Taken out my bathroom window a bit ago:
Consolidated Kansas
- Thread starter ChooksChick
- Start date
Definitely easier. That said, I've done it all by myself except for bending over the hoop. The hog panels are pretty heavy due to heavier gauge wire, and the wires are spaced so much closer together at the bottom of the panel. So between the weight of a 12' long 2x6 and the three panels attached to it, I was worried I would get it upright and then have it crash down on top of me. So I asked him to come out and help me flip it over from the ground to the hoop position, and that is the only part he has helped me with. I used ratchet tie downs to hold it in the hoop position once I had it there.
I do not envy you that snow - I want it to rain but don't mind if we don't see any more snow this year.
Figured you'd like that picture of Josie giving me the eye ball-- it was so cute! She is such a bossy bird! I love it! I hope you really are feeling better and don't go sliding back down again. Seemed like I had a difficult time getting healthy this year. Hope you can get rid of your birds!
Pictures?? I'm so eager to see what you've been up to!
I wish you had help, that has to suck. Reminds me of all the hours I spent on my coop ALONE. Sigh. Whew-- you are insanely busy! I just don't know how you handle it all. Very cool that you got your stock pot and burner in! Let us know how that goes!! Maybe get a picture of the processing and see how it works?? That would be really cool! I don't think the FF sounds all that great if you haven't seen any improvement by now. I am already feeding more than I every thought i would right now. Sigh.
I think this was the pictures you posted?? They didn't come thru, I dont know why. She has a mass of soaker hoses and watering system set up there! No wonder she can grow anything! I wonder if she is on well-water. If she's on city water, she's paying thru the nose to keep those plants! But those pictures are just gorgeous!!! Just shows you if you water enough, you can really grow anything!! I'm tempted, but we're on well-water (so it's free...) BUT... I don't want my well going dry attempting it! LOL At least, not during a drought! Maybe when our aquifers have had a chance to catch up after some nice long good rains!
The dosage is 9cc per gallon. It was 4.5 for a half. Anyway, I looked it up on a site that calculated it out. I then later read where several other people are using 9cc per gallon. So that must be right. That is what I used, and no one died! LOL I wrote it on my bottle in marker so I don't have to look it up again.
Yikes! Sounds like you still have a lot of birds? Cleaning out the dog pen doesn't sound fun. It'll be nice when they have homes to go to!
cool, thanks!!! Sorry you lost your note! That is a huge bummer. I've done that and just give up when that happens.
Good to know about the panels. Funny-- not a drop of rain or snow here, either!
WOW!!! Seriously, we have NOTHING going on here! I wonder if we'll see this rain or snow too? I'm not that far from you.... But there is nothing going on here. That is crazy! Look at that snow! Weeeeell, I guess that put a damper on your building. Sorry about that. I HATE winter.Taken out my bathroom window a bit ago:
Hawkeye, I hate winter too! If I could move somewhere where it's 70 something all the time I think I would do it, I would love it, but usually those places are also humid & I don't do so well with that. Sigh! The weather forecast is still saying 54 tomorrow & 57 Thurs. so I hope they're right & this snow goes away fast. As I'm sitting here though it's still snowing like crazy out there, it's smaller stuff now, but it's definitely sticking. I went out to take care of all of my birds & it wasn't that cold really, just super wet. I had a stocking cap on my head & it's soaked along with my hair.
As far as the FF goes, I have not seen the drop in feed consumption that others have reported either. That seemed to be more about the broilers though rather than layers. Danz, I finally had to just cut back on what I feed the layer flock because I figured out they would just eat all of what I put out there, no matter how much it is, they're pigs when it comes to that stuff. As long as I don't see any birds losing a lot of weight or they quit laying altogether or something I really think they're getting enough. I feed them their sunflower seed snack in the morning now since I feed them the FF at night. What I have noticed though is the hens are getting nicer, sleeker feathers than they had before & the one Red Star hen that has had a bare back forever is finally growing some feathers back in. My BC Marans rooster who had gotten sick with a cough & was having a hard time getting over it got well almost immediately following starting to feed the FF. I can't wait for the weather to warm up enough for me to be able to get out there & clean out my main coop completely & then see if it seems to stay somewhat cleaner. That is what some people have said is that the chicken's droppings are more formed & make less of a mess. This stuff is a mess to deal with, my entry looks & smells kind of like some kind of brewery right now, but as soon as it's not freezing at night any more I will move it out of here. All of my birds go so nuts for this stuff that I have to fight them off to get it into the trough feeders, they're just crazy for it.
