Sorry to read about the ill and injured birds. One of my hens was bitten in yesterday's fox incident and she is still not doing well. (thread and pics in the predator and pest section) That nasty mangy fox has been a real pain. Lost most of the clutch of eggs my Broody Trudy had been sitting on for a week. Looks like more Tstorms brewing out there. Take care everyone and best wishes for the recovery of the sick and injured.
oh boy everyone- sorry to hear about all the birds that are sick, missing or killed
to all of you dealing with this and hope the sick ones get better and the missing ones make it back
Finished up at the dog show about 4 pm today, Erin(DD) and Cassie did pretty good, they got a red in showmanship and a white in obedience, at least Erin was taking it well and praised Cassie for doing a good job! Of course they were running behind and didn't have enough help even though all the families participating were suppose to sign up to help- we ended up working a couple of extra shifts.
Had to process the turkey that hurt it's leg yesterday afternoon when we were washing them for fair-went faster this time and this one weighed in at 22 lbs and was one of the small toms.
Right now Erin is working on decorating her cake, cupcakes and cookies
TerriO - no we don't do 4H guess I just don't know how to get involved. I never did as a kid either. IDK Y.
Processed r 1st batch of fatties yesterday and today and if something could go wrong it went wrong. We borrowed a plucker from someone around here and first off it was giving my DH a shock when he'd turn it on and off.
he did something with the wiring last night and this a.m. after plucking 2 birds he shut it off and a minute later in turned itself on and burnt out the motor
we had some motors here so after fixing and fixing and fixing the thing we finally got done and he took it back to it's owner. the guy wasnt home for DH to tell him what he fixed and replaced on it.
So H&R, your fair starts tomorrow with judging? I am home from ours--FINALLY! Got the horse home and back into his pasture and almost all the Cultural Arts stuff was picked up so we had only a smell pile to organize. I had plenty of help for check out and it went really well. Only a little breakage and that was mostly picture glass but I did get my area changed so I am now in a corner and not between 2 over head doors!
DrH...what can anyone say? I know you are hurting because you loved Peaches so much! Perhaps the others are right and he will come out of hiding when he hears your voice. I certainly hope so. Maybe it will work better for Peaches than is has so far for Monty and Stuart!
I hope you can catch the varmint that did it! If they were taken in the day it sounds like the damage a young hawk does while being trained by its Mama. At least that's the damage my goslings had when an owl was training her baby on them! What did you mean by "the door was propped open differently?" I didnt understand...
I hope your duckling gets better BL4, I have one that is sniffling after being stranded in the pool for the day! I have not done anything for him because he seems to be recovering. I moved him, the guineas and the 2 EE chicks from the bash outside before I went to the fair. I watched them for quite a while because it was so comical! THe guineas went to town on the leaves in there and then started chasing bugs and flying. Then the turkeys got into the act too! It is my mixed pen with all those birds plus the mama Muskovy and her 11. I think I am booting that goose out of the stall to put the puppies in...she has been there for so long! I will see how I think the eggs are doing and decide tomorrow after work.
WWW I am going to go to that thread and check out what fox damage looks like. I have seen a few of them in the neighborhood and I am hoping that they dont discover my chickens! Is it weird to see them in broad daylight? I had one in my backyard that was drinking out of the bucket WITH 2 of my Muskovies! They are not afraid of dogs so I guess they thought it was a dog. I saw this out the window and I almost dropped my teeth. The fox was pretty mangy looking and was only interested in getting a drink, not the ducks!
Well, I am totally beat from my week...here's hoping all come home safe and sound! Good night! TErri O
Not peaches!!! I hope she comes out from hiding, keep being positive. I hope she turns up for you.
Amyable) I would love to get the cherry plant that volunteered this season, and maybe the plum lemon! I will save the seeds you asked for and place your name on them!
Today I taught one of my girlfriends to can. I only can one batch a day, to keep the work load easy. Well, we did:
10 half pints of cherry jam
9 half pints of cherry jelly
2 and a half quarts of strawberry rhubarb pie filling (which I'm NOT happy with)
7 half pints of strawberry Rhubarb jam.
