Sitting with a cup of coffee. (coffee lovers)

[chickadoodles]

Hi everyone - we had our first live birth on the farm! A BR went broody in August and I felt sorry for her so we borrowed 4 eggs from a friend with roosters and stuck them in her nest!

Congrats! They are so cute.

 

[chickadoodles]

Everyone have a great weekend!

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I hope you will like your new tablet! 
My DH bought me one for Christmas last year and I know I have not used it for 3-4 hours. It's a Dell Venue and it is such a pain and so complicated that I am giving it away for a gift to my son with a 3 year warranty.
I bought a nook and love it! It is not complicated and is easy to use! Thank goodness! 

Well, I had a 7 inch android cheepo which worked well for what I needed but the WiFi quit on it, so we just got another cheepo but a 10 inch this time. As long as BYC works, and email, I am pretty happy.

Hi everyone - we had our first live birth on the farm! A BR went broody in August and I felt sorry for her so we borrowed 4 eggs from a friend with roosters and stuck them in her nest!

Cute!

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Android is easier, I guess because we got use to it on our phones. lol

 

[TeaChick]

@TeaChick

you don't like Hollandaise??????

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Have you never had it made well????

My DH has eaten at some of the finest restraunts in the country, and my girls are fantastic cooks. He says their Hollandaise sauce is very good (not the best he's ever had, but very good, and he's super picky too). I don't mind it, I'd just rather not have it.
I don't like ketchup or mayonnaise either.

Have you ever heard of Lox and Bagles.... Lox is smoked salmon sliced very thin... take a bagel and a schmear of cream cheese.... then pile on the salmon.... even in its simplest form its delicious.

But Smoked fish in general is AWESOME. There is a restaurant here called Anthonys fish grotto. they had a smoked fish sampler as an appetiser.... Salmon, Tuna come to mind.... but any fatty fish can be smoked.

deb

Yup, I have. I used to work in a NY bagel shop in Orlando. I've made many a bagel with many a schmear and the Lox and Bagels I've made, I could do it in my sleep. lol
That smoked fish sampler sounds good. =)
I'll see if I can talk DH into smoking some fish. Probably not, he'd call that a hair-brained scheme, mostly b/c we're not set up for it, so it would probably require a big up front cost in time and money, plus, we have projects we're not finished with yet. Oh, my. I'm so thankful for my Dear Husband, he keeps me from biting off more than I can chew (well, more than the two of us can chew together with some help from the children.)
I say that at the same time that I've been running and monitoring my box-u-bator for the past week and on Monday (or Sunday night; no, not Sun pm, he'll be in the living room watching football, so it will be Mon am) I'm going to set the eggs that the girls (hens) will have laid on Sunday...Long story short, I'm setting more eggs and he doesn't know it, but I'm also getting an incubator and I'll be setting some other more eggs about a week from when I will have set the ones I'm going to set Monday. {Okay, pretty short.

Sorry.

}


What were we saying? Oh, yeah, smoked fish....how'd I get onto setting eggs????

 

[TeaChick]

I am SO HAPPY WITH MYSELF!

My back hurts, my arthritic hands hurt, my lip hurts where it caught a falling board

Here are some pictures...

Right when we started digging in the bottom boards.


By afternoon today


Showing its wonderful stealth-ness. The edge of green is our trash box. See how hard it is to see?

Spouse did notice, but did NOT scream!


This evening! It is solid walls in the coop area, and then a bit more solid walls in in the run, then it will be wire walls. I will put the fencing up last, when I see how much area my concrete wire covers. Next day I have enough time, the camper top will go up, that is the roof.

And yes, the odd edge is going to stay like that, I will put wire behind it, it will just act as some more wind protection. The odd edge is in the run area.

The red window is actually in the run area. I thought it was pretty, and would block wind and snow. The little open area between it and the coop area is wire.....some of that will be in the coop for venting.

Fantastic!!! I'm so proud of you Alaskan.
I have a confession to make, I laughed very loudly when I read "my lip hurts where it caught a falling board" and I must ask why you were catching a falling board with your lip?
Then I must

and

and

some more.
It looks good! I'm sure your chickens will enjoy it immensely!!!

The back open strip over the plywood wall is covered in chicken wire... That is venting. I also have venting between the window and the solid wall...part of that wire section will be in the coop.

After I put the truck topper roof on, I will make the front wall, and part of that wall will also be vented.

I actually have some sheets of solid vinyl flooring....I am thinking I will line the wall by the perches with the flooring.....otherwise the birds will think they are living in a sieve!!

