Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[CanuckBock]

Very nice update, Thanks Much!!
Scott

No prob. I am beginning (or at least hope) to recover from the traditional bus driver sickness stint. Oh goody! I go practically nowhere's to get infected but got a great big gang of kids to give me what is going about. Head cold, wretched to have with the nice weather...I have things I would prefer to do...no matter...

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I am doing up a batch of spaghetti sauce and then turn it to lasagne tomorrow. I need something I can actually TASTE...LOL

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Already sitting in the crock pot a cookin'...there dinner is done. I got the wood boxes loaded up finally yesterday, but then had to take some out...never catch up. Not suppose to I guess.

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I suppose it could be forty below and trying to slog it out, but the sinful part is the nice weather has me thinking about spring cleaning...composting, turning it into the many garden plots...yeh, not too soon, not too quickly...but that is what warmer weather does...makes you act silly.

Or is that WANT to act silly more like!

Tara shalom
About what the mother "want" in an evolutionary point of vew the best are males! (

) and that is because that males investment in the offspring is negligible (a sperm cell) compared to the female investment. ( a big cell, oocyte,gestation and offspring treatment (in some species )), but the reward is exactly the same, 50% of the nucleus genes transferred.
So in that point of view all mother would prefer that 100% of offspring will be males, so they could copy their genome faster and to more offsprings.
But in this situation the females will be very rare and not all males could mate, only the most fitted will pas their genes, so the scale now turns towards feamas!
So in between the vector that pulls towards male ( more efficient in spreading genes) and the opposite vector that pulls towards females (getting the best males genes around ) the equilibrium point is found in the 50/50 point!

The clincher here is define BEST in a MALE...ha ha ha.

Just like saying one has GOOD BIRDS or whatever...the term is subjective at best. What I would like and deem best or good, others would run for the hills away from!

By Mark Brown, April 15th, 2015:

Keeping in mind all the work load a female human does...costs to chauffer, meal, clean, etc...if you are a stay at home parent...think I recall a wage of that in two years too.

And the dust is flying...​

Ever watch a chicken dust bath...the one situation screams at me that we humans as a race are a failure...the pursuit of happiness escapes the majority of us...easily! We have this baggage, this inability to revel in simple basic NATURAL thrills...it has to be sweeter, it has to be faster, it has to be more and more until we cannot satisfy any sense of contentedness. We whine and worry and whimper...and yet BEHOLD the simplicity...of a sunny day, a dry spot in the dust...and immense joys ensue.

Momma hen and her babes
There is a blessed wisdom in those eyes...you cannot deny it​

We don't even want to get me going on how we ruin our children...the next generation...I always found looking after children easy...you keep them dry, fed, entertained and rested...simple. When they get a bit older, you teach them the meaning of life, how to look after themselves, to have empathy and loyalty...how to revel in the simple pleasures of life...like a bowl of ice cream shared...yeh.

You look in this cockerel's eye and tell me a being of intelligence is NOT behind these eyes... ​

We have managed to convince our species that other creatures and living beings like plants (and now some say the very OCEAN has an awareness and the OCEAN is alive and a being...and we need to be afraid...from what its saying to the human race about how we have been treating it...it is going to be pretty MAD at us HUMANS!!!)...we have convinced our race that WE are the supreme being...I sure hope not. Because if we are the finest there is upon this planet...man alive...we are all in very big trouble!


http://freefromharm.org/chicken-behavior-an-overview-of-recent-science/:
Chicken Behavior and Emotions

Emotional intelligence is yet another measure of cognition or awareness in animal minds. Science aside, most of us can easily identify emotions in animals we are close to like dogs or cats. And those of us who spend a lot of time around chickens see a visceral and diverse expression of emotions, yet our society still generally doesn’t believe that chickens express emotional states and act on their emotions. But in the case of chicken behavior and emotions, science is proving popular opinion wrong. A Spring, 2011 study from the University of Bristol gained important new insight into the minds of domestic hens, discovering, for the first time, that they show a clear physiological and behavioral empathic response to their chicks.

“We found that adult female birds possess at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of ‘empathy’; the ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another,” reported Jo Edgar, PhD student involved in the Bristol study. The research team believes this finding is of great importance since chickens in modern agriculture are routinely forced to witness pain, suffering and death of other flock mates. Such witnessing of trauma and distress could exacerbate the already deplorable conditions in which these animals are forced to live.

