Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[ChickenAl]

Quote:
And little fire extinguishers too. Are you makin' fun of me? Just kidding.

I like the idea of hot water, and the bulb in a cinder block. In fact, the waterer sits on a cinder block right now. I do have pine shavings galore in the coop. After I read that first post on that thread I started really rethinking the process. I am going to have to get power out there but I am going to have to put GFI receptacles to make it safer. It'll probably be alright except for nights when it stay in the low 20s. I am going to put a thermometer in the coop and see the difference between th eoutside and inside temp and then use whatever is the least dangerous method to heat the water. I like adding hot water but I have to then do that every night and what if the daytime goes into the teens? With the pop door open all day the water will surely freeze. They make an add on to the receptacle that only turns on a heater when the inside temps are below 32 degrees. It may not be much safer but it will not be on24/7. I don't know. Too much time on my hands lately to think about this stuff. I tend to overthink everything. Drives my kids crazy. They said i would still be building the coop if I had to do it. I had drawings and all sorts of mods figured in. Our sons built the entire thing in two days while I was at work. And it came out amazingly perfect. They learned to make sure I'm not around when a project needs to be done, or else it drags on forever. I've gotten better as I've gotten older, but I still over plan most things. If I don't plan I get distracted from the task. Who knows why, maybe OCD, ADHD, or something else that ends in a D.

Good luck on getting through the storm. Going to start the generator tomorrow. It saved us during Irene. I have a feeling we are going to have a disaster because many of the trees still have leaves on them, and that spells trouble. Downed limbs and trees will screw things up for a week or more. Not going to be fun.

 

[ChickenAl]

Hey Roberta, are you battening down the hatches where you are? I just realized that LI is probably going to get hit worse than us up north.

Stay safe everybody.

 

[smkchick]

Quote:
And little fire extinguishers too. Are you makin' fun of me? Just kidding.

I like the idea of hot water, and the bulb in a cinder block. In fact, the waterer sits on a cinder block right now. I do have pine shavings galore in the coop. After I read that first post on that thread I started really rethinking the process. I am going to have to get power out there but I am going to have to put GFI receptacles to make it safer. It'll probably be alright except for nights when it stay in the low 20s. I am going to put a thermometer in the coop and see the difference between th eoutside and inside temp and then use whatever is the least dangerous method to heat the water. I like adding hot water but I have to then do that every night and what if the daytime goes into the teens? With the pop door open all day the water will surely freeze. They make an add on to the receptacle that only turns on a heater when the inside temps are below 32 degrees. It may not be much safer but it will not be on24/7. I don't know. Too much time on my hands lately to think about this stuff. I tend to overthink everything. Drives my kids crazy. They said i would still be building the coop if I had to do it. I had drawings and all sorts of mods figured in. Our sons built the entire thing in two days while I was at work. And it came out amazingly perfect. They learned to make sure I'm not around when a project needs to be done, or else it drags on forever. I've gotten better as I've gotten older, but I still over plan most things. If I don't plan I get distracted from the task. Who knows why, maybe OCD, ADHD, or something else that ends in a D.

Good luck on getting through the storm. Going to start the generator tomorrow. It saved us during Irene. I have a feeling we are going to have a disaster because many of the trees still have leaves on them, and that spells trouble. Downed limbs and trees will screw things up for a week or more. Not going to be fun.

Sorry, Al. I couldn't resist. My daughter is a firefighter and she's always ragging me about fire safety.

You should meet Bobby. Everything gets done on an Excel spreadsheet first. We took out the Bilco doors over the basement steps and he built an overhang to cover the entrance. The Great Wall took less time! But I can't complain. He converted a planting/potting shed area next to the bedroom into a cozy little study for me. As I type this, I'm sitting on my loveseat with my little electric stove running. Pine paneled cathedral ceiling, hidden walk-in closet, etc., etc. And he takes care of my chickens! I had turned the heat off in the coop when I went to bed because the chicks had moved away from it, and the first thing Bobby asked this morning was if I had turned it back on for them. Mr. "You're on Your Own" indeed. I tell him he's the rooster.

Good luck with this weather, everyone!

 

[ChickenAl]

Quote:
And little fire extinguishers too. Are you makin' fun of me? Just kidding.

I like the idea of hot water, and the bulb in a cinder block. In fact, the waterer sits on a cinder block right now. I do have pine shavings galore in the coop. After I read that first post on that thread I started really rethinking the process. I am going to have to get power out there but I am going to have to put GFI receptacles to make it safer. It'll probably be alright except for nights when it stay in the low 20s. I am going to put a thermometer in the coop and see the difference between th eoutside and inside temp and then use whatever is the least dangerous method to heat the water. I like adding hot water but I have to then do that every night and what if the daytime goes into the teens? With the pop door open all day the water will surely freeze. They make an add on to the receptacle that only turns on a heater when the inside temps are below 32 degrees. It may not be much safer but it will not be on24/7. I don't know. Too much time on my hands lately to think about this stuff. I tend to overthink everything. Drives my kids crazy. They said i would still be building the coop if I had to do it. I had drawings and all sorts of mods figured in. Our sons built the entire thing in two days while I was at work. And it came out amazingly perfect. They learned to make sure I'm not around when a project needs to be done, or else it drags on forever. I've gotten better as I've gotten older, but I still over plan most things. If I don't plan I get distracted from the task. Who knows why, maybe OCD, ADHD, or something else that ends in a D.

Good luck on getting through the storm. Going to start the generator tomorrow. It saved us during Irene. I have a feeling we are going to have a disaster because many of the trees still have leaves on them, and that spells trouble. Downed limbs and trees will screw things up for a week or more. Not going to be fun.

Sorry, Al. I couldn't resist. My daughter is a firefighter and she's always ragging me about fire safety.

