We have ordered two batches of chicks from McMurry and had no problems. But there are a few thing I would do differently. First I will never raise them in my basement again. We always order a delivery date of no earlier than May or June. The first Batch we ordered we started them out in a huge metal watering tank. We placed a peice of wire over top (they can and do fly up and out as they get their feathers in)We placed the brooder bulb in one of those automobile light fixtures that have a clamp on the bottom. We just clamped the bulb to the side of the metal tub and angled it down. I would recomend a red bulb so if they start picking at one and they draw blood it wont be so easily seen and there wont be a free for all gang fight on the injured chick. If that doesnt work a small dab of vicks vapor rub on the injured chick ensures that everyone will leave him alone. We found that as the chicks matured the smell was horrible. We got to the point that we were changing the bedding 3 times a day also as they get their feathers in they develope a "dust " that coats their feathers and this will coat everything in your basement and be a big ordeal to clean up. So we just choose not to go thru that again. So when we order and have a delivery date for may or june we only have to keep the chicks in the basement for maybe a week or less depending on the temp and out they go up to the chik proofed hen house. We have three different hen houses with coverd yards and we just rotate the hens thru. We like Rhode Island Red hens, they are very sweet and can be tamed easily. My 4 year old son carries them around all of the time. Now the RIR Roosters are an entirely different story. I hated the one we had he was the meanest rooster we have everhad and we finaly had to "dispose" Of him and he is now fertalizing the garden. This rooster would hide and wait to catch anyone unawares and then he would be on you, spurring the heck out of you. He has got me, my oldest son and even had my youngest on the ground pecking him on the head. He got my husband once to the point he had a puncture wound and was bleeding. It got to the point if that coop was out free rangeing or if I had to go into the coop to feed or clean water dishes I took a large stick and had to whack him to keep him off of me. Any way this is my 2 cents worth. Good luck on your chickens. The last time we ordered the Red Star/Rhode Island Red package, we ordered a run of hens only and lucked out that the free rare chick was the only rooster we got.......Josette

Kevin, Your post is probably not in the best thread and maybe not even really in the best forum. You posted into someone else's thread that was about how to tell if there tree was dead. When posting a fairly unrelated question, request, or idea, you'll usually get more response if you start a new thread. Another advantage is that responses to your post will go to you instead of the person that started the original thread. Also, you might be more likely to get a response to a request for seeds in the Seed Exchange Forum. I really wish that there was some type of woody plant material exchange page, but unfortunately there's not. Another thing you may want to consider is that redbuds aren't as easy to grow from seed as many plants. The seeds are double dormant so require scarification and stratification for best results. You can grow them from seed if you are really determined to do so, but it's probably much easier just to buy one. This will also allow you to purchase a superior cultivar if desired and get a couple of years head start on growth.

