2010 Failures

We've been noticing a large drop in hatch rate of eggs. It doesn't seem to matter what species or who we get them from, they just aren't hatching out as well as they did in years previously. I had forty eight duck eggs in the incubator from two different people and out of all that, four ducks hatched and two survived long enough to get out of the brooder. Then I set twenty four buff Orphington eggs from someone who's eggs I've set before with hatch rates of well over ninety percent. This hatch had nine hatch and of those nine three of them have some sort of walking difficulties. Another friend I talked to said four of her ducks were setting on nests this year yet none of them have ducklings. She has multiple drakes in her flock but no ducklings. I don't see anything in common with all these except perhaps we all buy feed from the same place since there aren't that many feed sources around. Could feed cause infertility? It might be GMO feed, we don't have any organic feed sources available.

Other than that, wild pigs ate up most of the sweet potato crop. Mynah birds got the first sowing of corn seed, too. Drought got the second sowing. This third one seems to be working though and it's raining now so hopefully we will have some corn after awhile. The beans are doing well, although they will start bearing well right in the middle of our two week vacation. Ooops!

We started out 2010 with no vehicles running. None of them and we have 5.
Now we have 3 running and running well!

Started 2010 with no washing machine except a ringer washer and a back load of laundry I didnt think would ever be cleaned again now have a wonderful HE machine and all that laundry was caught up in one week.

Started 2010 with a nasty bathroom that was in desperate need of gutting and today I took my first shower in our almost done, updated bathroom.

Started 2010 with my DH on a long layoff all winter from work. Now he is back and got a promotion and is working over time every week.

I would say 2010 has been fantastic!!!

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"We spend money we don't have on things we don't need to create impressions that won't last on people we don't care about."
~T.Jackson

My site.

Nope, it is a insect that burrows beneath the bark. You can't tell until the bark actually falls off. I checked it out and it is the larvae of a winged insect (can't think of it's name right now) that lays it's eggs underneath the bark into the wood. Got four or five trees that way.

PH was brought up also - nope, also good. And I do water/fertilize.

Maybe in the cosmic sceam of things I'm not meant to be having my own?

Marion

Doing 30 acres of tiling (field drainage) this week, and the tile fellas found a problem.

An 8 inch main tile on our farm, the phone co ran their cable right through the tile for 1300 feet. Looked in a washed out hole, and the warning tape they burry with the line is inside the hollow, with crushed tile bits on each side. Not a simple crossing, but - for 1300 feet, my 8" tile & their wire share the same 12 inches of realestate....

$9000+ to redo the tile right, see who ends up paying for this mess.

--->Paul

I try not to think of the cosmic scheme of things, it gets too scary!

My snafu 2010: armadillo and too lazy to have fixed it yet

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US Army veteran, military retiree spouse, and military; civilian; British NHS; and VA doctor.

Compared to a shed being blown off it's foundation and a house burning down I'm having a great year!

Major snafu's; zoning problem, my ducks are illegal and have to go; groundhog ate my garden; 2 weeks of rain = waist high weeds and an unworkable garden; wishy washy weather = seedling failure of my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant; and the big one, another tree fell on my garden!

My big setback happened this morning..........we had hail stones the size of golf balls. It came down in sheets of hail for about 5 minutes. Dented up all our cars, and pounded the garden to smithereens. Three "grand canyon type" wash outs on either side of the garden and right down the middle. I had started all my plants from seeds and they were gorgeous! I set out 58 tomato plants and 40 pepper plants. A few of them have miraculously survived but they sure look pathetic. I had a few other plants I didn't set out yet because they were too small, so at least I have 8 tomato replacements and 6 pepper replacements. We'll try to put the dirt back into those washed out trenches, and I'll just replant everything else. I had petunias I started from seeds in hanging baskets and the whole baskets got crushed by the golf ball hail. Bird feeders got crushed, too.

but - at least we are safe, the horses are safe, I think most of my barn cats are ok. They are predicting round 2 of hail this afternoon, but I don't think it could damage much more - nothing left in the garden to damage! Our bees are fine, too. At least we didn't lose our home to floods or tornadoes.

So sorry this happened. UGH. Thank goodness you and the critters are ok

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

Thanks - it IS disappointing. But I guess losing a garden is better than losing a home.

38 chickens DEAD today thanks to MY dog. It's super hot today so I had an extra door open for ventilation (they are in the barn yet, only 3 weeks old). I had a 2 ft high wall up to keep the chickens in but my 8 month old puppy found her way in. When I went to the barn this afternoon to water them, I found a pile of dead chickens. No bite marks. I figure she had fun chasing them around, they piled on to one another and died from heat and exhaustion. I could just kick myself for not thinking of the dog when I put such a short wall up.
On the up side, my garden is doing ok so far and I've managed to keep my goats in their pasture. Last year they'd get out and head right for the garden, not leaving me with much.

Replanted 40 acres of corn today. Dad planted it the first time, had the population set way too low and when the monitor told him he wasn't planting enough seed, rather than trying to fix it, he turned the monitor off and ignored it.

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The internet - fueling paranoia and misinformation since 1873.

Ya...those fancy monitors don't know what they are talking about

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

Well, compared to Patt's house fire and a few other problems you guys have been having I guess I can no longer whine and snivel about my cats eating eggs or the tent caterpillars de-leafing my orchard AND my 40 acre woodlot. I'll keep those problems. I also had a very serious car wreck on a highway that totalled my car. (Don't text while driving. The girl who ran her stop sign and plowed into me at 60 mph was deep into her text....) She went to the ER on a stretcher and I walked away without so much as an ache or pain so:

2010 has been ok here.

we were supposed to get a small veggie farm started this spring but it was so wet the land owner kept putting off getting the field ready, then they burned the land with out us and it didnt work. now we are not sure if she wants us out there at all. we had done the planning and were ready to plant. now all of the seeds we started from scratch our finding homes in our double lot in town, not so much a failure as a complication to the grand plan. so i guess we are moving on to plan d, e or f.

i've been just sailing along not a care in the world and i was due for it i guess and i got it today. i just put up a lovely fence. cost me 5000. now the neighbor tells me i am 3 inches off with one post on the end. on the other hand i am 1ft in on the other end. the fence is lovely . with ift of lattice on the top. even makes his place look better.

this is the same guy whose been trying to get a stump out for 6 years. his back steps are falling off. paint peeling everywhere.no pride of ownership whatsoever.yard filthy and i have not said a word. never bothered me to tell you the truth. also the same guy whose children i have been so good to. to make the best of it he was standing looking at it one day while the holes were being dug. he could have walked a few feet to my door. no, the idiot. he waited until he was in Saudi Arabia to send me a e-mail. i should have known he was a idiot when i saw him whacking at that stump with a rake. i feel like taking a sledge hammer to the whole thing tonight. ~Georgia.