Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

Tweety, it sounds like this guy makes these coops up pretty fast. Maybe you could have him make it a bit bigger and then you'd be done? Don't think there will be a problem transporting it-- the guy had a front loader on his tractor, I could see the prongs in the pictures. I bet he has a flatbed, too. Worst case, I think Uhaul has flat beds.

Okay, so I'm miserable and sick and all the kids are sick and they are all asleep. The house is really quiet and I'm just sitting here with my laptop. Oh-- the temp in my incubator was still reading 101 with the water in it. So I unscrewed the lid and tweaked the therm adjuster. Lets hope I didn't go too far! I just moved it a tiny bit. Thinking maybe I could load eggs in the morning if I finally get this right!

 

[Trish44]

Chooks, that is a nice coop you built, I like that, it looks pretty simple, that's kind of what I need simple for people who aren't great at building.

Hawkeye, I'm sorry you're sick, it seems to be going around. I almost hate to go out this evening to the store for fear I'll get something again. I just pretty much got well. Let us all know how it goes with your incubator, I'm really interested since I have the same one you do. If my Ameraucanas ever decide to lay again I'll be using mine too. I can't wait to incubate some eggs from them.

I'm going to try some different breeds of chickens that I haven't had before this time with my chick order. I ordered two mottled anconas, some brown leghorns just because they're prettier than the white ones, & a buff orpington to use for a broody hen. I have always heard the orpingtons are really good mothers. I also ordered some more speckled sussex because I really like them. I was going to get a different strain of leghorn, but couldn't find everything I wanted where I found them, so I settled for the brown ones. Oh & I also ordered one more gold laced wyandotte because I just love the one I have, she is so pretty & lays nice pinkish eggs.

Well my DH said something this afternoon that I thought I would never hear from him, he said "I never thought I would like chickens, but I do." He agreed that it's a lot of fun to watch them, I told him a lot of people call it "chicken TV". I'm going to turn him into a farmer yet! I never thought he would take an interest in my chickens, really I'm so happy that he finally has decided he likes them. Maybe he will get more excited about helping me with building my coop if he's more interested in the chickens. If I can get him excited about building it & tell him that if we can get it done soon enough then I can incubate some eggs. I know he will enjoy watching that process & will be excited to see the first chicks hatch. If I can accomplish that I will have him hooked.

 

[chicken danz]

Yeah those guys can't help but come around even if they continue to complain. I used to get a "What's the point?" when I explained that some particular fancy chicken wasn't a great egg layer or great meat chicken. But now he really enjoys the different ones. He has his favorites for sure. Some of them are the barnyard mixes which have turned out to be great layers in the mix as well.
I'm not feeling quite as bad this evening. One of my neighbors came and fed and watered my birds for me in exchange for a few dozen eggs. He probably won't feel like he got such a good deal when he comes down with this flu bug though!

 

[ChooksChick]

Chooks, that is a nice coop you built, I like that, it looks pretty simple, that's kind of what I need simple for people who aren't great at building.

Hawkeye, I'm sorry you're sick, it seems to be going around. I almost hate to go out this evening to the store for fear I'll get something again. I just pretty much got well. Let us all know how it goes with your incubator, I'm really interested since I have the same one you do. If my Ameraucanas ever decide to lay again I'll be using mine too. I can't wait to incubate some eggs from them.

I'm going to try some different breeds of chickens that I haven't had before this time with my chick order. I ordered two mottled anconas, some brown leghorns just because they're prettier than the white ones, & a buff orpington to use for a broody hen. I have always heard the orpingtons are really good mothers. I also ordered some more speckled sussex because I really like them. I was going to get a different strain of leghorn, but couldn't find everything I wanted where I found them, so I settled for the brown ones. Oh & I also ordered one more gold laced wyandotte because I just love the one I have, she is so pretty & lays nice pinkish eggs.

Well my DH said something this afternoon that I thought I would never hear from him, he said "I never thought I would like chickens, but I do." He agreed that it's a lot of fun to watch them, I told him a lot of people call it "chicken TV". I'm going to turn him into a farmer yet! I never thought he would take an interest in my chickens, really I'm so happy that he finally has decided he likes them. Maybe he will get more excited about helping me with building my coop if he's more interested in the chickens. If I can get him excited about building it & tell him that if we can get it done soon enough then I can incubate some eggs. I know he will enjoy watching that process & will be excited to see the first chicks hatch. If I can accomplish that I will have him hooked.

