carmen is right. They sound like textbook Cornish X. They need to have their feed rationed, you cannot leave the feed in front of them all the time. If they were on their way to the slaughterhouse, they must be old enough to process--if you keep them alive much longer, their bodies will get too heavy for their legs to support and they will either go down on their hocks, or their legs will break. Because of this, it's cruel to keep Cornish Cross birds alive past their slaughter age. The messy condition, poor feathering and jammed-together-like-sardines thing is VERY typical of Cornish X birds, that's how they are raised, and have been specifically bred by humans to be this way--lots of meat in the shortest amount of time. They ARE very sweet and docile birds. More info and pictures of the breed here: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Broil/BRKMeat.html Best thing to do for them is to continue their trip to the slaughterhouse. Thank your fellow humans for creating these monsters. :( Velvet ~:>

I have bought a black plastic netting from our nearest Grange-Coop in a 7x100 foot length and put this over my hoops covering my sunflower seeds. This has kept 13 chickens and all the other birds off the suns until they are too tall for the netting and then too dense for the chickens to mess with. Absolutely reusable and a really good buy at about 13.00. However, I will say that dealing with this stuff when you are ready to put it away can be a little daunting. Have someone help you roll it up. Hope this helps. Kat

Just happened to come across this post. I'd say 95% of my peppers were grown from store bought fruits. They have been productive and haven't given me much problems except for when I brought them outside from indoor growing. One of my sweet bell peppers is fully loaded, it has 6 or 7 giant fruit on it and 1 of them is starting to turn colour now. Here is a picture of my scotch bonnet also grown from store bought fruit.... Unfortunately I didn't put it in a good location because it's surrounded by green beans and a couple corn plants and fava beans.... The good news is the fava beans are almost ready so they'll be gone within a week, two max.

After reading these horribly high prices for flour I went out this morning and purchased 50-pounds of wheat to add to my already sizable stash. Kansas wheat is not looking all that good, especially in the western part of the state where they have been in a drought. With rising fuel prices, we can only look forward to higher prices for wheat and flour - and everything they are used in. FYI - Wheat has a nearly indefinite shelf-life while commercial bleached and unbleached flour will keep 6-12 months at room temperature (double that if frozen). I use wheat for making wheat sprouts, wheatgrass, cooked wheat berries, farina, flakes, "wheat meat", bulgar and cracked wheat - and oh, yes, flour. I ran across a book recently - "No Wheat Grinder Wheat Recipes" by Cindi Van Bibber. A great little collection of recipes you can use whole wheat berries in even if you don't have a grain mill. Cooked wheat berries are mixed in the blender to use in recipes like: No Flour Muffins, Cornbread, Brownies, Meatloaf, Biscuits, Meatballs, and hubby's favorite - Peanut Butter Cookies. A great little book for anyone wanting to use whole wheat but who doesn't have a grain mill. I've included the link below for anyone interested. I like to "cook" a large batch of wheat in my Thermal Cooker and then bag it in 2-cup amounts and keep it in the freezer. Lots of uses for cooked wheat, as well as all the recipes in the little cookbook. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Cindi's Lifestyle Treasures