What are you doing today?

[Grandad]

H, I have just been through all the accessories. I agree, to have a spare waterproof enclosure door and lock is a plus. Did your kit include two batteries? I missed one that was only £25 but I think it had just one battery. Is yours bluetooth? mine is not but that is not an issue except if I wanted to use my selfie stick.

[Horus]

Had to go and check Grandad as its been a while since I saw it.
No I only have the one battery so you got a bonus in getting a spare with yours.
Neither is it Bluetooth, the selfie stick came with another package of fittings like chest harness, head-band etc. but it will hopefully come in handy for when Annie is splashing about in the water to get some close ups of her, or even dipping into ponds to check out the wildlife.

[Grandad]

@Horus
H, I have spent a little while getting familiar with using the App this afternoon. It all works well and you can change the camera settings and switch between still and video via the App. I have the camera on my desk in the mount on a small gorilla type tripod.
I took this picture remotely, saved it from camera to my mobile, then bluetooth to my computer. I think it is a very acceptable image all things considered.

I now need to explore what uses I can put it to, maybe something else to watch the foxes because I can at least get a live image on my mobile.

[Horus]

Image looks good enough Grandad, is the one you have Bluetooth?

[Grandad]

No, just wifi. At first I thought it would be better with bluetooth but on reflection I can do everything via wifi so probably not essential. I do bluetooth between my phone and computer and between tablets.

[Horus]

Not sure if mine is WiFi or not, must check

[Grandad]

@Horus
I am sure it will be Wifi H but I am not yet sure exactly what that means. The user manual is printed grey on white and very small text that I just cannot read.
I did wonder if it DID need my router so I switched it off, it still connected and worked fine. When we go shopping tomorrow I shal see if it still works from a distance but with the router switched on. If so that will confirm that it will work in close proximity to my mobile AND at long distance via the router. Still investigating
I did find that the first battery did not last very long although I did spend a long time with the screen switched on. I have now set the screen saver to 3 minutes but will probably shorten that because the screen is a drain on the battery.....If I plan to use it for observation, I shall leave it plugged in on constant charge. Once the Wifi connection is broken you have to push the Wifi button on the camera again which is not much help if you are elsewhere.
When we go to the Emirates, and just for the hell of it, I shall put smart bulbs in lamps in the lounge, switch them on via the Hive App and check that they have come on via the camera App.
All in the interest of scientific research

[Horus]

I am currently involved in making a chicken coop and a run my daughter has decided she would like to have some chickens Only 4 as they will need to be contained, she has visions of having lots of eggs.

[Grandad]

I am currently involved in making a chicken coop and a run my daughter has decided she would like to have some chickens Only 4 as they will need to be contained, she has visions of having lots of eggs.

I have never kept chickens but I think you also need a cockerel to get eggs?

[Ruby Slippers]

Better ask MD about that. She's the expert on here!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Noooooooo a chicken will lay eggs just cause. Don't need a guy at all in the hen house to get eggs

[Mad Dilys]

I'm no expert, but LLL is right.

I have raised a lot of breeds of poultry and used to have an egg round, I even had a licenced egg packing station .......... apparently the bottom of my larder and my kitchen were adequate at the time.

My poultry were free range during the day, and I'd keep a few cockerels of each breed who established their own harems - seemed more natural.

I've never had a cockerel lay eggs, but I did have a stud goat that gave proper, but very low protein and extremely smelly milk! I didn't know that male goats could do that until he had mastitis!

[Horus]

Don't forget ladies that we men also have nipples
As for the chickens, well she comes from a line of chicken keepers, my own father used to have hundreds when I was a kid so chickens are second nature to me. I also had a nice little broiler hen sideline when I lived in Africa. Hens do not need contact with a male in order to lay, they start all on their own from about 20 weeks old (it does vary) and some breeds like Leghorns can knock out about 350 eggs in the first year. She is wanting some 'nice' chickens so I may point her towards a mix of 'Speckeldy' 'Blue Ranger' and 'Sussex Ranger' which will give between 230 and 260 eggs per year each and should be fairly docile and get on together, I may even get her a 'Blue Splash' that lays blue coloured eggs. As it will only be a backyard coop and run she will be limited to keeping about 4 chickens because of space.

[Mad Dilys]

I was breeding poultry about 50 years or more ago, I had quite a few different ones, but hadn't heard of Speckeldy, Susses Ranger and Blue Ranger. I got blue eggs from my Auraucana and I had another hen which was black but I can't remember the variety, she laid green eggs. Only the Auraucana I believe has the colour right through the shell, the other one certainly was white inside the egg.

