Hola............I can say that, I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the ocean in Cabo at the moment!
Deb
Stella's Social Club
- Thread starter The Sheriff
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #1,272
Deb, get yourself home right now! Who's gonna feed the chickens? Have a pina colada for me!
OK, update:
Donkey shelter is done! Jack and Diana are enjoying some crimped oats in their new digs. 30% chance of rain on Wednesday. They'll be quite comfy. It is smaller than their last shelter but still plenty of room to get out of the rain.
Emu/Goat shelter should be done by Sunday. It will be the same size as the donkey coop with room for everybody.
I got all the roosts hung in the small coops today and I ran out of hangers. I'll finish the big coop tomorrow after a trip to Home Depot. The coops are very small so I put up two roosts, one lower for jumping up/down onto the higher one. They aren't going to be happy at first but I made the high roost 32" and the lower one 24". The space is just too small for them to jump down from too high up. I used metal hangers to hold the 2x4's and they can just be lifted out for cleaning! I can gather eggs from outside so no need to go inside everyday. I am going to place the feeders close to the front doors so that I can just open the doors and fill them. I bought a nipple water system for each run and automatic pop doors for each coop. O will install those tomorrow. We will have to wait a bit on the auto-waterer system until we get the irrigation figured out.
I am going to try to keep my numbers to eight of each breed in the small coops. To comply with the rule of thumb I should have no more than 7.5 in each one but I think I can squeeze another half chicken in. The two small runs are 14'X75' and the other three are 18'X75' so they should have plenty of outside space.
Mike I got them from Jeremy on Craigslist. Here's the listing for the big coop: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/3325957736.html and the small coop: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/3320783606.html
I ordered mine with solid wood sides, 1/2"x1" wire, and floors so they cost more than the one advertised. They are very well built and Jeremy was really great to do business with. I think they are going to work just fine for me and hopefully I don't overfill them! I am going to paint them as soon as I get everything else done. I had them oil stained so I don't have to worry about them getting wet until I can paint them with an oil based paint.
OK, confession time. I went over to throw out some scratch and check on the chickens and turkeys this morning. I detoured by Home Depot and loaded my little Pruis with lumber for the roosts. I had long boards going from the back off the car out the passenger side window. Visibility was quite impaired. I decided not to go by the house to avoid the left hand turn on "blood alley" since I couldn't use my mirror. Then I discussed it with Michael when I got home decided not to go over until tomorrow. Tonight as we came in from working I had a strong feeling that something was wrong and I needed to go right then. I didn't even tell Michael I was leaving. I just got in the car and drove. I went down to the barn and heard a ruckus. Lukka was frantic. One of her eggs hatched today and the baby chick had fallen out of the nest box. She was jumping from the nest box with two eggs in it down to the one on the floor and back up again clucking. The little yellow chick was fluffed up so I think it will be ok. I placed it under Lukka and attached chicken wire to the front of the nest box to prevent further fall-outs. They are only 5 inches off the ground but too high for a day old! I noticed one of the other eggs was pipped but couldn't tell on the third. Good grief I need to get the coops/runs done and get my chickens and turkeys home! Hopefully tomorrow. I hope Michael doesn't stay up all night and he can help me tomorrow.
OK, update:
Donkey shelter is done! Jack and Diana are enjoying some crimped oats in their new digs. 30% chance of rain on Wednesday. They'll be quite comfy. It is smaller than their last shelter but still plenty of room to get out of the rain.
Emu/Goat shelter should be done by Sunday. It will be the same size as the donkey coop with room for everybody.
I got all the roosts hung in the small coops today and I ran out of hangers. I'll finish the big coop tomorrow after a trip to Home Depot. The coops are very small so I put up two roosts, one lower for jumping up/down onto the higher one. They aren't going to be happy at first but I made the high roost 32" and the lower one 24". The space is just too small for them to jump down from too high up. I used metal hangers to hold the 2x4's and they can just be lifted out for cleaning! I can gather eggs from outside so no need to go inside everyday. I am going to place the feeders close to the front doors so that I can just open the doors and fill them. I bought a nipple water system for each run and automatic pop doors for each coop. O will install those tomorrow. We will have to wait a bit on the auto-waterer system until we get the irrigation figured out.
