Genipher
True BYH Addict
What kind of microscope do you use (recommend). I need to get one and learn how to run fecals...
rachels.haven's Journal
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What kind of microscope do you use (recommend). I need to get one and learn how to run fecals...
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- #372
rachels.haven
Herd Master
10x, 40x, 100x. Funny thing, I had to return mine and I guess I'll be going up a price bracket. I got it out to use it the second time and turns out the right-left, front-back knobs were glued on with something that didn't hold past one use. I'll post on here if I find one that works. This was the one that DIDN'T work. I do not recommend it for durability sake, but it did let me see worm eggs very well. It also had batteries that charged via a cord and then I could do it anywhere if I wanted, so in theory this was a cool one. Just not a long lasting one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEK1WZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Today I need to saw through a fallen, rotted tree, pound a post, and tie the posts on that panel on and I can add does. I haven't put up a buck divider yet, but I think I need some brush clearing before I do that. It gets a little thick with asian bittersweet in there and I think I'll avoid swimming through it with cattle panels, hoping I don't pull any branches down on myself in the process if I can help it. Done that enough now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. If the area gets cleared enough and I think it's flat enough (and at a time I can afford it) I may someday put in real wood posts at least on corers and replace the panels with no climb horse fence and move the cattle panels to a new location for clearing and evaluation. But that's a someday project.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEK1WZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Today I need to saw through a fallen, rotted tree, pound a post, and tie the posts on that panel on and I can add does. I haven't put up a buck divider yet, but I think I need some brush clearing before I do that. It gets a little thick with asian bittersweet in there and I think I'll avoid swimming through it with cattle panels, hoping I don't pull any branches down on myself in the process if I can help it. Done that enough now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. If the area gets cleared enough and I think it's flat enough (and at a time I can afford it) I may someday put in real wood posts at least on corers and replace the panels with no climb horse fence and move the cattle panels to a new location for clearing and evaluation. But that's a someday project.
- Thread starter
- #373
rachels.haven
Herd Master
I'm adding new pens to the list of things my does find cruel. After they belly ached for what felt like an hour, trying to squeeze out so they could run back to their own pen and beloved milk stand they had to pass on the way they stopped giving me the what-for and started eating. I let them eat for like an hour and a half before I switched them for the bucks. The bucks were happy. They'll be going back to their pen soon. Starting work on the buck divider tonight. I'll get pictures too.
- Thread starter
- #374
rachels.haven
Herd Master
I've let progress on the buck divider in the pen stall out. The horseflies and deer flies are so thick the goats don't want to leave the hiding places in their barn pens. I spoke with the neighbor up the hill and she says their horses are struggling too. They will not leave the stalls. It's so bad WE don't want to go outside either. Eventually I'm spraying the goats with a low dilution of permethrin and forcing them out, but I'm not in a super hurry. The bottle says 1:100 is for normal levels of infestation and I found this works for ticks as long as I spray between toes and their ears but didn't work for these flies. 1 to I think 64 was for flies on animals according to the bottle-that didn't work for flies either. So I've stepped it up in my quart spray bottle a few CC's at a time until it DID work. Yesterday I think I got it right. They were not screaming in the pens in the evening, just hiding.
That being said I only have 5 posts to pound, 2 panels to tie on, and a log that looks like a pen escape ramp to freedom to remove.
I've also let the pen settle to "when it's convenient" status because of the preparation involved to prevent me from getting ticks, flies, and mosquitoes. I have to take off all my clothes including my socks (keeping underclothing, so far that hasn't been an issue) and spray myself with 25% deet everywhere INCLUDING feet and toes. Then I have to take my clothes outside and spray my shirt, pants and inside the garments by the edges, socks included. Then I have to let that "dry". Then I have to put my crispy, sicky clothes on and spray my hair and neck and put bug spray in and on and around my ears. Some days I have to rub it in my face, but I avoid that because it's not super effective. So basically I'm disgusting BEFORE I go out, then I go work until I'm soaked in sweat and tired of being dive bombed by nasty flies trying their luck. We had a spray can of permethrin to treat clothes, but whatever dilution it was it let the ticks in at reduced but still existent numbers and did not repel flies. But the pen is so close to being done. I just have to dedicate half the day to working on the pen and showering again and need to wait until the kids are peacefully in "let's pretend land" with legos or fort building or stuffed animals.
