The Front Porch Swing

[Loc20chick]

Here's a good one. A little bit of sharp witted Porch Swing advice could be useful.

My friend is a house cleaner ... she is single, 50, female. Her first husband was an abusive jerk (like her father was), and her second (fabulous) husband JUST died unexpectedly about a year ago (they'd only been married for about a year). One of my friend's male clients likes to ask her "So, are you dating yet?" This really upsets my friend, but she is so deferential to jerky men that she says nothing. She doesn't quit because she needs the money.

Dear Porchers ... What might she say to him? I'm curious to read what you guys might suggest.

If it were me I'd probably smile and say "That's really personal and would appreciate if you don't ask me again. Thank you"

 

[LindaB220]

So happy for them, wishing them a joyful life together.

X2 Blooie. They both are such cuties.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a good one. A little bit of sharp witted Porch Swing advice could be useful.

My friend is a house cleaner ... she is single, 50, female. Her first husband was an abusive jerk (like her father was), and her second (fabulous) husband JUST died unexpectedly about a year ago (they'd only been married for about a year). One of my friend's male clients likes to ask her "So, are you dating yet?" This really upsets my friend, but she is so deferential to jerky men that she says nothing. She doesn't quit because she needs the money.

Dear Porchers ... What might she say to him? I'm curious to read what you guys might suggest.

I'd just matter of factly and cheerfully say...with a megawatt smile... " I can't! I'm still in love with <insert deceased husband's name here> and will be for some time now, so not really looking for anyone new. Now, since I charge extra for intrusive questions, will there be anymore of those? Just wanting to know if I can afford those shoes I saw at the store the other day....".

Thanks, Bee ! I'll be posting my coop renos on that thread as soon as it's all complete ! Stay tuned

Thank you!

Thank you!

Our coop isn't big enough, nor does it have power, so that is out! I am hoping to have them in rubbermaids inside for a couple weeks, and then split them up. Some are meat birds and will be growing quickly, and it will be hot summer (well hot on a coastal island in southern Canada), so I hope to get those outside at 3-4 weeks in a chicken tractor. The others I can probably get out in the coop at that time I'm guessing where they will be more protected.

Do you think a dog bed warmer is enough for heat? I guess I should get the thermometer out!

You know, I may be able to find a broody hen or two! I know where to find some, but I wasn't planning to be there. Now, I may be! Definitely requires thought! If I got 2 broodies, do you think I could put 25 eggs under each, keep them in a dog kennel in a chicken tractor, and they should be OK?

If your coop isn't big enough for chicks, I'm thinking it won't be big enough for that many adult birds either, so you might have to think about that as well. I don't have power to my coop either so I run three long extension cords to provide power there and they are strung through the trees here to the coop about 100 yds away. Been doing it that way for years now.

Trust me on this...you'll want those meat birds out WAY before 3-4 wks unless you love cleaning out a brooder 3-4 times a day and never really keeping up with the stench and mess.

If you have a chicken tractor, I'd just roll that puppy right up to the house, run an extension cord, and brood all the chicks right there on the grass in that chicken tractor. Problem solved!

You'll not want the heat to be under them or it will be caked with poop but if you can arch it over them somehow that may work better.

If your broodies are big gals they should be able to cover 25 little chicks, maybe 25 eggs but I'm thinking some may get damaged when she gets on and off the nest, so I wouldn't push it with eggs. If you can get broodies, by all means do so...they are worth their weight in gold and will insure a better, healthier experience for your chicks...even the meaties.

I had 10 meat birds in the biggest rubbermaid container I could find. They barely fit with room for feed & water. In that little space, they are just too good at spilling the water and they can't really run around enough (IMO) to properly develop their muscles. You can maybe solve the water spilling problem by using a nipple waterer, but finding ways to hang those can be a pain.

Meat birds grow at a mind-boggling rate. Even the first week. The more space you can give the birds, the better. It is also "easier" to regulate temperatures if you have a heat source in one spot, with unheated space around it so the chicks can pick their spot. You will be amazed at how "cold" a chick can get, and how long they are willing to stay cold, and still be happy ... as long as they can warm up when they want to.

