Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I ran out of room in the incubator.

Do you ever eat your eggs or do you incubate them all?

I would also like to change my drains to use gray water, at least from my laundry to water my flower gardens.

This is something we plan to do when we move to the new house. Right now I have a basement laundry room and since it is a bit of a hassle to have to carry the wet clothes up the stairs, then out the backdoor and down the deck stairs to hang them out (I do it anyway though!), one thing I really wanted in the new house was a main floor laundry room. What we found is even better than I dreamed - it is not only main floor but the mud room is situated off the kitchen and has its own door to the backyard. This will make it really easy to use the gray water from washing clothes, on the garden. Since there is no established vegie garden at the new place, I can choose the placement of the vegie garden to make best use of sun, make it easy to route gray water to it AND not to far from the coop and compost.

 

[cherwill]

msjfrizzle, love the chicken math sonnet!

Ivy, wow! So glad you averted the disaster.

Trish, I'm so sorry about your roo. You gave him the best life he was going to have; our animals just don't live long enough.

HEChickens, hope your DD recovers quickly. Hospitals are so frustrating. Don't they know we'd all heal better if they didn't make us so stressed out right before major procedures???

Danz, please go back to the doc. Antibiotics usually work fairly quickly. If you're still feeling so bad, you might need more or another kind.

DH and I are always looking into alternative energy sources. We live in a very old house in town, so our options are somewhat limited. We have too many trees to rely on passive solar, and we aren't willing to destroy some of the original, craftsman features that we so love in our house. All those trees are great in summer, though. Our house stays cooler much longer than anyone else's we know. We heat with a fireplace in winter, but it's not quite big enough. When the temps drop below freezing we do have to supplement with the furnace. DH's former chief retired and built his new house using almost all geothermal energy. It sounds like a great way to go if you can. I'm interested in hearing more from those of you who are using or looking at alternatives.

 

[HEChicken]

We don't know for sure where we're moving. We're hoping Boeing will transfer us, and if not, we'll be job hunting. Ideally, we'd hope to be transferred to OKC with the main military Mods.

If you are doing a stick structure, you would probably just build right onto the pad. But I'd still set your end posts into the cement-- which means cutting into it. You'll build your walls traditionally --but the bottom board will need to be pressure treated and then use the cement nail gun to shoot it into the cement. We have one of those-- it really operates like a firearm. The gambrel roof is gorgeous and has a lot of character. But if you aren't going to be building a loft into it-- you'd be best to stick with a regular truss structure-- like a King Post-- unless you're going over 16 feet, in which you'd switch up to the Queen Post. I was going a bit crazy over my 5:1 pitch ratio and getting my angle cuts right for the span. Not saying you can't do a gambrel, but it might be a lot more cost in material for you, too. (because of all the cuts) If you're trying to save some money, that probably isn't the route. But if you do it-- post lots of pictures! I'm sure it will be beautiful. And if you have lots of help, it could be a really fun thing to add.

Oh, that makes sense now that you mention Boeing. Well, hopefully you get to stay in the area - you have to keep up with the CK thread regardless though, right?

I will be sure to post pics as I build once I finally get started - won't be for a little while yet though. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Hawkeye95]

He doesn't have to enforce the leash law. He has to enforce state law. Here's a useful FAQ: http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Legal-FAQs/pet-law/kansas/index.html Check out the bit about dangerous dogs and/or killing chickens. Hope this helps--just because he's a greenie doesn't mean he's got the right to let his dogs roam free.

Thank you for the link! Sounds like that is the entire state of kansas-- wonder why I was given the run around!?

Chickies-Ducks, thank you for your concern, the dogs have been scared off for the most part up close to my house, but they continue to go out to the barn and the back pasture.

I wish we were a little more off the gird. Ask DH about wood heat "no, too dangerous" (I was raised with it)
Ask DH about going solar, and "no, too expensive" (showed him it pays for itself in under 10 years, usually)
Ask DH about selling the big place and moving to something reasonable and newer with more land for goats.....well, I'm still here.

Happy for you guys! Keep it up.

It used to be that solar panels only lasted 10 years. And at that, they were breakable in that time frame, as well. The cells naturally become less effective as the years go by. About 10 years into the panels, they are so ineffective, that removing them or replacing them becomes imperative. However-- that is not the case any longer! The US came up with technology that has lengthened the productivity of the cells and they last many more years, also the protective covering has been re-worked and they can sustain 100mph hits from baseballs. (hail, falling tree limbs, etc) It's not as likely they will break now. Because of the cost, the technology was sent to asia where they now produce these solar panels and are able to sell them a lot cheaper now. So yes, it used to be the panels would pay for themselves in 10 years-- and by that time, you'd have to buy more. But now, you'll be set for many more years, fortunately!