I'm also letting it stall because I've got what I think is a weasel to destroy somehow. Over the last 3 days I've lost at least 5, maybe more birds and to see new piles of feathers and have the chickens cowering under the coop, and to have them discovering and snacking on pieces of their friends (they are chickens), then midway through the day a new pile of feathers appeared where something had come in and snagged a chicken from under the coop and dug a little hole and pulled it under the fence to eat and I couldn't do anything about it because the birds won't be caught and put away until dark. AND it was a bad kid behavior day, so while I was coming out to watch for and scare off bad things I was leaking barefoot, semi dressed tantruming children out into the mosquito, tick, fly infested yard while I went to go see if any new feather piles appeared. "I" sure made a lot of noise to repel things. At least the coop itself is tight. I tried to make sure of it. So the chickens should be safe when locked up.
Bedtime fixes the kids, btw, but I couldn't move bedtime up to 3 or 4 pm without risking "morning" coming around 4 am, so I had a tense afternoon/evening with animals dying and kids being nagging fighting terrors. But that's parenting. Everykid stayed safe, clean, and fed but they were not happy, quiet, non-violent, or dressed. I didn't even let them destroy each other like they wanted. I'm so glad little kids are little.
BUT today will be a better day. I've got a havahart weasel trap coming. I may put out my larger trap too even though it's pretty clear whatever it is is very small. The bait will be chicken and I will not "haveahart". Things are going to die. I have also put up jar fly traps, but discovered too late that they don't work on biting flies, so I ordered one of a different kind, another jar one that focuses on horse and deer flies, and also the stuff to make a hanging, sticky black painted cardboard trap in case that helps. Some of the reviews stated that the biting fly traps worked really well but they seemed to attract more flies into the area as they were killing them so the jars will be hung on the edges of our "yard" near but not too near to our main activity zone. If the one works I will get more.
It's also going to rain today and with rain comes wind and I don't want to be in the woods when that comes though.
Sorry about the lack of pictures to show you. The flies make taking pictures kind of risky business. There are some fun things to photograph stacking up though. There's a random big pit in the middle of the new goat pens that I had to work around. The pond has shrunk an incredible amount. There are asian bittersweet vines of epic proportions that are kind of cool that the goats will enjoy girdling. And then there's the pen and the goats themselves. I'm holding off on the chickens. They are so pretty, but are being destroyed right and left like a bad dream so best not to bring them into memory yet. If they fail, maybe I'll just clean the coop and do quail that never come out so we can have eggs-but quail are slightly creepy to me, so I'd like to avoid it. Something about their oversized mouths that you can't see how large they are until they open them and their face splits open almost to their eyeballs (presumably so the tiny little birds can eat big bugs, nothing ACTUALLY nefarious), how dumb they are, how blank their little eyes are, and just the fact that I plain old fashion like chickens better. The chicken thing has got me kind of down and worried today, and I will be down and worried until this issue is resolved.
That being said I only have 5 posts to pound, 2 panels to tie on, and a log that looks like a pen escape ramp to freedom to remove.
