Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Kris5902]

Our wind arrived here last night. It managed to blow open my shed doors and started them banging very early this morning. I was almost knocked over several times on my way out to close and relatch them. I can only imagine how bad it was there.

Here's hoping that pour comes soon before the arctic air does. Can you clear up something for me? Are you intending to build walls in your new house and then tear them back out in order to keep your FIL happy? Did I read that right?

@Kris5902 Instead of completely knocking out walls, couldn't you put something like a big window sill there without the glass? Like a big board or counter top? That way the air could flow through, or you could even set fan's on it in the summer when it get's hot for you.

They are small unnecessary walls that will restrict airflow, none of the primary room walls will need to be removed. And yes, I plan on putting in lots of big grated ventilation holes with louvred openings... I don’t really need any pass through window type ones, as most of the main floor is open. I’m researching it more fully right now but there are several obvious ones I know I’m taking out.

Because we went “fast” and “economical” with a simple panelized design (all our exterior walls are pre framed and sheathed) we made some small alterations to the original design (garage became a main floor master bedroom with en-suite) but we didn’t go into a full redesign on the interior walls because we didn’t want to fork out a few extra thousand to make any big adjustments. We just made a few small necessary changes to the upstairs master bedroom closet and en-suite to accommodate our chimney.

I’m going to see how things go with the building inspector, maybe we can make some of the smaller adjustments to the plans. But they really like to send you to (expensive) engineers. Andrew and I can handle all the interior framing for the second floor, and hopefully the first floor as well, so it’s not FIL I’m trying to appease this time, it’s the duh, duh, duuumb building department bureaucracy it will probably be easier to build it exactly to specs then renovate once they are gone!

 

[Kris5902]

As to My Chickens:

This morning I took my phone out with me to capture some of the destruction, but had my hands full of ice water and chickens and just figured i’d Get it over with. Yes, you read that right, Ice water... I’m thinking mostly due to the wind, but my waterers all iced up, the ground is slightly frozen, and none of the chickens were impressed at having the nest boxes removed.

The big downside to the tractors is the occasional drafts and tarp damages in high winds, and not enough room for both the feeders and the nest boxes inside. As they are more meant to be 3 season breeding pens, I’m ok with fudging things a little until we get the house up, inspectors gone, and can move onto a woodshed and large, permanent walk in coop/s.

The trailer interior is holding steady at 12 Celsius, about 54 Fahrenheit with the propane heater, but I still expect to run short on propane before the next fill up day (Tuesday). Oddly enough the ridiculous winds seem to have dried things out a lot and I’m not dealing with any humidity issues inside. The barn is at 2C/36F, and I imagine that the true outside temperature is somewhere around 0 to -1C. I let Sammy and the girls out to free range before I noticed the frozen waterers. All the girls favorite drinking puddles (why drink from a nice clean waterer when there’s a nasty mud puddle available?) had dried up as well.

As I was gathering my weapons to attack the tarp situations, I noticed Hoppy was standing on her good leg with her limpy foot held up flamingo style. It was shaking, and she was shivering. It’s now a “barn day” for the rehab girls, and I’m going to see what I can rig up for them light wise to make it a little brighter in there. Hoppy was scooped up after I lured everyone back into the barn with some scratch, and brought into “the big human coop” for a quick once over. There’s nothing visibly wrong with her, so I’m guessing it’s just a case of weather sensitive healed up broken bones. She got a good go at the mealworm tray and was returned to the barn in a somewhat better mood.

I’ll be cooking up some eggs with berry flavored tums for everyone in there a bit later. I had to “borrow” some feed from the farm to get through until we can go to town on Monday (with mom’s pension cheque), so its the lower protein brand they don’t like of layer pellets and about 70% whole wheat berries . For everyone except the ten chicks, who still have grower crumbles. I told Andrew, if he has to, we can always play the “I’m rehabilitating your Sick chickens, and have been feeding and caring for, on average, 12 of them since March with no compensation, or even eggs” card. Yes, I bought my hatching eggs off the Farm, for Chickie Hawk’s offspring, as well as feeding and caring for the girls.

I will also be checking up on the 6 Farm chickens when I get down to do a load of laundry and dig up some more potatoes this afternoon as well. They went into a molt and stopped laying, so people have stopped checking on them daily. “Well, there aren’t any eggs to collect (they couldn’t figure out why and thought rats were getting them!) so we don’t really have to check their feed and water” If they could free range and weren’t trapped in a 4x8’ mud/poop pit I would be a little less worried about them. At least the ground/poop will hopefully be a little more solid now?

 

[Ribh]

As to My Chickens:
I will also be checking up on the 6 Farm chickens when I get down to do a load of laundry and dig up some more potatoes this afternoon as well. They went into a molt and stopped laying, so people have stopped checking on them daily. “Well, there aren’t any eggs to collect (they couldn’t figure out why and thought rats were getting them!) so we don’t really have to check their feed and water” If they could free range and weren’t trapped in a 4x8’ mud/poop pit I would be a little less worried about them. At least the ground/poop will hopefully be a little more solid now?

