Cannot. keep up. with brooder cleaning. ANYMORE!!!!!

[Elite Silkies]

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My husband would build 3 coops if I tried that!!!

 

[comp6512]

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Ditto! Men are competitive. What you're otta do is gather all the materials that are needed to finish the job and put them all in a nice pile. Then, ask "how would you do this..." with a power drill in your hand. Does the job all the time!

 

[soldieratheart]

Awesome!!! GREAT ideas!!!


Shaggy, thank you for the male perspective. DH is very, very sensitive to any perceived criticism, so I am sure that the "carrot" method is better than the "stick"! Especially if it's carrot cake, along with the smooches and (honest) admiration I have for all the work he's put in so far!

But I also love the cute single friend idea... now THAT would be sure-fire! Too bad all our friends are married!


Really the biggest hurdle is that our kiddos are small and so one of us needs to be with them at all times. In the summer it was easy to go outside or in the garage to work while they played outside, but with this cruddy weather, one of us is stuck indoors while the other works in the garage (the baby has limited patience for playpens/strollers and doesn't walk yet). Ah, well.... DH has PROMISED to get the upper enclosed portion of the coop finished tonight so we can buy and add the sand bedding tomorrow, and I will move the birds then hopefully. Then I am sure I can put together an access to the pet door so they can go outside, and all DH will need to do is build our giant "litterboxes" for the bottom. (The coop bottom is wire on sides/bottom, so we'll have rolling boxes with bedding to catch the droppings and rake them out daily.)

The end is in sight! I will post pictures in the Coop forum when that happens!

 

[Cackling Hen]

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My husband would build 3 coops if I tried that!!!

Hahahahah Thats great Wildsky ur a genius....

 

[PortageGirl]

Well, one thing that might also be fun and get things rolling, if you have friends who you'd like to have over, (this is all assuming the hubby is handy, and you like the wife) invite them for a casual crock pot soup supper, or chili and corn bread etc etc, ~FOR AFTER THE COOP IS FINISHED! Discuss with the other wife a little, and then propose this to your husband as a chance to get it 'over with' and have some fun at the same time... cause he deserves to have some fun too after all his hard work! >.>

After a nice hot meal, if everyone is social, maybe a game of cards or trivial pursuit or whatever you all enjoy with snacks etc. This is the way I've gotten things done and you know the saying, "Many hands make light work"

I find a crock pot of soup and some bread and or salad easier than a cook out, and this time of year, hot soup sounds SOOOOoo good!

I too hate to rip sheets of plywood etc, and that really is best done with two people, but I've had to learn to manage it over the years. I hope you get a chance to become more confident with them all, it's a really good thing to have in your skills list. That's one list that can never be too long!

 

[onthespot]

you could always use the opposite angle and delegate brooder duty to him. Your coop will be completely finished this weekend.

 

[soldieratheart]

Neat idea PortageGirl! Hot soup does sound reeeeaaaaalllly good right now!

I can rip plywood... just not boards. The table saw is wiggly as a couple bolts are loose on the stand, and the blade is dull. DH is wanting to use the scrap 2x6s and 2/12s that we have and rip them in half to use for roosts and the "litterboxes", that is the part I need his help with. And he doesn't want me or anybody else using that table saw until he's got it back up to par. I also need to borrow his or my step-dad-in-law's truck to haul sand for bedding tomorrow.

But I should probably clean the brooder today anyhow.... it is really cruddy and smelly. At least, I have been picky about cleaning so far, so it is really bugging me right now. I have discovered that wire over 2x2s is very practical in many ways, but the poop DOES build up - badly - on the wire that's over the board. Ewwwwww. I dust everything with Sweet PDZ or Stall-Dry to dry it out, but still... ewwwwww.

So for now I am just avoiding going in there, LOL.

 

[Uzuri]

Get out the socket wrench and tell hubby you're going to "fix" the table saw

Or try crying. Worked on my Dad

Is all you have left the super amazing litterboxes and the roosts? You could actually move them in now if you absolutely had to and work around them. I did that with mine (and for the same reason; got sick of cleaning them). You'd be surprised what you can do with chickens in the way

 

[Rocky Top Chick]

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Good response, it works for me every time.

 

[bibliophile birds]

i'm getting the same lack of motivation from my dad. luckily we don't live together, so i can return to my own home and fume for a bit. TN weather is terrible right now, so that is having a LARGE impact on our completion date. our coop is being built on an old hay trailer so we can move it around the farm, but you just can't really work on it in the rain... it's not something we can back into the garage.

luckily, my chicks are only 2.5 weeks old and fairly easy to clean up after. i've got my dog pen outside retro-fitted as a day run, but as of yet they haven't been able to get out at all because it's so wet and gross. praying for some nicer weather next week.