Sybil Ludington Rides Again

Politics, Freedom and Farm Life

Tag: Chickens

A Tale of Two Roosters

First I will tell you about David Allen. I’ve had David since he was a day old. David came from the wonderful Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon. Missouri that is. David is an Araucana, they are very smart chickens and are the ones that lay the blue, green and pink colored eggs. Some call them the Easter Egg chicken. Some also think they may be a bit smarter than other chickens. I do. David is named after two of my favorite Lieutenant Colonels. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Lt. Col. Allen West. I only name chickens after people I admire and like. David was crowing at 2-3 weeks, this is VERY young. What’s more, he was doing it when I asked him to sing for “Mama”. As he grew up and moved to the “big house”, the chicken house with a outdoor play area he continued to be a nice, kind well mannered Roo. Every morning David sits on a ledge when he hears me coming in and waits to have his chest rubbed. That’s just our routine.

Handsome David Allen waits to have his chest rubbed.

Handsome David Allen waits to have his chest rubbed.

Next I will tell you about Trey. Trey is named after Trey Gowdy. I’ve admired Trey for a long time, although there have been a few incidents last year that made me shake my head. As there have been with my Roo. There are times that I remember the day he got out and I patiently kept trying to catch him and get him back in the chicken house. Left on his own outside of some poultry netting or the brick house, he wouldn’t last long. Everything wants to kill and eat a chicken. I guess cause it tastes like chicken. But capture him I did and returned him to his family. And family they are, David Allen is his father. Trey and 3 sisters were born here.

When David was the “head Fred”, the boss of the chicken house he behaved well as a leader. The hens were happy, he behaved with civility to Trey and all was well.

But time passes, and as the nature of most creatures, someone has to be in charge. With chickens it is literally a “pecking order”. While David is still “virile” he has aged, Trey is bigger, younger and stronger. Trey is the “head Fred” now, and his behavior leaves a bit to be desired.

Where David was gracious in leadership, Trey is a bully. Trey will chase David off from the food and the girls, water too. I do not like bullies, can’t abide them.

In the beginning, I would try to run Trey around giving David a chance to eat. Or when Trey made a move on David, I would go after him. I should probably still do that. It’s a great way to practice cutting skills and burn calories. But what I finally tried was throwing food into David in the other room where he was hanging out with a couple of girls. My thought was David and the girls could still eat.

David Allen is smarter than I am. At times at least. What he chose to do, was eat in there with the girls, and then a few other girls would come (David Allen really is the better looking of the two). Then Trey couldn’t stand it. He would go in the other room, the roost room and run David off. David would “run off” by jumping into the dining room, with lots of food in hanging feeders and a water fountain and the rest of the girls. Trey is eating off the floor with a few girls. But Trey thinks he “won”.

So, perhaps sometimes the bullies seem to win, but by David assessing the situation well, better than I, he used Trey’s bullying nature to get the better end of the deal. My contribution was giving him something to work with.

I think G-d is in every animal, well, maybe not liberals because they don’t want him. But in most animals. I absolutely believe he can speak to us through nature and our furred and feathered friends. So as I watch the two boys deal with the situation in their own way I realize there are times when a bully may seem to win, but it’s the smart Roo that’s coming out on top.

 

סיביל

All The Worlds A Chicken House

Fair warning, there will be graphic pictures posted, and actual farm life will be discussed.

I was having a discussion the other day about an incident that happened at home Friday. I was on the way to the barn to do chores. I’m more happy about that than you can imagine. Since I was on the way to the barn it meant I had on cowgirl boots and had a revolver strapped on my hip. Since I almost stepped on two snakes last week on the way to the chicken house I’ve resumed doing chores fully dressed (as in armed, stop it). I was very glad of that when I stepped off the back step and had taken about 5 steps towards the barn. Some movement or something to my right caught my eye. I froze and looked over. A little black head was sticking up out of the grass, it’s forked tongue flicking in and out. My first concern of course was little Marlowe. 1) I don’t want him to go after the snake, I don’t know for sure what kind it is. 2) I don’t want him in my line of fire, because I AM going to shoot this thing. I shoot it, twice. I want to make sure, and it’s moving too much for comfort. I don’t want it to crawl under the back steps, die and stink. By the same token I don’t want it alive anywhere. After two shots I go get a hoe to cut it’s head off. To do this your hoe has to have an edge. Mine doesn’t, and mostly I beat the snake snot out of it. Grandma is probably looking down from Heaven and very ashamed of me. Sorry Grandma, I did the best I could with what I had, and well, it IS dead.

