What are you doing today?

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Ruby Slippers
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Ruby Slippers »

My Grandaughter has just messaged me to say that she has a reading age of 13! :D not bad for a 9 year old! So that's two little brain box grandchildren I have. :lol:


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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@RS - WOO HOO re: your granddaughter that is EXCELLENT!! And will definitely translate into all other areas of her educational life :up :up Way to go!!! Definitely terrific!!!
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Mad Dilys »

Today I'm taking it easy and re-assessing my future. I think I need to speed up my agenda.

I had a private consultation with an orthopaedic specialist yesterday (Thank you DD) The good news is he doesn't want to see me for 6 months. :up


PS I am well aware of how lucky I am and very grateful, my life could be so very much worse.
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Am waiting for a Landscaper/Carpenter guy to arrive today to make a railing going down the two sets of stone stairs in the backyard as well as two short sections of fence on top of the stone wall.

So far I've only allowed ME into the backyard (not that people are lined up to come into my backyard) because there are no railings on the stairs (4 steps high) but, by law, anything more than 3 stairs requires a railing. Finally I've got a guy to come and do this I say hopefully hoping and praying he actually WILL show up but I think so. He is an older guy from the UK who has moved here and takes on part time jobs.

Sad to say but many of the guys here who do yardwork are nothing more than glorified Handy men, are not responsible to arrive, bid a job, talk knowledgeably about it and typically want paid as they go but are also more than able/capable of never finishing. Am more than aware of this so have been taking my time to go step by step with the yard & landscaping getting qualified workers. This guy has made two trips here to look at it, source his materials and then come back to get specific measurements and consult with me. Now just waiting for the work to start.

Getting the railings and gate are a bit 'whew' for me as now I'm even more ok for the Grandkids to go up and down into the backyard and am more secure they're not going to fall off the top terrance.
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Mad Dilys »

Beautiful morning yet again. My beloved Mandevilla which looked as if it had stopped growing has shot up on it's leader and a new shoot from the base. The Gardenia's flower has faded but lovely light green leaves are sprinkled all over the top. The Crinium and her baby are looking lusty, I've never grown them before, so am hoping all goes well in my mini garden next to my favourite chair. :up But I have to do some tidying up on the plants in the kitchen and on the bedroom window sills.

I hope to do a bit of weedkilling in both front and back gardens today, hate killing things but needs must.

Best of all, Inshallah in 3 more sleeps my eldest daughter and her son will be here for a short holiday. :jig:
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Horus »

I was knackered the day before yesterday, I went out for a long walk with my son and all our dogs as it was quite cool at 10.30 am. Part way around my daughter phones me "Dad I have a problem with the chickens" turns out that one has been feather plucking and resulted in two birds getting attacked and injured. So after a 4 hour walk it was straight to her house to try and sort it out, solution was to try and rehouse the bully with another flock somewhere like a small holding or a farm. Solved the problem of the injured ones by clipping their wings and keeping them apart from the main flock by letting them roam in her back garden which is pretty secure. Eventually found a lady who would take the bully hen, so again it was over to my daughters house to collect said chicken and deliver to her new home a few miles away. While there I managed to scrounge some special blue antiseptic spray specially for wounds on chickens. So again off to my daughters to sort out the injured chickens and the others that had lesser peck marks on them, by the time I arrived home again it was 8.30 pm. I fed Annie then went next door to water their extensive garden as they are on holiday, by the time I returned I was too knackered even to finish my lovely salad I had part prepared that morning, so I stuffed a couple of boiled Jersey Royal potatoes down my neck and headed off up the pub with Annie having had enough of Friday the 13th :x
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Mad Dilys »

Once upon a time I looked after yarded turkeys and battery hens for my sins (Bigger cages and less occupants than now, but I still didn't like it.) Anyway both of those environments encourage feather pecking.

Birds do seem to have a good sense of smell as well as taste in my opinion. A gamekeeper gave me this tip:-

For the turkeys I would smear Vicks ointment on the feathers around the affected part and as long as the skin was unbroken put them back with the flock. If the skin was broken I would put them behind a wire barrier but where they could all still see each other until the wound was healed then with an extra application of Vicks they would return to the flock.

The chickens were treated similarly, except that as I was with them every day checking it never got to the wound stage so they stayed where they were and had daily Vicks treatment.

I was required to de-beak and vaccinate the birds on arrival. I only took a tiny piece off the tip of the beak, like the white part of a finger nail and the beak tip usually grew back. I think I had three cases in the 250 or so turkeys from day old and about 600 hens. I have never been in favour of mutilation taking the place of good husbandry as far as possible. :up
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Horus »

These birds have plenty of room, but the one bird decided to start plucking feathers, as you know once a chicken sees red/blood then they all start and within minutes you could have a savaged bird. The spray I used is a purple/violet colour and distracts the birds from the trigger red colour, it also prevents fly blow. I have now obtained a medical dusting powder that is keeping the wound nice and dry, plus an anti feather plucking spray that they have all been blasted with. The two injured ones seem to be quite happy now as they can still see the rest of then flock so should not present a problem with reintroducing them again in a couple of weeks, both birds still create like nobody's bussiness and insist upon going back into the main coop to lay which they are both still doing. However I have just constructed them a small wire coop that is covered in and has perches, so hopefully they will soon adjust to it being theirs after a couple of nights in there. :up
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

My gf had a huge open pen for her chicken. Large in that is was easily 20' w x 40' long but was just big and open. Nobody had anywhere to go except in this big huge open area and she always always always had issues with chickens have their tail feathers plucked out by each other and honestly once it starts you can't really stop it. Personally too I always thought she over populated the area. It was big but still putting 30+ chickens into that space was still asking for trouble especially when all the had to do for entertainment was to pick on each other.

