Kristen, a lot of it is breed dependent. I've had the best luck with a bantam/barred rock cross, but I usually have two or three out of a large flock of comets or rocks who would make successful brooders. A lot of new breeds have had the broody instinct almost bred out of them, but now and again a few are determined enough to make a go of it. Many go broody and then loose interest halfway through it. The important thing is to make sure there aren't a lot of other nest boxes laying around with eggs in it, because my hens don't seem to care where they sit an egg and move off their half gestated eggs and start sitting another clutch and then the eggs go cold too long and are spoilt. That is why I recommend you be pretty consistant to make sure only that marked clutch stays in your boxes for any length of time. Other hens may also try to claim it who don't have sufficient brooding instinct to see the job done.......and they also end up cracking your fertile gestating eggs by climbing in and out of the clutch to lay more. Five or six is a good number to work with. Much more than that and they have trouble covering them to keep them warm. Now is better time to let them rip, because I seldom have much luck with the weather consistantly hot. The clutch becomes like an oven. Once the broody hen starts tending them, if you help her out by keeping stray eggs out........she should become pretty determined. I even had to take water to my sitting hen this spring. She didn't even want to leave her eggs to drink and I could tell by her comb she was dehydrating. It was a neat experience.

Howdy...Happy Friday. How's everyone doing? It's been a while since posting, but there were things that needed doing, and thankfully, got most accomplished. I'm so upset!! I lost my list of AV sizes..Now I have to jot each name down, then check each individually...I went to the first AV Questions, Part 1, lol, then copied each plant Fred listed. Thanks Fred.. Fred, nope, no name of the AV w/white leaves. Actually, last winter I rooted a few different leaves. Two were from old plants, and one, possibly two from a leaf/ves won on Ebay. All were rooted in water, but only one made it. After roots formed, the survivor was placed in a little plastic cup sent with an AV that needed repotting. The problem is, the cup had writing with some type of marker that wouldn't wash off. All it says is, CZ0499..that means nothing. At the time I didn't think any leaves would root, so I didn't bother using labels..Also, some of the leaves were from my old AV's without names, bought locally..Stores in this area where AV;s are sold do not print AV names on containers or add a tag. The reason I didnt think they'd root is, years ago I'd root in soil. For some reason, later on, no matter what I did, they just wouldn't root. A woman I know told me her mom rooted AV's in water..She simply placed a piece of aluminum foil on top of a container, punched a hole in the foil, then slipped the cutting in the hole.. What's ironic is, I told her I never ever had luck rooting AV leaves in water..when she rooted AV's, she rooted in water, and I rooted in soil. She nor I could no longer root our usual ways..so, I tried using her mom's idea and she tried rooting in soil, and both our leaves rooted.. Since, AV leaves are rooted in water. Fred, why/how does Fish Emulsion put Chlorophyl back in a plant??? That's curious. I have Alaskian and Ferti-Lome brands..does it matter which is used? Both are 5-1-1. You don't have to give me a scientific, chemistry reason..I wouldn't have any idea what you're talking about..lol I'm not thrilled w/its odor either, but it only lasts 2-3 days, and if it helps, so be it. In autumn, all plants, (not AV's) gets a foliar feed with FE. Those outdoors are sprayed thoroughly, with added 2-4 drops of dish soap (not Dawn) citrus rind, garlic, and this year Cayenne pepper. FE kills and prevents scale..Believe me. About 4-5 yrs ago, when I bought my Olive tree, it arrived scale-packed..of course, I didn't notice the first couple days, and because it was winter, (the house full) it sat next to other plants..one day while misting, I looked at a leaf and saw a ton of scale..YUCK..inspected the entire plant and saw at least 100 scale..Not only on the Olive, but those little suckers attached to neighboring citrus. A woman in Fl who sells citrus once told me she uses FE as a scale preventative. I followed her directions..2 days later, scale went to scale heaven. Or hell!! I've been making the soap concoction many years, all is mixed together and voila, organic insecticide..since, plants are bug free..if only I would overcome the fear of spraying fuzzy leaf plants...but one day I'll try it, even though I've never seen bugs on AV's. Oh, does anyone knew how long it takes for the AVSA to ship a book??? Tomorrow will be a week..am I being hastey? Is that the correct spelling?? It looks odd..LOL..then again, I only slept 4 hours.. Hope everyone has a great, safe weekend. Enjoy before winter arrives..sigh..Toni

When I was a teenager, I made a "Spanische Windtorte." The picture of it was so pretty, and it sounded wonderful. It is an Austrian dessert composed of meringue filled with cream. You pipe meringue in a close spiral and bake it for the bottom, easy enough. Then you have to pipe and bake many rings, which you layer up from the bottom and glue with unbaked meringue to form a round box. Then you do another close spiral for a lid. The inside is filled with whipped cream flavored with cognac and fresh strawberries. After carefully placing the "lid" on top, the outside is decorated with piped whipped cream and candied violets. It wasn't that it was difficult, exactly, it's just that it was seriously time consuming, handling the brittle meringue rings was troublesome, and decorating had to be very quick so that one could serve the dessert before the inside cream began to melt. I had to make my own candied violets as well, which didn't help. It was very pretty, but when it came to eating it you might do just as well with a bowl of strawberries & whipped cream by crumbling a few meringue cookies on top. All that work and so little gustatory umph.

Hi, Aliris. Things are looking good for your library. I love the idea of the arts/crafts loveseat in one window, and a soft, comfy armchair in the other would be my choice. I am SO eager to see what you will do. Here are some thoughts based on our experiences with bookcases in the LR,. Finally, some pics of our LR bookcases. These run floor to ceiling along a 27' wall. They are built with 1 x 12 painted pine, so the finished shelves are just barely over 11'' deep. Shelf spans are no more than 34''. All shelves are fixed. And comments based on our experiences: Things I would change. I would build the units with fixed horizontals at the top and at the bottom and one in the center for stability. The other shelves would be on adjustable brackets. I would NOT build shelves under the windows. They just act as receptacles for clutter. I would like the break, the breathing space, if you will, if they were not there. And I would like the interested created by the windowed ''niches'' if they ran to the floor and could accommodate a chair. If we had your 20'' wide shelf under the windows along that wall, it would be a mess of piled books and not at all attractive. Of course, not everyone piles books like my DH. So, some pics: Here's the most egregiously cluttered window: Another window with a conversational grouping of chairs. We frequently sit here when four or fewer of us are chatting. The window isn't as cluttered, but I REALLY wish the cases were NOT there underneath it. And finally, here's a pic of the single sagging shelf. It is attached on the ends and back, and the front has sagged as you can see here. I drew in the white line to better show the sag I would certainly NOT build bookshelves more than 33'' or so wide without introducing vertical supports under the shelves. We did this in the upstairs library, and I can photo them for you if you want. Or you can use thicker shelving or a wide front edge trim on the shelves might provide stability. Summary: 1. Do you really NEED the storage in the 20'' deep cabinet in your library? More than you could use the additional bookcase space if you just ran the shelves to the floor? If so, then it may be a good idea. 2. I really do NOT think anyone will sit for any length of time on the shelf at the window. I am certain I would not. Now a comfy chair in the nook there would be a different story. 3. I agree with Marcolo's comment on keeping the symmetry of the room. Bookshelves, by their nature, are cluttery. At least ours are. I like the idea of the clean symmetrical structure broken by inviting comfy chairs and tables. This post was edited by Bellsmom on Mon, Feb 4, 13 at 12:10