Consolidated Kansas

[zigzag45]

I have a watering system for my birds that is based on a 4" PVC pipe/reservoir, about 24" tall. Water usually lasts 4-7 days depending on weather. I've been trying to figure out a creative way to rig up an indicator so I know when the water level is getting low. I'm afraid I'm going to forget to check it for a couple days in a row and have a problem. I don't have a ton of room between the top of the reservoir and the coop roof, so a tall float won't work. Any suggestions?

 

[22qZoo]

Zigzag- how about a fishing bobber with some small 10# test line that comes out of a small notch at the top with a small piece of tape on the end for a flag with the line being as long as the PVC reservoir . Flag at the top , empty . Flag at the bottom ,full. I don't know , then again you wouldn't want anyone to get tangled up in any string. Just a thought.

 

[cherwill]

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Someone was asking about bug repellent. I can't find my recipe right now. It was almond oil, lemon eucalyptus EO, lavender EO, and geranium EO. It works pretty well, but there were several times the mosquitoes were so thick even that couldn't help. At first I didn't mind the oiliness because it absorbed quickly, but as I started having to put it on more heavily, the oiliness bothered me more. I think next time I may try the EOs is witch hazel instead. I haven't tried it on my dogs, but I don't know why it wouldn't work.

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I have some updates on the car situation, but I'm going to wait until DH gets home so I'll have the whole story. I think it worked out where we're both equal parts relieved and equal parts miserable?!

 

[chicken danz]

I just wanted to jump in. I've been reading and I am so tired I have no idea what I just read... it went in and then left about as soon.
ChickieWickies how old is your dog? I know some hunting dogs must reach maturity before they work well. If she is young she may just need more time.
Well yesteday was a day of disaster. DH was very very slow and didn't have cages done. The ones I rigged up with the clothes baskets would have worked fine but because they were so cheap, when I put the Mandarins in them they were cutting their bills on the little strips of plastic on the sides of the basket. So this is 7:30 PM or so. I started scrounging and ended up making four new cages starting from zero. I scrounged around until I found the lumber to do it and worked on them while DH worked the other cages. We were sharing the staple gun and the drills etc and it seemed like one of us kept waiting on the other to get done. Well when we finally got done it was about 2:30 AM. I decided to take a flashlight and go load birds in the dark. So I caught birds and DH fastened the cages with cable ties. I had to fill their feed and water bowls up and get them settled back down. The pheasant and the Mandarins were going insane. So finally all the cages were full and loaded on the truck. It was 3:45 AM. I had to get up at 4:30 AM. I did lay down but about the time I started getting settled down the alarm went off. No sleep whatsoever. I got in the shower, got the rest of the stuff I needed loaded up and headed on the road. I did make it in time for the drawing which decides who goes in what order for sales. It was so totally worth staying up all night for. It will never happen again ...but I got drawn for number one. My birds sell first as soon as the consignment birds are sold. If I didn't want to stick around I could be out of there bright and early tomorrow. Last fall my birds didn't sell until after 6:30 PM. I was so far down on the number list.
So I talked to some friends, fed and watered my birds in the cages, stopped at Walmart and the gas station on the way home. I was home and laying down by 10:30 AM. I expected not to be home until late afternoon. I woke up about 12:15 with leg cramps. Too much work yesterday and not enough water drinking I guess. I couldn't get back to sleep so I went out and took care of birds. DH left to pick up my feed and run some errands and was back home about 4:00 PM just as I was finishing chores. We ate a little ( we never did have dinner last night!) and we laid back down to nap again but I couldn't sleep. So here I am trying to play catch up.
I still have the load of feed to get shoveled off the truck but all that bending and building yesterday is killing my back.
Lizzy so great to hear you got the rain. I saw how there was even some flooding going on in places. We went without unfortunately. Just a tiny bit of mist yesterday morning. It is much cooler though.
I had another pretty good sized group of chicks hatch this morning and there are more in there to hatch. I also gathered eggs and it looks like some who have been on strike picked back up and some who had been laying, have quit. I only gathered hatching eggs. I only had 2 eating eggs from the girls who aren't used for breeding. That's an all time low for them. I need to get these eggs set cause there is probably a tray full of them. I don't want to hold them and end up with a huge hatch.
I can't remember who mentioned hatching more cockerels. I have noted that for years. In hot weather the balance of cockerels to pullets increases astronomically. It's beginning to show around here as some of these chicks start maturing too. Looks like I am either going to have to feed them out or find someone looking for some birds to raise for meat.
I guess I'd better go remind DH about the chains and locks before it gets much later. I don't want to be looking for them tomorrow morning in the dark. It's going to be another very early morning. I was supposed to go celebrate my youngest granddaughters birthday tomorrow evening but I sure don't know if I'll still have any energy to do so.
ZigZag forgive me because I never think in terms of easy or simple. If I were you I would buy some small clear rigid tubing. Cut a narrow wedge down the side of the water pipe to fit the rigid tubing. Glue the clear tubing in with PVC glue so that it is waterproof. Then you could simply look at the tubing and see the water level through it. The other way I might consider doing it is again using clear tubing. Drill a hole just large enough to insert and glue the tubing in the original PVC pipe down towards the lower end, again using PVC glue to prevent leakage. Make an upright 90 degree turn in the tubing so it is shaped like an L. Use a length going vertically upwards in the L shape along side of the PVC pipe and nearly as tall. Leave the top opening of the L shaped tubing open to prevent a vacuum from forming. Through osmosis this will show you exactly how high your water level is. If you didn't want to leave the top of the clear pipe open you could L it again and insert it back into the top of your pvc pipe so it forms a [ shape.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