Excellent idea; we don't want chickens thinking they're living in sieves. (I think mine do though; I've got to chicken wire the venting in the back wall of my pallet coop, now that I think about it).

@sourland I found this on pinterest.

... is this your house? As the livestock Judge so sweetly put it one year... they are ''a bit over conditioned''.

That's a lot of dogs for inside of a house.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dog person, and I don't let my chickens in the house.
Further disclaimer: "Taking" is not "letting".

Alaskan= Great job!

Teachick - so glad you are finally starting to feel better

eggs benedict with salmon, wow!

Thanks.

I'm on St. John's Wort and DH and I are making sure I'm going to be taking at least one nap a week, until DS decides that sleeping is an all night affair.

 

[vehve]

A smoker is really not at all complicated. Basically, you need one of those outdoor candle things to act as a heatsource, a metal box (the commercial ones have a sliding lid, so it's not supposed to be completely sealed), and a grill inside the box that's raised about an inch or two from the bottom. On the bottom of the box you place some alder shavings (or whatever you guys usually use for fish on that side of the pond), and you place the fish on the grill. Light the candle, and place it between two bricks that are on their sides, and place the box on top of that, and you've got yourself a easy little smoker.

Here's an image of one stolen from grillikauppa.com

My dad uses a similar box, and the fish turns out great usually.

You can use these in a grill too. And I've seen some people just put the shavings inside a packet of tin foil, stick some holes in that, place it above the coals in the grill and the fish on the other side of the grill, preparing it with indirect heat. Haven't tried that myself though.

 

[TeaChick]

@chickwhispers

No more chickens.... But the chicks from this year are growing, and I am REALLY worried that the standard size roosters are going to literally smush my bantam hens. This new coop will be bantams only.

Also, i want my standard sized chickens to have a minimum of 8 square feet of inside covered space.... Which means I need to move some out.

I've heard that standard roos over bantams hens can be done; however.... My experience has not been so. If the rooster is gentle, and if there is only one of them, then and only then might you be able to get away with that. Otherwise, yes, I believe "smush" is the technical term for what he/they will do to her/them.

Hi everyone - we had our first live birth on the farm! A BR went broody in August and I felt sorry for her so we borrowed 4 eggs from a friend with roosters and stuck them in her nest!

Yay!!!! for babies!!!!!

Great additions Alaskan - won't a truck topper collapse one of your walls? I have one I was thinking of using but it is so heavy...

My dad built a "topper shed". He set the topper on fence posts, 4' off the ground, and put plywood around three sides of the bottom. The rabbits liked it and it was just high enough that he and my SM only had to duck a little to go in, once they were inside, they could straighten up.
(I come from very short stock, and we seem to marry our own height. I don't get it, but we do.)

 

[TeaChick]

Everyone have a great weekend!

You too!!!

A smoker is really not at all complicated. Basically, you need one of those outdoor candle things to act as a heatsource, a metal box (the commercial ones have a sliding lid, so it's not supposed to be completely sealed), and a grill inside the box that's raised about an inch or two from the bottom. On the bottom of the box you place some alder shavings (or whatever you guys usually use for fish on that side of the pond), and you place the fish on the grill. Light the candle, and place it between two bricks that are on their sides, and place the box on top of that, and you've got yourself a easy little smoker.

Here's an image of one stolen from grillikauppa.com

My dad uses a similar box, and the fish turns out great usually.

You can use these in a grill too. And I've seen some people just put the shavings inside a packet of tin foil, stick some holes in that, place it above the coals in the grill and the fish on the other side of the grill, preparing it with indirect heat. Haven't tried that myself though.

Oh, vehve, don't tell me how simple and easy and inexpensive it is!!! DH will get upset and tell me I can never talk to you again!

JK. I know it's all those things. I'm just getting where I'm feeling a little better and we have a lot of projects to complete around here as it is. I won't bore you with the list, but we have a lot to do before I can start trying to talk DH into anything much new. (Plus, I'm setting eggs without really telling him, so I've got to save up some patience and understanding for when he finds out about those.)

Thanks for the info though, I will keep it in mind for when I'm ready to start working on him about smoking. =)

 

[Alaskan]

@TeaChick

No, do NOT smoke anything....find someone who smokes fish etc. and want to trade some smoked fish for eggs or chicks. It is called bartering.

My grandfather got free AC work in exchange for hunting rights. He also bartered for homemade venison and pork sausage, honey, and the best homemade venison jerky.