You should meet Bobby. Everything gets done on an Excel spreadsheet first. We took out the Bilco doors over the basement steps and he built an overhang to cover the entrance. The Great Wall took less time! But I can't complain. He converted a planting/potting shed area next to the bedroom into a cozy little study for me. As I type this, I'm sitting on my loveseat with my little electric stove running. Pine paneled cathedral ceiling, hidden walk-in closet, etc., etc. And he takes care of my chickens! I had turned the heat off in the coop when I went to bed because the chicks had moved away from it, and the first thing Bobby asked this morning was if I had turned it back on for them. Mr. "You're on Your Own" indeed. I tell him he's the rooster.

Good luck with this weather, everyone!

Looks like some of us got up early. I'm still on work time. Hard to reset the body clock.

Well, Bobby has me beat. If I start designing on the computer then I'm done. My son comes up to whatever I had been drawing for a look. I'd been working on it for at least an hour, and he makes the redesign in two minute. I'm learning to keep quiet and because I know when I'm beat.

Just checked the forecast and it's up to 10-14 Inches now.



You guys are getting mostly wind and rain with some snow this evening.

 

[smkchick]

Quote:
I woke up with a whole list of stuff in my head. I know enough that I'll lose it if I don't at least write it down. I figure I can go back to bed if I get something done first. I might even bake some bread.

They're predicting 2-4 inches of snow for us tonight. Bobby used to work for the Highway Department (37 years) and even though he's been retired for almost 4 years now, he still breaks out in hives when they predict snow.

I just think it's hilarious that the snowblower is being delivered today.

My brother's bees produced 105lbs. of honey. I better get some eggs by Thanksgiving dinner or I'll never hear the end of it. Bobby wanted to raise alpacas and he and my brother had this whole bee vs. alpaca thing going on. Last Thanksgiving, my brother brought us a jar of honey and said "Where's my f***ing alpaca sweater?" (I bought alpaca wool and crocheted him a scarf for his birthday). This year on fb he posted pictures of the honey harvest and I happened to mention that all I had to do to get an egg was reach under a hen. You know if I don't have some eggs with me, I'm in big trouble!

I may have to stop by on my way to Saugerties to pick some up to pass off as my girls'.

 

[ChickenAl]

So Bobby is a dreamer like me. I had lots of visions of raising livestock and being totally self sufficient. Wanted to live on a houseboat in NYC boat basin. Tried commercial lobstering once and wanted to be on the water 24/7. Then it was thinking about moving out west, moving upstate, then moving down south. And when I say south, I mean Costa Rica. I had all the plans mapped out in my mind. Bobby sounds like my kind of guy.

Ou son works for Metro North and he said they have not planned for this storm. He's working 4 to midnight, and it may mean overtime too. Last winter kicked the butt out of the trains that run on the New Haven line.

Usually a delivery of new snowblower is like having insurance against getting any snow. When we got ours, my neighbor said, well, looks like that'll kill any snow this year, and he was right. I wanted to use it so bad (you know how us guys with new toys are) that I took it out in 2 two inches of slush to test it. That's about all the snow we got that year.

 

[ChickenAl]

Suzanne, forgot to ask. Does your brother sell the honey or just does the beekeeping for a hobby. I wanted to do that last year but my neighbor just gave it up because of Colony Collapse Disorder the past few years.

 

[smkchick]

Quote:
I imagine he'll start selling the honey this year. I mean, what can you do with 105 lbs of honey? And it looks like he invested in some equipment, unless it was a loan from a friend.

This is only his second year keeping bees. He had one hive his first year and added another one this year. So far he hasn't had any problems. He has about an acre of property, the back end of which is fairly wild. He carved a little area out for the beehives so they're hidden from the yard and the neighbors' yards. He lives in a fairly built up suburb of Buffalo. My sister-in-law grew up on a farm out on the east end of Long Island, and she's a nutritionst now, so they've been growing veggies, etc. for years. He wants to start keeping chickens.

Maybe I should send you and Bobby up to build him a coop!

The big girls are up, but I don't think the babies want to leave the warm coop yet...

 

[ChickenAl]

Quote:
I imagine he'll start selling the honey this year. I mean, what can you do with 105 lbs of honey? And it looks like he invested in some equipment, unless it was a loan from a friend.

This is only his second year keeping bees. He had one hive his first year and added another one this year. So far he hasn't had any problems. He has about an acre of property, the back end of which is fairly wild. He carved a little area out for the beehives so they're hidden from the yard and the neighbors' yards. He lives in a fairly built up suburb of Buffalo. My sister-in-law grew up on a farm out on the east end of Long Island, and she's a nutritionst now, so they've been growing veggies, etc. for years. He wants to start keeping chickens.

Maybe I should send you and Bobby up to build him a coop!

The big girls are up, but I don't think the babies want to leave the warm coop yet...

Te babies probably will stay in once the storm hits. Ours stay in the covered run even during downpours. I can't figure that out. Wind and rain do not bother them, but let a hawk pass by or the shadow of a turkey vulture or crows yacking and they run for the pop door. It is funny seeing them try to get in all at once with a log jam created at the entrance. They are funny.

Buffalo is a haul. Surprised he hadn't done chickens before the bees. Over a hundred pounds from two hives sounds like a lot. With ten he could really make some cash. The great thing about honey is that it doesn't spoil. No refrigeration or storage problems.

I'm looking out the deck door and it looks ominous out there. The wind is ever so slowly picking up. Earlier it was dead and quiet outside. The calm before the storm.

Hope all of us can get through this unscathed. I'm not having a good feeling after seeing the TV news and the snow coming down in Maryland and PA.

 

[ChickenAl]

Hey, where's everyone else this morning. You all sleeping in? There's a storm a comin' and work ta git done!