Hi all. I'm so behind. I've been reading but I haven't had time to write, then when I do try to write it keeps getting messed up
and I have to start over. I'm going to try typing in notepad to copy/paste and see if that helps with the redo stuff.
Danz, How's your back feeling?
I need to put a pencil to this chicken stuff. It's okay if I trashed my first sale but I can't afford to put our family
out, that would be irresponsible because we still have a lot of mouths to feed here. It's okay if we break even to give
us fresh meat and eggs though. We need 10 chickens per month for eating, so if I hatch roughly 20 per month and then sell
the hens and use the roosters for meat. How much feed do 20 chickens eat in 6 months? I need to start paying attention.
I have 100 chickens right now of various stages but I'm spending about $75 per month on feed. Is it a safe guess to say
we have about $4 in each chicken. That doesn't count any work or water or repairing andcoops. There are ways we can save
money on their feed. We could let them free range, our big chicken coop we are going to try dividing their outside area
so they can have grass. We even thought we could plant half at a time and then rotate their area. Is anyone doing something
like this?
Hawkeye, we did leave the chicken in the oven for a few days. There was no waste, which I'm thankful, it's not like the
venison where everyone is having a hard time eating it because it's a deer, not becuase of the taste, purely psychological.
HEChicken, would you mind sharing your chart about the egg weight with me too? I just put eggs in the incubator again and
I'd like to watch more closely. How's Cyrus doing? Is his behavior getting better? We only had a cranky rooster once and
it was years ago and I really think it was because my teenage son wanted to see what happened if you antagonized him. We
had just moved to the country and he was always a kid to see if what we said was true or not, he had to see for himself.
That rooster was only aggressive with him though.
We already had an incubator mishap and I just put them in on Sunday. I had to take my dd to the city yesterday and on Sunday
my dh was saying go ahead and leave so we wouldn't have to get up so early. I gave him instructions but he totally forgot
about the eggs. They were still coming up to temp when I was leaving. So I put them inon Sunday, I would have turned them
Sunday night and planned ot have them slowly up to temp by Sunday evening. When I got home yesterday afternoon they were 80
degrees and he hadn't turned them. I turned them and got them up to temp and it's holding nicely. Will these eggs be okay?
Tweety, glad you were able to get them rehomed.
Medawinks, my brooder in the house is nothing but a rubbermaid tub and a desk lamp with a regular bulb. Mind you, my house
is always on the warm side but I never even checked their temp only watched how they behaved. I use a heating pad underneath
when it's first warming up I guess too. I will watch the temp when we finish the ouside one for winter. I've been so surprised
at how hardy chicks are that way. We leave them inside for just a few days and then they go outside and I've been amazed how
they see so fine. They act like nothing happened when I move them out, like it's not big deal. They have a light in a little
box but they can get away from the light and warmth if they want to and they certainly do venture out and seem happy. I have
babies out there that are 2-3 weeks old right now and it seems cool out to me.
Josie, I'm going to write everything down for next time. The next time I consider practically giving birds away if I can see
what I have in them it'll be easier to stick with it. I can't take food from the mouths of my family is what it amounts to.
Sunflower, thanks for sharing your instructions for the fly trap. I still haven't located a milk carton.
We've been to the cider mill a few times, I drove by there yesterday actually but I didn't stop. I've never had a cider donut,
that sounds good.
maidenwolf, I think the bathtub would work while they are little but how long do you plan on keeping them there? I would think
by a month they would be ready for more space.
Josie, when you have them in smaller spaces I guess you have to clean it more often. I get to feeling bad when they look
crowded and then I move them. I'm betting that the 15 I have in the baby chicken pen outside will be bothering me by next week
and I'll leave them a week longer to let their feathers fill out a bit better before giving them a bigger area. I'm going to
push that limit because it's getting cooler.
HEChicken, I like your rheostat idea, I didn't know what that was called. That's a great idea! How's your cat doing?
ChickNBaron, I've enjoyed reading about your chicks hatching, it's so fun.
We use olive oil on people ears too, I can't imagine anything that would be unsafe about it.
Sorry about the deer experience Josie, I would have been freaked out too. I'm with Danz, at least you are safe.
Thanks for the info Mike, I will be looking for another plant. I'm betting it will do better with your advice.
Danz, my vanilla plant didn't smell like vanilla and I never got it to bloom so I can't help you there. I tried
planting a vanilla from seed I retrieved from a vanilla bean once. I got sprouts and they're soooooo super tiny
but they never grew past spouts with just two tiny leaves. I don't know why, probably because the conditions
were just not where they should be. That was many years ago that I tried that, I recently paid $50 for vanilla
beans, I would sure love to have my own.
Have a great day everyone.