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

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Ooh good idea. That stuff is cheap too.
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Yes, the rubbery type with little holes in it. Perfect for new chicks, even new button quail chicks.........lots of traction and does not stick to their feet like shavings do. I use if for the first 2- 3 weeks and then switch to shavings.
 
Hello WhySayWhat!! I was starting to worry about you. Hadn't heard from ya lately. Seen you in passing on the message boards.
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As for the paper towels/shelf liner v/s pine chips conversation ~ I have always started new chicks out on the pine chips and they have done well. I just have to make sure that I introduce them to the food and water. Then there is no problems. The 3 new chicks I have now are under a week old and are doing great in the pine chips. They are even scratching already to dig for the food that is tossed out of the feeder into the bedding. I have never had a problem with them eating the pine chips.
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However, the ducklings seem to be trying to eat the chips. This is my first go around with the ducklings, so this is a learning experience with them. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the bedding and keeping it dry. They are truly water loving creatures and everything gets wet.
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I can't wait for you to get back to work on your coop. I have been keeping notes on your progress. I need still need to build the rooster's batchelor pad and now a new duck house, pond, and run. I am seriously ready to go get some pallets and start working on it. But I'm trying to hold out to see how yours turns out. I started to order some more more hardwire from CSN until I seen that they are sold out. I guess alot of people are watching and following your forum and saving money in the long run.
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PS ~ PM me for the 15% and 20% savings at CSN.
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AlabamaChickenLady - I can't take the credit for the CSN deal, lol! Another BYC member posted about it and that's where I found out about it! Temps have cooled down a bit since I last looked at the forecast, but it is supposed to be 40 today, so I'm hoping to get out and do a little work anyway. Windy today, so that will make it "interesting" at the very least!
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As for pallets, if anyone is near the Spokane area...I have 6-7 pallets in my garage that I won't be using, lol. I tend to over-prepare for new projects.
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Well, off to drink a few cups of coffee and wait for the sun to get a bit brighter...and warm up the outside a bit.
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Then I have a wall with doors I need to build and a corner to figure out how I'm gonna attach hardwarecloth to!

And hopefully the rain/snow mix they are calling for today and tommorow will stay away long enough for me to get under the deck, lol. I really want to be done building by Friday...supposed to be sunny and 50+! I can paint that day!
 
Yep...still here. Just not getting a whole lot of anything done! This week turned out to e busier than I had planned on it being, lol. My chicks come in on Wednesday...well, they come in Tuesday night, but the feed store closes before they finish "prcoessing the order", so I have to wait until Wednesday.

I got pine shavings (the bag fills a 45-gallon trash can before I cut it open...) and a small bag of Manna Pro medicated chick starter, along with an 8 ox package of electrolytes the other day. I'll be spending part of tommorow figuring out how many grams I need to make 1 gallon of water..the package makes 110 gallons!

Hopefully next week will be a little better, but I did pull a muscle in my shoulder yesterday, so I'm out of commission until that stops being painful too! So far, as long as I don't move too much, I'm getting by on Aleve (though I do take 4 at a time), I'm considering taking something a bit stronger to sleep with tonight...last night was brutal! Teach me to pick up the cat litter container without seeing how much was in it! I thought it was half full, not unopened! 30 lbs of litter....it doesn't sound like much, lol.
 
The best laid plans of mice and men... ...and me!

Tommorow morning my chicks arrive! Technically, they are probably sitting at the post office here in town waiting for some postal worker to get around to calling the feed store (Asllin-Finch says they normally call them around 4pm), it then takes the feed store around an hour to get someone to the PO, and another hour to process the order! Of course, they close at 6pm, so that means no picking them up early! Which is probably a good thing, as I forgot to turn the brooder on yesterday and got it turned on (and rearranged with a new light set up & lower wattage) this morning around 11am. I'm trying a 100w regular incandescent (house) bulb, but after 2.5 hours it has only brought the temp up to 85 degrees. I read in the Raising Chickens for Dummies book that the 95 degree temp doesn't work with the red infrareds, so I was trying this one out in hopes that I wouldn't have to mess with it too much tommorow. I also have a 100w (maybe 150w) red bulb (I think it is also infrared) that I picked up from HD a while back. I may try that one instead in a while. I changed the way the light is being hung as well. I bought 36" "extender chains" in the garden dept. at Fred Meyer's a few months ago to use to hang the large feeder and waterer on this summer (I thought I bought 4, but 2 were small chain hanging pot things). I took one and attatched one end to a plant hook that's in the ceiling and the other end to a large nail sticking out of the rafters about a foot away and at an upward angle, as well as being higher than the hook. I then attached the other chain to the lamp (by the metal loop/hook thing that came with it) with a caribiner ($1 Wal-Mart variety, I have one holding a large planter in my living room too) and with another caribiner on the other end of the chain, I attched it to the chain above. Totally adjustable so I can change it quickly if needed (not sitting on top of the brooder, so no futsing with it any time I need to open the top), and best of all, secure! No worrying if the cord has slipped or the lamp has fallen because the chicks "bumped" the wall!

I still need to add some pine shavings and get "final" pics of the brooder, but I had to come up stairs for another dose of Hydrocodone for the pain in my shoulder...it seems to feel better in the mornings (still very painful, but not as sharp) and gets progressively more painful as the day goes on. I'm guessing because I can't just sit like a lump and doing nothing, but that's just my guess, lol. I have promised my loved ones that I will give in and go to the doctor if it isn't better by Friday...but I have no faith that the dr's would/will find anything I don't already know...I either pulled it, strained it, or tore it, they will of course, yell at me for my pain management (I take 4 500mg Aleve at a time for "normal" pain...I save the 7.5/500 Hydros for the real pains!), they always do...and then refuse to give me anything that really works anyway. I strained a muscle in my foot in August that left me unable to walk for 3 weeks...they told me to just "stay off of it, there's no reason for pain killers"! They obviously don't live in a 2-story home or have pets (thankfully none of my nephews were visiting at the time)!

The shoulder "issue" has left me unable to lug the wood out back to work on the coop this week...I'll be in super-charged "get it done" mode as soon as possible though since the gals will be here by this time tommorow (well, by this time, I'll be at my basket weaving class)! I'll get pics today of the brroder...I'm really hoping I don't have a real need to "perk" any of them up, since I have no sugar in the house...I do have a bottle of Karo I bought when my youngest cat was a kitten (he's 5 now)...he needed an energy boost, and we haven't touched it since, lol. I have to get the other half from the airport in a few hours, maybe I'll con dinner out of him and steal a few packets of sugar from the restaraunt, lol.
 
Nice to hear from ya again. I was just thinking that your chicks will be arriving soon. You will fall instantly in love with them!!
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My post office called at like 8:30 in the morning for us to come pick them up. Hubby went to get them while I
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got the brooder ready and warmed up.

I want to see pics of them!! Be sure to take plenty of pics!!
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