Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[savingdogs]

I took a mess of chicken pictures today (hubby forgot his computer at home...hee hee....) and downloaded them....and created threads at BYC to help me sex them.

Here is the BO one:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7075125#p7075125
Here is my sussex one:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7075213#p7075213
and here is my EE one:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7074877#p7074877

So far I've had good news and bad news.....of course I want all hens except two and that will never happen....

 

[Javamama]

OK - BO = all pullets
No idea on the SS
On the EEs I see 2 pullets, 2 roos, and I'm not sure on Partridge - could go either way.

 

[savingdogs]

well that is better than I was thinking....interesting I got all pullets on the four I HATCHED....a better rate than when I bought sexed pullet (on the EEs).

 

[savingdogs]

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
SW Washington state, pretty much in the rain forest, south facing slope.

2. How many people are in your family? Marital status?
Married with Children. Gosh, not like the show though.
I have a grown daughter referred to as Bud and she has The Granddaughter, 19-year-old Computer Nerd son who live with us and works from home, and Trouble who is 15 and just starting high school this fall.

3. How would you define self sufficiency? I would define 100 percent self sufficiency as not requiring anything from the outside world, which is beyond my goals....I would never want to be a complete hermit, I like to talk too much! But you can be MORE self sufficient as a goal.....

4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
ANY resources.....gosh, with limits like that, I'd have some sort of dog rescue shelter that I could run, with staff to scoop poop!

5. Have you ever built a house , or other types of building? No Do you want to? Possibly in the future. I'd love a solar-powered home, off grid.

6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? No but my Hubby can.

7. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient? My husband. It wasn't a hard push however as I'd been fascinated as a young adult by books such as Jean Auel's Earth Children series and in reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to my daughter when she was young, and The Story of Dora in the book Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein.

8 Cloth or paper? Paper!

9. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more? We heat the house partially with a wood stove and use it for cooking on sometimes, we harvest the wood from our own forest mainly. We have a local well shared with a good neighbor. We have animals to provide us with milk, eggs and some of our meat, with goals to eventually provide ourselves with 80 percent of our meat grown here on our property. As far as what ways we want to learn more....in EVERY way. I'm a curious person I guess.

10. In what way(s) will you never choose to become self sufficient? I must have hot running water for washing and cooking and a decent toilet. Other than that I could rough it. I also have health limitations I have to consider though. In the pacific northwest, a year round garden is difficult to maintain, so I'd rather barter with someone who is good at that skill (although I'm not done trying).

11. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs? Yes! Not far enough along on this project however.

12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? Honestly? I imagine myself on the Oregon Trail. I have a book idea about it that I've thought about for about 25 years and I tell the story to myself at night to go to sleep (guess it isn't that exciting....)

13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi? Absolutely not...I don't even drive a car anymore.

14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Soap, laundry soap, cheese, rag rugs.
Would you want to teach others how to do these? Sure!

15. Can you have legally livestock where you are at? Yes, that is why we moved here.
Do you have any? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
What kinds? Dogs, cats, chickens, goats, ducks and rabbits.

16. Can you operate a lathe? No

17. Do you like to garden? yes, very much, but I have a little bit of a black thumb regarding vegetable gardening. If so, what do you enjoy growing? I like doing landscaping projects and such more than growing food, and I'm trying for more of an "edible landscape" at most of the homes I've lived at. I love the english garden look with plants overflowing everywhere. I remove lawns whereever I've lived. I pour over Sunset magazine and wish I could have been a landscape designer as a career, I would have loved that.

18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
Neither! We don't fish as no one but me will eat it. I had a dad obsessed with fishing and my first boyfriend also was a fisherman fanatic, so I have been kind of relieved my Hubby does not enjoy it. I love to EAT fish though.

19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country? We have five forested acres in the country, very very remote. But we lived all of our prior life in the city, originally from Lost Angeles.

20. Are you a Novice, Technician, General, Advanced? ARRL? n/a

21. What is your self sufficient specialty? I'd say the chickens, although I'm not particularly expert! Or what one would you like to learn? I'm getting to know more about the goats and find they interest me the most, as far as my livestock is concerned. I'd like to learn more about food storage, solar energy, raising meat, gardening.....just about everything we talk about here.

22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
Constitution 101. I would major in The Founding Fathers. Classes would include economics, US history in Depth and How to Win Friends and Influence People.

23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet? no

24. Are you interested in herbal medicine? Only in case TSHTF. While it was fine for Ayla and The Clan, I like my modern medicine, thank you very much. I do have an interest in herbs as food and as healthful additives however.

