Mine is 22 lbs. You do have normal size for a BBB. I wait until the last available hatch, which comes in July here, to get my poults. We try to time it so that they're slaughtered at 20 weeks. That gives us a few 16 pound hens, several birds from 18-22 and a few toms that are 26-28 pounds. The largest birds usually aren't taken. Our customers want them from 18-20 lbs, especially since farm raised birds have so much more meat per pound than store bought. Store bought birds are typically injected with fluid. That adds weight without adding substance. We cut our large birds into pieces. The breast is used for roasting and the leg/thigh for soup. I don't like to have them larger than 20 pounds but some are always faster growers. They get limited commercial food and have to forage for the rest. I think I'm done raising commercial birds. I'll see how early and many poults my bourbon reds hatch next year. If I have four hens. If they each raise only five or six I'm all set. Happy Thanksgiving!

The plants known as Holiday Cactus, Lobster Cactus, Xmas Cactus, Sunrise Cactus, and many other names, belong to several genera of jungle cacti but can generally be treated alike. All are true cactus plants, some have small spines in the aeroles, and the flowers grow on last year's growth. These plants are generally segmented and flat, and roots form between the segments for easy propagation. These plants come from the jungles of Central and South America and therefore cannot store water like their cousins from the deserts can. Instead, they rely on almost daily rains, and enter a semi-dormancy period when the short dry season comes. For most of the species concerned, this dry season occurs in the short-day period so that the combination of short days and cooler nights leaves these plants drier but not dessicated. The soils of these usually epiphytic plants consists of decayed leaves, insects, pieces of bark, etc., generally anything the wind or birds leave in the crotches of the trees or on the ground below. In cultivation, the stone/gravel/sand mix for desert cacti is supplanted by peat/leafmold/loam for these. The difference is high organic matter, the similatity is that both kinds of cacti need well -draining mixes. Once the right soil has been given, it is important to note that full sun in the summer is not a good idea in most places, but that some sun is needed. When the days grow short (Sep/Oct in northern hemisphere), water sparingly, giving the plant about 6 weeks of a cooler, drier regimen. This period will induce bloom, especially if the diurnal range is in the 20-30 degree F range, something hard to do in the average home. Although some thought can be given to shading the plants from bright lights at night, this does not seem as critical as the rest period. More important is to shelter the plant from dry winds (heating ducts), changing the environment once buds have set, and ethylene gas (from plastics, propane heaters and ripening fruit). Any of these three conditions can cause the falling off of the flower buds, commonly called bud blast. The small roots of these cacti are not equipped to deal with drought, and the stems have adapted to living in the shade cast by their tree hosts. Given even a rough approximation of their jungle home they will bloom in a panoply of colors, in season, every year.

Shawlin, That happened to us, except it was on a 10 hour trip and we were about halfway there before it started, and it was during a Christmas holiday. We had to stop at a gas station after our toddler had thrown up yet again, but this time it was on her pillow... she was trying to keep the puke from dropping off the pillow, but then we hit a bump and SPLAT! Now she was covered in puke, it was dripping off her hair. Hubby asked the gas station attendants to bring out the hose and while he sprayed down her car seat, I took her into the bathroom and tried to wash her hair in a gas station bathroom sink... you know the kind where the faucet is really short and the sink is small? By the time I came out of the restroom the nice gas station employees had coned off the area with yellow caution tape. I felt SO BAD for the mess, I was apologizing profusely, and they were SO NICE. I can't even recall what state we were in by then... it was a nightmare. During the family reunion, there were about 20 of us, and only me and one of my sister in laws stayed healthy through the whole reunion (we weren't the only family who came in sick) and we spent the every day cleaning with bleach. LOL! We actually all have a lot of great memories from that trip though... we can all laugh about it now.

"Animals love them. Especially elephants and hippos" lol. yes, let me just go out in the backyard and feed them as they graze nearby! If I lived in Zimbabwe, perfect advice! Driving to the zoo is not practical. outside of that, i've never seen a hippo. or an elephant for that matter. Plenty of raccoons, opossums, squirrels, coyotes, rats and mice though. I'd toss them into the hills that surround the area. Good for mulch too. can't eat them, becuase if they've sat out for a few days, they've gone bad. find for animals, not for humans.