you smell that mint growing ....

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
There's a long stretch of the Amtrak mainline that runs through mint in Oregon; I remember our last trip to California, when we went through an area that was being cut for most of the time between Salam and Albany. WOW! That was refreshing!

We never milked more than one or two cows; most of the milk went into day-old Holstein calves that were raised for dairy replacement heifers; we always had a few woods cows whose bull calves we fattened for locker beef, and then we sort of oozed into cow/calf and beef breeding stock when my sister and I were teenagers. The neighbors were dairy farmers, though, although what were dairies in my childhood are mostly suburbs now- the land north of me was a Guernsey dairy up until the late 1950s, and then was planted to Christmas trees and cut up into quarter and half acre lots in the mid-sixties. There's a lot more and bigger cow-calf and beef breeding stock operations around than there were before the whole-herd buyout; empty dairy barns and hay fields and pasture are easy to repurpose for beef cattle, and strangely enough there are some places in Western Washington too far from I-5 for even the hardest core commuter.

 

[Ogress]

Quote:
She never did it here so Im not sure whats going on. I do know if the dog got one of her other birds it could have stressed her. But yes post a picture so we can see..

If it keeps happening I can only guess she has a veinal leakage, kinda like a bloody nose happens, only in the ovarie.
It should heal though.

I'm going to bake a GF Zucchini bread later today (as soon as I find a recipe that I have the correct indedients for here). I'll crack 2 open on a white plate then. These were laid before the dog incident, and she was inside the coop when that happened. DD left 3 birds out that evening. I've only had all the hens and both dogs out all day on W, Fri, and Sat. this week. Usually I alter who is out and who is in, or I put the dogs in their run. Prior to that, I do take the dogs with me when I scoop the bombs from the lawn, and sometimes the chickens will be out then. None of the chicken seem uncomfortable around the dogs, well, not until now. The one who was attacked screeches like a mad broody when she sees the black dog through the window. A few of the hens would give the black dog some space when they walk around her, but both my black hens and the Wyandottes are more curious, and they walk up to her to check her out. I'm not letting them out at the same time anymore, at least not for a while. The brown dog is old and more of a vegetable than a dog at this point. The hens have picked up on this, and they will literally walk all over her to get where they want to go.

The hen has only been laying for maybe 2.5 weeks, and all but one have been bloody. That egg was not spotty in the outside, The rest of her eggs have had spotty shells, sometimes big spots whith and unevenly colored base coat (these were all her first week of laying eggs - really cool looking; dark brown on one end and pale on the other with lots of big brown dots) and sometimes little spots on an evenly colored basecoat. I know they are not supposed to be related, but the unevenly colored eggs with large spots on the shells have large blood spots inside, and the evenly colored eggs with tiny spots have lots of small blood spots. The egg with no spots had no blood in it. I'm thinking either it is kinks in her machinery that will hopefully work their way out as she is laying more now, or it is something about the food I am feeding them. I have one feeder filled with Organic Payback, and the other with Purina Layena.

I don't see any of the birds but Luna eat much from the feeders (she prefers the Layena), the other birds forage for most of their foods, and on monsoon days like today, they eat all the scraps I bring out to them. We have so many earthworms in the yard now that they are slurping up when you feel their crops when they are all roosting at night, they are all fat and squishy with worms! Yuck! Well, all except Luna. She loads up on Layena and then wanders over to the banty pen to stare at the rooster like some love-struck teen with front-row concert seating, only instead of a stage, her love is parading back and forth on the other side of the fence.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Can you tweek the temp down a hair to 99.6 ?
Your humidity is so high for incubation..but may be OK>>but the temp needs to come down a hair.

I have tried tweaking it but it still reads on my digital 100.4 and 52% humidity. but the manual temp the incubator came with says 98 degrees so i will just leave it alone.

How often does the water tray need refilling? should i just tell mom to check the water every 3 days and just peek at the temp and humidity every day?

You did not get the ((optional)) water bucket & hose with it ?
It is a 5-gallon bucket with a hose that runs into the water tray which has a flat on it like a tiny toilet float valve.
This keeps the water there at the correct level at all times, for a month!!
I just fill more water in the bucket & put the lid back on.
I am not sure how yours works, did you not get an operator's manual ?
If not, go on the gQf.com web site & find the pdf & download or print it out for your model.
Oh, and the temp sounds fine.
It may be the humidity sending unit is a bit 'off' as well..try putting a different humdity sensor in there so you can read it through the window ?
They have them at Walmart & reptile specialty stores & maybe places like Pet Smart...

