Washingtonians

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
I love snakes and find them absolutely fascinating and beautiful, even though I was bitten by a juvenile rattlesnake when I was about 12 or so...lucky for me it was a dry bite, but I bore that scar for about 15 years...

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
It's the rock piles you have to watch out for, always. Although I am assured by my dear friend who grew up in Entiat and now living in Georgia that the Pacific Rattler is in general a kind and polite rattlesnake, compared, say, to the freaking cottonmouth she once found in the dog's (inside) waterdish when she went into the kitchen to make coffee one early morning.

Oak Canyon and that big basalt face north of the road right at the beginning of Naches Pass are infamous rattlesnake denning sites; every rattlesnake I've seen in Eastern Washington was squashed flat on Naches Pass. I've seen live snakes twice on the dry side, both of them Yellow Bellied Racers, which are, objectively speaking, quite lovely. And I sort of desensitized myself for any snake I'm ever likely to meet in the wild by making myself stare at the (ophidiophobes do not click this link!)Gaboon Viper at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco back when my husband was closing out his father's estate and the kids and I were looking for entertainment while he talked to bankers. NOTHING I could encounter in the wild could be that awful; Crotalus horridus is not that horrid in comparison.

But, anyway: gartersnakes are friendly, nonagressive, calm and useful against mice and slugs, and they have nothing but a need to avoid humans at all costs, so I'm happy to encounter them in my yard although I could live forever quite happily without having one ever accidentally crawl over my bare foot again. And I hope my chickens haven't eaten too many of their babies this year, since the things are as big as dress shoe laces and approximately that intelligent.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

OK, can someone give me a hint about how to install the egg dividers of the Brinsea Octagon 20 that Dana was so kind as to loan me, and Candy deliver? It would help a lot if the instructions included a photo of the properly installed dividers, because their instructions are heavy on the "why" and light on the "how" and I speak as a person who has been assembling IKEA furniture for more than a dozen years.

Also I'm maybe a bit freraked about breaking Candy's eggs or Dana's incubator, which explains why I'm going ON about vipers this morning! (You know, the "at least it's not snakes" thing).

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
I used to dislike slugs

even when I wasn't nurturing and cherishing a garden

these days I rather appreciate the blobs ... and why ?

because they come out at night, crawl through the chicken run, and EAT much of the poo there

any of them that delay hiding out when it gets light and we let the chickens out of the coop, then become additional protein sources

I stick them with a nail, embedded in a pole, so we do not have to bend over.
Kinda like the ones used to collect rash.
I do not stick the Native Nanners.
We have to get slugs out of the live mouse/rat traps as they go in to eat the bait, usually peanut butter, and they slide right over the peanut butter bait on a Victor's mouse trap!

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
No, it was one big egg, and this is the pullet's second egg.
BTW~ She laid the same size egg again today!

I LOVE BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RFF:: I think these would be fantastic 'over there'
In as much as they are an herimloom breed, very fully plumed, and pea combed.
The breed comes from Ohio, and is cold tolerant to the winters there, which are colder than here.
So they may be exactly what MiL is looking for.
They are also excellent layers, mothers, and are extremely human-friendly!
The down side is: cock birds are not tolerant of each other in most cases.

Well, you'll have to let me know if you have any chicks or started birds next spring in Monroe (if you're coming?!?) My MIL won't be in the market to add anything until then anyway....her current roo is straight up nasty....they are going to process him as soon as they can catch him...if they don't shoot him first!

I just culled 3 beautiful Buckeye cockerals, next time I will save you one, and yes, I am sure I will have buck chicks by then...I hope.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
HI RED ROOSTER!!!!!!!!!
Long time no see!

And if anyone needs help butchering, maybe we can help?
Do you need help, to be taught, or ?
And what type & how many birds do you want to butcher?

I've done butchering before, but that was back when I was a teenager. Took me MONTHS to eat chicken again afterwards!

I would prefer someone else do it for me - they don't have to cut them into pieces after the fact. I can do that part all on my own!! LOL

I don't have any to butcher right now. All my girls at this point are keepers. However, next spring I'd like to get a flock of meat birds to raise and have butchered... again, would prefer someone else to do the job for me and either on our property or be able to take them some place else to have it done.... Putting out feelers now so I can judge whether it's feasible or not.

You may want to contact Patriot Farms & Bison.....they also have a web site.
Scott raises both egg & meat birds and has all the gear & processes his own, so he may do yours for you for some price, I have no guess if he would or not, nor what he may charge?
He does like to trade from time to time for various items...birds, equipment?
Give him a click.

 

[Kaneke]

Quote:
look at this picture (halfway down the page), shows the dividers installed to separate eggs of different sizes

http://www.brinsea.com/products/octagon20A.html

 

[Chickielady]

Gosh, we have bizillions of snakes here, underfoot, all around eveywhere!
These are primarily garter snakes of all sizes, but do have a few gopher snakes.
They are fast after grass hoppers & other insects.
I have never heard of any snake eating slugs, especially these giant brown & orange ones.
Remember the baby gopher snake in my green house a few months ago?
So pretty!

The little guy was after any insect it could find in the green house, which is fine with me!
All total, the snake was about 8" long?

It does not really look at all like a gopher snake, so I am still not sure exactly what kind it is...had no rattles, BTW..and was passive.

 

[Kaneke]

Quote:
look at this picture (halfway down the page), shows the dividers installed to separate eggs of different sizes

http://www.brinsea.com/products/octagon20A.html

this may be helpful too

http://maransofamericaclub.com/brinseareviewmain.pdf

 

[Imp]

Pretty Snakes,

A couple decades ago I was up in the foothills behind Carnation hunting for deer. I stepped on a downed treetrunk, and it was rotten and crumbled. Out came a snake, about 10 inches long, about the diamater of a pencil, black & lime green stripes lengthwise. I've occasionally seen the garden snakes here and it was nothing like that, any idea what it was? I was very surprised, as I thought we only had Garden/Garter snakes around here.

Russ