New plan! (LOTS O PICS, adding them as I go)

[WhySayWhat]

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I've been looking at basket weaving sites and yikes (!), supplies can get spendy once I start ordering "a little bit if this, some of that, and a few kits"! They do sell kits for that particualr design for about $20, I saw one as low as $11. I think I'm gonna have to land a job first, but I'll be ordering supplies in the nearish future for sure! The reed itself though is fairly cheap, I saw one place selling it for $3-5 a pound (which is about 400')! Of course, a 10-12" basket requires 1 pound...but I hardly think I used half that for the basket I made today! The instructor opened one roll and we made 7 baskets out of it! It could have been a larger roll though... Anywho, if I can't talk my other half into the kits...I'll be ordering hoops & reeds to make at least 5 of those baskets this summer (Christmas presents for the family)! I may even gat creative and get some dye to add a little color!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I've been looking at basket weaving sites and yikes (!), supplies can get spendy once I start ordering "a little bit if this, some of that, and a few kits"! They do sell kits for that particualr design for about $20, I saw one as low as $11. I think I'm gonna have to land a job first, but I'll be ordering supplies in the nearish future for sure! The reed itself though is fairly cheap, I saw one place selling it for $3-5 a pound (which is about 400')! Of course, a 10-12" basket requires 1 pound...but I hardly think I used half that for the basket I made today! The instructor opened one roll and we made 7 baskets out of it! It could have been a larger roll though... Anywho, if I can't talk my other half into the kits...I'll be ordering hoops & reeds to make at least 5 of those baskets this summer (Christmas presents for the family)! I may even gat creative and get some dye to add a little color!

Look on Ebay too. I am into beading and horse equipment. Both I have found at a fraction of the cost. Plus raw materials for hundreds of projects. Keep looking and good luck

 

[WhySayWhat]

No Ebay for me...I refuse to use PayPal. They have some very nasty policies that do not protect the buyer! I am going to check Hobby Lobby this weekend though...the instructor hadn't looked there.

 

[perchie.girl]

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LOL I do cash on Ebay. Money order... only. Of course I contact the person directly first to see if they will take a money order.

 

[WhySayWhat]

Not the coop...but I did get my brooder lid done today! It doesn't fit perfect, but since I did the whole thing sitting on my couch using a rotary tool (off brand Dremel) and the hand saw to cut all the pieces...I think it looks awesome, lol. As luck would have it, the width of my brooder was exactly 1" less then the 2' hardware cloth I have (bonus!), so the long sides only have one square bent up and secured, but it feels strong and has withstanded the 20 pound cat test! He wanted to see what I was doing, lol. It sits with the hardware cloth taking the weight of the frame for the most part, but, on the short sides, it is a very tight fit, so it kind of squeezes there and also sits on top of the latches that latch the lid on at the halndles with the normal plastic lid.

The front edge (on the left in the picture above) has a second board on the long side, it is helping to strengthen the frame and connects all three other boards a little more securely. Also, on this side, the hardware cloth is nailed between the two boards. The other three sides however, I ended up drilling holes every inch or so and laced the hardware cloth on with the wrap of galvanized steel that came around the hardware cloth (binding it together). Talk about recycling, lol.

The back side is about 3/4 of an inch different in height due to the way things got nailed together (I can sit another piece of 1x2 to make it square, but I only had about 12" left), it was a little difficult at the corners to make the adjustment. That's why the corner looks "funky"...also, the weave on the hardware cloth gave out in that corner! So, I had to hide some "open ends" there too. The first picture is a good view of the lacing with the steel wire, the secon is the other side of the same board.

I brought the temp. gauge that will be in with the chicks into the house this evening (been using it to monitor outside temps & make sure it's fairly accurate) and once it comes to "room temp", I'll get the brooder all set up and ready for a test run. I don't have pine shavings yet, but since I plan to start them on paper towels anyway for a few days, I'll get that in there with a full waterer and empty feed dish (no feed yet). That way I can make sure I'm not going to cook them with the 250w or 100w red bulbs I have! I think I still need to figure a way of suspending the heat lamp, but want to check to see how far away it will end up needing to be! But, that's tommorow's task.

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

Now that looks really good. Just a couple of suggestions ~ First, save yourself some time and put down several layers of the paper towels now, so you can just lift them up one layer at a time until you are ready for the chips. Second, since your brooder is red, you may not want to use a red heat light. I think that may be too much red for their eyes to handle. I would probably go with a white or yellow light.

I ventured out to TSC today and I got 3 new baby chicks. They said they were barred rocks, however, they are not. So now I'm trying to figure out what I got. I think maybe Black Australorps.

They also had baby Ducklings!! I oooh'ed and aaawww'ed and smiled at the hubby and we came home with 3 of them. They are soooo cute!! Not sure what they are, but I think they are the "Aflac" ducks.

 

[WhySayWhat]

I'd love some waterfowl...or peafowl even! But that will have to wait until I can convince the other half that we need to live on a "farm property" where I don't have to worry about ticking off the neighbors or violating any city ordinaces, lol. I was a little worried about the red light myself, and I do have 100w "regular" bulbs on hand just in case I need them. I read on another thread a while back that the 100w ones weren't being made/sold anymore, so I rushed out and bought 4 boxes of them! I was at Wal-Mart the other day and all they had was CFLs.

Those don't produce enough, if any, heat! If they need the 250w bulb, they're stuck with the red one...I got yelled at for buyint the 100w red one, lol. It was on clearance at Home Depot for $1.90 though!

Tonight's expedition was to get baking supplies...I needed Erythritol and have been having the hardest time finding it! I'm looking for "Organic Zero" sweetener, it's pure Erythritol, but have yet to find it! I really want to try this cookie recipe though (sugar free, low carb, gluten free - Thin Mints!) so I settled on "Stevia in the Raw". It's mostly Erythritol, but has Maltodextrin in it to add "bulk"...here's hoping it turns out! I also found (finally) metal, or rather foil, cupcake liners! I need those for an individual cheesecake recipe (also SF & LC...I assume GF as well since it's basically cream cheese and eggs...)! I thought I had found some mini liners a few weeks ago, but the inside had a layer of paper adhered to them.

These don't though!

Tommorow I'll be temp testing and baking....woot! Oh, and my doctor is finally on board with the LC way of eating! SHe was really impressed that as a type 1 diabetic, that Icould go days on end without needing fast acting insulin! I do take a long acting insulin twice a day every day...but I manage my blood sugars primarily with food/excercise (mostly food) like any other "normal" person. I have also lost a good chunk of weight (not as much as I think I should be...but I don't drink nearly enough water)!

Okay..back to the coop...soon, lol.

 

[WhySayWhat]

Brooder is set up! I decided on my laundry room to utilize some of the heat already being produced and it fits just inside the door there, lol. Also, there was a hook hanging there so I could easily hang my brooder light! Anywho, I took a few pictures when I first started, but that setup didn't work too well, only got it to about 75 degrees. So, I flipped the whole box around and wiggled the extension cord around and got the lamp positioned about 1/2 an inch from the top of the brooder. Now, the temp is sitting at 81 degrees! This is all with the 250w bulb, I don't dare switch to the 100w do I? I guess I'll have to wait until there's actual chickies in there to really tell where the heat needs to be at...but with all the comments on this forum about the temp "needing to be 95" for the first week...I'm a little worried about how to raise the temp in there! I have a heating pad I could put under one end...but I'd rather not.

Both pictures were taken "as is" with the red bulb on and the room light off...it doesn't look "too red" to me...

I also got a pound of bacon cooked and a batch of tomatoes "candied" this morning! This afternoon calls for Chocolate Custard....tommorow qill be cookies &/or cheesecake, I plan to get all three tried this weekend, lol.

 

[ruthless]

WHy, you could switch to 75 or 100 watt and set the light on top of the wire top of the brooder for the first week or two. Check that temp.

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

I have my heat light sitting on top of my brooder (cage) and I don't have an accurate temp in there. I don't have a thermometer to put in there. Anyway, I have it positioned in one corner, and that corner contains most of the heat. I don't think its 95 deg in there. It's nice and warm though. A sure fire way to tell your temp is to hot or cold is this.

To Hot ~ the chicks will stay away from that corner.
To Cold ~ the chicks will stay in that corner most of the time, only leaving to eat or drink, then right back.

Mine go everywhere in the cage.