I was asked if I knew what kind of snake it was. My answer of “dead” did not seem to be what they were looking for. People have tried telling me the black snake is the farmer’s friend. Yeah, tell me that when my egg production is dropping off, I go to gather the eggs and find a big black snake coiled up in the laying boxes with an egg shaped lump in it. People, people! They are not eating the mice that run, they are eating the eggs that just lay there.

This little story ended up being told later. Now, what was interesting is we were discussing the terrorist attacks on Israel. My question had been on how to deal with them? 40,000 reserves have been called up, send in troops? Boots on the ground? The answer was no, it would be too expensive in terms of Israeli casualties. Ok, I accept that is a bad plan. What then? I get a well thought out answer, a very well thought out answer. Basically utilizing the Israeli Air Force you watch for any signs of terrorist activity. Vigilance. When they spot the start of terrorist activity, eliminate the threat. At once. Each and every time. Eventually the terrorists will be decreased, or will decide attacking Israel isn’t as much fun as they thought it would be.

I explain that is the black snake theory of terrorist management. The very long pause tells me perhaps more explanation is needed. If I find ANY predator around my chicken house, I WILL kill it. As my friend Deb says, everything wants to kill chickens. I asked her if it is because people keep saying everything tastes like chicken. Rattlesnake? Tastes like chicken. Rhino? Tastes like chicken. Wildebeest? Tastes like chicken. Squirrel? Tastes like Squirrel, I know better. If there are predators in the vicinity of my chicken house, I can be pretty sure they do not have my little feathered darlings best interests at heart, and I will eliminate the threat. That is my JOB. The animals have no choice where they ended up, I chose to have them. I believe I should be prepared to do that in the safest, surest most efficient way I can. I view black snakes as a sort of illegal immigrant. Liberals tell me they are just coming here for a better life, they do the jobs Americans won’t do. Right, just like the black snake is the farmer’s friend, they eat the eggs, and don’t chip in a penny on chicken feed and upset the girls. I lose all the way around.

This must just be my weekend for it. Saturday night I go to do chores, ponies are eating and I walk down to shut up the chickens. I walk in and stop dead in my tracks. There is a skunk in the chicken house. This is bad, very bad for a lot of reasons. One, I’m suppose to be leaving to go sit with my Aunt in hospice as soon as I get done. Getting sprayed is really going to put a crimp in that. Two, skunks will kill chickens, they rip their heads off. A little chicken armed only with it’s beak doesn’t stand much of a chance. Three, I’m armed only for snakes. A .22 with rat shot is not going to get this job done without some serious collateral damage. Probably to me. I need a different tool for this job. I fly to the house for back up. This is a job for a .20 ga shotgun. I jog back down hoping I’m in time. Skunk is still investigating, I don’t see any feathered bodies on the floor, good! Flashlight to left hand, should arms, fire, ratchet new shell in, fire. Yes, I do like to be very sure. I check, it’s dead. Quite dead. The girls are safe, but think a couple may need counseling, they were scared of the skunk. The next morning I scoop up the remains in a “predator body bag”, others may call them trash bags, and dispose of it.

Now, you ask, what does this have to do with “All the Worlds a Chicken House”? Stick with me.

One, I am more willing and prepared to defend my animals than some parents are their children. Don’t understand it, and feel sorry for the kids. I always knew both my parents loved me enough they would be prepared to defend me and probably live to tell about it.

Two, this came up during the discussion on terrorists infiltrating Israel. There is a video of terrorist attempting to enter Israel via sea. Doesn’t pan out well for them. It did pan out well for the Israeli citizens though. As opposed to what American citizens are fixin’ to face thanks to our President and do nothing Congress.

As Americans face a flood of illegal immigrants coming across the border this country is going to be “fundamentally changed” as promised by barry and voted for by liberals.