I was going to do some worming with my birds, but here came the snow, so I think I'll wait till that is out of here. I'm sure it's time for me to do that again & I want to get the pens & coop all cleaned out, treat for mites & start fresh.
Hawkeye, I will take some pics of the pens & coop when the weather improves again. I have been wanting to get some new ones anyway, but I have just been spending all my extra time & energy on steaming on with those pens. I was so exhausted last night that I barely could manage to fix anything for us for supper when my DH came home. He hasn't seen what I did yet, so he has no idea. Of course he informed me today that he's working 10 hours the rest of the week, of course when I could use his help he would be.
As far as the FF goes, I have not seen the drop in feed consumption that others have reported either. That seemed to be more about the broilers though rather than layers. Danz, I finally had to just cut back on what I feed the layer flock because I figured out they would just eat all of what I put out there, no matter how much it is, they're pigs when it comes to that stuff. As long as I don't see any birds losing a lot of weight or they quit laying altogether or something I really think they're getting enough. I feed them their sunflower seed snack in the morning now since I feed them the FF at night. What I have noticed though is the hens are getting nicer, sleeker feathers than they had before & the one Red Star hen that has had a bare back forever is finally growing some feathers back in. My BC Marans rooster who had gotten sick with a cough & was having a hard time getting over it got well almost immediately following starting to feed the FF. I can't wait for the weather to warm up enough for me to be able to get out there & clean out my main coop completely & then see if it seems to stay somewhat cleaner. That is what some people have said is that the chicken's droppings are more formed & make less of a mess. This stuff is a mess to deal with, my entry looks & smells kind of like some kind of brewery right now, but as soon as it's not freezing at night any more I will move it out of here. All of my birds go so nuts for this stuff that I have to fight them off to get it into the trough feeders, they're just crazy for it.
I was going to do some worming with my birds, but here came the snow, so I think I'll wait till that is out of here. I'm sure it's time for me to do that again & I want to get the pens & coop all cleaned out, treat for mites & start fresh.
Hawkeye, I will take some pics of the pens & coop when the weather improves again. I have been wanting to get some new ones anyway, but I have just been spending all my extra time & energy on steaming on with those pens. I was so exhausted last night that I barely could manage to fix anything for us for supper when my DH came home. He hasn't seen what I did yet, so he has no idea. Of course he informed me today that he's working 10 hours the rest of the week, of course when I could use his help he would be.
I think this was the pictures you posted?? They didn't come thru, I dont know why. She has a mass of soaker hoses and watering system set up there! No wonder she can grow anything! I wonder if she is on well-water. If she's on city water, she's paying thru the nose to keep those plants! But those pictures are just gorgeous!!! Just shows you if you water enough, you can really grow anything!! I'm tempted, but we're on well-water (so it's free...) BUT... I don't want my well going dry attempting it! LOL At least, not during a drought! Maybe when our aquifers have had a chance to catch up after some nice long good rains!
no soaker hoses, the black you see is the weed barrier showing, the one hose running out to drive is a runoff hose from above ground pool needed to keep chlorine water from draining into the tropicals, she has worked on the soil there for several years composting and such, we do use a lot of mulch however, she has a good size creek too and seems to have less issue with things drying out than i do on my smaller suburban lot
no soaker hoses, the black you see is the weed barrier showing, the one hose running out to drive is a runoff hose from above ground pool needed to keep chlorine water from draining into the tropicals, she has worked on the soil there for several years composting and such, we do use a lot of mulch however, she has a good size creek too and seems to have less issue with things drying out than i do on my smaller suburban lot
Have you gotten any of those pups sold? Have you thought about putting them on the facebook farm swap? It is supposed to warm up the end of the week and I think tomorrow is supposed to be nicer too.
