I've been craving a new purse lately. The one I've been hauling around for the past couple years is looking pretty battered and bruised, not being exactly high-end to begin with, and constant employment has worn it down to the nubbins.
And it's spring - I want some "pretty" in my life. (Without spending $150!) So I drug out the fabric bins, and bought some bamboo handles, and started playing with newspaper templates. I think I've got something that'll work. I'll post more pictures when I'm done. Still need to pick up some interfacing to hold the inside cell-phone pocket.
Poultry Report
So far we've lost 8. Ding-Dang! These darn broilers seem to make a hobby of dying!
Here's what I did, and you can laugh if you want. They were all looking so distressed and unwell, and I'd frantically checked and double checked on feed and water and shavings and temperature, and everything was as it's "supposed" to be, but they were still lying around and panting and making horrible noises and I was having nightmare visions of losing the entire batch.
Then I remembered the Bach flower essences that I've been using on myself and my family, and that there's a bottle of something called 5-Flower, or Rescue Remedy for emergency-type situations. I've been using it on my hands and wrists after therapy sessions, and on the Spouse's headaches, and sometimes on clients when they've got unrelenting knots. But you can use it internally too, and now and then I'll take a few drops just to settle.
I took the chickens' waterers, refilled them, and put 5 drops of Rescue Remedy in each. Then I put them back in the brooder, told the chicks to LIVE, and tucked everyone in for the night.
The next morning there were no dead chicks - first time since we got them! I took the boards off and they all started running around very energetically, and nearly crawled up my arm to get at the chick-starter I was pouring into the trough.
Hurrah! We have had one die since, but it was one that had already gone paralyzed and couldn't move to the feed or water. Today, cross my legs and hope to fly, it looks like a grand day for chick un-mortality.
I swear, I dreamt about chickens all night. Who knew this chick-anery would be so fraught?