American taxpayers, not people living on governmental assistance, but taxpayers are shelling out $250-$1000 a DAY per bed for these children. They will get free housing, free school and free healthcare. Well, free to them, not free to taxpayers. No, I’m sure this won’t raise our taxes anymore than obamacare did. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/10/obama-seeks-brisk-passage-of-border-children-fundi/

Border Patrol agents are asking why people are bothering to pay coyotes to smuggle the kids in, the US government, supported by our tax dollars is doing it for free. Border patrol catches the unaccompanied minors and then we pay to have them delivered to family in the US. We, the taxpayer will also be paying for their legal representation. http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/07/11/Border-Patrol-Agent-US-Govt-Completing-the-Smuggling-Cycle

Let’s just chat for a moment about those unaccompanied minor “children”. The processing center at Nogales AZ is being used as a recruitment center for the violent MS-13 gang. Yes, indeedy. Some of those innocent “children” are members of a violent gang. Some of them have admitted to torture and murder in the countries they came from. The Red Cross has helpfully set up a phone bank for them in Nogales so they can contact other gang members in the US and back home. Well, I’m more a fan of the Salvation Army than Red Cross. Goes back to WWII. Some of the other children in the processing center have complained of attempts to get them to join and MS-13 gang grafetti has been found in the bathrooms at the Nogales center. Quite the value your getting for your tax dollars.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/07/11/border-patrol-ms13-using-nogales-processing-center-as-recruitment-hub-entrance-into-us-n1861082

So, we know some of the children coming across are gang members, that we’re paying $250-$1000 a day per “child”, we’re paying for the government to act as coyotes and deliver them, we will be paying for their schooling, lawyers, housing, food and transport. Probably obamaphones too.

So, what do we get in return? Quite a lot actually!

One border patrol agent has already contacted bacterial pneumonia. Doctors say he will have lifelong complications from this. The agent does have small children at home and they are hoping the children won’t contract it. But wait, there’s more! http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/382575/border-patrol-agent-hospitalized-pneumonia-caught-illegal-immigrant-expected-have

Let’s look at some of the other exciting things that are coming into the country! Scabies, lice, TB, measles, chicken pox, strep throat, mental and emotional disorders. Some brave Doctors and Nurses who have been threatened at Lackland Air Force base are talking about what they saw and it is horrifying. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/02/medical-staff-warned-keep-quiet-about-illegal-immigrants-or-face-arrest/

     “There were several of us who wanted to talk about the camps, but the agents made it clear we would be arrested,” a psychiatric counselor told me. “We were under orders not to say anything.”

The sources said workers were guarded by a security force from the BCFS, which the Department of Health and Human Services hired to run the Lackland Camp.

The sources say security forces called themselves the “Brown Shirts.”“It was a very submissive atmosphere,” the counselor said. “Once you stepped onto the grounds, you abided by their laws – the Brown Shirt laws.”She said the workers were stripped of their cellphones and other communication devices. Anyone caught with a phone was immediately fired.

“Everyone was paranoid,” she said. “The children had more rights than the workers.”

Another thing Border patrol agents have told us is that many, many of the children have the same answers, exactly the same answers to the questions they are asked. Just like they had been coached with scripted answers. This from an article dated July 9th. http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/guatemala-says-us-agreed-to-suspend-child-deportations-555373

But Carrera told reporters: “Obama didn’t ask Congress for any special power for the expedited repatriation of unaccompanied children, and that’s because we are still in discussions.”

The foreign minister estimated the talks could take two to four weeks.

He said the Central American countries are aiming to ensure minors are given “due process, with adequate legal defense,” to determine if they should be allowed to stay with relatives already in the United States.

The foreign ministers of Honduras and El Salvador, alongside Carrera, struck the deal during a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to Washington last week, Carrera said at the press conference.

Now remember, I recently flew to Israel and back. I can tell you how much fun I had going through the TSA check points. The new illegals? The ones with diseases? They are being transported and allowed to fly on commercial planes WITHOUT valid ID. Using only their notice to appear in court to board planes. The notice is on plain copier paper. Naw, no terrorist would ever think of making one of those on a computer and using it to board a plane. Oh, and the info on them? It’s what the illegal immigrant says is the truth about them. There are no checks being done. Look over and smile at the passenger next to you. But don’t let them breath on you. I’m sure the reason their hair is so full and moving is just the air circulating in the plane. Prolly not lice. And of course, taxpayers are paying for it. http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/07/11/Exclusive-TSA-Allowing-Illegals-to-Fly-Without-Verifiable-ID-Says-Border-Patrol-Union

Unemployment already made horribly worse by the passage of obamacare is not going to be made any better by the huge influx of people into the country.

