Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Kris5902]

Sammy does seem to love the camera... here are a few pics from my cockerel pen, there are 8 boys in here 4 barnvelder, 3 sapphires and “mr Eyebrows” my wheatbar. They mostly don’t cause too much trouble but they are LOUD. These are from moving time yesterday.

 

[aart]

You know you’re getting old when they ask you for ID at the liquor store and you ask them to please repeat that a little louder so your husband can hear it.

you hand it over and the clerk starts to apologize.

When this has happened to me, I tell the clerk...
..."That's OK, I thought you were 12"

 

[Kris5902]

So, yesterday I neglected all my poor little chickens... no cuddles for anyone, the boys knocked over their waterer at about 4:30... it didn’t get refilled until almost 7. There was a lot of foul language, it was windy, I got rained on a few times (the worst held off until just after we finished everything! I was so grateful for that as we finally had dinner), but it’s done. Chicken tractor #3 is complete! I’ve got all the materials for #4, but not enough hardware or tires. Chickie Hawk and the three rehab girls are outside and I almost got my brooder set up!



Today, I still have to fix my solar, but I’ve got my inverter up and running in the barn as of 6 am today on a Deep Cycle marine battery. Heating plates went on, feed, water, bedding went in. I closed it up to make it smaller, and we drove down to the dock to meet the little float plane at 7:50. My chicks are here and all settled in! I still have tons to do, but they look ok. I'm prepping to bring them in the trailer overnight if it looks like there’s any heat problems. I don’t think the heating plates are doing as well in the barn as they did inside. But they are here for better or worse!

I added two more heat plates (20’s and I have another 2 if needed as well) but am now having a well deserved coffee break! By 10 am I had already put in 4 hours of work... it’s going to be a loooong day for me, but I’m happy to have a start on this project

 

[Kris5902]

Oh, I should mention, last Christmas my stocking consisted of primarily hinges, throw bolts, and gate hardware... I need to start buying not just the contractor packs, but full cases of the contractor pack door hinges! “No, I want the whole box of the boxes of the contractor packs!” I can see how this is going to play out at the hardware store already

 

[aart]

You're running 4 heat plates off an inverted deep cycle battery?

 

[Kris5902]

You're running 4 heat plates off an inverted deep cycle battery?

Three, I have two more but don’t seem to need them yet, maybe as they get bigger though? The really nice thing about the Brinsea plates... all three are pulling a whopping 90watts together. It will give me plenty of time to get the other 4 batteries hooked up to my new charge controller and existing 400 watt solar array. I’ve got 7 batteries now altogether, running two separate systems. Two are dedicated to my house batteries for the trailer, with a 100watt panel, the rest on my 2000watt inverter. I also have a 450 and 300 watt ones. I need more panels too.

It certainly beats running my briggs 10,000 watt peak generator, my smaller Honda ones 6800, and 3000 are in the shop. If we had had a little more time before they got here it would all be re-wired, but due to the shipping costs we needed to go in with another farmer for affordability... so today was delivery day.

 

[aart]

The really nice thing about the Brinsea plates... all three are pulling a whopping 90watts together.

Good to know, well I don't really understand(especially in my post-nap stupor) but, next time someone asks about 'heating' with battery power I'll tag you!

 

[Ribh]

It all sounds rather complicated but probably isn't. So long as the new babies are warm & happy all is good. How are you doing? Will things be a little less hectic now they are here ~ or more so?

 

[Kris5902]

Good to know, well I don't really understand(especially in my post-nap stupor) but, next time someone asks about 'heating' with battery power I'll tag you!

I’m still learning... but I’ve got a few new books on solar. We were originally going to have a really large professionally installed solar system for our house, now thanks to delays the budget for that is gone, so it’s going to have to be some small DIY ones.

 

[BY Bob]

Haha!! Exactly!
I like chickens and even like to pick them up once in while,
but don't really want them 'on' me.... especially uninvited.

Ok, here’s how it’s supposed to look... with my Sammy. Chicken on hand or arm, like a little white hawk for falconry. I had to lift him up some... he is a sweetie and loves his cuddles and pets. Only three weeks younger than Chickie Hawk’s batch, and part of the “little white devils” group I just processed a bunch of because they were jerks!

View attachment 1727605

He has never bit, flogged, or even attempted threat or mating displays around me, he does alarm to strangers though!

Just what you want in a rooster. I hope things work out with Chickie Hawk but I do worry. I agree with giving him a chance but I would not count on things changing.