I've also let the pen settle to "when it's convenient" status because of the preparation involved to prevent me from getting ticks, flies, and mosquitoes. I have to take off all my clothes including my socks (keeping underclothing, so far that hasn't been an issue) and spray myself with 25% deet everywhere INCLUDING feet and toes. Then I have to take my clothes outside and spray my shirt, pants and inside the garments by the edges, socks included. Then I have to let that "dry". Then I have to put my crispy, sicky clothes on and spray my hair and neck and put bug spray in and on and around my ears. Some days I have to rub it in my face, but I avoid that because it's not super effective. So basically I'm disgusting BEFORE I go out, then I go work until I'm soaked in sweat and tired of being dive bombed by nasty flies trying their luck. We had a spray can of permethrin to treat clothes, but whatever dilution it was it let the ticks in at reduced but still existent numbers and did not repel flies. But the pen is so close to being done. I just have to dedicate half the day to working on the pen and showering again and need to wait until the kids are peacefully in "let's pretend land" with legos or fort building or stuffed animals.
I'm also letting it stall because I've got what I think is a weasel to destroy somehow. Over the last 3 days I've lost at least 5, maybe more birds and to see new piles of feathers and have the chickens cowering under the coop, and to have them discovering and snacking on pieces of their friends (they are chickens), then midway through the day a new pile of feathers appeared where something had come in and snagged a chicken from under the coop and dug a little hole and pulled it under the fence to eat and I couldn't do anything about it because the birds won't be caught and put away until dark. AND it was a bad kid behavior day, so while I was coming out to watch for and scare off bad things I was leaking barefoot, semi dressed tantruming children out into the mosquito, tick, fly infested yard while I went to go see if any new feather piles appeared. "I" sure made a lot of noise to repel things. At least the coop itself is tight. I tried to make sure of it. So the chickens should be safe when locked up.
Bedtime fixes the kids, btw, but I couldn't move bedtime up to 3 or 4 pm without risking "morning" coming around 4 am, so I had a tense afternoon/evening with animals dying and kids being nagging fighting terrors. But that's parenting. Everykid stayed safe, clean, and fed but they were not happy, quiet, non-violent, or dressed. I didn't even let them destroy each other like they wanted. I'm so glad little kids are little.
BUT today will be a better day. I've got a havahart weasel trap coming. I may put out my larger trap too even though it's pretty clear whatever it is is very small. The bait will be chicken and I will not "haveahart". Things are going to die. I have also put up jar fly traps, but discovered too late that they don't work on biting flies, so I ordered one of a different kind, another jar one that focuses on horse and deer flies, and also the stuff to make a hanging, sticky black painted cardboard trap in case that helps. Some of the reviews stated that the biting fly traps worked really well but they seemed to attract more flies into the area as they were killing them so the jars will be hung on the edges of our "yard" near but not too near to our main activity zone. If the one works I will get more.
It's also going to rain today and with rain comes wind and I don't want to be in the woods when that comes though.
Sorry about the lack of pictures to show you. The flies make taking pictures kind of risky business. There are some fun things to photograph stacking up though. There's a random big pit in the middle of the new goat pens that I had to work around. The pond has shrunk an incredible amount. There are asian bittersweet vines of epic proportions that are kind of cool that the goats will enjoy girdling. And then there's the pen and the goats themselves. I'm holding off on the chickens. They are so pretty, but are being destroyed right and left like a bad dream so best not to bring them into memory yet. If they fail, maybe I'll just clean the coop and do quail that never come out so we can have eggs-but quail are slightly creepy to me, so I'd like to avoid it. Something about their oversized mouths that you can't see how large they are until they open them and their face splits open almost to their eyeballs (presumably so the tiny little birds can eat big bugs, nothing ACTUALLY nefarious), how dumb they are, how blank their little eyes are, and just the fact that I plain old fashion like chickens better. The chicken thing has got me kind of down and worried today, and I will be down and worried until this issue is resolved.
- Thread starter
- #375
rachels.haven
Herd Master
On a lighter note, this morning it was brought up that a mob of wild turkeys had come through and eaten all of the ripening and unripe blueberries and picked off the leaves, so the boys (4 and 5) started to discuss turkey hunting. According to my oldest the way you go turkey hunting is to get a weapon, find a turkey, and slice it in half.
Someone is so not going hunting. What a mess!
Someone is so not going hunting. What a mess!