And these are people from countries that do not have a Constitution like ours, they do not understand the Second Amendment, and will not be supportive of it. Their party, the one meeting them at the border with lollipops, that would be the Dems, will tell them not to.

The strain on a medical system already infected by obamacare is going to be unbelievable. They will be going to school soon, too.

So, do I have no heart and no compassion for these poor children fleeing their crime and poverty ridden countries? Of course I do! But you know who I have much more compassion for? The American Taxpayer who has tried their best to play by the rules, go to work, be self supporting, raise their family to do the right thing. Their kids will now be going to school and the learning process already damaged by Common Core will be further degraded. The cost for paying for all this for these future Dem voters is very likely going to be the tipping point for Cloward and Piven that barrys been trying to bring about. We have no idea how many and who the terrorists are that have come in with the flood. Nor any idea of where they will strike, or how. All brought to you by liberals who voted for barry to “fundamentally change America”.

When snakes come into a chicken house, they hatch more snakes who will then come into your chicken house. Same with skunks, if they find a easy buffet, that location is passed on to their little skunks. Soon I have no eggs because of the snakes, no chickens because of the skunks and I’ve paid for the chickens, the water, the feed and my time in raising them. In return I am left with nothing if I do not act.

I explain to my friend both situations stink, the flood of illegals and my dead skunk. Both are going to be a horrible mess to clean up.

That video I mentioned of terrorists trying to infilatrate Israel?

Dead Predators.

A Stinkin' Mess

A Stinkin’ Mess

snake

A Slitherin’ Mess

 

I’m wondering if Bibi ever raised any chickens perhaps. He seems to understand the solutions that work.

I Raise my girls right!

I Raise my girls right!

 

סיביל

The Unexpected Guests

Life has been crazy busy lately. There has been much going on with older family members, and as a result, not only are my sisters and I trying to keep up with our own duties, we’ve now picked up some additional ones. I’m not for sure how it is with them, but I know for me it’s put me behind on several things, blogging just being one of them. Since I was essentially gone for 4 days over the weekend, no it wasn’t exactly fun, I got further behind on some of my farm duties. Such as collecting eggs. Collecting eggs is one of those things it’s never good to get behind on. Now I know I wasn’t that far behind, but when I went to feed the chickens this morning and let them out into their playpen I got quite a surprise.

The first clue was the cheeping. The second clue was seeing one of my Auracana hens with four little babies clustered around her. NUTS!! Life is busy enough without raising chicks. And raise them I will need to do. If I leave them in the chicken house they will most likely be eaten by a snake. Or the other chickens may go after them. Not to mention they need baby chick feed and I like to put electrolytes in their water. None of this is possible down there.

But, it was time to go see my Aunt and take her the fresh laundry. So I finished chores and loaded up my car. On the way to town I talked to G_d about this, along the lines of “Seriously? You think I need baby chicks, NOW?” In the past I’ve enjoyed raising them, but now? They all four looked like they were Auracanas, which would be the breed I would choose to buy, so that’s good.

Then I began to think of names. I decided to try for things that are at low ebb in my life right now. So their names will be

אֳמונַה which is Faith, you could pronounce it like Emuna

חֵן which is Grace, good luck with this one, that first letter is Chet, so it is like a hard, never mind..just say Hen, and when you start the “H” part kind of clear your throat, you’ll be close.

תֽקוַה which is Hope, you could pronounce it like Tikvah.

גֽיל which is Joy. This one is easy, you pronounce it just like it looks, Geel.

They are currently in a small dog crate. That’s easier to keep body heat, plus they have an electric heating pad in a walmart bag. I hope we won’t have to do that over one or two nights. But again, these kids are only about a day old. I’ve dipped their little beaks in the special “chick kool-aid” with electrolytes, they’ve found the food and are eating. I left them nestled together on the heating pad. They have a little battery powered lantern in there so I can check on them and see what they are doing and a towel is draped over it to keep the heat in and breezes out. I’m hoping and praying they will grown up to be healthy happy GIRLS!

I guess as I’m watching how vicious the aging process can be, it is good to be reminded that life, is well, “life” חי .

If we are lucky, we see all the seasons. Although from watching my older family members, that fall/winter one is not for the faint of heart. But I see them facing it with grace and dignity and courage, a lot of courage.

So for now, I have some unexpected guests in the house. Hopefully in six weeks they can all rejoin their Mother, who is none to happy with me right now. I did promise her I would do my best.

