chook update (and cooking update)

[tielan]

Yes, Honey Soy chicken has peritonitis and has laid her last egg. She's back home with medication that she hates taking, strutting around and eating pretty handily, but I'm not entirely sure if she's passing the poop that she should be. I'm going to put a newspaper down under her perch tonight to see.

She has an implant to stop her from ovulating, but the question is whether the damage already done is going to heal up, or if there'll be complications. Otherwise, the next step the hospital suggests is surgery.

I'm not sure I'm willing to go to surgery.

I did go and visit some friends last night and they said that there's a breeder who takes 'retired' hens. On one hand, yes, it's convenient. On the other, in my opinion there's a "whole-of-life" aspect to bringing things into my household that I think should be respected up to the point of death. I have taken this life into my hands, I should be willing to take its life to the end, not just shuffle it off somewhere, not to be seen. That's my own ethics and framework of thought.

I'm still working through it.

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In other news, both chicken coop automatic doors have stopped working within weeks of each other. *grumble*

These ones weren't bad, just...a bit narky. Electromagnets were involved in order to sense whether the door had snagged on anything, and I think something has broken in the process.

What I want in an electric chook door:

If it malfunctions, it comes down and stays down. That's how we lost the last two chooks: the door malfunctioned and stayed up and foxes got them.

Solar-powered batteries: no having to to replace with regular batteries.

A light-activated option (when it's bright/dark enough, it opens/closes) and a timer option (ie. it closes at 9pm every night).

It's amazing how difficult it is to find all these options in a single door.

And then there's a part of me that wonders how difficult it would be to rig one up myself...

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A Hamilton-style rap about the first female Treasurer of the USA has been released by Dessa, c/o the peeps at the Marketplace podcast, after Biden made a joke about Lin Manuel Miranda needing to write a musical about the first female Secretary of the Treasury.

It is awesome.

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I have done two cookbook challenges today. Fruit tarts and Beef Wellington.

Of course I want to bake on one of the hottest days this summer has seen. Because it me. *sigh*

But I'd been preparing the beef wellington for days, and I had the puff pastry out and there was fruit and...

Both were pretty tasty in any case!

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I didn't get around to posting this yesterday, so it's now Sunday and I'm posting it. I have a video meet with old Stargate friends and kids' church later tonight.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

Sorry to hear about your chicken! Though I wouldn't think a place for retired chickens would be a bad option. Obviously they'd be set up to care for them, and they must really care about the chickens to do it.

[grav_ity]

The baking looked fantastic! Beef Wellington is on my list for this year, so I am always pleased when someone does it and shares their pictures.

[eggsbenedict]

I'm so sorry to hear about Honey Soy :(

I uh, accidentally showed a scene of chicken dispatch to the kids yesterday when we were watching River Cottage Australia - I knew what was coming and offered to turn the TV off, J didn't believe me and told me to leave it on, then of course it happened on screen. There wasn't a huge reaction at the time, but I did have to deal with some tears before bedtime last night. You might be able to find that episode on SBS on Demand, otherwise my dad could probably help if you need in-person advice and support.

As for chook door... your requirements don't seem that unreasonable, it feels like a good Arduino project to look into! The only tricky part is the behaviour when it malfunctions, but I guess this is is how error handling works, right? I have a soldering iron and assorted bits and pieces and have purchased parts locally before, if you do decide to try to rig something up yourself.

Your baking posts elsewhere looked super tasty. :d Hope you're all surviving the heat!

[pensnest]

That Yellen rap is delightful!