***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[our 5acre farm]

oh well, i will just try to finish it up next weelend

 

[Buster52]

Why'd he get mad? Did he get banned again??

No, he's not banned. Just taking a break for whatever reason. I think we've all done it from time to time.

 

[mjgigax]

Thanks, Joe. How is it in the wind? I was thinking since it was porous it might stand some of our big winds out here better than a solid cover. I have made some very big, nice looking kites with that stuff.

Last summer was when I discovered the turn em loose defense against heat. I kept losing birds to the 110 and 112 days and decided to let them out of their pens to see if they could figure out better defenses than I could. Turns out they could. Didn't lose another bird for the summer. It might not be the best way to cool them in all cases, but for me it was simplest and cheapest.

I will look into this stuff to see what it can do. Maybe buy a small roll to start with to try it out.

My pens have shade cloth and the birds start"singing" when I mist the tops. When I built my 24'x 20' pen I got 2 rolls of 6' x 40' tan shade cloth, cut them into 20' lengths and sewed them together. The 2 rolls cost $80.00 total. I expect that I will have to replace it sometime but after 1 year I see no deterioration yet.
My Cousin-in Law sells Scentcy and the wax blocks are packed with nice ice packs when they are mailed. She has loads of leftover packs and I thought of them when I was hauling 12 gallons of frozen water out to my pens today. There was still some coolness in the jugs when I picked them up and returned them to the freezer. We never seem to fill our freezer with food and I heard that keeping the freezer full is more energy efficient plus if you loose power all the frozen water keeps the real food frozen longer.
I absolutely love Cochins but worry so much in this heat. I lost 7 birds last Summer, three nice hens laying in a coop that wasn't well ventilated and 4 youngsters. I wasn't using ice jugs then. I think I will follow Carl's suggestion and pluck some undersides when it stays over 100*.

 

[our 5acre farm]

thanks guys, i will be sure to post more pics when I'm done, i hope i will be done next weekend, there still alot to do, i hope those chickens appreciate all my hard work, lol

 

[Buster52]

Was on the USDA website to read up on properly sanitizing eggs. The website says the FDA does not have a published regulation regarding cleaning of eggs shells! Shocking to me personally.

I'm glad, personally. We don't wash our eggs unless they are dirty. A washed egg is less safe than an unwashed egg if it was clean to start with. Some countries it is illegal to wash eggs. You have discard the dirty ones.

 

[mjgigax]

Was on the USDA website to read up on properly sanitizing eggs. The website says the FDA does not have a published regulation regarding cleaning of eggs shells! Shocking to me personally.
My broody RIR is staying on her nest & not willing to budge. Had a fan on her all afternoon. Her keets should hatch soon, of the heat doesn't get the eggs. DD took her a tomato as a treat & she tucked the tomato under her. Maybe I can get the tomato back tonight. Crazy chicken!

Hens sure can be stubborn!

 

[mjgigax]

ROFL, I was wondering if chickens would eat tomotos or not, guess that answers that question! Nope but they will brood a tomato!!!

Mine love tomatoes. Two years ago, when I had loads of cherry tomatoes, I would give tthe birds regular treats of them with Basil leaves. I called it Italian night. It was hiilarious watching them chase the little tomatoes rolling across the pen floors.

 

[Ksane]

5AcreFarm. you did a great job. And I love that roost!
And can this forecast be real for tomorrow???
PS And yes, Cathie, you're bionic lol

 

[NanaKat]

Hey Nanakat I think!!! Here is a pic I borrowed, this is NOT my rooster, even though I wish he was, he's gorgeous, but anyways in the back ground you can see the basic of what I was talking about on the cages, I used feed sacks shingled up on both side cause their cheap and more insulating from the heat than a tarp!!! I put my roost pole the opposite way to his too so they are up under the cover when on the roost!! Lynn

Thank you for posting the picture...love the coops and truly admire the rooster. My uncle in Missouri keeps beautiful game birds.... I hve two geese now that could use a coop like that in the garden for their food and water and a place to chill out between grazing sessions.

We spent this afternoon at the stand and had the birds out free ranging for a bit after I got home but a chick hawk swooped the yard and the roos got their hens in pretty quickly. So I put everyone up. I figure they see the new pens and have to see for themselves they can't snatch my little babies out of their pens.

Just like a hawk...testing the limits.

Was on the USDA website to read up on properly sanitizing eggs. The website says the FDA does not have a published regulation regarding cleaning of eggs shells! Shocking to me personally.

My broody RIR is staying on her nest & not willing to budge. Had a fan on her all afternoon. Her keets should hatch soon, of the heat doesn't get the eggs. DD took her a tomato as a treat & she tucked the tomato under her. Maybe I can get the tomato back tonight. Crazy chicken!

Heard it takes 7 days to hatch a tomato and you need a bucket to gther the offspring....

Quote:

My lovebirds do the same thing with chery tomatoes...looks like they are playing keepaway.

 

[Elwood Lightfoot]

I offered my chicks that are still in a large stock tank brooder a male dubia today there are about 80 chicks in it and none would take it from my hand and when I dropped it in the sawdust it just sat there for a moment and and everyone just froze on tippy toes, necks stretched and staring, then it moved and all hell broke loose, there was shear pandemonium and panic! It took a while to catch it and even longer for the chicks to decide that the giant carnivorous chicken eating bug monster was gone, I obviously picked a bug that was much too large for them and they are too young to understand the safety in numbers thing that will have them chasing down and dismembering rodents later in life...