Well everyone needs the moisture but I sure hate it when it comes down in the form of snow. Stay warm!
Figured you'd like that picture of Josie giving me the eye ball-- it was so cute! She is such a bossy bird! I love it! I hope you really are feeling better and don't go sliding back down again. Seemed like I had a difficult time getting healthy this year. Hope you can get rid of your birds!
Love her! Little stink butt. Makes me wish I had silkies still but I have enough going on! I think I am going to bite the bullet and list all my call ducks for sale. I just need to sell them, I have enough projects going and when the baby gets here I will have even less time.
Pictures?? I'm so eager to see what you've been up to!
I think this was the pictures you posted?? They didn't come thru, I dont know why. She has a mass of soaker hoses and watering system set up there! No wonder she can grow anything! I wonder if she is on well-water. If she's on city water, she's paying thru the nose to keep those plants! But those pictures are just gorgeous!!! Just shows you if you water enough, you can really grow anything!! I'm tempted, but we're on well-water (so it's free...) BUT... I don't want my well going dry attempting it! LOL At least, not during a drought! Maybe when our aquifers have had a chance to catch up after some nice long good rains!
I am so over today. I feel like all I did was make phone calls and run errands and chase my tail! Our insurance changed in November and the old insurance didn't cover my first sonogram because it wasn't expensive enough! So now we have a $500 sonogram bill. I have contacted two midwives, the first is not available and the second is going to be out of the country for two weeks right before I am due so we would have to have a back up midwife in case I go into labor early. That kind of stresses me out. So now I am meeting with a nurse midwife who delivers at the two birth centers in Wichita because I don't know what else to do. Our insurance also doesn't cover a home birth so the entire expense would be out of pocket. Sigh. It just never ends. Wish it could be like the good old days and I could just pay someone to deliver the baby in chickens or something!
Okay, I hope this won't be picture overload, but I wanted to get my pics downloaded while I know where the camera AND its cable are.
I started by laying out the three panels along the 12' lumber that is the side wall. Here is where I ran into the first "snag". I had assumed the panels are 4' tall but they are actually 52", so I had to overlap them in order to get them to fit onto the 12' side.
The next step you can't really see, but I used wire to tie the panels together along the length of the panels. I was going to use zip ties and just replace them every couple of years as the sun wore through them but DH suggested I use the wire and now I'm glad I did. It will last as long as the rest of the materials and it wasn't as hard to thread it through and get it tight as I thought it would be, using a pair of pliers in each hand to pull it really tight and tie it off. Then I used a combination of fencing staples and the metal strapping (thanks Danz for that idea!) to affix the panels to the wood sides. I used the metal strapping where the panels overlap and on each of the corners.
Next I had DH come out to help. We tied a nylon tie-down in the center of one side board, and then I pulled it towards me while he stabilized it on the other side. Once we had it hooped, I tied off my end to the other side panel. As it turned out, we actually bent it to where we could have used 8' end boards at this point and I briefly considered leaving it tied there and running to the lumber yard to buy some, to save my 10' boards. But then I realized they would have more square footage if I stuck with the original plan. If I made the end boards 8' long, they would have 12x8=96 square feet. By using the 10' lumber, they will have 120 square feet, which makes quite a difference. I can walk under it without my head touching the top of the hoop and wish there had been someone else there to take a picture. Once DH had helped me to pull the panels over into the hoop, he went back to work and I added the end boards, using 3 screws apiece, since the panels put them under quite a bit of pressure and I wanted to be sure they will hold.
That's as far as I've got with this project so far. Tomorrow I hope to do the end and then start on the front of it to include a gate. Meanwhile....with the camera finally out there, I took pics of my PVC/Gutter feeder. I've had the gutter part installed for over a month but only added the PVC pipe a week and a half ago. So far it is working better than I anticipated. I can fill it from the feed room side of my coop and the pipe holds enough feed for just over a day for the entire flock. Although it only feeds down to one section of the gutter, they spread it out themselves but can't bill it out over the top of the feeder, so my feed consumption has gone down since I had this installed. Also, because I now fill it only once a day, I can keep better track of the amount of feed I'm going through. In other words, I know how many scoops of feed it takes to fill it, and that makes it far easier to notice if that number goes up (or down).
