Good Morning!

[Jenny d]

I wonder if there will be a deluge of birds for re-homing this fall as a result.

[kenya]

I wonder if there will be a deluge of birds for re-homing this fall as a result.

Probably

[ross]

Sick or dead won’t need rehomeing .

[Jaye]

Sadly, @ross , I think you're right: that's how many of them will end up.

[Killerbunny]

They don't all end up that way. We got our first chickens from Freys as ready to lays. They were a nice mix. We very soon realised that the recommendations for keeping them didn't fit with our views and expanded their housing and range. They were a good introduction for newbies like us.

[Jaye]

True, KB, but I fear that many of the people who are currently rushing to get chickens have not done their research; they just want eggs so that they don't have to worry about the 1 dozen limit that some grocery stores are enforcing.

[Killerbunny]

I had no idea about the limit! We re so out of the loop LOL.

[Epona]

Windy here again today. Yesterday was so nice for a change....it was quiet.

[baronrenfrew]

Well good day eh! Figured I should say hello. All I have now is a trio of quail and a couple roosters I haven't sent to camp yet. Itching to get pheasants - I always loved mutant (ringneck) pheasants. My shed is well suited for them, but too cold for chickens in winter. The barn has yet to be repurposed and the water has been shut off there a long time. Had a buddy with ringneck hens and no cockbird, and I found a guy near Gatineau (Quebec side of Ottawa) with mutants - and we had a three way deal - so ai called Surete Quebec police - since they are basically locking down the province. Cop said don't bother, likely a big fine if caught unless you can prove truly essential travel. Maybe later in summer.....

ringneck and mutant

[Bayvistafarm]

Geezus, our weather has been brutally cold and windy of late. I absolutely HATE that wind. At least this morning is 3C and although breezy (always to some degree), its not horrid.

We put lots of bluebird boxes (4 new and 2 revised/fixed) up and there was a sparrow couple who moved into one on the clothesline pole, upper new box. An older one is way lower. Lately there has been a starling couple harassing the sparrows, sitting ON the box, trying to get IN the box.. no perch, so tries to hang on, flapping flapping, and the stuff the female has brought to line a nest, go flying away in the breeze. I watch the female sparrow in the magnolia tree/bush near that pole, and she just sits and watches. When all is clear, she bolts for the box. Poor girl, lol. I've only ever seen ONE bluebird on top of the box across from my kitchen window... saw it fly away, and never seen one since. Probably too much activity around the house I'm thinking.

My sister had tree swallows 2 weeks ago, she lives in Waterford, a good hr from here (probably not as the crow flies), but haven't seen any. Course, the weather is brutally cold, -5C for a few nights, and winds, making it feel like -10C! I covered the garlic the first night it was predicted to go down to -5C, and used heavy silage plastic. There are bales on the one side, so rocked it on one side (lower), and over the bales and rocked it down on the ground, so not to flatten any. Well, after the temps rose above 0C.... before the sun came out (don't know if it ever did that day), I took off the plastic after chores, and all the garlic had frost on it??????? What the hell. So I didn't bother doing it after that. The stuff is a good 6 inches high or more, and I hated the thoughts of the frost killing it all. Well, turns out garlic is pretty hardy. Hardier than the daffodils around here, which in the morning, the frost had laid them down flat. They also recovered, and stood back up. Weird April weather, with such minus extreme temperatures.

Lost our old barn cat Brown nose on the 18th. He was failing the past 2 weeks, but then suddenly (on the weekend of course) turned worse, and I basically ordered Gary to go put him down. Turns out when he carried him to the driveshed (the cats very favourite visiting spot of people working/socializing) and lay him down he was pretty much gone. He was having extreme trouble breathing, and I suspect heart failure... (he'd been coughing a little), and then his lungs were filled beyond what could sustain him. Was VERY sad. He was 15 nearly, would have been in May. We will miss that old guy. Always wanted to be a house cat. EXTREMELY loved pets and affection. At supper time last year, he would wander up as far as this house, and lay just down the lane on the grass.. waiting, because if my housecat Myah was out, she would chase him away. lol.

The hydro with this one day of hurricane force winds went out, and I texted WLL to tell her, and she suggested putting hand warmers out under the brooder plate. In my panic, you know you never think straight. There are 40 chicks out there.... and so I opened and got 8 out, and ran down and buried them shallowly in the shavings, and headed back up to bring ALL my many many plants down into my basement, via the garage. OMG, the plants sure did get a blast of icy air, and after swearing repeatedly into that wind, my throat was sore, lol. Almost lost a big box of them more than once (those produce boxes from costco/grocery stores) when it would try and flip up with that West/north wind. My greenhouse is directly in the path, out in the open of both those winds. I also know, from standing inside, that there are a great many drafts/cracks in the foundation, which is rotting away. After I got the plants inside, I set up the kids kiddie pool that would hold the brooder plate, and the chicks/waterer/feeder. I drove to the barn with a tote.... and with my phone flashlight gathered the chicks and put them in the tote with shavings; after I got a 5 gallon pail of shavings loaded, and a waterer..... and put the chicks in the tote. Course, with 22 guinea's on the other side of that pen (sectioned off with hardware cloth), as soon as the flashlight would beam all over the place and they saw it, they would fly frantically, bouncing off walls/screen window.... making the dust of the past year fly up my nose/hair/eyes. I seriously hate those F'in birds at times. I had the damn cord of the brooder plate woven thru the wire of the dividing pen, and course, the flashlight kept setting those birds off, the flashlight would keep turning off/phone would tip over, OMG... I was SO MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually felt weak and dizzy after all was done, and I was back in the house sitting down. Why I cannot just have a heart attack and be done with this sorry business of life at times I don't know. Honestly. And with all this COVID bull paddies and having to be extra careful/planning.. blah blah blah.... anyhow.

