[Ag-eq] Tomatoes and Chickens

Sat Apr 27 01:22:30 UTC 2013

Hi Nella:

The Hanover Tomato Festival started at our local fire department about 36 
years ago and has outgrown our little community to where the county has 
taken it over and our fire department receives donations.

They will have about 100 venders that will sell tomatoes and other 
vegetables, food venders, crafts, commerse businesses promoting their 
services, political parties, a kid's area and displays and demenstrations 
from the county's fire departments, rescue squads and sherif's department. 
They will have groups representing different historical groups and areas and 
believe it or not, even our own Richmond paranormal group has a booth where 
they sell books and invite people to check out their web site.  There is 
also a Little Miss Tomato contest and a Miss Tomato contest.  They also do 
several different tomato judging, tomato eating contests and even a pumpkin 
chunking contest.  It lasts from about 9:00 to about 5:00, rain or shine. 
In our younger years, we had to help work several booths because our dad was 
the local fire chief for about 15 years.  It is always the first weekend 
after the 4th of July and normally hot and humid as you know what!  Some 
years have been better than others and we try and go every couple of years, 
avoiding years when the heat is just way too much for me to handle.  They 
provide little seating and no shady areas.

I liked it much better when everything was located at our fire department 
which was only 1/2 mile from our house.  Before I lost my sight, my sister 
and I even road in the parade on our horses, Beau and Princess.

It is not unusual to find a hen dead like that.  One problem hens will have 
and it can kill them is to be egg bound where she can't lay an overly large 
egg or an egg brakes inside her before she can lay it.

Susan
dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 6:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses

>
> Susan:
>
> What all happens at the tomato festival?
>
> Yes, the chicks are getting quite curious.  They swarm me when I come in 
> to feed
> and I'm very careful not to step on them.
>
> Yesterday when I went in to refill the water in the big hens run, I found 
> my
> Golden Comet dead.  I think she was 4 years old and I don't think she had 
> been
> laying much.  She seemed fine Wednesday evening when I fed, so I don't 
> know
> what happened.
>
> The broody hen is still sitting on the nestand fluffs up real big when I 
> reach
> in to get the eggs.  Yesterday she even tried to peck me.  I thought she 
> wasn't
> laying, but there were 4 eggs yesterday, so I guess she did.
>
> The girls have 3 nice nest boxes up in the coop, but 1 likes to lay her 
> eggs in
> the corner underneath.  The other all prefer the same nest box.  More than 
> once
> I've found 2 hens in the nest box at the same time.
>
> Who knows what's going through their little chicken brains!
>
> Nella
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Susan Roe <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>:
>
>> Hi Nella,
>>
>> Your tomatoes are far ahead of anything around here.  Even the commercial
>> growers don't have plants in the ground yet.  Our tomatoes don't ripen 
>> until
>> early July.  That is when we have our anual Hanover Tomato Festival!
>>
>> Your chicks are at a real fun age.  You can go in their run, sit on their
>> crate if it is not too poopie (LOL) and they will be all over you 
>> checking
>> you out.  When my second flock of black austrolorps from Austrailia were
>> about that age, I had 15 hens, they just walked all over me.  I would 
>> have
>> to be careful not to step on any of them because I always seemed to have 
>> 2
>> or 3 on my shoes after my shoe strings.  "Oh boy, big fat white worms!"
>> They would even run up the latters to the outdoor perches and try and 
>> stand
>> on my arm holding their scratch bucket up.  You will see them quickly
>> develop their own personalities from here on.
>>
>> Your older hen that wants to set her eggs is what we call a broody hen.
>> This is very common whether you have a rooster or not.  She'll snap out 
>> of
>> it and not be such a fussy layer.  Sometimes I think those hens are 
>> trying
>> to glue their bottoms on top of the eggs.  I have found that sometimes
>> scooting up under their bottoms from the back end makes it easier to sort 
>> of
>> tip them forward and scoop up the eggs from between their feet.  That 
>> coop
>> has hen box access from the back of their hen boxes and you do not have 
>> to
>> go inside their coop.  Of course this does not help when you have a hen 
>> or 2
>> that insist on laying on the floor in the corner under all the nest 
>> boxes.
>>
>> Susan
>> dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
>> To: <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 10:26 PM
>> Subject: [Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses
>>
>>
>> Yesterday while watering my cherry  tomato plants I found several tiny 
>> green
>> tomatoes. The rest of the plants are growing and look healthy.  I'm 
>> always
>> so
>> excited about the progress in the garden.
>>
>> The little chicks are now 7 weeks old and no longer little.  They are
>> growing as
>> fast as weeds!  They have their own 6 by 12 dog run to chicken around in.
>> They
>> also have a big wooden crate, which they like to get on top of.
>>
>> One of the big hens has decided that she wants to hatch out some eggs. 
>> She
>> sits
>> in the nest box most of the time and complains when I gather the eggs. 
>> We
>> no
>> longer have a rooster, so she's wasting her time!  I wonder how long she
>> will
>> keep this up?
>>
>> On Sunday I rode Cruiser in a 3 hour, horse and rider communication 
>> clinic.
>> I
>> was really nervous because there were more people than I like in the 
>> arena.
>> Horses and riders kept stopping in front of us and I was worried that we
>> would
>> get kicked.  Cruiser wasn't relaxed because I wasn't relaxed.  The
>> instructor
>> spent a lot of time yelling at us; she's known me for a long time and has 
>> no
>> problems pushing me when I'm being wimpy.  Half way through I relaxed and
>> everything got better.  We spent a lot of time practicing smooth turns at
>> different speeds and transitioning between gaits.
>>
>> One of the horses in the clinic was an 18.1 hand warm blood.  He is 
>> probably
>> the
>> biggest horse I've ever seen.  His owner had to use the mounting block 
>> with
>> 3
>> steps instead of the 2 step one.  I was so worried about him kicking us, 
>> but
>> he
>> seemed like a big sweetie.  There were also 2 Tennessee Walkers, a 
>> Quarter
>> Horse
>> and a Thoroughbred.
>>
>> As usual I loved Cruiser even more by the end of the clinic.  He has come 
>> so
>> far
>> in the 2 years that Mike and I have owned him.  He would be an even 
>> better
>> horse
>> if I were a more confident rider, but we are learning and becoming more
>> confident together.
>>
>> Well I got all the electric fence up, with the help of my wonderful
>> neighbor.
>> Monty hasn't been out of the yard since the installation.  Yesterday I
>> walked
>> down the street and he stayed in the yard; usually this is more than he 
>> can
>> handle.  I will try it again tomorrow.  On Friday we will start obedience
>> classes.  Hopefully Monty can be turned into a law abiding citizen!
>>
>> What is everyone else up to?
>>
>> Nella
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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