Online Large Fowl Chat Thread

[CapricornFarm]

so today I waited all day for the guy to put in a new frostproof well head. All day I keep looking for this guy, running up to the house if the dog barked. No show. Ugh , that ticked me off, I could have gone to town!
Cleaned more stuff out of the barn and finished one silkie pen. But I figure I might as well do the last stall too, so I am going to do it before I move the rest of the birds. I did take all the teenagers from the brooding area except the silkies.i put them in the grow out pen. Naturally, the young roos in there all wanted to fight, so I took them and put them in a chicken tractor. Today I let the Buff Brahmas free range. They are in a chicken tractor, but it is so big I rarely move it. They did not want to go out when I first opened the door. Then when it started to get dark, they didn't want to go back in.
I got a call from a guy wanting silkies, gave him directions then he doesn't show up. Another lady wants 20 RIR chicks. Someone else wants eating eggs. I got the 6 dozen ready for tomorrow to take to the restaurant. And the boxes of eggs are ready to ship.
I raked the chicken yard today and tidied it up. Raked a bunch of leaves and dumped them in Goldenrod gulch. Watered the front pasture, things are dreadfully dry.
Tonight I am sore, so a hot bath and a pill are in order. Aaah! That feels good

 

[Chicken Coach]

I love reading your post! You always get ten times more things done than i do and i do a lot. Today, i got the last top row of rocks layed out and tomorrow i'll cement them in. After that i'll start back on the coop. I can just nail up some plywood on the sides and it would work,but i have 1x6 deck boards off a old deck that i got for free from craigslist and i got new wood Windows for 5 bucks . But it's good to know that if i run out of time i can use plywood.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I get a lot done because DH cooks most of the meals and does laundry. I hate that stuff. Housework has no appeal, would rather build something any day.
Today I went to Jackson, shipped 4 boxes of eggs, dropped off eggs at the restaurant. I asked her if she had empty cartons, bingo! I have been having a hard time getting enough . She even had the flat ones I like for the incubator. So that was great. She also wants to buy 8 hens, so I will pick some up for her at the next sale.
Tomorrow I am going to call my neighbor down the road who has some hens for sale. You can never have enough chickens, right? Oh yes, and another lady showed up wanting to buy two dozen eating eggs. I also picked up the new waterers, so the quail go into their new quarters tomorrow ! Another few weeks they should be laying, they are hooting already.
Seriously, I need to build a big Bator. I have so many eggs I want to hatch, and the Bator is full and the Hatcher is getting there. The styrofoam one is on lockdown, guess I need to fire up the other two.
So after I finish the pens in the barn, I am going to convert an unused goat shed to a coop. That should keep me busy for a few days. I got some assorted boards and pieces of plywood cheap at Home Depot today. I found a magazine rack that is going to be a good nest box at Goodwill and I got a slow cooker that will keep water warm this winter for some birds in one coop.
oh my gosh! My neighbor saw a mountain lion early this morning in her yard near her chicken coop! She went down there, but it had headed off over our way!!!! Glad I didn't have any chickens out loose! You never know which varmint you are going to see next!

 

[Chicken Coach]

A mountain lion !!! We have a black panther that lives out here. My wife saw it a few years back. Of course the arkansas state game and commison says that their is no panthers there. They say that is you see one,that it was someones pet that got away,and you know everyone has a pet panther and sometimes they get away. lol

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, they killed one last year down the road from here because it was bothering their horses. DH saw one as well near here. We also have bobcats, foxes, coyotes etc. So no wonder I tote a gun!!!

 

[CapricornFarm]

Today I am tired. Sometimes I just run out of steam. Went and looked at some chickens for sale nearby, they were pitiful. The kids were supposed to be feeding them, but I think they are just feeding corn and the birds are eating each others feathers for protein Hopefully some one will buy them and get them out of there. Those layers I bought the other day are so friendly they come running if they see you walking around and they are loose. Nice girls, and laying well.
The goats busted in the top of one of the chicken tractors today, so I had to fix that. But I really didn't accomplish much today. But sometimes you just need to get the chores done and relax. I think I need to go find some chocolate

 

[shellyga]

Quote:
Deb.. you need to take some time to relax..you do more in a hour than I can get done in a day -- next package I send you.. I'll include some 911 chocolate...lol. I am busy planning a "building" Sunday -- prodding hubby and the hubby of a good friend to get all three nest box apartment buildings done.. one for the buff brahmas that have to reside with the chicks in the grow out pen... one for the Coronation Sussex pen.. and a third to add more sitting space to hopefully encourage the slackers to get off their fat fluffy non-egg producing butts in the main mixed flock. I will probably end up buying a few more grown hens to show them how it is done.. I have lots of egg customers that are standing in line for some eggs.. Next big project is the new pen for either the light brahmas (two roosters and only 3 hens at this time) OR Blue/Black/Splash Orpingtons.. I have one Blue rooster with two hens...one black hen and one splash hen.. plus I am getting some Black Orpingtons from Nancy hopefully.. I will probably keep all of them together .. decisions.. decisions...

I had some silkie chicks hatch out yesterday and today.. I think I ended up with 7 ..cute little buggers.. one black.. two greyish/silver.. and 4 buff.. hoping that the old chick mortality monster will leave these alone! My first silkie chicks.. yall wish me luck. I have one white silkie hen.. would love to find her a husband

Well.. off to wash eggs and put in fridge.. incubators are full of swap/egg chain eggs.. fun fun

oohh Deb.. your eggs went to lockdown yesterday... the last package was cruely handled by the PO.. lost probably 10.. no rhyme or reason..

Shelly

 

[CapricornFarm]

The post office has not been nice to packages lately. Maybe I need to send eggs in wooden or metal boxes, I dunno. Every egg that I sent Groundpecker got cracked and or smushed. Ugh, I wish there were a better way to ship. I mean, I wrap every egg in bubble wrap and double box. That should do it!
So today I had the guys show up to replace the frostproof hydrant. They dug a big hole, breaking into our water supply and phone lines in the process. They didn't have everything they needed to repair it all, but fortunately I did. Anyway, the work is done and now my yard is a big mucky mess and it is raining outside
I finally got the last two silkie pens made! So the whites have a pen, the reds and buffs have a pen, and the blues and splashes have a pen. Plus two pens for young birds. I also built a little L shaped pass through for one of the outdoor coops where the pop hole is on the north side. It is getting cold out there at night! I am going to build a fire in the woodstove tonight. Had to go rescue the two polish pullets from the quarantine pen, it actually started raining so I put them in a cage in the garage. It is insulated, and the bators help keep it warm in there. Poor girls, they are probably wondering what the heck is up.
DH is gone for a couple days, so it is very quiet around here. Maybe I will take myself out to dinner tomorrow :-D

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
It poured rain, and snow today. What a nice day..

We've had our woodstove, well one of them anway, running for a couple days now. Tomorrow it's supposed to be real cold, but then on Saturday it's supposed to start warming up again!

Serioulsy Debra, you need a couple weeks off!

~Aspen

 

[CapricornFarm]

Actually, I feel guilty if I take a day off. I did take three weeks vacation but what did I do? 1) Remove stuff from Aunts place 2) Clean mothers bedroom 3) repair and paint MIL ceiling and paint kitchen walls. I am lousy at relaxing