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
BCM are the one's that lay the darkest eggs. Oh and its Marans even if your just talking about one bird.. Is that what you wanted to know?

And your DH is close - it's the Kookabura that sits in the old gum tree, laughing at the monkeys he can see. Although a Cuckoo Marans may do the same if given an opportunity.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he, Laugh! Kookaburra,
Laugh! Kookaburra, gay old king is he."
I never hear the monkey one, and as far as I know, that is one weird animal Australia does not have.

 

[Chickielady]

http://www.ausinternet.com/ettamogah/kookaburrasong.htm

Just as I remember it from my girl scout days ....
Back in the OLDEN DAYS

There was so many songs we used to sign...Koomala, Koomala, Koomala, flea stuff!
Anyone remember that one ?
You had to clap while signing it, and I cannot remember the rest..though all of it was nons sense words.

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got an e-mail from the realtor in California, we were offered 20K and carry on the house, I said Can they do 30K ?
And yes, with OC, why not ?
So, why can't they go through a bank ?
Either:
1) they were recently foreclosed upon.....or....

2) they have nasty credit but lots of drug money.....or

..........

3) they are fresh out of Mexico and have NO credit but work hard & have saved every single penny...

...if so, I am selling to them !
Those people work very hard and WANT to be here, and make good on their payments and care abouut their homes, gardens and families.
So I am excited to hear............

 

[ReiMiraa]

Quote:
I have tried tweaking it but it still reads on my digital 100.4 and 52% humidity. but the manual temp the incubator came with says 98 degrees so i will just leave it alone.

How often does the water tray need refilling? should i just tell mom to check the water every 3 days and just peek at the temp and humidity every day?

You did not get the ((optional)) water bucket & hose with it ?
It is a 5-gallon bucket with a hose that runs into the water tray which has a flat on it like a tiny toilet float valve.
This keeps the water there at the correct level at all times, for a month!!
I just fill more water in the bucket & put the lid back on.
I am not sure how yours works, did you not get an operator's manual ?
If not, go on the gQf.com web site & find the pdf & download or print it out for your model.
Oh, and the temp sounds fine.
It may be the humidity sending unit is a bit 'off' as well..try putting a different humdity sensor in there so you can read it through the window ?
They have them at Walmart & reptile specialty stores & maybe places like Pet Smart...

I did get a digital therm and humidity thingy at walmart on sale at $3.50 each. so i have one i clipped to the water pan (since there is no good place to have it)

No i did not get the optional water bucket. i might in the future we will see

I have found that after 2 days the water pan gets down half way so i told mom to check it every 2 days.
I figure as long as the conditions are close and kept constant i cannot go wrong (compared to the natural hatch last spring with rain, heat just crazy fluctuating weather)
I am on the road for 4.5 hours heading back to WSU.
Got a lot of gardening starts going but those were from cuttings or potted herbs i still need to plant starts in 2 weeks....

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
come on over to my place, I have an entire garbage can full of the stuff (more likely to find it at garden centers than feed stores these days) -- got it off Craigslist to discourage moss in the lawn, then decided I actually prefer the moss -- you don't have to MOW moss !!! plus the volunteer lupines seem to like to grow in moss

The garden stuff is often in need of sifting or re-grinding for that purpose, though- at least what I've gotten recently wasn't whitewash grade. I've used it in my ongoing war against creeping buttercup, although I suspect one needs quicklime or even lye for that to work (right now I'm trying heavy doses of dolomite lime under cardboard and sheet compost).

Sorry, the weather and pain makes me prone to nostalgia in a big way.

Talked to my Dad yesterday about the moss in his lawn on the shady (front) side of his tidy yard,,he prefers the moss now too.
He has come to realize in his wise 70 years, that if he kills the moss, then he has big ugly bald spots all over & has to then reseed, and then waite while the new grass grows, and even still, 9 out of 10 times it turns out to be a different grass blend and a totally different shade of green and looks weird.
So he is saving his time & money & leaving the moss.
Work with nature, not against her.

 

[Chickielady]

Torrential sheet rains here, wind, here comes the big storm.........