ldawntaylor - bits and pieces

Well, my hen seems to be adjusting to the chicks. The young ones don't seem frightened of her but they do keep a respectful distance. Even the ones I believe are roosters do.

I also noticed that every time I was out in the chicken coop yesterday she was watching those chicks. She also bedded down on the side of the hen house closest to where the chicks were.

Oh I know, I didn't do the introduction "properly". But, it has worked. I've heard of others that took all the steps and their two flocks never did integrate very well. It all depends on the personality of the birds. At least that is my theory.

I find myself thinking of the notion that there are as many ways to raise animals/birds as there are people raising them. And most of them are okay.

For now, I need to get ready for work.

So, until next time....

ldawntaylor said:

I find myself thinking of the notion that there are as many ways to raise animals/birds as there are people raising them. And most of them are okay.

Click to expand...

I think you're right about that!

For those who are interested I was paraphrasing a statement by David Mackenzie in his book "Goat Husbandry" first published in 1957. For what ever reason that notion has stuck with me. He also is/was of the mindset that most of the health problems a goat has is a result of either a lack of cleanliness or a lack in nutrition. I suspect that is true of almost any species including humans.

On to other things.

I am glad I did not get the pepper plants and tomato plants moved outside yesterday. There is a severe thunderstorm headed this way. When I checked last it was around Oklahoma City and moving this way. I just hope a thunderstorm is all it is.

I can at least get some of the wire cut for the chicken run. Even if it is raining too much to get any of the wiring done.

Until next time....

For now it isn't raining. But it sure has been. The worst of the storms went to either side of where I live. I am greatful.

At my work when a tornado warning is issued for the area all of the residents and staff must go to the hall ways. It doesn't matter what time it is. Even if a meal is being served. I understand the need but it does make for some very stressful times. It also makes for some very cranky residents when there are multiple tornado warnings in one night or string of nights.

Spending much time in a closed hallway with so many people is not an enjoyable experience. These incidents bring back a lot of memories for many people. Some are a little too familiar with air raid shelters, think WW2 veterans. Others get nervous in closed spaces or in crowds.

My mom and birth father had always commented that they knew a storm was coming by the behavior of the students. I find the same to be true of the residents. I'm sure scars and arthritis are reacting to the changes in the weather. But, there is a different energy level as well as people being more irritable when a storm is building.

All of these things make storm season harder. I am sure these things are factors through out the country. After all, safety of the residents comes first in a "nursing home". I know that isn't the politically correct term. But, it does convey the type of place very well. After all a "health and rehab center" is a place where people live who need medical care. Or need more help than average with daily living.

There is something else I've been thinking about these last few days.

Those who work in these types of places are sacrifice so much. Laundry, housekeeping, and kitchen often are over looked. The nurses and cna's are more noticable and so are more likely to be remembered. But those that fill the support staff roles are rarely seen.

What do I mean by sacrifices?

We often don't get true weekends off even though most of our families still live in a weekends off world. In families that don't plan ahead very well that means a lot of missed family events. For example, my cousins have planned wedding showers, weddings, and later baby showers for Saturdays or Sundays. I also only get a couple weeks notice that these things will be happening. That usually means I don't have time to request the time off so that I can be involved too. I only get my schedule for a month at a time so that makes it really hard for me to plan anything myself. As a general rule I only get one weekend out of 6 off. And even that can't be counted on because of others needing time off or calling in.

So we sacrifice our weekends, most of our holidays and a lot of our time during any given week. On top of that the "support staff" rarely earns much more than minimum wage. And a lot of times not even so much as a thank-you. In some states the minimum wage is more that my hourly rate, and I've been working in the same place for over 10 years. As to the holidays. I haven't actually had Christmas off is over 5 years. That's okay, I'd rather have Thanksgiving anyway (and I request that day off when the schedule goes up in early October). Since I do not have children I work almost every other holiday in the year.

It is amazing how many people don't realize that at a "nursing home" when some event happens there is a lot of work on top of the usual work load. Meals still have to be fixed and cleaned up after and cleaning still has to be done. While the prep work happens. After the guests go home and the residents are in bed there is still the extra clean up that must be done. Think of the times you have had guests in your home and the work of putting everything back to rights. Then multiply that by 50 or 100.

I would ask this. Those of you who have family or friends that you visit.... a "please" or "thank-you" goes a long way in making a request easier to accept. Yes, filling these requests is our job. But please, or thank-you acknowledges that what is being asked is in addition to the daily work.

Please be tolerant when the person waiting on you isn't as fast as you would like. After all, we are trying to balance the needs of the many and the wants of the few. Getting every thing done can be really, really, hard sometimes. Keeping that gravy from burning or being lumpy must be balanced with fetching that ice cream from the freezer for someone who wants a snack right now. Or making that sandwich. Sure, it only takes a moment or two. But, those minutes add up.

No, my work day wasn't a bad one. It was just very busy. If I actually got 5 minutes of my allowed break time I would be surprised. Some days are like that.

I know this is the time many are starting to wake up for the day. But, I am going to take a nap for a couple of hours. Then get up to take care of my animals. My plans for the day depend a great deal on the weather.

Sometimes I find myself remembering that stitched pillow I saw "Rainy days are when gardeners get their housework done". Sometimes I sure can relate to that.

Until next time....

Well, it is turning into a nice day here. I don't know how nice it will stay though. I'll be taking advantage of the non-rain to work on the chicken run.

I've got the lower half door open today. The standard size chicks are flying high enough they could fly to the half door, perch a moment then fly out if they wanted to. So, it makes more sense to me to have that door open too. The noise of a separated flock would draw more predator type birds than the flock itself will. (My theory anyway). The run is covered with poultry netting...slightly stronger guage than some. I just need to close some gaps. I also want to reinforce it in a few places.

There is some concern about hawks and the like. But, truth be told I am more concerned about my mother's cat getting in. She climbs really well. So those fence posts and cross-bars would be really easy for her. Some of those gaps are close to the cross bars. Maybe I'm concerned about nothing. But then again, maybe not.

Mom's cat, Smokegon, follows me everywhere when I'm outside. She seems to view all of the other animals as "hers" I guess. She even tollerates non farm animals. Last night an oppossum took shelter with her. Startled me good when I looked into the niche under my mobile home.

She has managed to chase off my cat, Gata. I haven't seen her since Monday. Maybe, it is just coincidence. But, Gata has been really skittish around her. Maybe she is just hiding. She is a pretty good hunter and really good at hiding. So for me it is more a matter of missing her than worrying about her.

Since mom and dad are now my nearest neighbors I guess the only way I can have a cat of my own is if Lady, my dog, will accept it in her area. Smokie just does not like other cats. I wonder, if Smokie would tolerate a younger male?

Back to my project...so...until next time....

My project is coming along but I will be sore tomorrow. All of that stretching and looking up above my head.... I have almost half of the "reinforcement" done. I also have most of the gaps in the top wired shut. The other half of the reinforcement should go a bit faster simply because I don't have the wiring left to do.

I think I have less than 2 hours of wiring to do on the sides. I'll still have some of the finish work to do. For example, I need to finish painting the hen house. I need to figure out roosts. Among other things.

I've really been enjoying watching those chicks run around. Mostly the ones that have ventured out are suspected roosters.

For now, I need to cut some wires so that I can get at least most of the top done today.

Until next time....

The top of the run is finished in terms of wiring. The monofilament as reinforcement is about 1/2 finished. The second half will go much faster with the wiring done.

My cat showed up, for about 5 seconds. Then Smokie chased her off again.

I was working on the wiring in the run and one of the chicks got separated from the others. It went into the hen house and couldn't see the other birds. Or maybe, thought they were in danger of some kind. It started that distress call that so many are familiar with.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking "it can't be too bad, so I'll just finish this row". So I kept working. After all, I was facing the hen house and had been for some time.

Well, the chick kept making that call. Then Rusty made a very odd bark. It wasn't his "trouble" or his "stranger" bark. And, he is looking towards the hen house. All I can figure is he is responding somehow to the chick.

Do I have a chicken guardian in the making?

So far, everytime he barks about something the chicks run back to the hen house. Kjasa they don't seem to respond to at all. Interestingly enough, when the buck or one of my does snorts the chicks run for cover.

I've noticed that the birds that are most likely to be out in the run and the furthest from the door are the suspected roosters. Except, for the bantam one. The hens stay close to the door so far unless I am out there too. When I went out to close the gate to the goat pasture the chicks were being mimics. The were following me along the inside of the run as I walked along the outside.

I believe I have at least 5 roosters to do something with. I might be keeping the bantam one, that depends on temperment and such. The other 5 are all standard size chickens. The standard size ones were all from the pullet bins. When I get rid of those 5 birds that will leave me with 5, 3 of which are bantams. I'm sure I'll end up with more birds.

For now my bed is calling. I have a lot to do tomorrow so I'll call it a night.

Until next time....

On Monday I asked at the co-op and Atwoods about their policies when chicks sold as pullets turn out to be roosters. At the co-op they are willing to compensate some how. The challenge is determining rooster or hen on those three. At Atwoods I was basically told "to bad but we don't replace or refund".

Atwoods has just lost most if not all of my business. True I don't really buy that much. But, I would rather deal with local companies.

For the moment I must get ready for work.

So, until next time....

Well, I got my replacement chicks from the co-op. I'll have to do some research on the breeds. I just know they are different from the birds I already have.

I will be getting my Welsummer chicks on Monday. Maybe an Ameracuana (sp?) and an Olive Egger as well.

After that it will be decision time on which birds I am keeping. Yes, I know by then I will have at least twice the number than I have space for. But, I still don't know how many are roosters. Of the original 6 standard size chicks I got I will be only keeping 1. The others are most likely roosters. Combs turning red before they are even 8 weeks old is a pretty good indicator....

I don't have anything against having a rooster or two depending on how they get along. I just don't want the rooster to be a hatchery bird. I'm hoping one of the Welsummer chicks will be male.

My mother is so baffled by my interest in these birds. The only thing she likes about them is eggs. And sometimes watching them through the fence. She does keep asking questions though.... "Are the Old English Game Birds even chickens?" For example, since at least one of my bantams seems to be from that breed.

I will finish updating later. Since I must get ready for work.

Until next time....

I would have updated about the chicks earlier, but, I was without internet over the weekend. So frusterating.

The tech had come to install internet at my parents place. Not a problem.... But, he started to undo my connection. Evidently he thought my place was unoccupied. I'm still puzzled about why. The plants visible from the windows, the dog in the back yard, etc. The grass in the yard was grown up, but it always gets like that before I notice the first time around. After that I cut grass once a week until the lawn turns brown.

Anyway, I had been using the internet Thursday morning before work. When I got home I had no internet and no land line either. So, I spent Friday morning calling the company to find out when they would come to fix it. I talked to 4 of their people before I finally convinced one that there really was a problem.

I don't get why someone thinks a phone call going to an off site voice mail means the call is going through. I mean, with a cell phone, if you get voice mail you don't assume the phone itself is still operable. The service person that finally notified the repair person tried to tell me that someone else had picked up the phone.

I told him I was watching the only landline phone the entire time he was making that test call and it did not ring at all.

So, the repair person finally showed up on Monday morning. He tried to tell me the wires were so old they had gotten brittle. Hmmm, do wires get brittle in less than 5 years?. I still think he was just trying to cover the fact that he had neglected to reattach or reactivate something. Oh well.

I just hope I don't have the same difficulties when the installation tech comes to put in my parents permenant line. Right now they just have a temporary one.

On the plus side, the problem was in the company's part of the line. So, the expense of sending the repair person was out of their pocket, not mine.

At the moment a meal is waiting and then work.

So, until next time....