25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? Well if I answer from a practical sense, I'd say Skamania County, WA. If I was fantasizing, I'd say somewhere on the coast of northern California, i.e., Russian river area, or in the Sequoias, or maybe Montana De Oro or Big Sur.

26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Yes, mostly for heating. Cooking on it happens during power outages, but I bought a dutch oven this summer so that I can use it more, come winter.

27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be? I'd say right now, my super hero is our own dear OFG.

28. Are your family or friends also interested in self sufficiency? ha ha ha ha ha ha ....not at all, except Hubby and to some extent Trouble.

29. Do you like to cook? sometimes.....I have never been a good cook but have been working improving that recently. I watch cooking shows and try to make nice meals. I love Rachael Ray!

Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs? Yes! Yes! Yes! I have found my health depends upon it.

30. What was your MOS? N/A *takes off hat in respect to all that have served*

31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? Yes, but not a significant portion. Berries and nettles. Hubby intends to hunt but has a soft spot for wildlife so hasn't really done it. He would if we needed him to.

32. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient? I'm a very patient and determined person, willing to "do without" or "make do" or find a new way of doing things. I'm not afraid to ask questions. I understand animals and have a lot of knowledge about them.....probably just enough to be dangerous , but I'm especially experienced with dogs. I think I can be trusted with them.

33. In which fictional universe would you most like to live? Probably Heinlein's Time Enough For Love

34. Do you have solar panels? no Plans to use solar energy? Would love to be able to make the investment.

35 What is the mass/weight ratio of a European swallow carrying a coconut from the tropics to England? growing a coconut tree in the tropics looks like...so that coconut got pretty darn heavy and the bird stayed in the tropics

36. Have you ever lived completely off grid? no
Would you like to? yes! I HATE the power company.

37. In what do you trust? The only answer here for me is God.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey wait ME!!?!? ha ha ha ha


well... thank you very much.
;-)

 

[savingdogs]

hey wait ME!!?!? ha ha ha ha


well... thank you very much.
;-)

Your are there on my facebook page, too....go look.....

 

[abifae]

great questions

 

[savingdogs]

So we ran out of Purina Goat Chow yesterday. Hubby said he would stop at the store....We have a "Winco" and a "Wilco".....and I read his lips wrong so was surprised when he brought home people food, not animal food yesterday. I had fed the last of their "good" food that morning so had no choice but to attempt to milk without it.

So we are now on the second milking without it and it isn't going well. Steam is coming from my ears, the milking room looks like a bomb hit it and both does are in a pout. We had a mutiny this morning and they refuse to do my bidding without the appropriate bribes. I finally had to hoist Molly up there.....both last night and this morning and my back is killing me. Last night doing that gave me a dizzy spell so I had to trap her head in and wait for it to PASS while she gave me dirty looks. This morning I put some chicken scratch up there in the bucket first and she always wants to steal that so I tricked her, but she figured me out and tried to escape before I could slam the neck piece shut and I had to lift her halfway back on. Then she stood there refusing to eat the nice alfalfa pellets I know she likes usually in a pinch. She didn't appreciate the trick with the scratch (which I removed). So she must have been squeezing her titties shut because I could only get 1/2 the milk to come out.

Ginger fell for the trick better, I didn't have to hoist her thank goodness, she is too heavy. She is a bigger pig....so she jumps up there for the chicken scratch trick and I just let her have it (just about 1/4 cup, she stole more than that before and did fine). So anyhow she lets me milk her, but about 1/2 way through, she gets mad that it is just pellets and sends the bucket and the remaining pellets FLYING across the room. When I make an involuntary yell at this point as the food goes into the sink, the washer, the floor, everywhere, she knocks over my strip cup and the MILK goes over the side of the stanchion and falls onto ME and down my leg. By this time I made a VOLUNTARY yell and she just about kicks over the milk. So I say "we are DONE!" and let her off, I was too mad at that point to continue.

So I only had about a quart of milk. I have to keep myself from smirking at them thinking how full their udders will be by milking time this evening....I'm not going to try to milk them again until the proper goat chow is here. Molly is looking up at the window at me now, batting her eyelashes innocently, but I know better than to trust her.
Trouble asked what his chores were today and I told him to clean up the milking room for me before we have doe-kabobs for din din.

 

[Farmfresh]

Man sounds like a little rodeo! Good thing you have Trouble around to help you out. The GEEK has been working his tail off at this garage sale. Thank goodness.

 

[savingdogs]

I'm not cut out for rodeo anymore, I'm too old!

*SD sinks down onto couch*