Danz, we are on well water here. We are set up with a lagoon (no septic) and use propane for our heat. I'd LOVE to have a nice wood stove that is efficient. We were going to add that on to the house when we did our addition. However, if we move, that will be something I'll look for in the new house-- a wood stove or at least potential for adding it on. My DH really wants to build a cement house where ever we move and just start over and use geothermal lines for cooling/heating. We shall see... I LOVE wood heat, I think that is really ideal. Two hours on washing eggs, hu? WOW!

So I washed Zorro, my silkie cockerel. I took a couple of pics, and as soon as my camera re-charges, I'll upload them. FUNNY! Poor thing had a much bigger poop ball stuck in there than I thought! I hope that will be problem solved, case closed.

He sure smells good for a chicken. I used my doggie flea and tick shampoo and conditioner and he smells like an orange. hehee! I hope that doesn't hurt his manly pride.

 

[chicken danz]

Oh yes HEchicken. I sell and eat most of my eggs. Today I cleaned up around 30 dozen and threw out at least 2 dozen that I accidentally broke. That was about 4 days worth. I only hatch select eggs when I am not hatching full time. Those that I find that are in a remote nest or ones that come from the pure bred pens. I haven't even started my spring egg hatching yet. Still trying to get well so I can finish my breeder house.
In a month or so the pheasant, guineas, and the fancy ducks should start laying then I really will be busy incubating. I can incubate about a thousand or more eggs at a time depending on what they are, but even at that I run out of space.
We won't ever have wood heat again. It's just too much work for us old folks to cut the wood and if we buy it we gain nothing. I have so many allergies that I can't burn my wood burning fireplace any more either. It's a shame, but gas is ok I guess. Ihae one gas and one wood fireplace. I put in an entirely new heat and air system when I bought this place. For the money I spent I could have put in geo-thermal. I certainly would if I could do it over again. We have propane and a heat pump. I have just gotten to the point I shut out the heat pump in the winter. On rural electric our bill is so high we could run our own electric company cheaper I think.
Of course to hear my DH it is the chickens using it all!

 

[chicken danz]

Oh Hawkeye, the solar panels we had were made with copper tubing, and bullet proof glass inside a metal frame. The tubing was filled with glycol which ran through a heat sink in a 600 gallon stone tank. It wasn't like the solar panels they use to produce electricity now. There was no reason for them to ever fail or need to replaced. They weren't based on cells or batteries. Heat was gained like through a piping system, kind of like radiators. We never purchased the heat systems. That was even more money. We used it for hot water and had to constantly add cold to keep it from being thousands of degrees. Our long term plans were to expand to the heat system but we left Oklahoma before that was ever done. If I had the exact system set up here I could heat all of my outbuildings and maybe even the house without using propane or electric except for long stretches of cloudy days. The tubing would be the major cost in today's time. I know how to make a useable system with chicken poo and garbage that would do the same thing. I just can't afford the material to do it. Maybe some day.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Oh Hawkeye, the solar panels we had were made with copper tubing, and bullet proof glass inside a metal frame. The tubing was filled with glycol which ran through a heat sink in a 600 gallon stone tank. It wasn't like the solar panels they use to produce electricity now. There was no reason for them to ever fail or need to replaced. They weren't based on cells or batteries. Heat was gained like through a piping system, kind of like radiators. We never purchased the heat systems. That was even more money. We used it for hot water and had to constantly add cold to keep it from being thousands of degrees. Our long term plans were to expand to the heat system but we left Oklahoma before that was ever done. If I had the exact system set up here I could heat all of my outbuildings and maybe even the house without using propane or electric except for long stretches of cloudy days. The tubing would be the major cost in today's time. I know how to make a useable system with chicken poo and garbage that would do the same thing. I just can't afford the material to do it. Maybe some day.

That sounded like an amazing system! I would not have gotten rid of it! Wow!! Impressive!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay.. so I bathed Zorro today to hopefully improve his fertility. He did have a HUGE poop ball stuck back around his vent. So it's probably no wonder. I got it all out and now he has a clean butt!

This is Zorro only about half-way blown out with the hair dryer... (below)

And... drum roll please!!!! ..... This is my MONEY SHOT!!!

(below)

 

[chicken danz]

I am laughing out loud. That poor chicken is so cute but looks so awful wet! He is a beautiful bird. So when you get these eggs all fertile and everything I would love to have a couple of his offspring.
I figure whomever ended up taking down the solar panels had no idea of what they had or how to use it. Some people just lack an interest in being a little green.

 

[checoukan]

Okay.. so I bathed Zorro today to hopefully improve his fertility. He did have a HUGE poop ball stuck back around his vent. So it's probably no wonder. I got it all out and now he has a clean butt!

This is Zorro only about half-way blown out with the hair dryer... (below)

And... drum roll please!!!! ..... This is my MONEY SHOT!!!

(below)

If you got rid of the poop ball, which it looks good from this vantage, you should start getting some fertile eggs!!!!