Now for WichitaKidd, here are some photos of Betty. I am still learning about type, and I know she is a hatchery bird but I actually think she has nice type, if the goal is a feathered basketball (which for Wyandottes, I think it is):
And for Deerfield Acres, you remember Matilda, whom we thought would be nice paired with Suzette back when we thought Suzette was a boy?
Well, look at this:
There is Suzette at the bottom of the photo, and Matilda to the left. But wait - who is the third one that looks like them? That is Freckles, and here's the amazing thing - she isn't Suzette's daughter!!! It is possible she is Matilda's daughter but I set no green eggs in that batch so there is no way she can be Suzette's (Cyrus is the daddy). Here is another photo of her:
Isn't she pretty? DD named her Freckles when she first hatched because she had tiny little freckles all over her head. Now that she's laying, her eggs are light brown with white freckles!
Here is her sister, Cookie, who I believe is Sussex/Cyrus. She lays green eggs, and she and Freckles are the most personable chickens I've ever had. Neither ever misses an opportunity to jump up into my lap, and Cookie pecks my knee frequently. I think it is an attention seeking behavior, kind of like a 2-year-old tugging at mom's pants trying to get picked up.
Last, here is my Welsummer rooster. His tail is looking really ratty - not sure why:
I started by laying out the three panels along the 12' lumber that is the side wall. Here is where I ran into the first "snag". I had assumed the panels are 4' tall but they are actually 52", so I had to overlap them in order to get them to fit onto the 12' side.
The next step you can't really see, but I used wire to tie the panels together along the length of the panels. I was going to use zip ties and just replace them every couple of years as the sun wore through them but DH suggested I use the wire and now I'm glad I did. It will last as long as the rest of the materials and it wasn't as hard to thread it through and get it tight as I thought it would be, using a pair of pliers in each hand to pull it really tight and tie it off. Then I used a combination of fencing staples and the metal strapping (thanks Danz for that idea!) to affix the panels to the wood sides. I used the metal strapping where the panels overlap and on each of the corners.
Next I had DH come out to help. We tied a nylon tie-down in the center of one side board, and then I pulled it towards me while he stabilized it on the other side. Once we had it hooped, I tied off my end to the other side panel. As it turned out, we actually bent it to where we could have used 8' end boards at this point and I briefly considered leaving it tied there and running to the lumber yard to buy some, to save my 10' boards. But then I realized they would have more square footage if I stuck with the original plan. If I made the end boards 8' long, they would have 12x8=96 square feet. By using the 10' lumber, they will have 120 square feet, which makes quite a difference. I can walk under it without my head touching the top of the hoop and wish there had been someone else there to take a picture. Once DH had helped me to pull the panels over into the hoop, he went back to work and I added the end boards, using 3 screws apiece, since the panels put them under quite a bit of pressure and I wanted to be sure they will hold.
That's as far as I've got with this project so far. Tomorrow I hope to do the end and then start on the front of it to include a gate. Meanwhile....with the camera finally out there, I took pics of my PVC/Gutter feeder. I've had the gutter part installed for over a month but only added the PVC pipe a week and a half ago. So far it is working better than I anticipated. I can fill it from the feed room side of my coop and the pipe holds enough feed for just over a day for the entire flock. Although it only feeds down to one section of the gutter, they spread it out themselves but can't bill it out over the top of the feeder, so my feed consumption has gone down since I had this installed. Also, because I now fill it only once a day, I can keep better track of the amount of feed I'm going through. In other words, I know how many scoops of feed it takes to fill it, and that makes it far easier to notice if that number goes up (or down).
Now for WichitaKidd, here are some photos of Betty. I am still learning about type, and I know she is a hatchery bird but I actually think she has nice type, if the goal is a feathered basketball (which for Wyandottes, I think it is):
And for Deerfield Acres, you remember Matilda, whom we thought would be nice paired with Suzette back when we thought Suzette was a boy?