I'm exhausted! She got anxious on her last batch (the cherry jelly) and turned up the heat to high to bring the boil back and it overflowed all over my stove and BURNED into place. I poured boiling water, and got most of it off, but there is some thats just going to have to be scraped.
She gave me 5 boxes of Certo (her company she works for makes it!) which is nice of her and a few jars of jam for us. She says she will grab me some more too. It's fresh off the line, and gels fast. I feel bad for her, because she has to do "taste testing" of batches to make sure its not off and she says it's disgusting. I told her I don't blame her seeing as it's not something you are suppossed to eat out of the pouch!
Any body else make pie filling canned? How was the texture? My recipe told me to cook it for 12 minutes, and can in BWB for 15 minutes, and to bake it again in a pie? It's already mush!
Bad news on this end too; poor little Clyde passed on this evening. I never did figure out what the heck was wrong with him.... my DD thinks it was Pasteurella. Apparently he had poop the color of pistachio pudding at the end? So all the duck things have been thoroughly disinfected, cleaned out, irradiated, you name it these kids have done it. I was stuck at work the whole day so I am really annoyed that I was unable to be here for them.......
Anybody have any ideas as to what happened? I am open to suggestions. We gave him the baby vitamins, yogurt, whatever we could think of but he would just not eat. I thought he was ok this morning; no worse but no better either. I guess he just went downhill fast after I left at noon.
I hate living in town........ it is so frustrating!
Morning All! Thanks to everyone for the support. I'm just sick. I know I'll never have another roo like Peaches I could just puke. fm sorry I didn't get back to you. I was taking a nap when you called then it was supper time then had phone calls and a visit from my dad and then it was about the time you would be putting the kids to bed so I didn't call back. I know how the convo would have gone and I thank you for the convo we didn't have. I walked and walked all around through the woods not so much as a feather. But there's a lot of places out there so thick you could hide a herd of rhino. I'm holding out hope that some will show up. Especially Peaches. But haven't heard any crowing. With all the head wounds I'm thinking weasel. Don't think a hawk would kill 6 birds and drag off 5. The hens didn't want to go in the coop think that's where they were ambushed. Stayed up way past dark watching and waiting nothing showed. I want revenge. TO I roll a brick over in front of the walk in door with my foot to keep the wind from blowing it shut when we got home the brick was propped up against the door. Something I don't do. Thought of makin wood this morning but too burnt out tod o it so I'll hang around weed today. Didn't read all the post I missed yet but sounds like I'm not the only one with losses. So sorry BL4 about Clyde and all who have lost their beloved birds!
On the up side Brownie and Elvis made it through the night with their wounds. A dream woke me up this morning that Peaches was in the yard crowing and waiting for me. My eyes popped open and I layed their listening, it was just a dream.
Yeah...me too DrH I have too many Ancona Roos here...they are young so you could train them up how you like them. Pretty birds; black and white flecks and spots all over 'em. I have 4 to my ONE hen! Come and get one if you want!
Back to work for me today and believe me, it will be restful after the crazyness of the fair! If you have ever had kids in a fair with animals you will know what I mean! I have a 4H club myself and my kids brought 12 horses, 2 cats, a couple of dogs, chickens and geese, photography, vet sciences, cultural art, shooting sports and cooking. Oh, I forgot the pigs (2) and the steers (4) AND ONE CALF! I was running around trying to make all their shows, help and take pictures for the scrapbook! Now the fun part of putting it all together...I might save it for my next scrapping outing...depends on how much I have to do of my own stuff!
Raimnel--to join 4H you just have to contact your county's extension office (or go on line) and find a club near you and go check out a meeting. If you dont like that club find another one and check out that one. Enrollment is from August to November in my county so you are right in the time frame if your kids are interested. It is a great organization and they can learn so much!
BL4--how is your bathroom holding up? I hope all your hard work is panning out and it stays beautiful for a long time...are we ready to talk about mine yet?
Time for me to scoot--I want to check out how the guineas fared last night before I go...later all; and as usual--have a great day! Terri O
Terri the bathtub is now Duck Sanctuary-Pond. The babies go in it, the Juvies go in it....... I have not even taken a shower let alone a bath in my own tub!
Ok, off to pack the car to take the 2 boys to my cousin's house for the week.