Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

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Awwww, thank you so much!!! I'm just glad that my pictures are hiding the imperfections! LOL I found out yesterday when I laid down the subfloor I am out of square by about an inch! Which means, the pieces are on there a bit crazy and i had to take the SkillSaw to the ends and chop them off this morning. But I think even at that, it's still lining up as well as I can expect. I've never built anything, for sure. But I do a lot of quilting, sewing, knitting... things with my hands and having to figure out patterns, etc. I think being able to think conceptually (with fabrics) has helped me with wood. But... it's isn't over yet. And my ignorance has really slowed me down.

Oh- and I did eventually figure out that by putting the plate against the wood it was a bit better. But didn't figure that out until my hands were really hurting.

 

[Ivywoods]

Yes, a reciprocating saw. I like how you can get into places with that thing that you can't with a circular saw.

Hawkeye-Great progress, especailly considering this weather. We got another .30" so that puts us at a little over 4" for this week! I was going to mow today and hubby was going to cut hay, but I guess that will have to wait. They are predicting more rain possible.

I showed golden laced bearded polish in 4-H when I was a kid. I won at my county fair and took mine to the KS state fair. I won' grand champion over all, including over all open class one year. I was one happy and surprised kid. Maybe some of those memories is what has made me want to have chickens now that I am older.

Chicken Danz-Congrats on the wins for the kids showing your birds. I'm sure it is just like you said... the one who wasn't so interested sure is more into it now that she has a win under her belt. Great job. I really am hoping to get more kids in this area interested in poultry and to improve our county exhibit. Our county fair here sure isn't much. The poultry exhibit was disappointing, and it was obvious there was so much the kids needed to learn in order to be competitive at a show. Most of the chickens I saw would have been DQ'd at a sactioned show. I'm not wanting to put anyone down, because I know how it is to have to work with what you've got. I just want to be able to help get them more interested and educated so they can do better. That's part of the 4-H model.... To make the best better!

 

[chicken danz]

The kids are the ones who did the work. I just hatched the birds and got them started. I got my bantam polish as off spring from Champion birds. Not all of my babies are show quality but I try to help the kids pick out ones with the right traits.
I've never shown any birds myself although I have some cochins particularly, I know would take first prize. They are gorgeous healthy birds. I've had several people offer me ridiculous money for them or tell me I need to show them. Our local fair starts at the end of this week. There is no way I would subject my own birds to being caged in this heat. I guess I'm just not cut out for the show thing. I lived in town when my kids were growing up so they got into judging and flower arranging rather than showing animals. As a child, my neighbors had some banties and they were mean attack birds. They would flog you without a warning. I didn't enjoy chickens until I became an adult.
The first power tool I bought was a drill. The second was a recipro saw. I didn't think I could live without it, but now I have one of those dremel multi tools and I use it for lots of stuff I would have used the recipro for before. I love that thing. Not great for big things like 4 X 4 posts but it sure works great for the smaller jobs. It has been worth every stinking penny it cost!

 

[Ivywoods]

So what kind of cochins do you have? I've been looking for some show quality bantam black pullets or hens to put with my old rooster. He is the only remaining offspring from my son's old rooster that he won every show he ever entered in, so it's kind of a sentimental thing. He is getting pretty old, so I'd like to get some chicks hatched from him before he goes to that great chicken roost in the sky. He is a great little bantam. I would like to raise some that I could get some bantam blacks to some of the kids around here.

 

[LN2008]

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Awesome! If my other "deal" falls through I'm coming to you next. I need to get this show on the road!

 

[Hawkeye95]

It's raining here!!! whoopee!!! the only draw back I can see to the rain, is that it's finally cool enough to be outside working! ha! I'm guessing power tools and rain don't mix. (just kidding- I'd never do that!)

I hope everyone else is seeing some of this rain! It's not really a soaking rain, but it's rain.

 

[Hawkeye95]

oh I have a question! I had a nightmare last night that woke me up at 2am. I was worrying about the run. I keep seeing everyone putting boards on the ground between their posts?? I was planning on setting 4X4's into the ground and putting the hardware cloth between them-- is there a reason people put wood on the ground? I plan on screwing planks on top so that I can screw in the wire and over the top... I want my run secure in case I need to leave the pop door open. I'm hoping my run will be as secure as the coop itself. Also- anyone know how wide the wire comes? I would want to set my posts so that I can put an entire width of wire on each end of the post so that I don't have any weak seams between posts. I guess I can run to Atwoods and look at the wire. Just wondered if anyone knew off hand what it was.

 

[Hawkeye95]

or wait!! I could run the wire length wise from post to post- so it won't matter how far apart they are, and then put a board up on the post where the width ends and screw the ends into that. Okay- I think I figured out that problem... now the boards on the ground???

 

[chicken danz]

On some of my pens I have the boards on the ground and up above. The reason for this is: I use 5 foot wire and if you put a 5/4 deck board on the bottom and one on top the 5 foot wire fits in perfectly to make a 6 foot tall run. No ducking that way. It's a lot more secure for my game birds but it is simple construction so I use it with some of the chickens as well. Another advantage to that is that it holds the posts in a secure position so they don't tilt or bend when stretching wire. You'd think it would be impossible but it does happen. It also give me a place to attach netting and unless it is a large area I don't have to have a center post that way to raise the netting up.
You should have posts 8' apart. If you are using 4X4 posts set in concrete you could go up to 16'. I have wood corner posts and then have metal posts every 8 feet in the pens without the boards on the bottom and top. In the pens with no wood bottom I ran chicken wire below the actual ground to prevent digging in or out.
Ivywoods, I have standard cochins. As far as bantams go I only have the bantam polish, Malaysian Seramas, one partridge Wyandotte, and one old cochin hen that doesn't lay anymore. I got the Wyandotte as an extra fill in egg or I wouldn't have it. I bought the cochin hen as a sitter for pheasant eggs but she never hatched a thing. The rest of my birds are all standards. I used most of them for egg laying with a few fancies so bantams in general don't meet my needs. The ones I do have are strictly here because I have lots of requests for them.

 

[tntblake]

Yay!!! We got rain! There is .55 in the rain gauge and it looks like there maybe more to come!