Getting your flock though a sizzling summer

    It's summer which means thermometers around the country are hitting the ninety degree marks. (and higher.) So I thought for today I'd talk about ways to help your chickens beat the summer heat.  
  Two years ago we last nearly half our flock within three days to heat stroke. We developed a cooling regimen and after implementing it didn't lose a single hen. It's pretty much the same thing other people are advising, but the more people talk about it the easier it is for people to find this life saving advice. So here's what Mom and I do when the temperature rises into the 90s and above.

  The first part of the process is: ice. Lots of ice. 
-Put ice cubes in their water.
-Hang plastic grocery bags filled with ice in your chicken house. Especially around the nest boxes.
-Save your empty milk cartons. Fill about half way with water, leave in freezer until completely frozen, and place in chicken house.
-Put those ice pack you get with some coolers in your chicken house.

Water
-Make sure they have lots of water. Some people advise putting electrolytes in their water, too.
-Spray your chicken house and the area around it with water.
-If one of them looks very distressed, wet its feet. Doing that actually saved one of the girls.

Cooling stations
-Put boards, we used 1/2 plywood, at an angle against your chicken house so your chickens can get in the shade and still catch a breeze.
-Spray the plywood and the dirt under it with water.
-Scatter ice under the boards.

Treats
-Give them frozen bread
-Freeze kitchen scraps the night before.  

Check them often. Especially in the hottest part of the day.

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Bearded Iris

Five years ago I bought some 'Black Bearded Iris'. They have not bloomed once. They looked healthy and multiplied like crazy, but no blooms. Every year my hopes would rise; 'Surely, this will be the year.' I'd think. One would produce a long fat leaf. 'Yes this is it, it's going to flower!' I exclaim.

  And finally, after a few days that-felt-like-weeks it would open- into several sword-like leaves.  I never lost hope, but I did begin to get the feeling the bulbs were mocking me.

  Well, no longer. One of them bloomed today. There are even two little buds with tiny black petals sticking out along the flower stem. Some of the other bulbs look like they are going to flower as well.
   
  

                                   I still don't know why they didn't flower for all that time...



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Photography

 I've started taking my product listing pictures outside. I used to take them on an end table in the living room (the only place in the house that gets direct sun for any amount of time), but thanks to the trees leafing out, that amount of time is so short it's barely calculable. Without di
rect sunlight colors tend to be off and metal, and sometimes fabric, items are either too dark to make out or they reflect the camera flash so badly you can't make out any details.

 After a several bad quality photos I would often get frustrated and take pictures of the item in my hand while I stood out in the yard away from the trees. Hence the calla lily earrings' product picture.

  The other day I thought to myself, 'This is stupid. Why don't I start out outside?' And from there it kind of snowballed into me using garden plants as a backdrop instead of the scrap fabric I usually use. I didn't have any new items to try this plan on, but I did have a few pieces who's photos where pretty bad.
  You couldn't really make out my Chain Earrings. The Red Scorpio choker's pictures showed it in two different shades of red. And the main photo of my Sleet Earrings was horribly blurry. So, I decided to try it out on them. It worked out pretty well once I figured out that you need
a somewhat solid background to really show off the items. I'm probably going to take all my photo's out side from now on. Plus it's fun to be outside! Lobo enjoyed it as well.

                  Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

 

Paper towel seedlings

Just a quick update today.

  I told you a couple of seedling come up when I tried growing catnip seeds in a moist paper towel after a few attempts to grow anything other than weeds with the normal sew seeds in dirt method failed.
 Well, I'm pretty sure I killed them all. A couple of weeks ago the two oldest sprouts started withering So I tried planting the seeds. It did not go well. The tops stuck to my fingers and the roots stuck to the paper towel resulting in seedling that where torn in half, like victims of some horrible witch-hunt.

I reseeded in dirt the other day. Here's hoping for better results.

There's than a week left of Bats Bizarre's Mother's Day sale. Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY before 5/12/13 for 5% off your entire purchase. Discount doesn't include shipping. Here's a link to my shop page https://www.etsy.com/shop/BatsBizarre?ref=si_shop
     

        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!