When I choose to harvest an animal or bird here...I do it away from the others...I set up, then I go in and whisk the one away. Away out of sight, sound, smell...I respect that what I choose to do with what us humans deem property to do with as we please...I do it with respect to the others well being and quality of living.

Any entity that does not have compassion and empathy for others...does not deserve the right to take a life for consumption of its flesh. We prefer to natural hatch our birds here...simply because the hen is far superior in ALL aspects compared to the dismal job us humans do of it artificially in comparison.

She talks to her incubating eggs, she teaches them how to be the best they can be. SHE is superior in all aspects to a human's wanting methods.

Heartful in 2012​

I laughed because she'd come to visit with her brother and she says she never has to ask, "Where is Tara?" I can hear her laughter because she KNOWS exactly where I am at on the ranch. She says everywhere I go, there is all these greetings going on...she can hear my possessions, my "property" talking to me...and yes, I talk back with them. It is indeed a funny farm...but a happy joyous place I wish others the good fortune of having for themselves.

http://freefromharm.org/chicken-behavior-an-overview-of-recent-science/:
Chicken Behavior and Memory

Those of us who observe chickens on a daily basis see their memory and recall in action in a wide variety of everyday situations. Recent science tell us that chickens recognize over 100 individual faces even after several months of separation. They also confirm that chickens consider the future and practice self-restraint for the benefit of some later reward, something previously believed to be exclusive to humans and other primates.

As stated earlier, chickens do not just learn through trial and error. They retain what they’ve learned from past experiences, then recall and apply what they’ve learned in future situations. Researcher Andy Lamey of Monash University in Australia released the findings of his study of chicken behavior in May of 2012. An important part of this study involved the observation of mother hens and their chicks, specifically, how and what the mother hens taught their young about edible food items, what and how the chicks learned (and retained what they learned), and how the mother hens then modified their teaching based on the progress of their chicks’ learning.

We have so much to learn (and our birds the ability to TEACH), if only we would observe and retain these lessons about life and its simple pleasurable joys.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[chickisoup]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/technology/male-chick-culling-technology-1.3647228


Yea for the Canadians!!!!

 

[drumstick diva]

hope they will save enough males to breed to hens. Maybe they will decide to withdraw " male " donations - store the deposits and sell as needed to farmers - who won't need to need roos anymore. Is Big Brother turning to chickens????

 

[CanuckBock]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/technology/male-chick-culling-technology-1.3647228


Yea for the Canadians!!!!

Good article...I do wonder, how on time they are about putting this technology into place?

hope they will save enough males to breed to hens. Maybe they will decide to withdraw " male " donations - store the deposits and sell as needed to farmers - who won't need to need roos anymore. Is Big Brother turning to chickens????

Good grief! My likes of both genders in the birds will never be bias!

Males are extra special additions to our flocks plus we try as a conservation farm to have an equal number of both genders as having diversity IS a huge bonus when conserving genetics.

I would not like to be in a situation where I may not have a wonderful rooey dooey in our mixes.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[scottcaddy]

hope they will save enough males to breed to hens. Maybe they will decide to withdraw " male " donations - store the deposits and sell as needed to farmers - who won't need to need roos anymore. Is Big Brother turning to chickens????

Most of the bigger outfits use their own line of 4 to 6 way crossbreeds to make up the finial layer or meat bird. The grandparents are very carefully selected and controlled breeding is practiced.
No stray roo's need to apply.
Scott

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Today, today is Family Day here. I have a small store bought butterball (nfi) for making dinner from. Only about eleven pounds, was on sale and thought would be a fun large meal. Still going to make as much mess as a huge turkey dinner, oh well.

Hmmm...where to begin...death, emergency...one heck of a blur...let's begin where the apple cart got upset.

Rick had his surgery at the beginning of the month. We knew it would knock both of us off our game, me doing extra to keep the show on the road churning along and him, knock him on his butt for three weeks at least. Well, Thursday was the two week mark. Pretty much on schedule and good. We knew we'd be off, always count on some bus flu or cold to hit this time of year and righteeoh...I now have a head cold and Rick begins one too...grrrrr. I had mentioned to Rick on the Thursday how exhausted I was and my guard being down...ripe for some stunned sickness...so head cold it be.

