rachels.haven's Journal

[farmerjan]

I have a hard time understanding that if the patient/resident in the nursing home has it, why were a few family members not allowed to go see or stay with them with the whole gloves and mask thing? I mean really....... My former fiance' 's obituary that was in the paper over 2 weeks after his passing, mentioned that the family appreciated the care that the nursing staff gave him.... so no visits there either. Very sad for all concerned with losing family and friends in that situation.

 

[rachels.haven]

I have a hard time understanding that if the patient/resident in the nursing home has it, why were a few family members not allowed to go see or stay with them with the whole gloves and mask thing? I mean really....... My former fiance' 's obituary that was in the paper over 2 weeks after his passing, mentioned that the family appreciated the care that the nursing staff gave him.... so no visits there either. Very sad for all concerned with losing family and friends in that situation.

Gloves and masks are not 100%. But they are better than nothing, so the common person gets them.
Real PPE was in short supply here with not even enough for front line doctors for a while (I think we are doing better now). Therefore, no visitors, no funerals, no gatherings...it's still Mass here. People in the state govt hate being told what to do but love to tell others what to do. Expect heavy handedness. Also, incompetence.

For example: Our big order of masks got taken away by the feds, so we took some sport's team owner's private jet to china and brought our own order home to be guarded at gunpoint at a secret location (and then we shared with the neighboring states that were in horid shape). Try that on an individual basis here and you'd get shot and your dead body would be sued and fined, lol.

 

[rachels.haven]

Went to the silkie breeder to buy a second Mr. Baby Teddy rooster for a second 6-7 girls I'll be hatching (planned)...may have come back with an extra rooster (less planned)...I should put up pictures tomorrow. One might be a frizzled silkie. The other is a 4 month old version of the winky chicken I already have. They are both fabulous. I may have also decided that the silkies are already exceeding our egg needs and eating almost nothing because this rooster is apparently a GREAT forager and with ducks coming into lay we are going to be more than fine without production birds. So I guess it won't hurt to put 30 or so silkie eggs that we don't need in the incubator and hatch some ladies for these handsome featherdusters. They will be inheriting my 8x8 coop. We may not get winter eggs from them, but I think we'll be able to put some away for the dry spell. Fresh eggs last a surprisingly long time in the fridge. I like the idea of having a bunch of chickens that cause very little trouble and don't eat that much but stay fat and happy and lay pretty well. Extra nice food for them.

 

[rachels.haven]

Stand training for Saffron's Dahlia

Two new flock sires. The one on the left is young and needs a few more months to mature. The one on the right is over a year.

 

[Finnie]

I have been on a quest for that just right chicken breed. I hate mean roosters, the latest is in the freezer. I have heard many good things about White Rocks, good layers, CALM roosters and big brown eggs. I’m thinking that will be my next breed. They are white-boring. I really like the flashy colors, colored eggs, the chicken that “wows”. But I’m thinking boring white is looking better and better. LOL LOL

I haven’t read the last 8 pages, so you all are probably done talking about chicken breeds now.
But I just have to put my plug in for Swedish Flower Hens, if you want colorful birds and nice roosters. Well, my two roosters are nice, at least.
Egg color is a boring pale cream, and probably medium size. I have 4 hens, and some seem to lay every day while others take days off. Well, 2-3 eggs a day and sometimes 4.

 

[Baymule]

I like the looks of Swedish Flower Hens, they are pretty. I haven't had a lot of different breeds, I had several rounds of sex links, Wyandottes in several different colors, Easter Eggers, Delawares (hated them), and barnyard mutts. Next will be White Rocks with probably a few colorful hens thrown in for fun.

 

[Bruce]

I have some White Rocks, decent birds. The stars of the flock at the moment are the Austra Whites - Meyer hatchery White Leghorn x Black Australorp. Sized and shaped closer to the Leghorn, laying lots (like 5 or 6 a week) of Large to XL eggs. Of course they are just now a year old so I don't know how they will do in the next few years. Not particularly skittish.

 

[rachels.haven]

Our fridge upstairs has been broken since march appears to have been fixed today (watching the inside temp fall), so I've got somewhere to store milk that's not in the basement. Maybe the old fridge with the failing seal and doors that don't close well can go back into service as my cheese "cave" soon when I can get the freezer emptied.

Also, Ginger, Ava's smallest doeling was in heat today, so she got separated and all males in the pen (excluding Saffron's buck who got done earlier) are invited to a fancy castration party tonight. DH will help hold my aspiring meat wethers. I may let them stay on their mothers for tonight as a consolation prize. Lace's 4 week buckling can extend and wants to work as a buck, so he's getting done early. The other two were 8 weeks yesterday.

DH drove me an hour and got three week old muscovy ducklings who should be decent quality to grow out. I see two drakes and a duck already, but we'll see. They're only week old. I can usually sex them by body shape at a week, but it's more accurate to wait until 2 or 3. Having two nice drakes to use over the low quality local ducks wouldn't be terrible. One nice duck would be wonderful too. The duck and one drake is chocolate. The other is black.

 

[Baymule]

Castration party! yay! Wethers for the freezer are a good thing. We took lambs to slaughter, I presold several of them and their new owners paid the processing. We got 2 for our freezer. I'm getting this slaughter thing down better. Cut the "hallowed" leg of lamb into steaks, debone and tenderize for chicken fried steak. Forget about the fancy-schmancy lamb chops, just lift out the backstrap and cut in 3/4" wide pieces. No bones and no gristle or connective tissue. 1 shoulder into stew meat, ground meat the rest. Lamb shanks for soup. Practically no bones to take up freezer space. It's only taken me 5 years to figure this out. LOL

 

[rachels.haven]

...that is food for thought. I wonder if I can get something like that done. Freezer space is a valuable thing.