Consolidated Kansas

[ByN8ureHomstead]

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I'll bet anyone a dollar that Renee will be hatching in her basement this winter. Any takers.

I think I am the only male posting on this thread now days.

I don't know...she might be like me and once you go thru a winter without chicks in the basement all winter long, you find out it can be rather nice!

I may need to egg her on by showing cute little fluffy puffy chicks.

 

[ChooksChick]

I have to admit, I've had one going at all times except maybe a week or so in June. I have been blessed and cursed by the boon of broodies this summer, and with 17 broods (yes, 2 of them are on their 3rd batch since March) I've shoved the eggs under hens whenever they hit the 18th day. I haven't hatched all that many, as I haven't had many pures to progress with because of the move, but it's still been fuzzy butts!

I have enjoyed not having a brooder going, but ever since I got the EcoGlow, I've had such great ease brooding I don't think I'd mind.

I'm going to try to give Hubby the gift of a non-chicken basement for as long as possible, though.

 

[Katy]

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That's what prompted me to stop hatching and brooding during the winter.......my hubby...he was tired of a basement full of brooders all winter.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
I don't know...she might be like me and once you go thru a winter without chicks in the basement all winter long, you find out it can be rather nice!

I may need to egg her on by showing cute little fluffy puffy chicks.

We hear from Ozawkie once in a while. But not often. I like hearing the guys take on this all. I've noticed a tendency for more guys to be into birds than women, especially game birds. Maybe their thoughts are going more into fall hunting than chickens. I sure would like to see some of the guys we used to have on here come back. I would love to get all the birds out of the house this winter. At least until January or so. That chick dust just coats everything and you can't get rid of it. I would so love to have a warm building to do my hatching in.

 

[ByN8ureHomstead]

Quote:
I may need to egg her on by showing cute little fluffy puffy chicks.

We hear from Ozawkie once in a while. But not often. I like hearing the guys take on this all. I've noticed a tendency for more guys to be into birds than women, especially game birds. Maybe their thoughts are going more into fall hunting than chickens. I sure would like to see some of the guys we used to have on here come back. I would love to get all the birds out of the house this winter. At least until January or so. That chick dust just coats everything and you can't get rid of it. I would so love to have a warm building to do my hatching in.

I don't do any game birds, they are to small.

 

[Hawkeye95]

It seems like the main board is a good mix of both sexes. It is sure fun to see what everyone comes up with and what they're doing with their birds and their coops and why they're doing it. Before coming to BYC.com I had NO idea there were so many women actually doing the building themselves! I read for about 2 months before I decided that I was ready to do this! Never picked up a power tool- nor did I want to, and already I think I could tackle ANYthing! (well, with a little added muscle from someone else, I could do anything!-- HA!) Best I can do is get things cut, figured out, and ready to roll and then wait for DH to come home so he can help me lift and hold it in position on the larger stuff. I'm ready to tackle that kid's play house I was only kidding about before. Now that the wind tore their playset apart, they are really roaming around aimlessly out there. The little ones miss their swings. (they call them "wings") I'm going to unbolt all the metal fixtures, slide, swings, etc and get all the metal brackets off of the redwood set and reuse them. But I don't plan on building until the spring! I think I deserve some rest after this! haha!

I got a lot more work done on the coop this morning! So excited! I have the thing nearly completely covered with plywood now! Yippee!!

Oh- here is a picture of my once, nice redwood playset. Just wonderful what wind can do. There is a slide, swings, rock wall... in there somewhere. I'm sure those can be unbolted from the mangled wood and reused. I probably won't reuse the rock wall- they never played on it. The monkey bars are in there too.. but the kids weren't old enough to use those either. I think I'm going to stick to the basics of the swings, slide and a cute little playhouse- maybe try to make it look like a farm house or a little Victorian.

I don't have a better picture I can find right now- but this is what it used to look like. If you can see thru the chicken wire- you can see the swings, slide, etc.. the playhouse was up high with a little sundeck and a covered deck underneath. Sigh. So sad.

 

[chicken danz]

Yeah most are pretty small. I raise a few but only because it makes a little cash. I'm not a hunter and never will be.

 

[tazcat70]

Well my husband demanded that I get everything out of the house. I conceded to everything except the incubators. Honestly I hate brooding in the house almost as much as he hated it. So I set it up in my main coop, haven't even had to use the heat lamps much. I am sure that will change with the fall hatch.

 

[chicken danz]

I have my incubators and hatcher in the house. I have a brooder building where most things go but I still have a few birds inside due to lack of space. I am hatching only what I feel I absolutely have to. But just the same I love hatching those tiny little fluffy creatures. Hopefully I can start some major hatching after the first of the year. Sales were a little slow this spring because it stayed cool so long.
I would so like a couple months break though.

 

[msjfrizzle]

Aw Hawkeye, that playset is so sad! Your coop, however, is amazing! Between the heat and keeping up with three little ones, I think you've made incredible progress!! It was great fun to catch tadpoles with you and the young'uns! I'll bet the little guy needed a nap!

I hadn't really built anything except a terribly lame rabbit hutch a few years ago, and never messed with big power tools, either. Now I LOVE my power tools! I want more! I finished the fencing around the bottom of the deck on Sunday, but it's a wonder I didn't have a heat stroke. I just put the first coat of paint on the last screen door (built with my compound miter saw and cordless drill) for the bottom of the coop, so I nearly have the whole coop and deck critter-proofed, as long as I remember to close it up!!!

Speaking of my failure last week, I really appreciate everyone's kind words of support. It helped so much!!! I couldn't really talk about it at work, because nobody really 'gets it' and besides, I would have started crying. It seems I have a genetic flaw- my face leaks.