I really, really don't understand this mindset. Caring for any animal in unpleasant surroundings isn't fun so why not clean it up & make it a more pleasant environment both for you & the chickens? My run is a really pleasant place to sit & spend time with the girls. It never stinks. The litter is about 6" deep on the downhill side & I am working on getting it more than one leaf deep on the upside. It's not a super big space but they have logs & dead bushes to roost on, big trees for shelter & the old coop to investigate. They can dust bath either in the run or the coop's sand pit & 24/7 access to food & water. Neither space ever gets really mucky unless for some reason I'm away from home & honestly, the chickens appreciate a clean coop! Mine make happy clucky noises when they see me doing their clean & can't wait to get in to help!

 

[Kris5902]

Here’s some drafts of the minor changes. The way it works is based on the principal of hot air rises and cold air falls. So to heat the second level, we will have large floor registers ducted to the rooms below or grated vents ducted through the walls in places. A “cold air drop” will also be in the floor, a large grated vent but it will be ducted through the walls to the floor level of the main floor. This increases the natural air circulation by exploiting the convection currents of the warm air. The cold air drops will be located opposite from the warm air circulation vents as best as possible. I will use the louvred vents or put in some sort of damper system so we can close off the less used rooms on the second story.

The whole laundry/ hot water tank area will get a revamp. What’s flummoxing me a bit is that one load bearing post in the wall. This is where a giant window like opening is most likely, right behind the woodstove. We will be running the hot water from the wood stove, so copper piping to a hot water tank will be needed. I toyed with the thought of having one of my uncles put in a whole house hot water radiator system... but I doubt that’s going to be practical after having worked with the building depart this far.

We will be eliminating the foyer (mud room!) closet, moving the library (“den”) door. And changing the walk in closet door to the living room side. Really? An 11x12’ “den” with a huge walk in closet? I’m thinking more useful access to stored things (probably Christmas decor or canned foods) from the living room corner.

Another frustration is the lack of dedicated food storage space. But as I said there’s going to be a deck off the dining room now (*Thanks* FIL) And I can probably work something out there, wait-for-the-magic-phrase.... when the building department and FIL are out of my hair! Must maintain sense of humor, or I will go crazy with all this nonsense!

 

[Kris5902]

I have one more little rant, not chicken related, or house related, or even FIL related. You may want to skip this one, I’m still fuming and it’s been almost a week. Trophy Hunters

Andrew and I were sitting having coffee in the late morning, and we heard gunfire. Ok, FIL taking down a deer? The cold room is full of lambs and cows, so I don’t know where he thinks he’s going to hang it. Maybe a hunter we weren’t told about? We are “bad people” and now out of the info loop. A Second shot... nope goats (they are smarter and harder to hit) Third shot??? WTH? Fourth, fifth, up to seventh and eight rapid shots. Should we go investigate? He’s usually not that bad a shot. Is he trying to take out the whole herd or something? No better to just lie low and wait it out.

There were hikers in the parkland bordering our property, they fled back the way they came and contacted parks. A Parks Officer was also on parks property on the ridge above us, and agrees with our assment that the shots were definitely fired west of our trailer, which is why we thought “FIL apparently can’t hit the broadside of a barn anymore?” They came out the next day and found headless goats dumped out by the bay. It is assumed the criminals came in by boat. They removed the bodies and took DNA samples. All local Taxidermists are being required to submit DNA samples of their clients animals for comparison. It is illegal to hunt on Parkland, or carry a weapon through it, or trespass on private property to hunt/discharge a weapon. If they find them,(and I really HOPE they do!) the people responsible will be prosecuted.

I HATE trophy hunters. This, and uncontrolled dogs, is why I get so upset about trespassing. If you’re going to shoot it, be prepared to eat it... I’m not against hunting (venison pasta sauce for dinner tonight, again!) just the wasteful Disrespectful of the animal, no-good Trophy hunters, and people who don’t wait for a clean shot and just injure rather than kill the animal. Shoot at inanimate targets until you know you’re able to do it right.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Kris5902 If they cared about law's or properly taking down an animal, they wouldn't be out there poaching in the first place.

 

[Kris5902]

@Kris5902 If they cared about law's or properly taking down an animal, they wouldn't be out there poaching in the first place.

Oh, I know... I’m just mentioning some of the charges that they will face when they are caught... I would hope they get some jail time as well as hefty fines. The only exception to the laws regarding hunting in parks is for First Nations. And specifically hunting for meat, trophy hunting is not included in it.

 

[drumstick diva]

I didn't know that about First Nations, I wonder if it is the same here (USA)

 

[aart]

They came out the next day and found headless goats dumped out by the bay.

They take heads for mounting!?
What kind of goats?

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris