Nevadans?

[vegaschick]

I got 2 leghorns from a supply store so obviously a hatchery, Privet I think, and one was a bit flighty while the other is a total and complete dear! She always comes over to me and stands at my feet until I give her some love and attention. So, I guess my two experiences kind of cancel each other out. Although the other hen could be touched she just wasn't into it, so really she was more shy than flighty.She died this summer so that's why I speak in the past tense regarding her. I really think it all depends on how much they're handled as chicks.

 

[SunnyDawn]

I got 2 leghorns from a supply store so obviously a hatchery, Privet I think, and one was a bit flighty while the other is a total and complete dear! She always comes over to me and stands at my feet until I give her some love and attention. So, I guess my two experiences kind of cancel each other out. Although the other hen could be touched she just wasn't into it, so really she was more shy than flighty.She died this summer so that's why I speak in the past tense regarding her. I really think it all depends on how much they're handled as chicks.

I don't mind shy hens at all. In fact Genny has my friendliest hen ever. She was such an attention hog she kept tripping me when I was trying to get work done. lol

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Sunny youre getting polish? that really surprises me, haha. I wouldnt mind ordering some from pam too. Ive got a beautiful pair of silkie pullets coming from the show...a white and a splash. Im thinking...silkie feathered polish!

Elizabeth the run and coop look fabulous!

So yesterday the goaties went to their new home. It was a really pleasant trip. I had never been to grass valley before but i think id like to plan to go there again this spring, it was amazing. Anywho...their new owners were REALLY nice and will have more time to spend with them than i did. I am anxiously awaiting the e-mail letting me know how the introduction to their goat went. hopefully it was a smooth transition. Ive got to say, it was REALLY nice not being awoken by the goats frantically running up and down the deck at 7 am. shoot i even slept through Gilbert's weird little crowing.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Sunny, my husband would like a white-crested black polish, and I was just going to tag one onto my hatchery order. But I would be interested in a chick or two, if you have a better source.

Aubrey, so glad your goats found a home! I've never been to Grass Valley either, but that's where I'll be picking up my hatch of lavender/wheaten/blue wheaten chicks at the end of February. I wonder if it's with the same person.

 

[sherylreno]

everone!

I'm sad today after hearing about the chicken coop fire last night in Panther Valley, I'm praying for them. They lost their whole flock in the fire. I don't know if it's one of us or not but my heart is going out to them.

Missy I don't think Wyandottes will be what you want right now. If I recall properly and of course I don't always but I do recall you need birds that won't fight. Wyandottes are supposed to be docile but I don't find that in my 3 Wyandottes. There is a Wyandotte thread on here perhaps talk to them first. My runt was pretty aggresive for a bit and didn't settle down until she went broody so now she's very docile to everyone in the flock. My other 2 are a hit and miss. Sylvia is the boss of everything and she makes sure everyone in the flock knows it. The only one who won't let her boss them are 2 of the older ones from Sunny, Monique and Sundae. Wynonna is in the middle of the whole pecking order thingy. I would find a breeder who specializes in this breed and make sure they have them very docile before you purchase them.

Perhaps Elizabeth could let us know how her Wyandottes are doing?

 

[Penturner]

This is our rocket mass heater so far. we have built and torn down and rebuilt this one 3 times so far and are going to have to do it again. We get better at making them each time we rebuild it. It works we just want it to work better.



This is just the burn box, heat riser and the transition to the duct work. we can then attach as much as 30 feet of additional duct that would run through the mass. So far the dirt you see surrounding this one is just plain old dirt from our back yard mixed half and half with sand. it sets up like concrete but is not as water proof.