I am going to try to keep my numbers to eight of each breed in the small coops. To comply with the rule of thumb I should have no more than 7.5 in each one but I think I can squeeze another half chicken in. The two small runs are 14'X75' and the other three are 18'X75' so they should have plenty of outside space.
Mike I got them from Jeremy on Craigslist. Here's the listing for the big coop: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/3325957736.html and the small coop: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/3320783606.html
I ordered mine with solid wood sides, 1/2"x1" wire, and floors so they cost more than the one advertised. They are very well built and Jeremy was really great to do business with. I think they are going to work just fine for me and hopefully I don't overfill them! I am going to paint them as soon as I get everything else done. I had them oil stained so I don't have to worry about them getting wet until I can paint them with an oil based paint.
OK, confession time. I went over to throw out some scratch and check on the chickens and turkeys this morning. I detoured by Home Depot and loaded my little Pruis with lumber for the roosts. I had long boards going from the back off the car out the passenger side window. Visibility was quite impaired. I decided not to go by the house to avoid the left hand turn on "blood alley" since I couldn't use my mirror. Then I discussed it with Michael when I got home decided not to go over until tomorrow. Tonight as we came in from working I had a strong feeling that something was wrong and I needed to go right then. I didn't even tell Michael I was leaving. I just got in the car and drove. I went down to the barn and heard a ruckus. Lukka was frantic. One of her eggs hatched today and the baby chick had fallen out of the nest box. She was jumping from the nest box with two eggs in it down to the one on the floor and back up again clucking. The little yellow chick was fluffed up so I think it will be ok. I placed it under Lukka and attached chicken wire to the front of the nest box to prevent further fall-outs. They are only 5 inches off the ground but too high for a day old! I noticed one of the other eggs was pipped but couldn't tell on the third. Good grief I need to get the coops/runs done and get my chickens and turkeys home! Hopefully tomorrow. I hope Michael doesn't stay up all night and he can help me tomorrow.
- Thread starter
- #1,273
9:15:57 this morning to be precise!
Mary. So happy for you! You are going to wear yourself out. Pace yourself, PLEASE... remember there are lots of folks who LOVE YOU!
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Well my Drekki Jr. ended up being too loud. Such a pretty roo.
He's headed to Heber to join Boston's flock tomorrow. Boston's flock needed some new blood because Blau died.
Can't believe it but I wan't some more Drekki Jr chicks so my wife's gonna have a cow but I'm pulling out the incubator tomorrow.... that or find someone local who would like to hatch some purebred Icelandics.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Well my Drekki Jr. ended up being too loud. Such a pretty roo.
He's headed to Heber to join Boston's flock tomorrow. Boston's flock needed some new blood because Blau died.
Can't believe it but I wan't some more Drekki Jr chicks so my wife's gonna have a cow but I'm pulling out the incubator tomorrow.... that or find someone local who would like to hatch some purebred Icelandics.
Hola............I can say that, I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the ocean in Cabo at the moment!
Deb
That must be nice, enjoy!
Mary, I'm glad you stopped by the old place and found the chick.
Hola............I can say that, I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the ocean in Cabo at the moment!
Deb
Cabo... Good for you. Have a great time..
Y'all have had too much coffee I think.
I finished making the last of five gates for the chicken runs yesterday.Today I will concentrate on wiring across the fronts, closing off the areas under the coops, pop doors and roosts. Hopefully Michael will be able to finish the fencing between the runs.
Allen is almost done with the donkey shelter. He'll start the emu/goat shelter later today. We may actually make this all happen!
Mary, it looks awesome! Love the coops!
That was the whole purpose of giving birth 32 years ago, instant house sitter!
You've been making great progress on the move. Good save on the chick, sometimes you just have to listen to your intuition.
Deb
Get your hiney down to the beach! (unless you are having a drink!)Hola............I can say that, I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the ocean in Cabo at the moment!
Deb
Me too.Here's me being green with envy.........
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