Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Ribh]

It’s just not the same as the feel of a real book... I do also read online, but prefer hard copies

I too prefer hard copies. My bookcases are jammed to overflowing...

 

[Kris5902]

I agree. I love the feel of a book in my hand. I converted my old office to a library two years ago and I love having all the books out and organized. Along with a nice chair for reading.

I too prefer hard copies. My bookcases are jammed to overflowing...

One of my pet peeves was Andrew, and our roommate Tim, NEVER put the books back, or if they managed to get them to the book cases they never put them in the right place. When we sold our house, Tim moved to his new apartment and our things moved to staroge, we had a full custody meeting together about the books, who got to take which series... it was a process, to say the least! We all bought them jointly... Tim would pick up one of this series here, Andrew or I another there. Occasionally we would all come home on book release day and find we had duplicates, so we instituted a text before you buy policy.

We lived together for almost 9 years, with the three of us that equaled LOTS of books! Seeing as we all bought parts of our favorites it seemed more fair to divide by series. Tim also got the bookcases, giant TV, a new sofa, our coffee table, as well as one full set of bedroom furniture and a new bed, (I took his to the dump W/O his permission, but it so needed replaced!) we helped him set up the apartment. Andrew and Tim have been friends for almost 30 years, his rent helped us with the mortgage immensely.

 

[rjohns39]

Morning Kris

 

[aart]

Or a dumb waiter...

Was thinking the same.

Sorry, it’s the only one I could find and it has a lot of details that are unnecessary...

Well, as an old drafter, all those details are necessary to build the house
But, yeah, it's hard to look at if you only want to see the floor plan.

 

[Kris5902]

I’m going to go on yet another little rant here. I am quite annoyed. Last year when we picked up replacement layers, as the farm chickens were dropping like flies, we were sent to this farm up island on Vancouver Island, for ten birds. We were told to buy 8 hy-line reds and that I could pick out two “heritage” breeds which actually turned out to be a selection of less high production hybrids. The chickens all had horribly trimmed beaks, but were otherwise in decent condition.

Well the outdoor coop/mud pit wasn’t secure, chainlink doesn’t stop a raccoon from reaching in and tearing a head off, and we lost one of the two Columbian Rocks. No plans to fix the issue, and it had happened the previous fall as well with one of the red layers that were in there, prompting them to be moved to inside the coop of doom. Armed with my newfound chicken knowledge from this site I bought a roll of hardware cloth and proceeded to wrap the heck out of the run, so far no more losses.

So I’ve slowly brought these girls up and into chicken tractors, been treating the lice, SLM, and various reproductive issues in the older hens, the prolapse and crop issues are in those “new” layers. Key point is: NO ONE THERE WANTS TO DEAL WITH CARING FOR THE CHICKENS! Literally, as in it has been said out loud, “chickens are disgusting” “I hate chickens, but eggs are too expensive”. So... I’ve been buying all the feed, caring for the birds and bringing them all their eggs, nicely cleaned, with no compensation. Andrew and I have barely been eating eggs (just the damaged ones) mostly because our kitchen situation sucks, and I’m always sold out at the market now.

So good news is I’ve finally been given permission to treat the remaining 3 SLM girls in the coop of doom chemically to deal with the mites. The girls have all been on a 50/50 layer/whole wheat mix, not enough protein for their molt, and they are tiny 2-3lbs mostly with patchy feathers and have troubles eating due to their beaks. They could only buy the red chickens (real chickens, not my fancy pretend chickens I hatched with their weird colored eggs) last year because they are $17 and other breeds are too expensive, so that’s what I’ve rescued from them. And, you all know how I’m trying to start a DP sustainable meat breeding program (2lb layers are not a great place to start!)?

Well they “have” to have chickens down at the farm by the house, because “that’s where they have always been”. They went out and bought six more chickens! Nice chunky, I don’t exactly know what breed, maybe bifielder (spelling!) crosses. They are large, healthy, barred, with crests, and not de-beaked! Would be great to breed with, except of course for their “no roosters near the house because they are mean and loud” rule and the we have to have chickens here even though no one wants to actually care for them. Oh and BTW, they paid $25 each for them (really a great deal) regular price is $45, but the sellers (just like the Farm Owners here) are leaving for a vacation and need to move out their stock.

