NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

Yikes $1,200!! Where's the emoticon with bugged out eyes and no smiley face!? I bet something's wrong, either error or broken line somewhere. What's your normal bill?
I don't think I would want to live in town, having your own well may come with possible pump replacement every ten to thirty or more yrs, maybe a pressure tank when you don't have the cash...but no water bill$.
We had to dig our well up last yr, 100 yr old house shallow well, jet pump in cellar. Pressure tank was bad...new one didn't help, bought new pump even though I didn't think it was it, wasn't. Had to dig the well up, buried well, wasn't fun did a lot of it by hand, didn't want to damage anything with my backhoe, only used hoe to dig around it and down so dirt didn't fall in it. . Line was plugged with sediment. Plenty of pressure now with new line, pipes a banging again.

I just happen to think. Our meter needed to be replaced. The same with our gas meter.

We too have a well but are on city water. Considering where the septic and gray well are I'm not surprised. I bet the well water isn't safe to drink.

I wish we were on the sewer line even though our taxes would go up. We have times when the septic doesn't work good and the toilet won't flush. We have to use just the right toilet paper. Not all septic safe paper works the same.

 

[rancher hicks]

Nope! I had some friends asking the same. They come in post card form. I was mortified when the poor mailman said he was delivering bad news. Hahaha We meet with the town board this week. It figures I have to sit on this all weekend. I'd like to just let it go and know that it will all work out but it certainly scares me. We have a 4 year old and we're foster parents. What's more important water or heat at this point?!

I can't say we've ever had this happen before. Hopefully it will come together. We have our past bills and we've only used 10k gallons with all our past bills. My neighbor uses more 13k gallons and there are just two of them. We don't drink the water or cook with it here so we use less. When they told us to learn how to conserve water I wanted to tell them a thing or two. We are pretty good at conserving. For this very reason I'd LOVE to go off the grid. We don't have a whole lot to put into the initial costs though. A little bit at a time I think you mentioned with the chicken coops. A bit of wisdom in all things really. Thank you for your kindness!

As I recall when I delivered the bills it was a pain to case/sort them to the route. Since there were a lot of rentals some bill were in the thousands. The city even shut some folks off. Here were we are not they come in an envelope.

 

[rancher hicks]

Our farm is over 100 years old. The first year we had to redo the roof the next it was the clothe coated electric line into the house (breaker didn't trip but melted in the box), the fall after that the line between the well and house sprung a leak and then the pump went bad 6 months later. Fixing and face lifting have since been a small step at a time, you never know what you will find once you start.

When we filled out our W2's we'd claim zero even with four kids. That way when we did our taxes we'd get a larger return and use it to fix the house up. One year we did the roof, another the furnace.

We still file that way even without kids because there is always maintenance on the house. We got a new furnace year before last. I got tired of it quiting and then having to get it fixed. I couldn't take the funny sound and just said let's do it.

We've also replaced a few windows too.

You've got a nice place Tab so I'm sure it's worth it.

Wished we'd lived in the country when we were younger. The kids would have liked it.

 

[Stuffedcritter]

Well had my first attack by believe a skunk (what yard wrecks of ) burrowed under the cage got my best laying lavender orp. Yes this is war I will catch the little --------- in pet friendly trap bated with chicken. Enforcing the bottom of runs with thicker wire bottoms on all the cages and game camera will be setup. 15 years I've never lost an animal to an attack thinking that stray black cat should be caught relocated to my Aunts (crazy cat woman). Does anybody have any small breed laying ducks for sale only need two must be mellow in nature yes I have a bath tub for a pond.

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

Well had my first attack by believe a skunk (what yard wrecks of ) burrowed under the cage got my best laying lavender orp. Yes this is war I will catch the little --------- in pet friendly trap bated with chicken. Enforcing the bottom of runs with thicker wire bottoms on all the cages and game camera will be setup. 15 years I've never lost an animal to an attack thinking that stray black cat should be caught relocated to my Aunts (crazy cat woman). Does anybody have any small breed laying ducks for sale only need two must be mellow in nature yes I have a bath tub for a pond.

Awww, that's too bad! I smelled a skunk the other day too. We have a chain link fence but there are ways they can still get through. We have chicken wire under the ground. I'm concerned about the run door being too easy to pry open so we're getting an extra latch this week. Skunks are so violent to the chickens. A friend of mine lost her whole flock one year and figured out that it was a skunk she ended up catching and killing. She doesn't live in NY though she lives in South Carolina.

 

[Purpletie3]

Well had my first attack by believe a skunk (what yard wrecks of ) burrowed under the cage got my best laying lavender orp. Yes this is war I will catch the little --------- in pet friendly trap bated with chicken. Enforcing the bottom of runs with thicker wire bottoms on all the cages and game camera will be setup. 15 years I've never lost an animal to an attack thinking that stray black cat should be caught relocated to my Aunts (crazy cat woman). Does anybody have any small breed laying ducks for sale only need two must be mellow in nature yes I have a bath tub for a pond.

That sucks! I would be heartbroken too!

 

[Purpletie3]

Our farm is over 100 years old. The first year we had to redo the roof the next it was the clothe coated electric line into the house (breaker didn't trip but melted in the box), the fall after that the line between the well and house sprung a leak and then the pump went bad 6 months later. Fixing and face lifting have since been a small step at a time, you never know what you will find once you start.

...Mine is also. One project = four. You budget 4x the amount because Lord only knows what's behind wall #1

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

When we filled out our W2's we'd claim zero even with four kids. That way when we did our taxes we'd get a larger return and use it to fix the house up. One year we did the roof, another the furnace.

We still file that way even without kids because there is always maintenance on the house. We got a new furnace year before last. I got tired of it quiting and then having to get it fixed. I couldn't take the funny sound and just said let's do it. 

We've also replaced a few windows too. 

You've got a nice place Tab so I'm sure it's worth it.    Wished we'd lived in the country when we were younger. The kids would have liked it.  

We file our taxes that way too. Use it on house and usually wood pellets for the next winter.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Stuffedcritter--Sorry about the skunk attack and losing your chicken. My DH just killed one in our barn a week ago. The stinky boogers.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

All of you with dreaded home repairs have my heart felt sympathy. We purchased 9 acres with a 1980 mobile home and a delapitated garage with a floppy barn 3 years ago. I hate fixing things but even more than that I hated paying someone else's mortgage.