One of my 3/4 grown Narragansett turkeys hurt its leg over a month ago. It got caught between two chain link panels, and was hanging by that leg. I found him when I did my nightly check . I had to loosen the clamp that held the panels together before I could free him. The leg was swollen at the knee joint and it could not stand on either leg. I put it in my isolation shed. He can now stand and hops around on one leg, but the other leg is drying up and I am trying to decide if I need to amputate it or if it will come off on its own. He picks at the dead foot when he stands, I really did not expect him to be alive the next morning but its doing better every day. About two weeks ago one of my three month old EE pullets must have gotten over heated. I found her laying on her back with both feet in the air. I first thought it was dead but saw one leg move. I got it to drink a little water and put it in with the turkey. The next day it was fine, but I have left it with the turkey. The pullet can free range but it sleeps next to the turkey at night. A real odd couple. I might try to get a night photo and post it.

 

[zigzag45]

Good ideas on the water level meter. I'm going to see how hard it is to graft clear tubing into PVC. If I strike out there, the bobber idea has potential. Thank you!

 

[Trish44]

Ralph that's a really interesting mix you got with the barred EEs, I wouldn't have thought of mixing those.

It's been a busy day here, it was so nice & cool that I spent most of my day outside doing things. It would be nice if it would just stay like that now, but I know it's not going to. The days we're supposed to go to the Walnut Valley Festival it's going to be hot again, yuk.

Oh & thanks HEChicken for sharing especially that deodorant recipe, I'm going to have to get the ingredients & try that. I have so much trouble with deodorants breaking me out in a rash that I have had to buy them at the health food store & they aren't very effective really.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

My hens liked the overcast day yesterday and I gathered more than my little egg basket would hold. I have EE's. Mottled Java, Marans, Silver-Laced wyandottes, and Silkies.

Ralph, those are some nice eggs you got there.

 

[22qZoo]

Ralph Moyer- that egg basket is beautiful ,I'm jealous.I think my girls are getting ready to start again,their feathers are looking great and their combs are starting to redden up. yay! it'll be like Christmas! er.. more like Easter