Thanks- it is really easy- I had lots of fun building it. I have 1' square x 8" deep drawers out of an old dresser mounted to the inside right in front of the doors in back for nest boxes, so I open the back door from the rear of it (there are 12 coops in a row with an aisle I walk down to service all the coops) and just reach in to get eggs.

With the brown leghorns, hold them every day- they get bonkers and high strung if they aren't handled constantly. They are lovely and lay like mand, though.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Trish, well I discovered "THE Brinsea Octagon 20 thread" and there are a lot of people talking about tweaking and working with our incubators! I read the whole thing today since I had a lot of time on my hands since I'm sick. It turns out that my glass therm in the lid reading 101 might not have been a bad thing. Apparently, even with the forced circulated fan, the egg tray regularly reads lower. Most people have their glass therm reading 100 and then they stick in a digital in the egg tray and it keeps right around 99.5 or there abouts. Maybe the fact that the glass therm is up next to the coil is also why it reads higher. So if you turn yours on and it reads 100-- leave it alone. But mine was at 101-- which someone else said was fine on theirs... but I was too worried since I can't double check mine with a digital, since mine won't be shipped for a few more days. Anyway, I turned mine down to 100. I'm half tempted to hold off another day or two before I load it so I can double check it with my new digital. Ah well... I think you're going to like it though! It was super easy to set up! It got up to temp really fast, too. I think it only took about 15 mins to get there. I've been checking it and letting it sit there for about an hour or so before I decide it's really as high as it gets. I did a dry run a bit ago when I had it apart to turn it down a smidge. I fit the eggs into the dividers and got those spaced right. The whole tray lifts out easy to fill water... or you can get a little hose to put thru the top once you're in lock down to get water into it without lifting. There is a water hole and a vent on top and then 4 vent holes on the bottom-- they also work as an over flow. I turned my incubator up a bit and forgot it had water in it. I was wondering where the heck all the water on the floor was coming from! Duh!!

Chooks, that is a nice coop you built, I like that, it looks pretty simple, that's kind of what I need simple for people who aren't great at building.

Hawkeye, I'm sorry you're sick, it seems to be going around. I almost hate to go out this evening to the store for fear I'll get something again. I just pretty much got well. Let us all know how it goes with your incubator, I'm really interested since I have the same one you do. If my Ameraucanas ever decide to lay again I'll be using mine too. I can't wait to incubate some eggs from them.

I'm going to try some different breeds of chickens that I haven't had before this time with my chick order. I ordered two mottled anconas, some brown leghorns just because they're prettier than the white ones, & a buff orpington to use for a broody hen. I have always heard the orpingtons are really good mothers. I also ordered some more speckled sussex because I really like them. I was going to get a different strain of leghorn, but couldn't find everything I wanted where I found them, so I settled for the brown ones. Oh & I also ordered one more gold laced wyandotte because I just love the one I have, she is so pretty & lays nice pinkish eggs.

Well my DH said something this afternoon that I thought I would never hear from him, he said "I never thought I would like chickens, but I do." He agreed that it's a lot of fun to watch them, I told him a lot of people call it "chicken TV". I'm going to turn him into a farmer yet! I never thought he would take an interest in my chickens, really I'm so happy that he finally has decided he likes them. Maybe he will get more excited about helping me with building my coop if he's more interested in the chickens. If I can get him excited about building it & tell him that if we can get it done soon enough then I can incubate some eggs. I know he will enjoy watching that process & will be excited to see the first chicks hatch. If I can accomplish that I will have him hooked.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Yeah those guys can't help but come around even if they continue to complain. I used to get a "What's the point?" when I explained that some particular fancy chicken wasn't a great egg layer or great meat chicken. But now he really enjoys the different ones. He has his favorites for sure. Some of them are the barnyard mixes which have turned out to be great layers in the mix as well.
I'm not feeling quite as bad this evening. One of my neighbors came and fed and watered my birds for me in exchange for a few dozen eggs. He probably won't feel like he got such a good deal when he comes down with this flu bug though!

