Farm Life

Darkera said:
Swimming in February in North America is almost too unbelievable for me.

Where I live it can be -22 F in the winter and 86 F in the summer. I love the heat but I also love the winter; all the seasons and changes make life outside variable and each time has its own rhythm and activities. Also, the cold takes care of a lot of parasites and pests.
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yes Sir. its misleading. spring holes are at 72 degree f year round. so even when it hits into the mid to higher 30's temp wise for that day or two a year down here the water is at 72 f. so very warm considering. in the 98 degree days these springs are still 72 and that feels like ice water down here. you are also correct on parasites and such. squirrels down here where i am are filled with parasites typically. mosquitoes about year round, as well. heck the county i'm in used to be part of a bigger county back in the 1800's called mosquito county, and for good reason.
 
JBM, thanks. I'm headed to my shop and staying out of my Southern woman's kitchen. Snow plows still running. DM
 
We just brought 16 new pullets to our chicken house. We'll keep you posted as they grow. DM
 
Yes, it been a year. These pullets we are raising for replacement layers. As our other layers are about played out. They are 2 years old. We have 2 dozen chickens now in the pen. And these new chicks will replace the others in 6 months. We're hoping to Not lose any but a cold snow storm would be hard on them until the get their feathers. Really the ideal time to purchase pullets would be the first week of January but in our cold climate we put it off to reduce our risk of loss. Then pay for it in August. So, these are not being raised as meat birds. Hence, the Duke in there with them. A knife I wouldn't process them with. Thanks, DM
 
We've had a few warm days and the snakes are starting to show up. So, I took this opportunity to use this as a teaching session for my dogs. This is a 3' bull snake. As we call them here. In the South they are called chicken snake. Here I'm getting them to recognize this as danger and not attack. DM
 
He was first spotted by the house. My dog that was bit pointed him. Then I sprung into action. He could be closer to 4'. DM
 
you are braver than me, Sir. close as ill get to a snake is my boot heel holding its head down while i machete or shovel it off. i really dislike snakes. i have one rule on snakes...if it flees before i come back with the machete and shovel it lives. if its still there when i get back its dead.......i just hate 'em.

i call most of those kind of snakes rat snakes as a general term.

those bull snakes eat eggs and even smaller birds from what ive heard? true?
 
All true. We have caught them in the act of eating our chicken's eggs in the hen house. Plus, right now we have 15 small pullets that are not fully feathered out. And this snake was about 30 yards from them. So, perhaps he had smelled them. I took him to the barn and let him go. We'll keep an eye out for them. DM
 
David Martin said:
We've had a few warm days and the snakes are starting to show up. So, I took this opportunity to use this as a teaching session for my dogs. This is a 3' bull snake. As we call them here. In the South they are called chicken snake. Here I'm getting them to recognize this as danger and not attack. DM
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Oh my god I love your rottweiler. Rotties are and always have been my favourite dog. I have a big female that is 75% rottie and 25% king shepherd. She is a big sweet heart though and her name is Muffin and she is the best dog I ever have had the pleasure of owning.
 
That dog is a cross from a registered Portuguese Pointer mother and the fence jumper was the Rottweiler. She has a exceptional nose and bird dog abilities. Highly intelligent. We have had a lot of great times together. Thanks, DM
 
"fence jumper" in that sense might be used to describe me in my youth...lol. ahhh... the good ol' days...
 
Pokt, a good sense of humor. Other than her color and shape being Rottweiler the remaining parts are bird dog. As I owned a papered Rottweiler and these 2 dogs are different in their thinking, sociable and approach toward figuring out things. Both are good dogs, it depends on what work you want them to do. DM
 
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David Martin said:
We've had a few warm days and the snakes are starting to show up. So, I took this opportunity to use this as a teaching session for my dogs. This is a 3' bull snake. As we call them here. In the South they are called chicken snake. Here I'm getting them to recognize this as danger and not attack. DM
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Lapedog said:
Oh my god I love your rottweiler. Rotties are and always have been my favourite dog. I have a big female that is 75% rottie and 25% king shepherd. She is a big sweet heart though and her name is Muffin and she is the best dog I ever have had the pleasure of owning.
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The attention and expression on the left dog is priceless. :)
 
Yes, we are working through this session. Learning Not to grab the snake. The left dog is giving this training more attention. The right dog has been bitten and doesn't care for snakes at all. Yet, she will back off a few steps and point it and not grab it. She really didn't like being that close to a snake. A good start, espically since we are headed into our snake season. DM
 
I hope the dogs pay heed to your lessons and stay safe from the snakes. Glad to see you have warmer weather there David.
 
Gedd, yes, we had a couple of snowy days last week. Then that cleared out and now fair weather. I think our winter is over and we'll see this weather pattern. Thanks, DM
 
Couple of my hens managed to hatch half a dozen biddies so I'm watching. Yellow rat snakes are the usual visitors to the henhouse here. Interesting story here. In the past year I have found two of them in a nest with an egg in their throat but not yet cracked. In each case when I disturbed them they coughed up the egg. Then I picked up a little stick and spanked them. Didn't hit them hard enough to damage them but I'm sure they were hurting. Kept spanking until they found a way out of the henhouse. In both cases they never returned. I would not think a snake smart enough to learn a lesson like that but apparently these two figured the easy meal wasn't worth the punishment.

On the current round, a common water snake found his way from the pond up to the house. He never got in the chicken yard but the dogs disturbed him several times around the yard and he eventually disappeared. He was lucky that I got a good look at him because I have killed quite a few thinking they were moccasins.


David Martin said:
All true. We have caught them in the act of eating our chicken's eggs in the hen house. Plus, right now we have 15 small pullets that are not fully feathered out. And this snake was about 30 yards from them. So, perhaps he had smelled them. I took him to the barn and let him go. We'll keep an eye out for them. DM
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