I've just been counting up what I can remember having. I started with bantams - little black Cochins with fans on their feet which looked so sweet when they came running, and finished up with Jersey Giants which are really tall.

My favourite egg layers were Welsummers, Barnevelder, Rhode Island Reds, Light Sussex and Marans. Maran cockrels are fiercer than any other breed I had including the big Brahmas and Cochins.

For fun I had Millefleur Barbu d'Uccles, which were tiny and looked as if they were covered in forget-me-nots, blue Belgians with loved to be cuddled by the children. The afore mentioned black Cochins, speckled Hamburghs, Dorkings (much under rated) Silver Seabright (probably most beautiful) Golden Seabright, Silkies in all colours, Polish bantams with their Pompon head gear, speckled Sussex and Croad Langshan.

Some varieties I had both the bantam and the large size and probably a few more breeds as well - certainly commercial hybrids. I used to buy fertile eggs of varieties I didn't have as adults pop them in an incubator or under a willing bantam and get my own strain going.

I had a few ducks and turkeys too, one of my jobs was raising hundreds of turkeys from day olds. I like poultry, but they are time consuming.

[Horus]

MD, like many things nowadays the breeders all have their own varieties and crosses, the ones I metioned Speckeldy, Susses Ranger and Blue Ranger are all of that type and are crosses of other well known varieties. You mentioned the Welsummers, a lovely breed especially the cockerels when in good plumage.
We had many Rhode Island Reds, and Sussex birds along with some Leghorns, I remember a Leghorn Cockerel that my father had, it was enormous and would bend an industrial brush stale that it had for a perch when it sat on it. Many times it jumped into my dads back with both feet as he was stepping over the raised threshold of the coop and send him flying and he was a big bloke.

[Grandad]

Nothing wrong with your memory MD if you can remember all those breeds

@Horus
I checked to see if I could link with tjhe camera via Sainsburys Wifi but nada. So as it works with my mobile even when my router is switched off I must assume that the link is direct between camera and mobile, no different than bluetooth. I even tried Hive to see if it would detect the camera but, again, no.
So that kills my plan to look in my lounge when away on holiday. I will; just set the lights to come on and off randomly via the Hive hub.

[Mad Dilys]

At that time we used to cross Rhode Island Red females with a Light Sussex male. then you get a good dual purpose bird with hybrid vigour - plus the chicks are sex linked for colour and you can separate the male and female chicks as soon as they are dry.

Commercial broiler chickens were coming in, but I didn't like them. Yes, they matured at a crazy rate, but it's heart breaking to see youngsters too heavy for their leg tendons which rupture, so they are in great pain and can't stand up. 4 weeks old and nearly 2lbs in weight is ridiculous.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Am a bit on the run - off to maybe but probably the last pottery day today. Found out my cousin I grew up with passed away yesterday on the operating table during heart surgery yesterday afternoon and thought I'd have a great thread for here showing all the flock of migrating Brant Geese that arrive here. The daughter + grandkids + me loved seeing them and the camera would have been a real plus 'cept there it sat on the kitchen counter.......then the Tenant's car got broke into yesterday however when I went up to get the mail I found a pile of STUFF dropped by the post box so I gathered it all up and 'yup' it belonged to the Tenant plus a couple of the neighbours too ..... so RCMP involved (and this same #$%@#$ thief also "allegedly" got into a car on another street and for fun released the hand brake and pushed the car into the street so it hit other cars. I swear I'm going to get a great slathering junk yard dog and stake it out front!) - busy day........more in a bit - Got lots to say about Grandad's post + chickens and will do soon as life gives me a break for a sec to do this.

[Horus]

MD, when in Africa I used to buy Harco's because they were sex linked, all the hens were yellow (eventually white) and the cockerels were all black (eventually as adults a nice speckled black and white) the problem was the males took too long to reach a good weight and ate too much food.

[Mad Dilys]

I only have one ambition for today, otherwise I intend just to mooch about eat when I feel like it and do nothing also if I feel like it.

The ambition? I've got quite casual about checking my bank accounts as I know roughly my status without checking. I noticed recently when I did check there was a payment to O2 for £17.50.

I closed that account several years ago, and after noticing payments still going out complained, was reimbursed and thought the matter settled. Apparently not, so needs sorting.

Just think of all the plants I could buy with that over the course of a year!