Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

Spent grain = protein that is not soy based...... and way less then $15 for a 40lb bag. Possible free if you have a agreement to take all the grain from a small brewery every time they brew.
Spent grain = Barley, oats, rye and wheat that is cooked and no longer has any sugar. Hence the fact that it is 30-40% protein and the rest is fiber.
I do not buy feed with spent grain. I get it fresh from the brewery. It has a nice fresh nutty aroma and the girls love it.
I get it fresh every week and it provides my protein base for all my feed mixes.
Instead of using 2 50lb bags of feed a week I now use 3-4 bags a month since I mix grains that are high in carbs/sugar with the spent grain.
I also add in any grains of low cost that is high in fat/oil; like sunflower seeds.
Spent grain or brewery grain is not bad nor is it unhealthy. But just like everything else fresh is better.
I get brewers grain from a local micro brewery source the day they make it.
The major thing is to get the right % for a well balanced feed with the ingredients you can get.

Cool ! You have micro breweries close by ?
I wish I did...but none around here for a long long ways............

 

[Chickielady]

Thanks for sharing that. Our 8 week old birds lose feathers here and there, too. I didn't think much of it. I wonder if I'm too unscheduled about turning off their light at night. They're in the garage, and if I stay up late doing laundry, their light is on late at night.

You can get a timer cheap enough at just about anywhere....set the time & plug in the lamp & forget about it !

Only issue is a power outage can knock the timer off it's schedule.
Other than that, you will not have to worry about remebering to turn the light on & off.

 

[Chickielady]

All of the above (well, I don't know what a yodel dog is). I'm not sure what kind, but we have Owls that ask us "Whooo" in the trees every night, too.

For the most part, the daytime predators are the scariest... black labs, stray cats, and we have lots of eagles that fly overhead. I don't know if they'd swoop down during the day, though. They fly very high above our house.

We're in the process of trying catch and rehome a stray cat. Such fun.

Yodel Dogs are Coyotes............

And CR also calls bears 'Yogis'........................as in once he found Yogi poo by his barn..........................what a crack up !!!

The Yogi was not a crack up, CR IS A CRACK UP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


* And yes, any raptor will swoop down in your yard & get your chooks.

 

[Chickielady]

Yup when I gave up snoose 5/4/2011 I said when this can is gone that is it. It has not been easy. I almost fell off this weekend. A guy came to our camp and pulled his can out to take a dip. It was so tempting to ask for a chew but I managed not to. YOU can do it! and we can help ya.

Keep up the good work !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

And ya didn't make Sweet N Sour road kill out of em what da heck ?

Saving it for the Bar-be-Que !!! Hard to wrap a Sticker Pig up in a freezer bag, though!

 

[Chickielady]

I have not been on in a while - This is the last week of school for the kids, and we have been catching Alex up on one project after another with major term projects due for everysingle subject!

For Social Studies he had to write a Glog (Like a Blog) for a future Worlds Fair to be held somewhere in Washington. He had to some up with a name, a logo, a slogan, 10 areas of impportance (technology, science, clean water etc....) a theme, a list of countries and companies with what they will be displaying with hyperlinks to them, a location for the fair, a 7 day schedule of events.... Yikes! Luckily he had just gone to MEF the other weekend, so that gave him some good ideas. The slogan he came up with is "Forever Green in the Evergren State" and came up with all sorts of ideas for sustainable living, ag practices and technology to support it. Wow, I don't remember working on projects so involved in 7th grade, but then we never had the WWW which makes doing research a whole lot simpler!

He had a just as detailed report to write on a frog-pond ecosystem he had been sudying since March. Most of the kids did most of the work oin class, but Alex did not. All he had were temperature and water chemistry readings for the days they visited the pond and initials for the invertebrates he saw with totals of hown many. We somehow turned that into a 14 page report and he had to fill in details from memory.

What I really came on here to tell you about is this:

We put four 3 week old chicks under a broody cuckoo marans last night and she totally accepted them! One of my friends has to make an emergenc month-long trip to Oregon and did not know what to do with the chicks her daughter hatched in science class. Mamma hen totally took to them. They were are in the main coop and this morning the chicks flew down from the nest box, and Mamma freaked out. She huddled them into a corner with her wings spread. Curious hens were watching. When she saw none meant harm, she calmed down and they all went to a waterer for a drink. A broody Barnie from the other side of the coop saw them and ran over. 2 RIR mixed cicks were curious and ran over to check her out. Mamma hen was clucking away trying to coax them back, the other 2 chicks were huddled under her. The Barnie hen allowed the RIR chicks to check her out, and then she went back to her nest. The 2 more cautious chicks flew back into their nest box. Mamma did not know where to go, so I grabbed the 2 loose chicks put them in the box, and she joined them.

Awesome for Alex & the broody hen too !

 

[Farmin Momma]

Quote: I got mine from walmart, good price I think it was somthing like $10 and not only does it plug into the wall but it has a battery back up that lasts for about 5 hours after the outage, and when the power comes back on it reacharges the batteries. It is great I love it.

 

[Chickielady]

Thank you guys so much. I hope you had a great time in Oregon!!!

As far as smoking goes, I quit both times I was pregnant. Just quit cold turkey, then started up again about a year or so after. The last time I quit was in 2007, I do not try to wean off for the nicatine. I wean off the day before because I enjoy smoking, I like being able to go out and smoke with a friend and talk, or when I am full from dinner or in the car when the kids are not in it ( and only in the crappy car, not the Denali) Three things are making me quit, Our kids don't like us smoking, I have been waking up 5 times a night no breathing (Asthma) and the money the darn things cost. Yesterday I was just enjoying the habbit before today came and now I am done, boo I mean yeah!

YIPPEE ! Hang in there !!!!!!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

Will Lowe's or Home Depot let you have the cleats for free then?

Medium sized tree branches (1/2" or so) tacked to a board makes good (and free) cleats so the birds get a footing on the ramp.

 

[Chickielady]

I went to the H D in Woodinville I DID ask and they looked at me like I was crazy LOL ! told me take as many as ya want they just get thrown out. they are laying around the 2x4's, 2x6, etc. usually on the floor but some times there's really good ones still on the lumber piles they are just the right size , all ya have to do is cut them for length

Oh I think you are talking about what we call in the lumber mill biz 'stickers' and they are in between the lumber units to allow air to circulate, and yes they would work great.