I take no credit for being a great provider for my chickens. I take care of them but nothing like some I have read about on here. This is my setup. My two chicken pens are 10' wide x 30' long each. The end 10' has a metal roof cover for the nest boxes, roost, automatic feed and water. No more than ten chickens per pen. The pens are made with 6" aluminum post and 6' high chain link fencing. 3 strands of electric fence wire around the outside. The front 20' has 3 different varieties of scuppernong vines growing across the tops at 2' intervals that provides shade in the summer. The leaves fall, giving good sunlight in the yard for the winter. Scuppernongs love growing next to a chicken pen and the chickens love the grapes that drop and any I consider excess. I feed my chickens homegrown field corn, summer garden culls/excess. During the winter they get turnip greens, spinach, kale, mustard, peas and loose leaf lettuce. On occasion I will cook the turnip roots till tender and feed them too. Very little commercial feed. They are free ranged most evenings. I use no preventive medications. I contribute the long life to the breed, free space and diet. It is not uncommon for Orpingtons to live 7 to 10 years but I have never had one laying regular this late in life. I really think being around the young hens triggered something in her. I know when I am around my nephews I forget how old I am until the next day. By the way, as of yesterday she is still laying. I may let her raise one last clutch if she goes broody. I will take fancifowls advice and use a younger hens eggs.

Hello All from San Antonio, TX. I just got a bid for the Carrier Infinity 17, 4 Ton Unit, Carrier coil and the Infinity Control Panel,no duct work required, installed from a national store chain. After the Carrier $1000 cash back and a $500 credit from CPS our local Utility Co., the bid came to $9600.00 Wow, I had no idea Ac would cost so much, but I'm told this unit is one of the best. I had another guy tell me he could get me a tax credit on the same system, but according to the last guy I spoke with, you can't get a Tax Crdit on a 4 Ton system, It just won't qualify, he said I need to get a certificate to be sure if I'm told they will qualify. Question; Is this a resonable bid? It's hot here in Texas, maybe I should down grade, but I'm thinking the more efficient Infinity 17 would make up for it in the long run? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep reading the other posts to see what I can learn. Thanks!

LOL.....I don't think you are going to break the routine now. I have seen in pet supply catalogues automatic dishes where the cover rotates on a timer and can be set to dispense food at given times. Of course this would mean a dry food, and I'm not sure what you normally feed Toby. Perhaps a soft morsel tidbit in the a.m.s would suffice if he is not on dry kibble. They aren't that expensive....maybe thirty/forty dollars if I remember right. I think that's a cheap price to pay not to be awakened at dawn every morning by a hungry cat.

We have straggled out again, and we are parched []]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]](that was a note from kitty that just walked on my keyboard...your cats and dogs will have to decipher it for you...it seems to be a new binary based language). Kitty has a big history with the vet. I do have nasty neighbors. One of them baited her with a can of Tuna into a small squirrel trap...and while kitty is small and keeps her girly figure, she has unusually long legs and was faster than a speeding bullet when she ran. The neighbors left her trapped over 17 hours before they contacted me. At that point, there were not to many humans kitty wanted to be around, she became a fraidy cat. Many of the people who visted the house, identified her in the trap and still left her there without contacting me. It took her over a year to even walk over to my father. He used to walk around, muttering to himself "why is she like this, why is she afraid of me? I didn't hurt her!" I would always tell him that it was because her brain was half the size of an avocado pit and it couldn't store more information than 'humans attacked me'. His brain must have not been much larger ... that fact never really sunk in. Miss half-a-walnut-shell-sized-brain did have enough room to recognize "TOWEL" "BLANKET" "PILL POPPER" "PILL" and the examination is over the minute a "THERMOMETER" comes in view. She got sick from insect bites and that being the one summer day that dipped down to the low 40's high 30's (in temperature at night), a touch of Pneumonia followed. She has a dislocated vertebrae, she compensates for it well. You still feel it running your fingers down her spine. There were many vet appointments following the incident. That was almost eight years ago. The vet just calls her feral now. I don't believe that is technically accurate, she's just has had it with humans and she is almost ready to put me in the 'had it' category. She's difficult to handle. Since the trapping, she's not the cat I originally had. BT (before trapping) every time the doorbell would ring, she would be the first at the door, ready to lead the visitors back to the family room, or where ever my mother was holding court. Those days are long gone. There's a person here and there she will warm up to without introduction, but those chosen individuals are few and far between. The vet used to use anesthesia(sp?) just to examine her (post trapping). The vet did wrap her in a towel to show me how to administer the pill and after 15 minutes he said "See wasn't that easy?" My reply was "It took you and two assistants." The moistening of throat sounds like a good deal ...and might be at the base of this huge objection...besides not wanting to be told what to do. Its so obvious, no one ever thought of it. I will try your suggestion with a little tuna water, I'll see if that will bribe her into agreement. Skeptical but trying - thanks. marf