I have been doing double time keeping Rick from doing himself in. Hard to keep a good productive man down. Today, he has gone back to work...more or less to escape some of the dullness (HA) but more likely a change of scenery is good for him. Off he went at five, lunch in tow and away he is. He called, sounds very happy and content...a new challenge for him to get use to. Things in that area are quite right.

Feb 17, 2017 Spring...sorta?
Sled for some water trips, cart for others
Some snow areas, some not so snowed areas​

So here we go. Friday...that morn I get off the morning run of the bus, do my usual. Go to the garage to let Foamy Doamy out of the warm crate in the garage. Put her back and then go get the two monster youngsters. This morn, I go open the door of the garage and Foam has popped the door of her crate. Hmm...that Rick and his useless working hands...oh well. Don't think much about it past have to mention it to him to try harder tonight. We run the dogs together and last thing Rick does is lock Foamers in the crate so we can retire to the house. Do dinner for dogs and us...me do lunch for Rick if he works and that be that. Get to fall down, not go boom but shut the day off and rest.

Feb 19, 2017
Assemble the two Lasagnes​

Hmmm...day goes along, Rick has taken the truck in to have more items finalized on the work beast it be.

Feb 15, 2017 Girls inspecting all the work being done to the BABE​

So what have I "not" mentioned that was put on the truck...compare the two clicks and anyone want to say...what is on the BABE now that I never mentioned prior?

Feb 16, 2017​

Here are the mud flaps, awaiting Rick to have a bracket made up to hang them off of.

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The weather is conducive to pen cleaning, so I get four pens in the Duece Coop cleared out on Friday. Topped up with oat straw (real bonus here...egg production has increased four fold...the girls love all the new straw and are saying thanks by giving us lotsa lovely EGGS!). Rick runs the dogs while I am pitching bedding. So I come in and pop the smaller platter of Lasagne in the oven. I've told Rick about Foamy having popped her crate door and Rick advises me he had a 1/4 block of mouse bait out in the garage and Foamy must have eaten it because it is all gone and he says her crap some green poo in it. I had no idea he was still using that. We lost a goose some ten years back that ate some of the mice killed by this poison. Great, whatever...too late now, eh. I call our vet clinic. Tis 18:36. Not horrifically late but not office hours.

Vet on duty is in the middle of doing a cow/calf call but it is decided we need to bring Foamy in ASAP. The poop we inspected of Foamers is brown and then ends in green. Green like the poison, so inducing vomiting is for naught. I clean it up so other animals don't get into it. She's already processed it and absorbed the dose of poison. While Rick gets a crate for the truck, I feed the girls, potty them, quickly take out the lasagne (no dinner of that now), load the truck up with all I think we shall need to take Foamy to the vet & back...things like blankets, some of her kibs, etc.

Off we go at 7 pm. It is a three or so hour drive to get there. Styra seems fine, but that is the issue with this poison. Dog's seem fine until they begin bleeding internally. Vomiting, lethargic, passing black stools...bleeding because this poison does not allow them to clot blood. Get to the vet's half an hour before we estimated. See the vet, she's just working on a Border that has been sedated for fixing some lascerations. Forty five minutes later, that dog is all gooded up and we can take Foamy in. Her temp is fine, she's energetic, hydrated, no sign of bleeding...good. She seems perfectly good other than we know she's eaten the mice poisoned bait.

Vet feeds her some fatty canned dog diet, gives her 5 ml of Vit K orally and sends us home with a 100 ml vial of Vit K (we'll need to get another vial later this week) and instructs to give her two doses of 5 ml per day with a fatty oiled feeding for each dose. Do this for the next three weeks. So that regiment has started and no change in Foamy period which is good. She was in perfect health and she remains as such. Good...that issue dealt with. Old dog gets special diet and Vit K till her bod can begin manufacturing blood clotters once again.


Life is never that kind...so on to the next dilemma...on the Friday evening whilst we were dealing with the "ooops" with Foam. Rick gets a call from his sister. His mother who will be 93 this spring, had had a large cancer tumor identified. Operation was immanent but at that age, not always something can be done. The call is that the tumour cannot be removed and that his Mother now has maybe 1 to 2 days (perhaps, more?) to live. Hmmm...so after getting home at 1 am on Saturday and maybe three hours sleep, I quickly get the chores done up, make sure Foamy is comfy in her recovery and off we go to see his mother and family at the hospital. We stay, her progress is worse than on the Friday, but we do get to see her, likely for the last time, alive. For a visit like that, it was good. I am thankful we went. We get home at 8 pm, play dogs, do up Foam's regiment. Deal with the emotions, the physical tiredness and these stupidly BAD timed head colds we have. Blah!