I no sooner had the plate packed in the freaking vehicle, and got the tote (huge) only one that has a good locking lid.... to the walk thru door, which of course, when you open it blows open with that wind enough to kill you if your not careful (winds from the NORTH full blasting), and the hydro comes on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Generator was on at the farmhouse, but it doesn't do the barn, just the water for all 3 houses, and barn.. and farmhouse (some stuff).

Gary had our generator, that we paid almost $5000 for, well, its not the generator, but a back feed hookup thing that backfeeds thru the hydro meter..... THAT WE PAID FOR... AND SOON WHEN THE FARM IS SOLD... well, you've all heard me blather about all that before..... and while I was in the greenhouse getting the plants, Gary says... turn on the greenhouse heater. This was after he hooked the cord to the house. I turned it on, and the generator quit. Just like that. So, no go.

When I was in the basement putting plants on the freezer and stuff, I started unplugging the 2 freezers, the fridge, and dehumidifier. I have NO idea other than the fridge upstairs what all was on. I do know, when I was IN the basement, the furnace would come on, go off. Come on, go off. Christ. I started screaming about the piece of generator, the costly hook up, and if stuff can't run because of all that, then WHAT WAS THE POINT. (like I said.... heart attack inducing fit). Anyhow, I headed to the barn to get the birds, knowing that at least I had a freezer plug available for the brooder plate.

Well.. back to getting to the barn. Just got to the door, and bam. On comes the power. So I freaking put all the chicks back, set up the heater/waterer/feeder.... and marched to the house, and sat down to either die or recover. Ugh. I recovered.

Seems that greenhouse milkhouse heater, (a very energy gobbling hog) was 4800 watts... and the generator, 5000 watts. AND seems we needed to turn off our water heater in the house to allow the furnace to work?? Ha. I seriously doubted THAT Would have made a difference, but the hydro was back on... and we didn't have to opportunity to test the electrician (friends) advice to do that.

I'm sure there are more energy efficient heaters available, but this one is the one I have, and it works. Despite the fact last year, first time up here, I realized the energy cost of running it, (at the house, with NO other buildings/barn/shed/workshop taking hydro) just how much it was. My hydro bill from normal house $140 or so in the winter time, jumped to $250 to the next month, after running it in April, which last year was cool too, but NOT cold like this year. This year, I've run the freaking thing in the daytime some days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Took a drive to Paisley to porch visit with the parents... mom with her Alyzhiemers ... just wandered around puttering, not visiting mostly... and Dad was Ok I guess. Took supplies and home made soup, homemade french stick.. a few things from Costco I've had in my freezer for 3 weeks.... and didn't stay long. Weather up there was sunny, but breezy.. we only stayed about 3/4 hr... then took a scenic trip home. It was cloudy/windy/ice pelleting/rainy day down here apparently... said it was going to be), so it was all good. Left at 9am, and got home at 5pm. Then chores/cereal for supper, and bed.

Heres a funny story about yeast, a copied and pasted part of a letter I sent a relative out west. I still can't believe the way this came about!!!!!!!!!!! And I've been looking for yeast for a while, and even trying to add it to on line orders. Just such a shortage!! Makes me mad, because Jess/Melissa mostly, and I have been baking/making our own food/bread for so long... anyhow, heres the story.

So... yeast is hard to find around here (flour too for that matter... my feed store carries it... got a 20kg bag the other day when I went for feed)..., because one, we are SO freaking populated around here, Hamilton you can see plain as day from where I sit, I can see the 403 hwy running up the Ancaster Hilll from my couch.... anyhow, I was running low, and mentioned it to my daughter in law in the blue house on the farm when I replaced a bag of milk for one she got me with her walmart order a few days before. She said, she was getting mad, trying to find it also.... we all have been bakers and such here.... but I think the whole world is trying out more baking/cooking at home... of course. So, she texted me a while later, and showed me a screenshot of a picture her very own cousin posted of yeast!! LOTS and LOTS of yeast!! Apparently, she put an order in for a fund raiser to her son's school... and she goofed. She had 14---- 1lb bricks of instant yeast, and 14kg bag of traditional yeast! WOW! So, she put a plea out on her Facebook wall, asking if anyone would like to buy some yeast from her to recoup her money, lol. So.. I told Jess I would buy 2 bricks (one for me, and one for my daughter Melissa), and Jess got one for herself. In less than 10 minutes, she had went from 14 bricks to 4..... and 14kg to 2kg! I couldn't believe it!! A dream answered! Still can't get over it. I was so VERY tempted to get it thru Amazon... and get this. Pay $25... for the brick. I didn't have a clue what a brick is worth... and then because its NOT shipped from Amazon (prime or not), it was another $25 shipping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would have paid over $50 for a brick of the very same yeast, that I paid Jess's cousin $5 for. Isn't that wild?

Anyhow, I must get to the barn. Calving now, only still one baby, but cows are looking so close now. I will be relieved when we are down to 10. Which 10 to keep will be a hard decision. When it comes right down to it, I will want to keep them all!!! lol.

Have a great day!