funny! I think my DH is slowly coming around. He's warming up to the silkies more than anything. He's given up on complaining when I bring one in to watch tv with. He just thinks it's hilarious when one poops on my towel. Which isn't a big deal, IMO. They are precious. He was all against me incubating, too... but he's watched me set this up for the last two days, etc.. not a word. Then when I told him I wanted to put a video camera on it for the last two days of hatching so I could share with everyone-- he was working out the logistics! LOL Except that he told me our internet connection isn't fast enough. But I I think he still might give it a shot. We have broad band-- and it's the worst connection possible. If we could change providers we would-- but no one else reaches out here. We would LOVE to have cable... but alas... there is no cable out here.

Maybe we'll feel better by tomorrow?! Ugh.

 

[rittert3]

Anybody want to trade some poultry for a couple toddlers, just kidding but they've both been hellians the last couple days and I couldn't talk gma and gpa into taking them for a night or two, I even offered to trade for my 12 year old brother (who dosn't listen much better than they do), lol.

I think I'm going to try to raise some mealworms sometime in the future to give to my quail, I've been reading a thread about it on another smaller poultry forum I'm on and I used to help run a pet shop so I already know a little about them.

Tweety- Don't you just love beardies? They're so mellow, I want to get another one someday.

Hawkeye good to hear the hubby's warming up to the chickens, thats great. I hope I can get my wife to warm up to the birds someday.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Trish - That's the same reason that I ordered a Buff Orp. I'm hoping she'll be my broody and raise me some babies in the future! J I purposely ordered chicks that would be mellow so I could have a nice calm flock.
That's so awesome that your DH is coming around. Mine is getting more excited the closer it's getting to receiving the chicks. I think it helps that I've been saturating him with everything that I'm learning. He can't get away from it.. hehe

Danz - I'm glad you are starting to feel better!

Chooks - That's a really good idea for the nesting boxes! I have an old wooden pie rack shelf that has 15"x18" openings. Layed on it's side it would be three nesting boxes and that's what I'm planning to use if we go ahead with the greenhouse coop. DH mentioned tonight that he thinks he wants to stick with that and instead of using the polycarb panels, just use the metal frame and attaché OSB to it basically making a wooden shed. The ideas seem to change every couple nights, so who knows what's gonna happen.

Hawkeye - I've considered adding a camera system to our coop - so I can watch the chickies from work. If I do, I'm thinking about going with this one.. it's wireless and fairly cheep as far as cameras go! http://www.x10.com/promotions/airsight_outdoor_wireless_ip_camera.html?EM

Ritter - Yes, I LOVE my beardie! He just woke from a 3 month long brumation and I can finally play with him again. I've had him about 4 years now and he's the calmest pet I've ever owned (other than the betta fish.. lol) We created a cage for him out of an old bathroom cabinet. The only painful thing about owning bearded dragons is getting the right lights and they aren't cheep.

Did a test run on my broader today - The lamp measured 98 degrees so I moved it up about 3 inches and now it's 94, so I'm pretty sure I've gotten it in a good spot, just a few tweeks and it'll be ready! I also bought a bunch of wheat berries and am doing a test run on wheat trays. My plan is to have 3 trays that I'll rotate out to give the chickies a place to pick and pluck some yummie veges.

 

[tweetysvoice]

OH.. I have a question that a friend wanted me to ask. She "doesn't do" computers, but is currently raising a flock of about 45 Delaware chickens. She's aware that this is a rare and endangered species and would like to get her birds pedigree certified and become a certified breeder. Anyone know who she should contact to do that? I gave her the contact information for the American Poultry Association and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, anywhere else? Is there somewhere else on this board I should post this question?

 

[ChooksChick]

OH.. I have a question that a friend wanted me to ask. She "doesn't do" computers, but is currently raising a flock of about 45 Delaware chickens. She's aware that this is a rare and endangered species and would like to get her birds pedigree certified and become a certified breeder. Anyone know who she should contact to do that? I gave her the contact information for the American Poultry Association and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, anywhere else? Is there somewhere else on this board I should post this question?

The thread you want for that answer is the SDWD thread (Society for Delaware World Domination). They'll be able to answer you about any memberships and whatnot.