Well, look at this:
There is Suzette at the bottom of the photo, and Matilda to the left. But wait - who is the third one that looks like them? That is Freckles, and here's the amazing thing - she isn't Suzette's daughter!!! It is possible she is Matilda's daughter but I set no green eggs in that batch so there is no way she can be Suzette's (Cyrus is the daddy). Here is another photo of her:
Isn't she pretty? DD named her Freckles when she first hatched because she had tiny little freckles all over her head. Now that she's laying, her eggs are light brown with white freckles!
Here is her sister, Cookie, who I believe is Sussex/Cyrus. She lays green eggs, and she and Freckles are the most personable chickens I've ever had. Neither ever misses an opportunity to jump up into my lap, and Cookie pecks my knee frequently. I think it is an attention seeking behavior, kind of like a 2-year-old tugging at mom's pants trying to get picked up.
Last, here is my Welsummer rooster. His tail is looking really ratty - not sure why:
new babies--bantam cochins
Well, it was a cold coldy day here, and glad it is over. I have lots going on and already sold some of the chicks I am hatching. My girls are pumping out eggs at a great rate now so I am able to give to friends and family finally.
I like the hoop coop HEChicken it looks great. The feeder is the type I am putting in so I am glad to hear it is working good.
I like the hoop coop HEChicken it looks great. The feeder is the type I am putting in so I am glad to hear it is working good.
It has been several days since I have been able to be on here. I apologize for not responding to posts... I haven't had time to read through the pages of stuff I've missed...
This past Saturday was the Valentine's banquet for my church, and I was in charge of organizing the banquet. I was so relieved when it was over! Then, on Monday, my husband and I made a trip to Denver to look at a pickup. We ended up spending all day in Denver and brought the pickup home. Yesterday, I also got my first two eggs from my ducks! I've had them since this past June and have only gotten 2 eggs (total) from the 8 ducks (and 1 drake). My geese should start laying soon as well, so it shouldn't be too long before I have eggs running out my ears! It is so nice to finally get eggs! I got 2 more eggs this morning, and I am so excited!
AS for the dog situation... I haven't been home much for the last several days so the birds have stayed locked up. I let the birds out today and had the shock collar on the dog. He never even attempted to chase them. I will continue to keep a close eye on him, but I really think he was doing it to get attention as my husband has been very busy recently. When I went to get the mail today, I rode my horse and took the dog with me. He got a short, fast run out of the deal. We need to work with him on "healing" next to the horse, though. He does it well on foot and on a bike, but he obviously needs some work on horse back.
This past Saturday was the Valentine's banquet for my church, and I was in charge of organizing the banquet. I was so relieved when it was over! Then, on Monday, my husband and I made a trip to Denver to look at a pickup. We ended up spending all day in Denver and brought the pickup home. Yesterday, I also got my first two eggs from my ducks! I've had them since this past June and have only gotten 2 eggs (total) from the 8 ducks (and 1 drake). My geese should start laying soon as well, so it shouldn't be too long before I have eggs running out my ears! It is so nice to finally get eggs! I got 2 more eggs this morning, and I am so excited!
AS for the dog situation... I haven't been home much for the last several days so the birds have stayed locked up. I let the birds out today and had the shock collar on the dog. He never even attempted to chase them. I will continue to keep a close eye on him, but I really think he was doing it to get attention as my husband has been very busy recently. When I went to get the mail today, I rode my horse and took the dog with me. He got a short, fast run out of the deal.
We need to work with him on "healing" next to the horse, though. He does it well on foot and on a bike, but he obviously needs some work on horse back. Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Latest threads
-
-
-
-
Necrosis? Wound/hole in the side of a hen! Stress molt?? Help!
- Started by Chickenchild33
- Replies: 0
-
-
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
-
-
Question of the Day - Thursday, August 14th, 2025- Started by casportpony
- Replies: 69
-
Ended BYC Poultry Caption Contest 08-08-25 Pic by Molpet- Started by TwoCrows
- Replies: 62
-
-
