Smaller chick at 3 weeks with other chicks

Smaller chicks 10 weeks

 

Chickens eating eggs

I had been finding an egg with a peck mark in it every day.  I only have 3 chickens, one nest box about 20″ high and a nest box on the floor.  5′ by 3′ coop with an outside run on grass. The coop is divided in half with my meat birds.  I started leaving a light on all night for the meatbirds and I don’t know if that was part of the problem, but the egg eating started. One chicken was laying on the floor. I came in one day and they were all three eating an egg. So I blocked the light from the laying hens area, put in another nest box beside the 20″ one and removed the floor one.

I offered oyster shell free choice and have not had a problem since.

Trying to play catch up

I haven’t been on here to post, can’t seem to keep two blogs at the same time. I will eventually try to get it on here. I am doing meatbirds again, and had some interesting adventures. I’ve been posting on facebook, so if you want to find me and you’re on facebook, search for Chicken Chick’s Pastured Poultry.  I’ve also ventured into laying hens, just 3, this year.

Right now I’m on my second batch of meatbirds, and I have 2 9 week old meatbirds from the first batch that are hanging around and not acting like Cornish Cross meatbirds at all. I think they started life as runts of the litter, but are certainly taking their time in growing out.  Hmm.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/218986441460684?ap=1

After the Hike

It rained when I got home, then sleeted, then snowed and sleeted again and now it’s raining. It’s been about 32 degrees all day.

Waterfall Hike today with Mountain Top Historical Society

Bottom of fawns leap, Palenville mountain

waterfall under Moore’s bridge, Palenville mtn.

Me at bottom of Kaaterskill double falls

Kaaterskill Falls

Bottom of Kaaterskill Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Palenville Mountain

Haines Falls at Twilight Park

Haines Falls at Twilight Park from across the ravine

Chicks soon

The weather is trying to warm up, but we regressed again today with rain and drizzle and I started the wood stove again to take the chill off the house. It was 60 degrees in the house. 60 feels nice outside but not in a house. Go figure.

I’ve finished one RIP statue and am almost done with a second one. A lot of time involvement. 30 to 35 hours on the first, whew, and probably 20 or so on the second. Also working on my steno machine. I’m halfway through the course, so hooray for that.

Yes, it’s been awhile

Been busy getting a swing dancing group going on the mountain top area. We have an upcoming dance weekend in October at Villa Vosilla in Tannersville, NY which should be a blast with Linda and Chester Freeman of www.got2lindy.com Got 2 Lindy Dance Studios.

Other than that, I am expanding my transcription business to include court reporting and I’m in the midst of those studies right now. I’ve basically been doing most of what a court reporter does in my court transcription business, everything really except the steno machine, and that’s what I’m learning now. It’s an at home theory course made up of 20 lessons on CD, and I’m working on lesson 8 right now.  I initially bought a Stentura Protege steno machine but now I’ve ordered a Wave Rider which has a screen and no paper. The Stentura Protege is a good machine, but I don’t like the fact that I can’t see what I’ve typed as I do it because of the angle of the machine. With the Wave Rider that won’t be a problem, and the latter has a lighter touch. Being a transcriptionist is purely typing 90 to 100 wpm, but steno is so very different and I’m not thrilled with the depth of stroke, but I’ll get used to it. Actually, I don’t understand why they never made the steno keys more like a flat keyboard, it seems like it would still be really fast without the extra work. Go figure.

I’m also working on 4 RIP Van Winkle Statues for our mountain top town businesses. This year is different from last year — the statues are lighter material and twice as tall, and instead of several months to work on the statues we have only about 5 or 6 weeks so I’m busy getting that stuff together. One is Rip Van Quilter, Rip Van Skier, Rip Van Boater and Rip Van Carpenter.

I’m also doing a dance performance with my swing dance instructor the second week in May. Port Ewen. It’s a bit of Charleston, lindy, tap, foxtrot and Chuck Berry.

Virginia and DC

I’ve been in Washington DC and Virginia all week and have had a great time. The weather down here is a few months’ ahead of upstate NY, that’s for sure. I’ll be posting pictures when I arrive home. Cherry blossom festival starts in three days, March 26th. Went to the National Museum of Art. They had a nice collection of impressionist paintings, which I really like, and also sculptures, which I really like. We (my oldest son and I who lives here) took the rail to the Smithsonian station and then walked the remaining 4 blocks or so. What’s really foreign to me (besides the everyday city things, like driving around and around looking for parking, or getting a permit at the police station so I could park my car out front without getting a ticket every 2 hours and of course the traffic) is the fact that there are police and FBI and people in black suits and blacked out car windows in black cars and SUV’s everywhere.

Of course, there’s also the police with the machine guns. That was rather disconcerting. Walked about 4 hours yesterday from Harley’s house on Capitol Hill and went to the different memorials. Walked front to back of the Capitol, and walked past the White House.  It was smaller than I’d pictured. Last night went out to dinner for a fabulous meal and on the way home took some pictures of the Capitol, which will also be posted when I get back.

The flowers are gorgeous down here, pansies, magnolia trees, all in beautiful fragrant bloom.

Harley’s house.

The Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo, MD

The Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo, MD where I went dancing on Saturday last. It was a swing dance, great time. Great music.

Casey McGill 4 Trio Swing Band

Walking on the Beach

Just took a glorious walk on the beach, approximately 6.5 miles round trip.  I went down to what I think of (since I saw it last week), as the “Emerald City”, remember Wizard of Oz?  Well, it’s way down the beach past where the houses stop. I thought I could get to a pier down there but I got to a point that said Government Property, no trespassing, (in pic below on left side) so I turned back.  The white buildings on the pic below, in the middle of the picture, is the Emerald City.  I wasn’t sure if the sign was for a road off the beach or the entire area, so I just turned around.  On the way back I stopped at Zest http://zestinsandbridge.com/directions.html for lunch and had a crab cake, which was delicious.

Generally I can walk about 3-4 miles in an hour and it took a little over 2 hours. 

The pic below is looking north toward the Emerald City from out in front of the beach house.  Again re: the phone camera pics., not even sure it’s worth posting them. Emerald City is far to the right of the last (dark) house in the middle of the pic. 

Below is the pier to the south that takes about 1/2 hour to walk to. Where the houses end, that’s the pier.

Jets above.

Perfectly sculpted beach sand from the wind and/or ocean.