Whether or not the materials are suitable depends more on their size than anything else. You want all the particles in the soil to be pretty regular in size and concentrated around that 1/8" size, +/- 1/16". I use equal parts of pre-screened orchid (fir) bark in 1/8-1/4" size, screened Turface, and either Gran-I-Grit in grower size or #2 cherrystone. You can't avoid the major work of a full repot, and the first time you do it, if the roots have been neglected, is the most difficult. The bad news is if you don't do it, your plants will steadily decline. The good news is that once the plants are in the gritty mix pictured, subsequent repots and root-pruning are quite easy. I have all my houseplants (including cacti/succulents) and all my woody material in the gritty mix. If you've spent time here on the Container Forum, you can probably tell I've done a LOT of experimenting with soils, and I've yet to find a formulation that tops the one I just shared above. It is a VERY good choice for any of your plants. I'm not sure what to tell you about your 'time' constraints. You can research further to find what the individual components 'jobs' are in the soil, and see if you have anything that closely matches their 'job description'. I CAN say that if you're particular about your soils, looking for and finding the ingredients I listed will be worth the time/energy outlay. Good luck. ;o) Al

Could be from the roo, it's in the right area (the saddle) for over-zealous young rooboy attentions...but you can learn more by observing them and knowing what kind of pen they were in. Overcrowding and boredom and can result in birds feather picking each other. So can nutritional deficiencies, specifically protein--deficient birds will pluck and eat feathers. If you see the birds pulling and eating feathers, up the protein levels in the food. Dry, itchy skin can also cause or be a result of missing feathers, so adding a bit of Vitamin E oil (get some at the drugstore, poke a hole in a few capsules and squirt the oil into their food a few times a week) can help calm dry, itchy skin. I would NOT apply the oil to the bare skin as oil fouls feathers and collects dirt, which can let the bird get a chill. Ditto what was said before about parasites--I'd go ahead and treat them all for both internal and external parasites if they are looking in poor health or their prior place was a Chicken Hell. On the other hand, if you see lots of new feathers coming in--like porcupine quills--it could just be a molt and the girls will be fine soon. A stress molt from the move wouldn't be unheard of. Whatever the reason, make sure and offer them lots of room to roam, dirt to dustbathe in, fresh food, water and greens, and some extra protein--growing new feathers takes protein and is hard work! Live mealworms or crickets are like candy to chickens and are a terrific protein source, they LOVE them. :) Velvet ~:>

Have you checked their bottom to see if they are engraved with 976 as in Sterling silver. I can see mosaics but NOT over Sterling. If they are plated sure. But honestly I like the silver look and I dont even like stainless steel appliances! I think you could set them on a small teacart with teacup birdfeeders on on posts surrounding them or you can make bird houses out of them,someone did that here with a teapot by attatching its bottom to a garage. or Hide them in the bushes for faries and frogs who are being chased by neighbors cats. Or ,,,who was it that put the crystal drp out of the pump to make it look like water? Silver and crystal go well together. How about using them as the top of a windchime with silverware and crystal as danglies? Or put them in a huge basket surrounded by a few teacups & mingling with mint and ivy. Or ,,,lay one down in the garden with some allysum spilling out and the other could be upright and planted with it. Oh Yeah put them by your door,one can hold garden gloves and seeds the other a trowel and snips!I'm just getting started,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

" handymac, I'd appreciate it if you'd clarify your statements a bit more. Why do you think that "Using even a custom transition strip when the hard surface is higher than the carpet usually does not work well"? Do you mean that it becomes a trip hazard? Or is there another reason? Transition strips have to be stable---both sides have to have support. In the example above, the strip is supported by the hard surface, but will nor be supported by the carpet/pad sufficiently unless the strip compresses the carpet/pad quite a lot. That usually results in a squashed carpet look most folks do not like. By "So, you might wind up adding 3/4" to the carpeted areas just to get the heated floors in the baths" are you suggesting that we add underlayment before we re-carpet? If so, how do we address the differences at the stairs? Do we gradually raise the height of the top steps? I'd think we'd need to do something or else the top step will be 3/4" higher than all the others and that would be noticeable." Adding 3/4" under the carpet is what I meant. As for the stairs, I have seen a landing area(at the original floor height) done at the top of the stairs, maybe 4' by 3' and a transition strip used between the carpet and the landing area. Maybe solid surface flooring or vinyl tile. That minimizes the height difference at the top step and a 3/4" visual difference does not create a trip hazard.