Tennessee

Silkies , I just took 50 out ot the barn and now there are 15 16 and counting in the incubator with more on the way. Like this?

Those are the cuteist little babies. They look like balls of cotton. Someday I'm going to have some like that. How well do they stand cold temps?
I see you are in Joelton. That's not to far from me. I"m in Cross Plains (12 miles north of Springfield). I come thru Joelton several times a year going to Bates Nursery.

SilkieTime- They are GORGEOUS!!!!!! Nice, nice, NICE!! You are doing excellent things over there. Go you!

Just a quick drive by from me. We are doing family stuff all weekend. I am just zipping in and out of the house all weekend. I can breath again next Tuesday. Hope everyone is well!

(I was playing the "I won the lottery"game again today as I drove to the parents' house. This time I was designing the house I would build. It would be fabulous, let me tell you. Of course I was building a brooder room into it. HA!)

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I do that too. I imagine how I would have the room set up. I would have a 5 drawer cabinet incubator and a 3 drawer hatcher with brooders along one wall and a walk in closet that had a chicken pharmacy and all their supplies in order on shelves and drawers with the smaller things that tend to get lost.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the silkie pens I would have. They would all have automatic water and feeders and the water system would be freeze proof. They would all have a space inside a building that was heated in the winter where their food, nesting and sleeping would be. No more frozen eggs. No worry about frostbite. The building would be set up where their feed would have it's own space, rodent proof. I would be able to shut off their access to the outside runs in bad weather to keep in the heat and in rain storms they would stay dry.

Of course we would have a house big enough for the two of us.

Only 1 incubator and hatcher? I have my wonderful husband working on my new brooders for my basement...poor guy has to build 7 days a week never gets a break.But I'm lining the walls with brooders down there.I already have the supply shelves installed and after the brooders are finished I'm getting incubator shelves built so they can move down stairs as well.
I never bother to think about the dream house...that luster wore off many moons ago.Seen them been in them over and over and over again.10-15000 sqft million dollar homes I already know exactly how I would have my bigger house..Jen and I both suffer from small house syndrome but I have 5 people in mine
Although if we won the lottery I wouldn't be in TN my chickies horses and donkey would pack up their bags and we would be visiting the TN board from AZ
My early week hatch is in lockdown now...then another on Christmas day little MF Cochin's
Off to the store I must go..the last chance shopping spree awaits...

Morning all!

SilkieTime, lovely birds! Didn't know you had so many. You may find many of us on your doorstep soon, be careful! My silkies have done great in the cold. Don't seem to mind it very much at all. . . none of my breeds like the wind, though!



Ahh, the Lottery Fantasy. I guess what I learned from my little bathroom remodel is that while I adore the thought of luxury for myself, the reality is that I prefer to have a nice place for the critters, LOL! Of course, I have lived in larger homes in the past and I always seem to "grow into and over" any space I am in, heh heh. . . guess my idea of luxury right now is a mudroom off the back of the house.


Well, I am dreaming up all sorts of fantastic, stressful goals for myself for the week (magazine-spread-worthy cookie platters, gorgeously-wrapped gifts, chef-level buche de Noel, etc., etc. fa la la la la) - - so I'd better head out and see how much running around I can do before I burn out. Aim high! Yay for the holidays!!!

Thank you every one, My silkies and EE's do very well in the winter and summer. I try to hatch every silkie egg I can so I know what I need to fix. Hatching shipped eggs is a long shot, I like getting chicks better. Want to add a few more silkie colors come spring. Still have a lot to learn and do but I'm working hard at it. I have met a lot of TN. chicken people and so far like them all, the animals have always been my thing.
Merry Christmas one and all
Animals make the world a better place

I can see myself living in a normal house, but I would have a 50 stall barn that has heat and ac. The bottom would be the incubator and brooder room. The second story would be the quail room, and the loft would be a giant chicken coop with a huge ladder going down so I and the chickens can walk up and down it. The walls would be lined with pvc that has holes cut in it for a waterer, and the 500 pound feeder would hang in the middle. There would be nest boxes hanging from the roof tha has a cat walk going around all of them. It would be called Poultry Paradise.

Oh, don't get me wrong. The house I would build wouldn't be all that big. The bigger it is the more you have to clean up.

It would be very precisely designed though. Knowing that I will always have animals in the house it would be designed for ease of cleaning for sure. It would have lots and lots of windows and would be tucked up along a tree line so I could enjoy the woods AND the pastures. It would have a mudroom with a janitors sink on the floor with hot water (so I could easily wash the dogs). It would have a tiled brooder room with a drain in the middle of the floor and a hose spigot on the wall so I could hose and squeegee the whole deal out when it was time to clean up. It would have geothermal heat, woodstoves and radiant floor heat so the house would feel toasty and still be eco friendly. I'd put in solar if I could afford it. The house would be a little, tiny jewel of perfection. (I could go on in detail, but then this post would take forever.)
There would be a fabulous barn with running water and electricity, as well as breeding pens for my chickens. Many, many, many breeding pens. The whole deal would be so incredibly precious and adorable that you wouldn't be able to stand me.