Egg drop soup with diced shrimp, green onion, peas, coupla chunks of bell pepper​

My butt was dragging yesterday, but to make things a bit easier, I make up a nice dinner. Yes, that lasagne has been eaten. And I made up a nice soup broth, both for the dog's dinners and as part of ours. We need to begin healing and catching back up.

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Eating as we have had to eat (on the run since Friday) has made both Rick and I feel more sick that we needed to be. A nice bowl of hot homemade soup, some lasagne and just some sit down and breath time at home...makes one feel half human again. Dogs have been absolute angels...no barking, quietly waiting on us to get to them. Runs runs and just having them pal around for chore time. Delightfully good dogs. Nice that Foamy will be completely fine and in a few weeks, no extra fuss or muss for an err in our judgments. Good...it could have been far, far worse.

Ah, what a blessing...I look forward to Rick and I having a nice quiet dinner, bones for broth for the dogs and just some tranquility. And here we thought we were going to have these nice three weeks of rest for Rick to recover...HA...plans of mice and WOmen all by the road side. This too shall pass...

There is never a good time for old person's to need to pass but all things living, don't get out of here any way else...and having errs in judgment and not being up to snuff in the caring for beasties...dogs are like little babies and need to be cared for and kept outta trouble. Trouble always comes calling when you're least able to deal with it...otherwise it would not be troubles as it would be prevented before happening, eh.

Troubles averted...and away we go to the races again.

So I quit now, as I am getting ready to cook up that small turkey...get the stuffing on and all that jazz.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Teila]

Thinking of you!

 

[drumstick diva]

What's that saying - "it doesn't rain, in POURS!' something like that maybe. Gee whiz.

 

[scottcaddy]

So sorry, hoping for the best for you guys!

Scott

 

[CanuckBock]

Thinking of you!

As I am of you also!

What's that saying - "it doesn't rain, in POURS!' something like that maybe. Gee whiz.

Not really pouring DD...just life having a swing a ding dang. Some up, some down, some middle ground and on. Fact we are having a time of any sort ... that be a GREAT thing also!

So sorry, hoping for the best for you guys!

Scott

We are doing what needs doing. Slip ups to recover from, acceptance of basic things about live, rattle your sugar tree on occasion, eh.


Glass half full.

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Always worse...could have quite easily been a situation where Rick's mother dies before we see her alive...at 92+...THAT in itself is a reality...she's NINETY TWO...YEH...every second more is a blessing!

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MORE Please??

NEED MORE???

No winners here...a glut...a glut of way, way too much fun...perhaps. We need the negatives in life to know what a positive or we become pretty spoilt...lofty in our expectations. The occasional SLAM to the dirt helps modify your perspectives...perhaps?

Live life humbly and regard each blessing fully. Nothing says we have a right to good times...we earn, we work, we reap what we sow and we keep trying for the best.

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Never any change...always full...as said above, not necessary a good way to live yer life. The extremes up and down; that is the ride we take, screaming our lungs out, roaring to the finish line...trying to pack in as much as we are able...greedy and expectant. Gimme more...MORE please!

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For some, this conversation is wasted...they don't care...likely got too much on their plates dealing with it as it is...move along now!

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Bwa ha ha...yeh...sure...too old now for that angle...but it is rather cute to have that kind of perspective. Dull reality, sedate yerself and then suffer the self-imposed hangover...miss out on REAL living.

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Good one!

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Fill your glass up and drink to your heart's desire...

Rick called, his Mom passed last night. Nothing criminal about that...it is GOOD! At that age and with a large inoperable cancer tumour...good. Her suffering ends quickly...not a long drawn out battle and for what quality of life. Sedated so she is incoherent to life...that is not living, that is existing to do what? We have a best before date and man alive, she used up everything to the very fullest limit. What a powerful lady!

Love that she gave us enough notice to come say goodbye...in person. What more could you wish for? Long good life, lots of family, lots of fun...good. And a decent respectable death with dignity and those that loved her, aware and able to say our salutations to her at her bedside.