I repeatedly suggested (cause absolutely hated to see all her poor chicken) that she put in a few obstacles so that the chickens could hide on or around them. Even if it was just a few cement blocks with a bit of plywood - anything to create a few natural type places to climb on and hide. I had that for mine so that 1 could be on a roost, one under the actual coop, one behind the concrete blocks I also shoved a pole through to create a lowish perch. Given the weakest one a place to get out of sight and life would be good. Guess mostly I'm saying if a chicken has simple things to occupy itself with it isn't as apt to go after other chickens IMO.

I also fed mine meat scraps. They got slivers of all sorts of meat. I did that to meet any protein needs they might have.

Getting the injured guys out and getting their wounds covered with something that doesn't resemble raw meat is good too.
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Horus »

They have plenty of diversions, CD's hanging from string, random perches, swings etc. it just happens sometimes when the pecking order takes a bad turn. They get lots of greens plus protien like mealworms and even grated cheese, lots of cherries from the tree, they lack little in the way of food or entertainment.
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@H - if there is lots to attract their attention then you've just got (or had) a super dominant hen and needs to be dispatched from the coop otherwise she will soon be teaching all the others what tender targets butts are! :)

I never ever had this happen with my ladies but they always had lots to amuse themselves with during the day and they got lots of protein too.

I always used to cringe whenever I went to visit my gf as she loved all her ladies (sold eggs through her work too) but OMG they looked terrible. I'd always suggest giving them obstacles to climb on and hide around and things to amuse themselves with (she did put a really large pumpkin once into her enclosure which they picked to death in short order) but couldn't seem to get the idea that even a chicken needs 'something' to while away the time. I also thought she over crowded her large open space too. Nobody could run away from anybody.

I used to like stringing up a large cabbage. Took them a while to eat it down cause it would swing but it amused them no end! ;)

I'm thinking of putting in a coop here but I'm also not too sure as I'm so close to wildlife - as in bears that can rip through most anything to get at what they want. Will see. A few more backyard projects to complete first along with one last section of Allen Block wall.

I've actually also though quail as you would get eggs albeit small but they don't actually ever leave the coop. And the coop is significantly smaller. I've never raised them although I've read a little bit about their requirements which isn't anything super great of tremendous. I've also thought ducks! They'd definitely last out the winter and all the water here better.

So it kinda comes down to 3 chickens, 2 ducks or X number of quail. How many quail equals 1 chicken? 2? 2.5? 3?
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Mad Dilys »

Quail are lovely and start to lay at a ridiculously young age, but how long for? I don't know. :tk
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Horus »

LLL, the trouble maker was re-homed the same day with a lady on a smallholding who kindly took her. She is in a much bigger flock including cockerels (Yes more than one, they are brothers hatched together) so they will keep her in her place.
Regarding Quail, they can start laying as early as 2 months old, but usually its around 6. They average 1 egg per day and lay best in the first 2 years or so, but can continue laying and live for about 3 to 4. I would not keep them with chickens as they can carry diseases that infect chickens.
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Mad Dilys »

Interesting Horus, I didn't know about the Quail diseases affecting chickens. they are often used by my friends just to clear up the food their bigger birds in the aviaries scatter. They aren't used for egg laying but eating! Probably a different strain as with chicken themselves?

Chickens shouldn't mix with Turkeys, if my memory serves me right they are unaffected by a disease of the liver in Turkeys we called black head - don't know why - apparently they pass the infection in their droppings and infect the land. Having said that we ran all our poultry together in Luxor and had no problem. Chance is a fine thing indeed! :up
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Horus »

It is the other way around MD, the Quail get a disease called Croyza, a bit like a head cold.
This fast talking guy does give a very good explanation of the problems of keeping both together, but like everything in life you will speak to someone who says they had no problems, "you pays your money, you takes your choice" :lol:

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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Ruby Slippers »

I'm enjoying the coolness of the weather today after the unbearable heat we've had. :up Waiting to go to the hospital this afternoon for blood tests to be done. :td
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Mad Dilys »

Hope all goes well, sending "positive thoughts" :up
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@RS - hope the tests are just routine and nothing serious or new and emergent.

Weather here is hot as in really hot. Everything closed down with fans on.
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by Ruby Slippers »

I think they were all routine ones, LLL. Funnily enough, I made a jokey remark to the phlebotomist about taking an armful (4 phials) but nearly fell off the chair when he said the person before me had 22 taken!!! :o
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Re: What are you doing today?

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Wow - last time I had blood taken when they were trying to figure out why the pain in my side I think I had 8 taken and I thought that was quite enough. Twenty Two is LOTS. They must have really been looking for something pretty vague or rare.
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