Bruce
Herd Master
Wow, lots of "don't like button" in that!!
Small hole, yes probably a weasel. Hard to keep those out since they are so small. I'm not even sure if an electronet would stop it. I had 4 week old chicks walk right through. The lowest line on the ground is not hot, neither are the verticals.
And the ticks!!
Small hole, yes probably a weasel. Hard to keep those out since they are so small. I'm not even sure if an electronet would stop it. I had 4 week old chicks walk right through. The lowest line on the ground is not hot, neither are the verticals.
And the ticks!!
B&B Happy goats
Herd Master
Sorry you got so much critter and biting flies issues....it does bring back memories of living in Massachusetts, ...it will get better for you.....fall is amazing 
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- Thread starter
- #378
rachels.haven
Herd Master
Thanks fo the hope. That's good to know. I think if the flies let up it will go back to being paradise for the goats. Permethrin in a high enough concentration does seem to be keeping the ticks and mosquitos off them. That actually makes me really happy! The flies are nasty, but I'm not seeing flies on them today either after spraying yesterday, so maybe, just maybe they will de-traumatize and want to go off to the big pen.
Hay hunting this year is going well. I've got two hay farmers I've gotten nice first from and one has some second out already. It's extremely rich looking-not leafy, but like lawn clippings. The nicer one is $8/bale for second, $7 for first, which isn't quite the price I want, but if that's how it goes here I'll do it. The other is $5 for first and a 40 minute drive, with second coming out in a few weeks. I'm hoping that has nice second too.
Just had something odd happen while I was out today. Patrick, my smallest buck got his collar caught in the side handle hooks of the bucks' fortiflex flat back bucket and almost strangled himself trying to get out. I know collars are a hazard, but the hooks on those buckets are kind of confusing. Why don't they close the loops?
Anyhow, my chickens are locked down, no goats have collars right now, Patrick got carried around by me and the boys until he felt better and started chewing on things like a normal goat and everything is okay right now-other than the kids wanting a bath because now they smell like a buck. They are just starting to figure out that if you play with a buck, you get the stink, even if the little stinkling is still in his cute, gazing into your eyes with love and putting his head on your shoulder phase.
Hay hunting this year is going well. I've got two hay farmers I've gotten nice first from and one has some second out already. It's extremely rich looking-not leafy, but like lawn clippings. The nicer one is $8/bale for second, $7 for first, which isn't quite the price I want, but if that's how it goes here I'll do it. The other is $5 for first and a 40 minute drive, with second coming out in a few weeks. I'm hoping that has nice second too.
Just had something odd happen while I was out today. Patrick, my smallest buck got his collar caught in the side handle hooks of the bucks' fortiflex flat back bucket and almost strangled himself trying to get out. I know collars are a hazard, but the hooks on those buckets are kind of confusing. Why don't they close the loops?
Anyhow, my chickens are locked down, no goats have collars right now, Patrick got carried around by me and the boys until he felt better and started chewing on things like a normal goat and everything is okay right now-other than the kids wanting a bath because now they smell like a buck. They are just starting to figure out that if you play with a buck, you get the stink, even if the little stinkling is still in his cute, gazing into your eyes with love and putting his head on your shoulder phase.
Senile_Texas_Aggie
Herd Master
Miss Rachel,
Regarding the black flies, have you considered wearing some netting? GP Outdoors, who is in central Ontario, has been wearing recently in his videos (see starting about 1:55 into the video):
Senile Texas Aggie
Regarding the black flies, have you considered wearing some netting? GP Outdoors, who is in central Ontario, has been wearing recently in his videos (see starting about 1:55 into the video):
Senile Texas Aggie
- Thread starter
- #380
rachels.haven
Herd Master
THAT is a good idea. I've been especially worried about DH mowing. He doesn't mow much because the soil is so nutritionally empty and rocky, but that time is coming back up again and he can't see the flies to fight them off so he just gets bit a lot. We're all going to look like bee keepers, I guess.