As far as the mass itself, we have actually had several ideas. W are talking about building one as a heated bench for our patio. in that case we would want the heat riser (barrel to be surrounded in the earth concrete (cobb) as well. I have also thought of building a small one for my wood shop that the burn box woudl be outside but the barrel and any duct is inside the shop. this would be much more of a radiant type heater and the barrel would be exposed like it is in the photo. We are also thinking of designs for heating the house. my most creative design for that so far is a burn box outside with the duct running under our kitchen floor. we have a concrete slab floor. and in effect the kitchen floor becomes the heat mass. again in that case the heat riser woudl be insulated to the teeth because we woudl want as much heat as possible going to the kitchen floor. How they are designed is limitless and all that is required is some basic knowledge of where and how you want the heat. Do you want a warm bench to set on or warm air to live in or a little of both. You want to experiment until you get your design working the way you want it. then build it exactly the same way in it's final location. We are still trying to get the draft through the burn box as strong as possible. We have since learned that closing it up on the top more helps. our heat riser is also to short for the height of the burn box by just a little bit. In short we want the barrel to be taller. not a big deal we just make the stack of bricks it is setting on taller.

It makes a lot of heat from very little wood. notice the pile of sticks in the lower right corner. that is firewood. two fist fulls of that will burn the heater for an hour or more. it will smolder and still produce heat for 1 or 2 more hours after that and the mass will hold that heat for 24 hours or more. probably more. In short you are not wasting any of the heat from the burning wood. It is all going into your mass and keeping it warm. or radiating into the air from the heat riser.

P.S I just got yelled at for not posting the picture showing the heater from the other end. so here it is.


If any of you are interested in learning more let me know. We can get together let you poke around my heater and see it actually run etc. They are not hard to build they just have to be right.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Hi all! Pam is having me do a mixed hatch for her in a couple of weeks so I'm not sure what I'll have in there color wise. I can certainly check with her to see what she has hatching as well.

Aubrey the Polish are for Steve and it is all your fault!

He is crazy about those little "mop heads". He reads over my shoulder sometimes when I am on BYC and always makes a comment when we see one. I'm slow sometimes but eventually it dawned on me that these comments were too frequent. "You want some polish don't you?" I said the other day. His response was "I wouldn't mind a few of these running around". In Steve-speak this translates to "YES! I've been trying to tell you this for weeks!!!" hahaha So we are getting Polish now too and my determination to stick with LF only has gone by the wayside. No telling the slippery slope this latest venture will take us down!

I'll pm Pam and see what else she has available.

Daniel that is way cool! I love the idea of using one to heat the patio! I enjoy my outdoor space more than the indoors and have always wanted a patio heater but they are all so poorly designed. This would be perfect. I'm glad we learned of this now cause we are looking for a house to purchase up here now and I will keep this in mind while looking.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

they do make LF polish too... and so far my little naners has only skipped ONE DAY since she started laying.

Elvis ran outside to play with the goats this morning. Saddest thing i ever did see when he looked around and realized abner wasnt coming to headbutt him he just kind of skullked off into the back of the yard to pee then wandered around a bit. poor little duffer.

Btw yesterday i got 9 eggs from my 11 layers! this is a record number, it is!

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Sunny, my husband would like a white-crested black polish, and I was just going to tag one onto my hatchery order. But I would be interested in a chick or two, if you have a better source.

Aubrey, so glad your goats found a home! I've never been to Grass Valley either, but that's where I'll be picking up my hatch of lavender/wheaten/blue wheaten chicks at the end of February. I wonder if it's with the same person.

good luck! Ive been trying to get some wcb polish forever and EVERY SINGLE ONE i have gotten has been a roo, haha. go figure. if you guys do some kind of order id like to go in on it and do try #4 for a girl, lol. i know pam does not have WCB but i think she has buff laced..

 

[chicharomirinda]

sheryl, I hadn't heard about the coop fire. How sad! I had to change out the bulb in my heat lamp yesterday. It was broken at the socket. The fire is a good reminder to check things frequently.
aubrey, glad you found a home for your goats. I have been out to grass valley before and it is very pretty.

sunny, that's nice steve will get some polish. maybe he will start up a polish breeding program at your place