help my wife had a laps and went to see on the chickens and one of them took an emerald(1/2 crt. marque cut) right off her ring. the chicken in question is in solitary confinement how long should i wait before i go and retrive it she is just 8 weeks old (the chicken that is) and it would be a great waste wille im here should i have a window in my coop will wait with my gloves on for an answer Shaun

-- shaun cornish (shaun-terri@juno.com), April 11, 2000

Answers

Unfortunately, there is a high liklihood the chicken's system sees that emerald as "grit" and is keeping it in it's gizzard to help grind it's food. The reason that things are "scarcer than hen's teeth" is that the gizzard, together with grit (sand, shells, glass, and for the truly high class chicken, emeralds) is what "chews" it's food. So the solitary confinement might work, might not. My guess is it won't. Were I you, I would be working on a new recipe that I would dub "Emerald Chicken"! That would definately include giblets! Good luck!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), April 11, 2000.

yes Brad; Terri has the pot on the stove already. But I'll keep her away from the chicken for one more day lucky I came home when i did or we be having chicken tonight!! thanks Shaun

-- shaun cornish (shaun-terri@juno.com), April 11, 2000.

Shaun,

That stone is being ground round to nothing in the grizzard. You want it back. Your at the top of the food chain. Kill the chicken, clean the chicken grizzard in a pan and see just how small that rock is by now. Sorry JR

-- JR (jr3star@earthlink.net), April 11, 2000.

Shaun: I thought our chickens were particular as to what they liked to eat! I draw the line at feeding them precious stones! Let us know when you retrieve the emerald. They are pretty hard, so will probably survive the gizzard treatment, but I think the others are right, and it will stay in there, until you go get it. Why not have an ultra sound or an mri done? Just kidding. I would probably have strangled the thing if it had been mine. Jan

-- Jan B (Janice12@aol.com), April 11, 2000.

Terri's emerald chicken recipe:Kill said chicken!! clean and remove any foreign objects(I.E dirt, grit,precious stones),put all parts in meat grinder and grind to fine texture add 1 cup cooked rice make into patty and grill to well done feed to hounds and let other chickens watch as a warning to those emerald pecking buzzards not to peck the hand that feeds them. Terri

p.s. the stone was not damaged. shaun will be home soon I have to clean up thanks for all your help but I knew what HAD TO BE DONE!!!

-- shaun cornish (shaun-terri@juno.com), April 11, 2000.

Now I have something to tell my hubby when he asks why I don't wear that expensive jewlery he has bought me .

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), April 12, 2000.

My husband is disgusted that I won't let him buy me jewelry, period. Maybe I should let him read this! Then he won't get that look whenever a jewelry commercial comes on and say "I know, YOU want a Shovel!" I usually just nod my head. He knows after 6 and 1/2 years that presents for my garden, and now chickens! are much more my style! Annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), April 12, 2000.

Expensive jewlery was what was on my husbands mind when he said to me "our 20th anniversary is coming up, what do you want for about two- thousand?" I replied, a new Milking Machine! Vicki McGaugh

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 12, 2000.

I laughed so hard at this one, my husband came in to check on me. I lost a half carat diamond from a ring while doing laundry. It fell onto a wet concrete floor in our utility room. The next day when the floor was dry, I did find it. Now it, my wedding ring and some other treasured but not valuable pieces reside in the safe deposit box. I got too fat to wear my wedding ring and now have a plain band I wear when I go out. I don't wear any jewelry around the farm as I used to show cutting horses with a fellow who'd seen another man get hung up in his rigging by one of those big rings some guys like. He had a fit if I showed up to work with the horses with anything but a wrist watch and he made me put it in my pocket.

I'm with Vickie. I got a greenhouse for Christmas and a manure spreader for my birthday. In the past, I've gotten purebred dogs, goats, a horse and an Angus heifer whose progeny helped put me through college and make the down payment on our first house.

I kept wondering what you would tell your insurance man if the ring were covered but not re-covered. Glad everything-uh-came out alright.

Thanks for sharing it.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), April 12, 2000.

Amazing! JD or Steve, or whoever is the Alpha dog here (or dogess, to avoid Hillary's appellation), this is worthy of inclusion in the hard-copy edition of Countryside! I too, am a weird guy who likes to buy Maggie jewelry. Back up here. I mean, I like to buy Maggie jewelry 'cause she's my honey. I did NOT mean that some of you other guys liked to buy her jewelry. But if you do, e-mail directly, please-we have some topics for discussion. I meant you might like to buy YOUR honey jewelry. But I digress! Anyway, I like precious stones, and semi-precious as well. I bought a very fine topaz (just the stone) recently, and I think it's beautiful! So what do I do with it? Obvious answer: Another ring for Maggie. I am not into jewelry for myself, at least not that kind. (In spite of good advice, and knowledge that it ain't particularly bright, I still wear the wedding ring. Oops! I meant Wedding ring! But that's it, except for my gold-capped tooth. No, I'm not flashy - it's a molar. [for those of you who are democrats, it's a tooth waaay back in your mouth, assuming you have teeth!]) Maybe I should just get a nose piercing, but only after my brainectomy. Well, anyway, I'm glad you have the emerald back. Why not try rhinestones next time? Might get some really cool Easter eggs! In any case, Good luck! Gerbil - don't cough, just smile! To all of you who are wondering, Gerbil is still out there, but recovering from a bout of poor luck. I guess we'll all have to solve our own problems for a few weeks. Or at least with only the other wonderful folks at this site. Good luck to Gerbil and everyone else who makes this so much fun!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), April 14, 2000.