We don't get out of living alive. One should be so lucky to live past the age of 92. I have grandparents that lived to 89 and 90's. Longevity...a blessing and a curse. Blessing if you are coherent, able bodied and managing to enjoy life. I've seen others sick...incoherent, loved ones caring for them...moping brows, wondering if someone, something was inside that body...anyone there? Long life, if decent, a blessing. Long life and ill...forget that.

My MIL was a fighter...still feisty and vibrant...a force to contend with. Any one of us should be so lucky. I will honour her memory, remember her wise words of wisdom (never plant outside before June 1st), think of her joining her husband Frank...some of her own children have passed too...that sucks...parents outliving children, but life does whatever it does...despite our wants and needs, eh. She lived and died well...good.

Feb 20 2017 - Nightly dog run runs​

As far as Foamy having her life and well being threatened...thank the powers that be that we noticed the bait gone, Rick had the fortitude to see green in her poop, we had the ways and means to whisk her off to the competent vet's. We can afford to pay for our mistakes, make errors corrected. And the diligence to do the next three weeks of recovery regiment. I remember our first dog as a kid. A stray followed us kids home. My parents never were capable enough to get it together to arrange or plan pet ownership--stray cats and dogs were pretty much all they could manage. My mother worked late, would come home and instead of walking the dog, being part of his life and keeping him safe...she'd kick him outside to run loose. No fence around the house, so he ran at large. Garbage day, you bet, he was knocking garbage cans over, expected as he had gone feral to survive before we knew him. Not saying someone did this on purpose, but heck, I'd be inclined to shoot the unsavoury owner of a dog that was kicked out into the neighbourhood to ramsack garbage cans at 3 a.m. What a pain...what a mess...and why...because the family that own one dog in the neighbourhood were bad owners...why should others clean up what someone else's dog was doing...shameful indeed!

Lacy making floppy lips...​

Vivid memories...the horror as a young pre-teen. My dog, my soul mate for us kids...writhing and foaming, convulsions and freaking out. He had likely gotten into antifreeze, deliberate poisoning or not...and we had a fully competent vet 15 minutes away. Nope, seizure after seizure in front of us kids...nobody took the dog to the vet to "SAVE" him. For he was a stray, not worth a dollar...supposedly the best our family could do was feed him and give him kids to play with. Shirk their duties is how I see that. So I already KNOW the avenue one could take. Foamy IS a rescue...but never EVER once when we took her in from that SPCA Manager that called me, she was retiring after nine years and could not see Foamy being killed...should be adopted out or at best fostered. My own best vet laughed, riotously when we brought Foamy in for her first vet exam. I was to foster her until a home was found...he laughed in his knowing way. "Foster? Sure Tara...a foster...!" Dang vet knows us better than we know ourselves. No matter...till death do we part...in sickness and in health. Tis like a marriage and a responsibility when you accept a dog.

So glass is half full, the ability to save Foamy from our own indiscretions...from when we fall down and try to make things right. Good enough.

Feb 20 2017 - All is well that ends well​

Any down time here, times that seem less than wonderful. That is a mark in the sand to measure the good by. If you never have bad, you'll never appreciate the good. To much good, might get a tad bit DULL, yes?? I so often would love to lock the gates, stay within this sanctuary and keep the badness away, but would be within a day or even a week, and my human nature would make me less appreciative of truly how joyous and good it is to reside here.

Rick and I are tired, exhausted...there are never any good times for people and beings we love to pass...there are going to be hiccups, usually quite stark and vivid, like a poisoned dog, to pull us up and out of our dim wittedness. Try hard, do better, keep things as we should. A screw up here is measured by what the loss that COULD have happened means. That management by exception...where you pay attention to the things that need attention and miss out on the wonderful good parts....not always a good plan but in reality, expected now and again.

I hope for some good nights of decent sleep, this head cold to vamoose and general frivolity of hilarious happiness to poke its head up and be captured and enjoyed. This too shall pass...

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There is spring upon the air, I love the snow and the white of winters...but the change over to another season, the one of green...that too will be welcomed...just like when we tuck things away and think of shutting down the green season for the restful white one. A whole other set of amusements and entertainment starts up. Changes are good, sometimes as good as a rest!

Turkey dinner, last night, delicious! Just what we all needed!!

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Tonight's dinner, leftovers...even more wonderful now that dishes and cooking, clean up and all that jazz, is all done up.

Onwards and upwards...loving, living, and aspiring to do better.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada