Washingtonians

[weaveagarden]

I want to tell you about my flock to be. They are all on the property, but only 2 are outside so far.

First shipment came to me mostly dead. Had 3, My new puppy managed to kill on that flew much earlier than I expected... So in the coop right now are 1- EE which is likely a roo... darn it. And one Buff laced Polish hopefully a pullet. They are now 15 weeks. They seem a little bit small to be starting to lay. So I expect they will follow a normal schedule. Last flock had some really early layers. First egg from a white EE.

In the house right now are 3 white crested Blue Polish - except one is actually black colored, 2 redish- Gold EE's and 1 New Hampshire Red This group is 7 weeks old, and I am hoping I can ID the gender of my EE outside before I move them out. I think it will be easiest if I remove him (if a male) and add the others into the coop on the same day.

I am really enjoying the spunkiness of the polish chickens. And the bobbing "hair-doos" are so cute. Lots of entertainment potential here I believe. The black one is going to be top hen I think. She already rules the indoor roost. She is also the only one who manages to spend more time running around the bathroom than staying in the box. I like her a lot.

I also have an order in for 14-16 week blue ameraucana pullets to arrive in early November. 2 of them are coming. If everyone lives and if everyone turns out to be female, I will need to rehome 2 of the flock... but I think that is unlikely. I currently have 1 EE who is probably a roo, and another one inside who is looking rooish as well. Slow tail feather development and legs slightly larger than the other one. But it is hard to tell at this point.

Well, that is me. Hope everyone is well and happy. I am doing much better and spend most of my time online. So perhaps BYC will get some of my time now too.

 

[FlyRobinFly]

IS there ANYBODY that can help CL get to town for her meds????

CL, is there any way you could get your doctor to phone in prescription to a pharmacy that does mail order or delivers? Or if it can be someplace I can pick up, I can mail to you.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Thought some of you still trying to figure out supplemental lighting for the year might be interested in this article. We have ours all set up on a timer already and it's going well!
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/supplemental-light-in-coop-why-how.html

 

[Ogress]

I sure hope they fix the problem. I spent $60 for a $12 repair. The other repairs were not even looked at or touched. Parts that were broken and were supposed to be replaced were not. They weren't even touched. The instruments were dirty and the first words out of my 10-year-olds mouth were "Mom, I thought they were supposed to clean them". They were supposed to come home repaired, cleaned, tuned and ready to play.

The day I dropped it off, the guy was nice and friendly and very thorough in explaining what repairs were going to be made. He told me what parts they were going to replace. At that point, I was very happy and impressed.

Yesterday, the place was busy, and noisy (they have a drum set in the middle of the store with a sign that says "Play Me"). Conversation with the lady was difficult. She kept asking a guy, who was sitting around playing a guitar, questions. She had too many customers to deal with and was busy. I was surprised the guy on the guitar didn't get up and help her with the other customers. I kept looking over at him trying to figure out why he was sitting there ignoring everyone when the lady clearly depended on him to know what was going on in the store.

It was my fault I didn't open them and inspect them on the spot. I could tell she was overwhelmed with customers, and my kids were getting excitable in the noisy environment. I just wanted to get the kids out of there. I did ask her if all the repairs had been made and questioned why she was charging me $10 more. She assured me that all the repairs had been made and said it cost more because they found more repairs. She didn't know what the extra repairs were though, but she assured me they had been made.

The part they probably won't be able to fix is my kid has to have a working instrument on Tuesday morning. I tell you, I'm just sick over this. I'm not sure what we're going to do Tuesday. I did leave a phone message and let them know I'd be calling first thing Monday morning.

I had a similar experience with Mills and our elementary school music department a few years ago. When Alex was in 5th grade, they all did band. I noticed that Alex and the other autistic boy were given the two trumpets from the school that were in disgusting condition. The normal kids all got nice looking instruments. Alex's trumpet had a badly dented bell, and the whole thing was scratched and tarnished. The other autistic boy, who is more severely autistic than Alex, was assigned a trumpet that had the bell cut off! The edges where it had been cut were somewhat filed, but still sharp. The first time Alex used his trumpet, a key got stuck. He tried using the cleaning brush to fix it, and the brush tip broke off inside and would not come out. I was told by the music teacher that this was Alex's fault because he is too rough with it, and that I needed to take it in a pay for the repair myself. I brought it to Mills. The trumpet was from the '60's. It had likely never been cleaned. I was told at Mills that the brush tip broke off in the calcified deposit inside the trumpet, the trumpet insides were full of them! All the calcium from the spit of a half century of elementary school band students formed stalagmites and stalagtites in the trumpet! He knocked out a few of the grey rocks for me to see. Yuck! In order to fix the key, the trumpet would need to be soaked in an acid bath for a week to dissolve the crud! I went ahead and had the bath done, and had the bell shaped up again. I was expecting the cost to be about $115. I also went on e-bay and bought Alex a completely cleaned and beautifully restored trumpet with a new silver plating from a music store in Texas. The bill for cleaning the nasty trumpet was nearly as high as the cost of the replacement trumpet I purchased. I brought the trumpet which I had restored back to the school along with a bill for $170 which they refused to pay; so I took the trumpet back. The teacher called a few weeks later demanding I return the school rental trumpet since I had purchased Alex his own. I told him I would only do so if he would allow the other autistic boy to use the trumpet which I had paid to have restored. I don't know if that ever happened, but I did learn that the music teacher was a part owner at Mills! I don't have kind words for him.

 

[Ogress]

Deal !
How about another one of those multi-flavoured gluten free cheese cakes ??????????????

Just what the fat lady needs !!!!!!!!!!

Done! Assuming the cheesecakes are still available at PCC. I HATE Cheescake! DOn and the kids both love it. Good cake for me to have in the house because I won't get fatter from it.

 

[Ogress]

Birds for the stomach should be meat birds.
Layers usually are not much good for anything but stock & stew.
I myself have wasted a good 5 gallon tank of propane STEWING a 1 year old cock bird for dinner.....still tough as nails 3 days later.................THAT was when I was 18 years old.
BUY Cornish Cross Broilers from a hatchery, raise them up & butcher them for the freezer at 8 to 10 weeks old.
You'll LOVE them & never buy a store-bought chicken again !

I used to work at a ranch in Half Moon Bay back in the 80's. It was one of these places where we grew almost all the food we ate including sheep, goats and chickens (well at least it was like that until the insurance agents and health departent found out - no more ranch food other than veggies, and ranch camp went from $20 per week to nearly $200!). Anyways, we killed a 5 year old rooster and had him for dinner that night. We used a cheese grater to cut up the meat and put it in tacos. It was not bad.

 

[Ogress]

OK I picked another 6 pounds of green beans today after VF left~~~




The big container is 1 1/2 gallons...the small SS bowl hordes what I had to put in my pockets after the tupperware bucket was full.
These are ROMAS.............climbing, meaty, no strings and awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm getting tons of beans too. I prefer eating them much smaller. I planted 4 heirloom varieties this year and I did not track what is what. Wish I had. One has wonderful flavor, but thick strings, even when still small! I blanched, chopped and froze enough for 4 family dinners last night. I also made zucchimi bread and caprese salad all with veggies from my garden.

 

[Slinglings]

first inspect and make sure of no physical damage other then limping....
If all else is ok let her stay with the flock as long as she keeps eating and drinking ok.
most likely cause of a limp is just landing wrong off a perch or roost or etc..... Goliath was young and so big he landed wrong and limped for a couple weeks before he stopped... he still runs like a 2 legged horse galloping but thats just him being a goof!

Just like people they can strain muscles while landing in tight quarters
**dang it... i wrote this last night and never posted.... doh!

thats pretty much what I'm doing. I held her a while today and felt around, there doesn't seem to be one specific area that hurts her, but her first toe is kind of stiff feeling. I sprained my finger a couple of months ago and it *still* hurts to bend it, and I sort of imagine that's how her toe feels. I thought about trying to splint her toe, but I don't know if it'd do any good. Maybe ice it?

I lowered all the roosts to about 2" above the coop floor. She was sleeping in the nest when I tucked them in last night, and I put her on the roost. She was still there this morning. She's just hanging out today. Not running but not acting like it really bothers her much. I'll just watch her.

I'm freaking myself out by googling chicken limp. So many diseases cause chickens to limp it seems.

 

[Ogress]

No, this is the one that is up by Cle Elum. Even the Wenatchee Complex fire is quite a ways from us. There is also the Alta Lake Fire (not sure of size), but it is a good distance away. But we are getting the smoke from them. Wenatchee is actually rather dangerous from the smoke level, for people with respiratory problems. There were photos taken and you can barely see across the street. No, at this point no fires close to RFF or me, but the smoke is very irritating. I feel bad for those closer and more "enveloped" in all this.

The last 2 weeks the smoke was terrible here. We are about 60 miles west. Some days I could not see the mountains, and I live in them. Bloodshot eyes, scratchy throats, the schools did not allow the kids outside. then the winds switched directions and it is nice here again. No more stinky air.

I saw a satelite image with the smoke from the Cle-Elum fires stretching out acrross the continent, across Nova Scotia and out over THE ATLANTIC!!!! I feel sorry for all the folks in eastern WA still breathing it in.

 

[Ogress]

I do like Bush's Baked Beans, but I absolutely adore Ranch Style Beans. I'm lucky that my local QFC carries them (must be more Texans around here!). I just wish my husband ate either of them. It's kind of hard to eat a whole can of beans on your own! I cook a lot of green beans because he will eat them (and I love fresh green beans), but he won't touch any other kind. I miss pintos, red beans, butter beans, and even lima beans.*sigh*

Jennifer

My DD LOVES Ranch style beans. when we drove to Texas, I stocked up on them. In Austin they are only 59 cents per can, not even on sale. The sale price at my local QFC several years ago was $2.49 per can! I took a photo and sent it to my SIL.