Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Alexelisey

Welcome SBowden!

BD good news for you at last!

rozeepozee wrote: »

The birds are between two and three years old, so should have a couple of laying years left in them. The owner has personal reasons for getting rid of them, so they are going for a song. One apparently was purchased at the National Poultry Show last year and is high quality.... Watch this space I can also have some fun with egg colours. Now who can guess what colour egg an Aracauna-Silkie cross hen will produce? I have no idea, but you can bet I'll find out .

Ok here's the thing with eggs. All eggs are in fact white-shelled, and the colour you see is only a tint to the outside which is "painted" on during the laying process, EXCEPT purebred Araucana and Cream Legbar (descended from Araucanas in the 1920s I think but now a breed in their own right) eggs, which have a blue shell all the way through. Once you have a blue egg to compare with a "normal" one, peel off the membrane inside the shell and you will see.

So, if the genes from the Araucana in the cross are dominant, you will get blue-shelled eggs with a Silkie egg colour painted over the top - probably some form of khaki if the Silkie hen has cream coloured eggs. IIRC the blue egg colour is dominant.

But perhaps you won't stop at Silkies! If you breed the Araucana male to a white egg layer you'll probably get pure blue, or to something like a Maran you might get a darker camouflage colour. That's the thing with genetics, with natural breeding you have little control over what genes are expressed in the offspring and it's a real lucky dip!

Does anyone else remember when Clarence Court first started doing the "Old Cotswold Legbar" eggs? You could get blue, green and pink eggs in one box. Now it's just blue - probably showing that the parent stock are only passing on the blue egg genes, or that they've gone down the path of not selling the eggs which are not blue!

Rozee, given the space and time I would gladly join you in a comparison project. I'll have to see what next year brings, as it's too late to start this year for me now. It's still a dream though :j

In other news, I have a nasty virus which is getting me down, mostly throat-related. This is day 4, I hope the worst of it was last night as I still have two days of work to get through before I can collapse in a heap for the weekend.

Sending love to Choille's half-Persian *gentle hugs*

Have fun and keep safe everyone!

lostinrates

I have occasionally had lovely eggs that appear pearlescent.....incredible ones.


Anyway.


Cherries, the answer to crops for us has been CDs. You have to move them occasionally....putting them on hangers to make mobiles rather than tiring to trees is easier.

They also make beautiful light displays. Though once my neighbours thought it was an ambulance.

lostinrates

Better_Days

r.a.i.n.b.o.w wrote: »

A Question - for anyone in the know/with experience - what tests are done to confirm/rule out ME? What symptoms did you experience?

(Just wondering because I'm pretty sure I have had CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) since I was a child and the symptoms often cross over, or you could have both conditions at the same time...plus I have a friend who's having symptoms that he's putting down to giving up smoking, but I'm not so sure!)

The diagnosis of ME and CFS is usually a diagnosis of exclusion. There is currently no diagnostic test. There was some research done a little while ago that found 40% of test subjects diagnosed with ME and CFS and sent to specialist clinics actually had something else - most common misdiagnosis were MS, Coeliacs (Ester Rancid went on for years that her daughter was 'cured' of her ME by the Lightning Process - but it has since transpired that she has coeliacs, and hadn't recovered either!) , primary sleep disorder, fibromyalgia, thyroid disorders and depression.

Part of the problem is that there are a number of research criteria. Some of the criteria are very wide and pick up just about everyone who is 'fatigued' eg the Oxford Criteria (used in the infamous PACE Trial which wasted £5million of public money), and some are in the middle eg the Fukuda CDC Criteria. The only diagnostic criteria are the 2003 'Candian Criteria' and the International Consensus Primer, published last year which is the most specific and most likely to identify pwme. Page 7 onwards lists symptoms
http://www.25megroup.org/Information/Medical/other%20research%20papers/Myalgic%20Encephalomyelitis%20International%20Consensus%20Primer%20for%20physicians.pdf
The consultant who diagnosed me, Dr Mitchell contributed to the Primer.

When reviewing any research into ME and CFS it is vital to consider the diagnostic criteria used to select patients because by their very nature the different criteria select different subjects. Its a real minefield, and means that research into a group of patients using one criteria cannot be safely extrapolated to all patient groups.

See page 7 onwards of the link above for symptoms.

'Fatigue' does not adequately express the exhaustion that people with ME and CFS experience. The nearest I can come to explaining it is to liken it to when you have flu (not just a nasty cold) but when even lifting up a cup of tea is a real effort. Or the duracell bunny when the batteries are dry. There really is nothing left in the tank. A well person may be tired after a session at the gym or a busy day, but after a good nights sleep they recover and can repeat the activity. Rest (even extended rest) and sleep do not restore energy levels to anywhere near normal for people with ME and CFS.

One of the cardinal features of ME is 'post exertional neuroimmune exhaustion' or 'post exertional malaise'. Basically it means that the full effects of activity (physical, emotional, cognitive) do not manifest straight away, but develop over the following 12 to 72 hours. If there is activity beyond personal tolerance the pwme also usually feels bloody awful - 'malaise' There is also a marked delayed recovery from activity.
http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/early/2013/06/26/ptj.20110368.abstract
This is why effective pacing is so important. There is also a very real danger that if the pwme extends their activity beyond their personal limits they will not be able to get back to pre-event levels of functioning, even with extended rest.

Sleep disturbance is very common. I was told at the sleep clinic that pwme tend not to go into deep restorative sleep, so that when they wake (even if they sleep for 20 hours a day) they feel un-refreshed.

Alcohol intolerance is very common also.

It is usually very easy to distinguish depression from ME and CFS. Depressed patients find that exercise helps their symptoms. For people with ME and CFS exercise or even activity beyond their personal limits will exacerbate symptoms and reduce functioning. Also depressed patients often 'can't be bothered' but people with ME and CFS are frustrated, they want to carry out activities but are prevented from doing so by limited functioning.

Pain is also a common symptom, joint, muscle, nerve and severe headaches. People with ME and CFS are often chemically sensitive so it can be difficult to find meds they can tolerate.

Light, scent and sound sensitivity can be a significant barrier to 'normal' life. Going round a supermarket can be impossible because of exhaustion, but also because of 'sensory overload' - the patient simply doesn't have the cognitive energy to process all the stimuli.

Other symptoms include impaired cognitive function, poor body temperature control, recurrent sore throat, poor balance, difficulty in sitting upright, food intolerances - you can see why ME and CFS can become a 'dustbin diagnosis' for GP's.

ME and CFS can be very disabling and isolating, and the lack of knowledge among healthcare professionals, and dearth of specialist services doesn't help.

There has been a great deal of misinformation in the media, much disseminated by psychiatrists with links to the insurance industry, who believe ME and CFS to be psychiatric disorders which can be 'cured' by changing 'abnormal illness beliefs' and addressing 'deconditioning' (CBT and GET).

These psychiatrists claimed that 60% of patients 'recovered' following CBT/GET during the PACE Trial. However, their measure of recovery was rather odd. At the end of the trial not one patient returned to work and more were on benefit at the end of the trial than at the begining. Patients were assessed on a 'fatigue scale' as an outcome measure. But the the criteria were changed after the PACE Trial started so that a patient could enter the trial with a score of 65, reduce functioning to 60 and still be counted as 'recovered'. A score of 60 is less than patients with chronic heart failure and awaiting lung transplant. Some published letters to the Journal of Psychological Medicine point this out!
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/?p=16209

HTH and PM me if you need more info

Better_Days

LIR that's some very tidy fencing. Especially like the middle one with the 'ranch' look on the top. Some very hard work there, by the looks of things. Hope you are not too exhausted.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Thanks for that, Better Days I'll have another read (and look at the links) a little later

COOLTRIKERCHICK

:j:j:j LIR THAT IS SOME COOL FENCING:beer::beer:

Wonder if our Alfie is flying today???

I have been looking for a Victorian cast iron stove to go into the living room up the ranch,

and seen this one on the bay ( will remove the link later)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300943060485&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123


just spoken to the person to go and view it, and its only across the road from the ranch:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I personally think it would look nice in the ranch

so going to see it later on, by all accounts it needs re-blacking,

lucielle

Ooohy that's lovely.
L

Better_Days

CTC - Just love that stove. It looks very substantial indeed and would enhance any ranch :T:T:T

GL if you decide to go for it. :D

COOLTRIKERCHICK

thanks:beer:

I know the prices on them are a bit erractic.

but on the whole the prices are climbing quite rapidly, well log burners in general.

ok this pic is of the other room, but is very similar to the room where it will go.

obviously the walls in the pic have only been hacked off, just to get the walls breathing again