NY chicken lover!!!!

[Framac]

Good morning all, hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend!!

About a month ago I wrote a note saying that I could be getting a free cabinet incubator. We yesterday I finally had a chance to go see it. My wife told me that it was 80 egg, which from my perspective, is a perfect number for what I want to do. So the very nice older gentleman tells me as we are going into his cellar, that he hasn't used it in 30 years, but it was working. I might need to bring some tools back with me to get it out,..... what....

After seeing it, I unfortunately can not take it. It was not anything like I was expecting. It was 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 3 feet deep (all approximates). It can split into to parts, but my estimation is that it hold 800 eggs. Someone missed a zero. While it would be awesome to have if I could get working, even 400 eggs is a lot for little old me, and is big time over kill.

I will continue with my 2 styrobators for a while.

I did some moving around on the weekend. Thankfully, the 2 broody mommas (one with 3 chicks and the other with 1) are getting along nicely in the 10X10 stall.

Framac

 

[marquisella]

My first raised bed...using old wood from riding arena. We made 3 more so I have 4 beds, 4 x 8 ft. now. I hope it helps not havinng to bend over so much, I'll scoot around on my little garden cart/stool.

Still will be planting tomatoes & corn right in the ground but will rototill around them for weed control.

 

[In His Service]

Good morning all, hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend!!

About a month ago I wrote a note saying that I could be getting a free cabinet incubator. We yesterday I finally had a chance to go see it. My wife told me that it was 80 egg, which from my perspective, is a perfect number for what I want to do. So the very nice older gentleman tells me as we are going into his cellar, that he hasn't used it in 30 years, but it was working. I might need to bring some tools back with me to get it out,..... what....

After seeing it, I unfortunately can not take it. It was not anything like I was expecting. It was 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 3 feet deep (all approximates). It can split into to parts, but my estimation is that it hold 800 eggs. Someone missed a zero. While it would be awesome to have if I could get working, even 400 eggs is a lot for little old me, and is big time over kill.

I will continue with my 2 styrobators for a while.

I did some moving around on the weekend. Thankfully, the 2 broody mommas (one with 3 chicks and the other with 1) are getting along nicely in the 10X10 stall.

Framac

 

[In His Service]

My first raised bed...using old wood from riding arena. We made 3 more so I have 4 beds, 4 x 8 ft. now. I hope it helps not havinng to bend over so much, I'll scoot around on my little garden cart/stool.

Still will be planting tomatoes & corn right in the ground but will rototill around them for weed control.

Nice! My DD and I made our first 2 "raised beds". They are only one landscaping timber high now (DH took all my boards and used them to stack wood on

) Hopefully next year they will be more raised as I plan to add to the sides and incorporate this years' compost

 

[Henicillin]

After seeing it, I unfortunately can not take it. It was not anything like I was expecting. It was 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 3 feet deep (all approximates). It can split into to parts, but my estimation is that it hold 800 eggs. Someone missed a zero. While it would be awesome to have if I could get working, even 400 eggs is a lot for little old me, and is big time over kill.

Good grief - I'm cringing at the thought of the feed bill for eight hundred chickens!

I processed my first bird this morning. It was my alpha rooster, believe it or not. Over the past couple of months, he had been becoming more and more aggressive when he wanted to mate. He was getting to the point where he rarely courted the hens - instead, he'd just walk up to or run up behind them and mount them. If they resisted, he'd bite their combs, drag them to the ground even if they were trying to escape and were shrieking, peck them in punishment, and then force them to mate. It was quite a behavioral change, as he was gentlemanly and courtly up until a couple of months ago. He made the errors of trying to force my broody mama Gladys to mate and of going after one of the Peeps yesterday evening, which sealed his fate.

We had been considering processing him anyway, as, on top of taking a page out of the late, not-in-the-least-lamented Chester the Molester's book, he was becoming a nuisance crower to the point that even my neighbors commented on it, and was starting to challenge Alan. The deed is now done, and he'll be visiting Camp Stock Pot in a few days, when it's cooler out. It went well - I'm pleased with the outcome. My birds don't free-range unless we're right there with them, so we don't need flock protectors so much as fertilizers, and Captain Morgan can handle that on his own. Plus, the girls won't have to put up with the brothers tag-team mating them anymore, so they'll be much happier.

 

[marquisella]

Nice! My DD and I made our first 2 "raised beds". They are only one landscaping timber high now (DH took all my boards and used them to stack wood on

) Hopefully next year they will be more raised as I plan to add to the sides and incorporate this years' compost

To make this chicken related, This way, if I let my chicks out to roam, they won't be digging up my plants....I'm worried though that because they are up high, they will dry out faster than my "ground" garden and need to be watered more often...\

Tim, is watering an issue with raised beds?

 

[java girl 2]

Good morning all, hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend!!

About a month ago I wrote a note saying that I could be getting a free cabinet incubator. We yesterday I finally had a chance to go see it. My wife told me that it was 80 egg, which from my perspective, is a perfect number for what I want to do. So the very nice older gentleman tells me as we are going into his cellar, that he hasn't used it in 30 years, but it was working. I might need to bring some tools back with me to get it out,..... what....

After seeing it, I unfortunately can not take it. It was not anything like I was expecting. It was 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 3 feet deep (all approximates). It can split into to parts, but my estimation is that it hold 800 eggs. Someone missed a zero. While it would be awesome to have if I could get working, even 400 eggs is a lot for little old me, and is big time over kill.

I will continue with my 2 styrobators for a while.

I did some moving around on the weekend. Thankfully, the 2 broody mommas (one with 3 chicks and the other with 1) are getting along nicely in the 10X10 stall.

Framac

oh man, 800 eggs?!?!?!?!

man I wish I know where this guy lives, I could take it!!!!

 

[Aria]

Your new coop is beautiful. AND all the Silkie Chicks. You are Blessed.
We lost one of our light Buff Silkie. We think it was old age.

Looking forward to some new Silkies. Regards, Aria

 

[featherz]

I think my DH would fall over dead if I suggested I'd be incubating 800 eggs!! That said, I'd probably take that incubator anyways if someone offered it to me. I could probably handle 100 eggs.. maybe.. but only if I had buyers or friends that needed chicks.

My chickens are all surviving the heat so far, but my pullet coop is NOT happy with me. They are on lockdown after they had two predator losses in one day (two OE pullets /sniff), so to keep them cool I hung shadecloth and cut a huge hole in the coop door, covered it with hardware cloth and put in an extra exhaust fan. Plus they get watermelon, frozen bottles, etc. I've let out the other chickens mostly because they are more predator savvy and have SOME sort of warning system (rooster, broody mama, etc). I think my predator was most likely a pair of hawks, as we had several out and about that day, but the chickens with the good roo and the broody mamas didn't lose any, just the pullet group that tends to wander around aimlessly.

The pullet coop does have a rooster, but he hasn't realized he's a boy yet.

Also have my easter chicks, still doing well in a growout coop with a fan. They are only 8ish weeks old and seem just fine with the heat.

 

[Henicillin]

At this rate of heat and humidity, we'll be collecting hard-boiled eggs from the nests!