.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I just wanted to jump in. I've been reading and I am so tired I have no idea what I just read... it went in and then left about as soon.
ChickieWickies how old is your dog? I know some hunting dogs must reach maturity before they work well. If she is young she may just need more time.
Well yesteday was a day of disaster. DH was very very slow and didn't have cages done. The ones I rigged up with the clothes baskets would have worked fine but because they were so cheap, when I put the Mandarins in them they were cutting their bills on the little strips of plastic on the sides of the basket. So this is 7:30 PM or so. I started scrounging and ended up making four new cages starting from zero. I scrounged around until I found the lumber to do it and worked on them while DH worked the other cages. We were sharing the staple gun and the drills etc and it seemed like one of us kept waiting on the other to get done. Well when we finally got done it was about 2:30 AM. I decided to take a flashlight and go load birds in the dark. So I caught birds and DH fastened the cages with cable ties. I had to fill their feed and water bowls up and get them settled back down. The pheasant and the Mandarins were going insane. So finally all the cages were full and loaded on the truck. It was 3:45 AM. I had to get up at 4:30 AM. I did lay down but about the time I started getting settled down the alarm went off. No sleep whatsoever. I got in the shower, got the rest of the stuff I needed loaded up and headed on the road. I did make it in time for the drawing which decides who goes in what order for sales.  It was so totally worth staying up all night for. It will never happen again ...but I got drawn for number one. My birds sell first as soon as the consignment birds are sold. If I didn't want to stick around I could be out of there bright and early tomorrow. Last fall my birds didn't sell until after 6:30 PM. I was so far down on the number list.
So I talked to some friends, fed and watered my birds in the cages, stopped at Walmart and the gas station on the way home. I was home and laying down by 10:30 AM. I expected not to be home until late afternoon. I woke up about 12:15 with leg cramps. Too much work yesterday and not enough water drinking I guess.  I couldn't get back to sleep so I went out and took care of birds. DH left to pick up my feed and run some errands and was back home about 4:00 PM just as I was finishing chores. We ate a little ( we never did have dinner last night!) and we laid back down to nap again but I couldn't sleep. So here I am trying to play catch up.
I still have the load of feed to get shoveled off the truck but all that bending and building yesterday is killing my back. 
Lizzy so great to hear you got the rain. I saw how there was even some flooding going on in places. We went without unfortunately. Just a tiny bit of mist yesterday morning. It is much cooler though.
I had another pretty good sized group of chicks hatch this morning and there are more in there to hatch. I also gathered eggs and it looks like some who have been on strike picked back up and some who had been laying, have quit. I only gathered hatching eggs. I only had 2 eating eggs from the girls who aren't used for breeding. That's an all time low for them. I need to get these eggs set cause there is probably a tray full of them. I don't want to hold them and end up with a huge hatch.
I can't remember who mentioned hatching more cockerels. I have noted that for years. In hot weather the balance of cockerels to pullets increases astronomically. It's beginning to show around here as some of these chicks start maturing too. Looks like I am either going to have to feed them out or find someone looking for some birds to raise for meat.
I guess I'd better go remind DH about the chains and locks before it gets much later. I don't want to be looking for them tomorrow morning in the dark. It's going to be another very early morning.  I was supposed to go celebrate my youngest granddaughters birthday tomorrow evening but I sure don't know if I'll still have any energy to do so.
ZigZag forgive me because I never think in terms of easy or simple. If I were you I would buy some small clear rigid tubing. Cut a narrow wedge down the side of the water pipe to fit the rigid tubing. Glue the clear tubing in with PVC glue so that it is waterproof. Then you could simply look at the tubing and see the water level through it. The  other way I might consider doing it is again using clear tubing. Drill a hole just large enough to insert and glue the tubing in the original PVC pipe down towards the lower end, again using PVC glue to prevent leakage.  Make an upright 90 degree turn in the tubing so it is shaped like an L. Use a length going vertically upwards in the L shape along side of the PVC pipe and  nearly as tall. Leave the top opening of the L shaped tubing open to prevent a vacuum from forming. Through osmosis this will show you exactly how high your water level is. If you didn't want to leave the top of the clear pipe open you could L it again and insert it back into the top of your pvc pipe so it forms a [  shape.

Danz, just hearing you described the cage issue and puttings birds into them, prepping them for the auction made me tired! I'm glad you got to go first and was able to get home early enough to at least rest some. Sounds like you'll have another crazy day coming up. Good to know you have some eggs hatched out. It is good weather to raise chicks now before the cold weather hits us.

Hope you can get some much needed rest tonight.