Unexpected Guests

Unexpected Guests

 

Gather Round The Dinner Table

Gather Round The Dinner Table

In Defense of Chickens, or Children

I ran across and interesting article today on allowing armed Teachers in schools. It points out that the “gun free zone” model isn’t working out well. It never does work out well. Pretty much all the mass shootings that have taken place over the last few years have taken place in “gun free zones”. Alan Korwin over at GunLaws.com has a great answer in his “Gun Free Zones Liability Act” . In short: “If you create a gun-free zone, you’re liable for any harm it causes.” I’d go over there and check out more.

That’s not really today’s topic though. The article points out that school boards says they don’t want to arm teachers or basically “the good guys” because they can’t get insurance, or it’s “too expensive”. Guess that lets you know what your kids are worth, eh? The article points out that most school districts adopt the “huddle and pray” policy. I seemed to recall someone else telling me that keeping the kids “safe” in lock down just pretty much makes it easy for the killer to find bunches of them huddling and praying. The media rather than honestly reporting things has their own agenda. Seems like most times a gun is used successfully in a defensive manner they can’t help but get their little comment in about how it’s so amazing bystanders weren’t killed in the spray (2 bullets fired) of gunfire. Or they show film clips of a fully automatic weapon firing while taking about a semi-automatic weapon and the uninformed have no idea of the difference. Right now 7 states allow armed teachers and  33 others are considering doing so.

If you look to Israel, they had a series of horrible school shootings, as well as terrorist attacks on the civilian populations in many venues. What did they do? They have armed people in the schools. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman points out there are ways to help your school prepare for such scenarios. He also pointed out that if we pulled every active duty military member in from overseas and those based in the US we still wouldn’t have enough to put one in every school and on every bus. But if parents or teachers were used? OH YEAH, then it was possible. Somehow I don’t think this will fit well with the common (rotten to the) core standards that have been adopted by current Gov. Jay Nixon (not the general assembly or educational board though).

Israel objected to being dragged into the debate (I don’t blame them) From the Jerusalem Post

Israeli officials and academics, however, distanced themselves from comparing the gun situations in Israel and the US. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the situation in Israel was “fundamentally different” from that in the United States.

“We didn’t have a series of school shootings, and they had nothing to do with the issue at hand in the United States. We had to deal with terrorism,” Palmor told the Daily News.

“What removed the danger was not the armed guards but an overall anti-terror policy and anti-terror operations which brought street terrorism down to nearly zero over a number of years,” he said.

“It would be better not to drag Israel into what is an internal American discussion.”

While I very much agree there are different faces of evil here, in Israel it is sometimes done to gain the release of terrorist buddies and sometimes to just flat kill all, in America it is the product of a sick mind and there is nothing to gain and only death sought by the killer/s. It’s interesting to note that it seems all these mass shootings of late have been done by those with a “progressive/liberal” political philosophy though those in the “impartial” (gag gag gag, excuse me for a second) media immediately jump to find links between the killer/s and the conservative movement. But no matter the REASON for the attacks, the result is the same. Dead innocents, children or adults. The answer is the same too, decrease the response time till someone with effective means is there to handle it. You don’t get much better response time than someone already there.

So, how long do we live in the problem, or with the specter of the problem looming over school children (or shoppers, or people in church)? How long will people continue to trust a media more concerned with their own ideology rather than reporting the truth? Seriously? Obama got re-elected & Hillary is considering running, if we had a NEWS media, never would be!

So where do the chickens come in you ask? A few years ago I had a racoon getting into my chicken house and I ended up losing a third of my little feathered darlings. I was beyond livid. It finally showed up in my barn, short version of the story, it died. Killings stopped after I lost a third of them. Last year a possum got in my chicken house (they got in different ways, both have been addressed) I walked in to gather eggs and it was eating one of my little feathered darlings. Possum died. I lost one girl that time. Response time matters, it matters a LOT. Did I feel bad about killing either of them? NO! Those chickens are MY responsibility. I’ve raised them from a day old. I wanted them, they didn’t necessarily want to come live with me (although it’s a pretty good gig for them). How is it, I’m more willing and prepared to take care of my little feathered darlings than some parents, teachers and school districts are actual human children? I do NOT understand that.

Pray & Huddle Policy vs. Pray & be effective

Pray & Huddle Policy vs. Pray & be effective