Washingtonians

[Chicken Rustler]

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Oh I wrote it all down!!!!!!!!!

ME TOO!!!

Can't wait to make it! YUM!

I am always willing to be a taste tester

 

[Ogress]

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Thanks! I need to focus more on the selling. I never feel comfortable selling, and usually leave that part to other people.

I used to have a partner - she's an attractive Australian woman who was great at marketing. But then her husband started a very successful business with branches on 4 continents, and he grabbed her to manage his marketing team; so she just started bringing my stuff to spas and clubs in Bellevue and the commissions got too high. I had been paying her 30%. She dropped to 20%, but the spas wanted 30 - 50% off the top. We ended the partnership (still friends). She still manages to get me orders for personalized photo coasters and manages to sell them at about 3X the prices I see on Etsy (but I also think mine look much nicer; I don't just cut a photo to size and slap it on, but I edit the photos to remove distracting items in the backgrounds, fix glowing pet eyes, etc and then I grind the edges to blend well with the edges on the tumbled marble, and coat and sand. It takes me 4-5 hours to make a batch of coasters (4-8 coasters) and that does not include drying time (mostly grinding down the edges and sanding).

After we broke up the partnership, I quit making jewelry for a while, and I brought my stuff to Selah Gifts to sell. It does well there, especially if I've incorperated a dragonfly anywhere into the design. Then I made peyote stitch beads and made a beautiful bracelet with the beads and sterling silver connectors and crystals; it is completely different to my usual style. One of my neighbors saw it a requested one, then Olivia's harp instructor had me make her one and other pieces to match. She wore it to the National Harp Symposium, and I got an order from aother harpist who saw it.

I like selling that way, but I think I really need to put more effort into it after the tax season so I can get some income to hire people to do the work around here that I really hate doing (ripping out blackberries, stripping and refinnishing some wood on the house, lots of home maintenence that would involve scaffolding....)

 

[Ogress]

I finally got my coop cleaned out today, WooHoo! It was a NASTY job. I usually scrape the poop boards off daily or at the very least, every third day. Well, for a week I left home when it was dark and got back home after dark. The kids let the chickens out in the yard in the mornings, and locked them up at night, but NOBODY scraped those nasty boards for a WEEK! And since many of the girls are molting, 7 of the 8 nest boxes were also full of poop. I carried out 4 buckets of poop, plus a few chunks from the shavings on the floor, and then added another few inches of wood shavings to the coop floor. SOme warm day next spring, I will need to completely empty the coop, and then clean it with te pressure washer and hit it with some bleach.

How do you all do your "BIG CLEAN" on your coops? How Often?

Anybody ever try Oxine? I just got some for my waterers.

Wednesday will be Eprinex day. I did not notice any bugs, but I want to be safe.

Whoever designed my "Farm Innovations" heated poultry waterer needs to go back to the drawing board. It does not freeze, but that is the only good thing I can say about it. It is designed to be used on a perfectly level surface right next to a water source. I can't carry it upside down up the steps and into the run without sloshing out most of the water and popping off the base, the lose the rest of the water when I put the base back on and plip the thing upright.

 

[Ogress]

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Oh, wow!
I'm gonna make this!
Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Me too!

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

So, just a general question for anyone willing to answer.
What temp do you keep your people "coop" during the day and, if you turn it down at night, how low do you turn it down when you go to bed?
(I'm having a "discussion" with someone about this topic! But I bet you all figured that out already!)
Thanks!

 

[Ogress]

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I have all my friends trained to bring me theirs. I have several shelves full. I prefer the 18's

 

[Ogress]

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I don't heat mine at all. If the sun is out, with all the windows, it is warm even it it is cold outside. Crummy days the chickens hang out indoors more than out, and there are enough of them to keep the temp tolerable. Nothing has ever frozen in there, even when it has dropped to 19 overnight. The run stays relatively warm overnight as well. Last week we had a hard freeze with overnight temps hovering around 20 and most days not getting above freezing. Puddles in the yard and outside buckets of water were frozen solid for the top several inches, but in the run the unheated waterer had only the thinnest crust of ice; and no ice at all inside the coop.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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Well I know I will probablly get booooed out of here but I will chime in. Our house runs about 76-81. I don't change the setting on the stove from day to night. See we have a house bird that thinks he needs a fire in the stove ALL of the tyme.

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

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I don't heat mine at all. If the sun is out, with all the windows, it is warm even it it is cold outside. Crummy days the chickens hang out indoors more than out, and there are enough of them to keep the temp tolerable. Nothing has ever frozen in there, even when it has dropped to 19 overnight. The run stays relatively warm overnight as well. Last week we had a hard freeze with overnight temps hovering around 20 and most days not getting above freezing. Puddles in the yard and outside buckets of water were frozen solid for the top several inches, but in the run the unheated waterer had only the thinnest crust of ice; and no ice at all inside the coop.

I've been to your house. It's fabulous, for sure. But you mean to tell me you don't turn the heat on AT ALL?

 

[HoneysuckleHills]

Hallerlake tells me this Spitzhauben is a rooster.
Haven't heard him crow yet so I've got time to find him a new home.
Anyone interested?