Thanks for listening and sorry for the rant... it just makes me so angry and frustrated. Basically Don’t get chickens unless you actually want them and are prepared to care for them! And they need food and water, and put up for the night, and let out in the morning every day. It isn’t fair to lock them up in a dark filthy mite infested coop their whole lives where they never see daylight or grass.

 

[Kris5902]

Was thinking the same.

Well, as an old drafter, all those details are necessary to build the house
But, yeah, it's hard to look at if you only want to see the floor plan.

Yep, but the building plans are also on huge sheets of paper, and have even more fun details... I was just wanting to share the floor plan, but that was the only pdf copy I seem to have on my phone now. It’s a little “Busy” looking. I had simpler ones saved on my last phone, but they didn’t transfer over.

 

[BY Bob]

I’m going to go on yet another little rant here. I am quite annoyed. Last year when we picked up replacement layers, as the farm chickens were dropping like flies, we were sent to this farm up island on Vancouver Island, for ten birds. We were told to buy 8 hy-line reds and that I could pick out two “heritage” breeds which actually turned out to be a selection of less high production hybrids. The chickens all had horribly trimmed beaks, but were otherwise in decent condition.

Well the outdoor coop/mud pit wasn’t secure, chainlink doesn’t stop a raccoon from reaching in and tearing a head off, and we lost one of the two Columbian Rocks. No plans to fix the issue, and it had happened the previous fall as well with one of the red layers that were in there, prompting them to be moved to inside the coop of doom. Armed with my newfound chicken knowledge from this site I bought a roll of hardware cloth and proceeded to wrap the heck out of the run, so far no more losses.

So I’ve slowly brought these girls up and into chicken tractors, been treating the lice, SLM, and various reproductive issues in the older hens, the prolapse and crop issues are in those “new” layers. Key point is: NO ONE THERE WANTS TO DEAL WITH CARING FOR THE CHICKENS! Literally, as in it has been said out loud, “chickens are disgusting” “I hate chickens, but eggs are too expensive”. So... I’ve been buying all the feed, caring for the birds and bringing them all their eggs, nicely cleaned, with no compensation. Andrew and I have barely been eating eggs (just the damaged ones) mostly because our kitchen situation sucks, and I’m always sold out at the market now.

So good news is I’ve finally been given permission to treat the remaining 3 SLM girls in the coop of doom chemically to deal with the mites. The girls have all been on a 50/50 layer/whole wheat mix, not enough protein for their molt, and they are tiny 2-3lbs mostly with patchy feathers and have troubles eating due to their beaks. They could only buy the red chickens (real chickens, not my fancy pretend chickens I hatched with their weird colored eggs) last year because they are $17 and other breeds are too expensive, so that’s what I’ve rescued from them. And, you all know how I’m trying to start a DP sustainable meat breeding program (2lb layers are not a great place to start!)?

Well they “have” to have chickens down at the farm by the house, because “that’s where they have always been”. They went out and bought six more chickens! Nice chunky, I don’t exactly know what breed, maybe bifielder (spelling!) crosses. They are large, healthy, barred, with crests, and not de-beaked! Would be great to breed with, except of course for their “no roosters near the house because they are mean and loud” rule and the we have to have chickens here even though no one wants to actually care for them. Oh and BTW, they paid $25 each for them (really a great deal) regular price is $45, but the sellers (just like the Farm Owners here) are leaving for a vacation and need to move out their stock.

Thanks for listening and sorry for the rant... it just makes me so angry and frustrated. Basically Don’t get chickens unless you actually want them and are prepared to care for them! And they need food and water, and put up for the night, and let out in the morning every day. It isn’t fair to lock them up in a dark filthy mite infested coop their whole lives where they never see daylight or grass.

This just makes me want to cry. I feel so bad for them. Poor babies.

 

[rjohns39]

So sorry Kris

 

[Kris5902]

I’m just hoping they listen to me, build a new coop with a run where the crummy trailer is getting removed from, and treat these birds better. Maybe one day I’ll have more say in it, but there’s no pressing it now. More Family Dama C***

 

[rjohns39]

Unfortunately, I'm way too well versed in family drama. Just know we're here for you