Sus, Oh but I've always thought that you had a lot of enthusiasm, so I don't think I have you beat there. You're nice to say that though. ;) I know what you mean about biting off more than you can chew. I do that a lot. Well, most of the time actually. I have projects galore that are sitting around waiting to get done. That's great that you're getting into birding too. I've been into that for probably close to 25 years and really enjoy watching the birds out at the feeders. I have bluebird boxes up for the bluebirds and have gourds on shepherd's hooks for the tree swallows. I also get wrens nesting here and other kinds of birds and lots at the feeders. I love birds and of course also butterflies. I'll have to email you sometime about birding. You mentioned sparrows, and I have some things to say about them and some other things. Maybe none of it would be new to you but I'll at least mention some things then. Isn't that odd how you have PVS one year and none the next two! Actually, that has fascinated me about different kinds of butterflies; I'll see them here and then not again for awhile. Well, I hope that you get PVS in 2010! Oh yes, I agree with your about those being like hyperactive kids. If you take the lid off the container, you'd better keep your eye on it because those critters move fast. I had one crawling on the table one day when I just walked away from the container for a short time thinking the cats would stay put. I might be imagining things, but they almost seem to sense when I take the lid off and want to hightail it out of there. Yeah, I raise a lot of Monarchs if you call hundreds a lot. The most I raised was I think in 2007 when I released about 520. This year was 350. It's a ton of work and I want to try to come up with a better way of doing it. You sure get to see a variety of butterflies there. I wish I would get to raise some more kinds. I only saw a Red Admiral here very briefly several years ago. Wouldn't you know it, I didn't have false nettle then. I actually thought I had it here because I have plants coming up here that resemble it but isn't that (don't know what though). So I planted some last year but didn't see any Red Admirals. I'm hoping that I will eventually though. I saw a Common Buckeye here for maybe a minute in 2008 but didn't get a picture of it (dead battery). I planted Verbena hastata in hopes of getting them to lay eggs but didn't see any at all this year. The one I saw last year was nectaring on the Verbena bonariensis. Unlike you, I've never seen any Tawny Emperors here, but I didn't have any hackberry trees here until this past spring/summer. They're not much more than a foot tall, but a Question Mark managed to find them and I raised a few of those cats. I think I've had American Lady cats here every year since I planted some pussytoes that some very nice person got for me. It's kind of hard to cut those leaves off to bring inside and raise the cats in here, so I think I'm going to make an enclosure with some boards and screen (any other suggestions are welcome) and put it over the plants. It will only cover a small portion of the bed. I was thinking I could move all the cats to that area and then move the enclosure as the food supply dwindles. I really don't know if it's a good idea or not, but every year I worry when I don't see the cats on the plants anymore. I think they mostly hide during the day and come out at night though, so I always hope that nothing gets them, but I'd rather be more sure of that with a covering to protect them from wasps and birds, etc. Of course, with as tight as those plants are, I don't imagine that it would be too easy for me to try to find all of the spiders that are on them to remove them. I don't have any overwintering BSTs like I did the past few years because the three that I raised eclosed in the spring/summer. I still have the GSTs here from last year when they overwintered. I think if they don't eclose in 2010, I'll probably take them out of the containers and give them up for dead. Only one of them eclosed out of about 40. I only have 5 out there (in another building, no heat) overwintering from this year. GSTs are discouraging for me to raise because a lot of them die. I feed them rue, but eventually I'd like to try raising them on wafer ash (I just started a couple from seed). I also have gas plants, but they are very small. I hope that my Wild Indigo Duskywings are okay that I have out there bunking with the GSTs. I fed them Baptisia australis and Lupinus perennis, which they are still on but not moving (as far as I know anyway). I've never raised any kind of cats before that overwinter (I mean that the actual cats and not the chrysalids overwinter), so it's making me kind of nervous wondering how in the world they'll be okay in the spring. I don't understand why they don't freeze and die. If they are alive, I hope that they quell their appetites until after my plants have some growth on them. You're absolutely right...every year brings a surprise and I'm so looking forward to this coming year to see what kinds of butterflies and cats I get!!! My head is always so full of plans! You've helped me and I really appreciate it! Cathy

Hi Kathleen- I'll address you since the other posts are old. I am so very sorry that you have experienced this. Did you read what the responses were to the older post of one that lost a bluebird on the nest? I would just repeat everything that they said. If absolutely no sign of injury, I would suspect lawn pesticides, but considering what happened to the 1st person that posted & didn't see signs of injury on her bluebird, it did turn out to be house sparrows. I would highly suspect this. Do you think the female is dead too? If so, again I would be suspicious of HOSP. Answering your question, the male would not starve himself, nor is he able to brood eggs. If the female died too, the eggs wouldn't have hatched because the female is the one to incubate the eggs. She has a brooding patch on her lower abdomen that the male doesn't have. If she is alive, she may not be returning to nest because of the failed nest situation, especially if there was foul play. Make sure you know that she is not returning before removing the nest & eggs. If she is alive, she will probably try to find a new mate. Without repeating too much, make sure your birdhouse is on a pole with a baffle & put a sparrow spooker up after the 1st egg. If you know for sure that the nest has been abandoned & you don't get any activity, you may want to change the location of the box (birdhouse). If you immediately get a house sparrow setting up shop, then you'll know that was most likely the culprit. Again, if female is not returning, now would be the time to get a Van Ert trap for your house to trap the male & female HOSP. If you do, make sure you are monitoring every hour if possible so you don't trap a native bird. They can die in there if without food for too long. One of the previous posts left a website for the Van Ert trap. Again, the previous posts left great advice for your situation. This site is not as active as it used to be for bluebirders, so you may want to post to bluebirdnut.com. Lots of bluebird experts are on that site like this one used to have. That's where I go whenever I need advice. BTW, I lived in Atlanta for ten years (live in AL now). Very sorry to hear about your bluebird tragedy. Hope you'll have another pair come for a future nesting, but definitely get that sparrow spooker!