Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[ChickenAl]

Love the coop suzanne! Love the rustic look of it, wish my old coop could get a facelift to look just like it. Here is what our coop looked like in 1952. It's the building in the background.

Wow, did this pic take me back. What a nice coop. I'm studying the photo and I see the Radio Flyer wagon, everyone sitting around relaxing and the white lime paint on the lower trunk of what I assume is a fruit tree. All of it just like when I was a kid, except we didn't have a chicken coop. Funny thing about the trees is that we always had the lower trunks painted with the lime like that when I was a kid, and I had forgotten about it until we took a trip to Costa Rica and found they still do it down there. Was like a 50 year time travel back for me. Great pic, thanks for sharing it. Q

 

[stoopid]

Al, I've been in the car biz over 30 years.
And back then, women were a freak.
I still get the "lemme talk to one of the guys" half the time I answer the phone.
I am so DONE with it.
I agree with the coop building, there has to be a market out there.
Once we get a few plans down pat.
Hmmmm.....

 

[stoopid]

Ooohh, Costa Rica.
My husband is looking into retiring there.
How was it?

 

[smkchick]

The actual building of a coop is way beyond me, especially with only one good arm. Bobby is handy, but doesn't want to build a coop. Of course, he doesn't think I should spend the money on the coop either. This is where domestic partnership is problematic. We're not married, and our money is separate. But we do have to cohabitate, so naturally we have disagreements about the living space, etc. I guess if we were married and I expected him to support me when I'm unemployed, I'd be more willing to accept his decision on this.

Ahh, too early to air the laundry.

I went to Agway yesterday to check out their feed stock. They have a 21% protein layer feed (non-organic). Is there such a thing as too much protein?

I bought an organic feed with 16% protein, and organic scratch. They were out of the 75/25 corn/oat scratch that I wanted to try.

Thoughts? I love the Countryside Organic feed, but it's soo expensive. The feed I bought has soy, but it also has crab meal as a protein source.

 

[ChickenAl]

Ooohh, Costa Rica.
My husband is looking into retiring there.
How was it?

We've been there twice. The first time was because we were checking it out for retirement. It is beautiful there, and it reminds you of what it was like here 50 years ago. The people are very friendly, too. Since we were there in '05 and '06 the crime has gotten to be a problem. It is happening all over Central America, but there are a lot of home break ins and stickups if you are in any sort of populated area. There are some hoops to jump through for permanent residency, but it's not anything that can't be done. The weather is to die for there. You can pick you own climate zone by altering the altitude at where you wish to live. You can go from the 90s during the day to the 70s. Nights go from the high 60s down into the 30s in some really high places. The real estate is cheaper as long as you don't buy into the beach condo or any gated community that the gringos build. I still read the daily English language online newspaper there. In case you're interested it's www.amcostarica.com.

 

[smkchick]

My cousin hates her job and was talking about starting an educational farm. I could really get behind THAT! A couple of cows, goats, chickens, oh yeah.

 

[stoopid]

The 21% is for when you also feed scratch.
I have always used the 16% with scratch, and was never happy.
Just started the 21% about a month ago, never knew they had it.
Duh.

And that one arm thing won't last forever, just till it gets warm out.

Tell you what, you pay for the materials, and we build it here.
I have a small trailer, should fit no problem, and we can see how it goes.
Then we expand.....

 

[ChickenAl]

The actual building of a coop is way beyond me, especially with only one good arm. Bobby is handy, but doesn't want to build a coop. Of course, he doesn't think I should spend the money on the coop either. This is where domestic partnership is problematic. We're not married, and our money is separate. But we do have to cohabitate, so naturally we have disagreements about the living space, etc. I guess if we were married and I expected him to support me when I'm unemployed, I'd be more willing to accept his decision on this.

Ahh, too early to air the laundry.

I went to Agway yesterday to check out their feed stock. They have a 21% protein layer feed (non-organic). Is there such a thing as too much protein?

I bought an organic feed with 16% protein, and organic scratch. They were out of the 75/25 corn/oat scratch that I wanted to try.

Thoughts? I love the Countryside Organic feed, but it's soo expensive. The feed I bought has soy, but it also has crab meal as a protein source.

Suzanne, I went off the organic and soy free for now because of the feather picking problem. That, and the high price of shipping the Countryside feed. At any rate, the girls are laying earlier it seems than before. The eggs are good, hard-shelled and the chickens appear healthy and are picking less. They do eat less of the food, and that could be because it is more nutrient dense and because they don't flip out the stuff they don't like. That's another reason. If they pick and choose what they eat, then how do we know they are getting all the nutrition. In pellets and crumbles they have no choice because each morsel is fully complete feed. So, I guess I'm at the crossroads right now. I'm taking the Purina Layena plus Omega and the regular Layena for a test spin to see how it goes. If we're not eating totally organic in the household, does it make sense to feed the chickens organic? I dunno, still hung up on that point. Which feed did you find that has crab in it? Is that for protein or for calcium? Most have the fish meal for protein, which despite the organic label on the feed, is not organic, so there goes the whole organic notion out the window anyway. Plus, the poop stink is a whole lot less on the Purina. Go figure...

 

[chickendude]

Thanks, Roberta. I'm going to use that if I see anymore raw spots on chicken butts. The Blue Kote does stain a heck of a lot, but it is good if there is blood involved.
My wife and I were having the chicken and egg selling conversation just last night. Move upstate a little farther and have a small farm and sell eggs. Depending on how much we can take the cold as we get older it sounded like a good idea. Like all good ideas, though, they sometimes sound better than when you do get what you wished for.
I think you are on the right track with the coop building idea. Just keep it simple and blueprint a couple styles. Then you can precut when it takes off and make it easier on yourselves.
I know what you say about the dealerships. Our son was a tech for 10 years. Always liked cars until he worked at dealerships. He made money, but the stress was high. Now he works for the railroad and fixes trains.

Al, what shop does your son work out of? I also work for MNRR as a power Director for the NH line in the control center in GCT.

 

[ChickenAl]

Al, what shop does your son work out of? I also work for MNRR as a power Director for the NH line in the control center in GCT.

Rich, he works out of North White Plains. He's an electrician in the shop. What a small world...