Our one Freedom Hen incubated 19 eggs, 18 hatched, 17 are still running around. She is not a big hen. I've tried to squeeze more eggs under bigger hens, but they weren't covered well enough to hatch right. With the Freedom Hen It wasn't too long before the volume of Freedom Mutt chicks exceeded the volume of hen. By about week 3, she wasn't covering the chicks at night, but she does still "mother" them during the day a bit (not so much now because they are off in all directions all day, they are about a month old now). In the breeder coop, the one foster broody that hatched out 10 Delawares at the same time the Freedom Mutts hatched (29th of April) ... she is also not covering the chicks at night, though they have less feathering than the Mutts of the same age. Both batches of chicks sleep in a pile on the floor of a unheated coops. But then they were incubated under broodies who were housed out there, too. So they are used to the temperatures here. We have open sides on our coop unless it is really blowing, snowing, or SUPER cold (we are in Oregon, so our version of super cold is relative -- we had a week in the teens this past winter, that was cold).

What you could maybe do is set up a protected area right near the house, enclosed on one end with the heat lamps, etc. and open on the other. That way you could provide more space and the electricity to run the heaters. Just make sure the space where they sleep is dry and predator proof.

If I don't have a broody, I use heat lamps ... other people prefer other heat sources. I don't worry about temperatures too much unless the space is very enclosed.

Good advice!

You can make a very decent container for brooding using 1/2 inch diameter pvc pipe. They sell corner fittings. Buy a roll of Plastic netting. Then using a pvc cutter cut lenghts of pvc to make a box the width of the netting. and how ever long .... For fifty chicks I would make the whole thing about eight feet long. I usually do quick construction like this with materials that are the size as you would buy them.
PVC cutters are a quick way to cut the pipe and You dont even have to glue the pieces together. Just push them together the plastic netting gets zip tied to the pipe so that holds it all together. You could even just use a tarp for the bottoms and sides and save the netting for the top. This way you could haule the whole thing out when it comes time to strip down the garage

That many birds will cover everything you have in the garage with a thin film of dust which would be dander from them sheding out so fast while they grow. Frst the fluff then all the bits from new juvenile feathers. My moms Garage will never be the same.

The Totes retain too much moisture. And hear in a very Dry climate that is saying alot. You have to clean them very often.... Especially if someone gets rambunctious and dumps the water over.... Or kicks shavings up digging for goodies and piles the shavings up into the water and ALL the water wicks out of the waterer Soaking all the bedding. Or when your mom decides to help and puts the waterer in with the lid screwed on crookidy.

Sorry it was a night mare brooding chicks in someone elses garage. I had to do it that way because I was living down here in San Diego and not home in the Desert trying to get them feathered out before taking them home.

I had no chickens at home AND even IF I did Chances were remote that one hen would take 40.

I am half awake right now.... up till 3 AM again. But I vowed that my next brooding task will be no more than 20 and I would be brooding them outside in a brooder built to not need bedding at all. Water and feed access from the outside through openings so no one can get in to spill or poo or walk through.

deb

Exactly. The brooding experience is exponentially easier if the chicks have room to run, you use deep litter, you use nipple water buckets instead of chick waterers that spill, get filled with bedding and poop, etc. and if you can keep them outside of a regular home. Keep in mind that snakes and every other pred will hear the constant cheeping and be attracted, so have them in a secure area or with a good dog on guard of their living quarters...and that doesn't change when they are 4 wks old. Two different times I had chicks taken by a black snake and the chicks were 4 and 8 wks of age...I've lost more birds to a black snake than any other predator because they can slither past the dogs undetected.

Now you have got to pull up alongside of Blooie and sit on the bucket and tell us what you did. You can't just leave us hanging.

Lisa

Yep....we gotta know!

Gust and Kisa playing kissy face on my belly right now while Kita (not shown) steals my glasses off the nightstand.

And people wonder why we don't get any rest. Check out the latest photo of Joey. Does he look like he would give anyone a concussion???


Lisa

These two sets of pics are just adorable!!! Love how Gust loves his kitties and, Lisa, that kitten has character written all over his moochy little face....he's gonna be fun!

He looks totally innocent to me!

That's what I thought!

TOO innocent....

 

[TexasLisa]

Too cute!

I noticed the same thing. Was that planned or just a lucky happenstance Lisa??

I had forgotten I had that shirt on until you guys mentioned it. It was NOT planned, my husband was in control of the camera. I put him to sleep by rubbing his paws ever so lightly. He is a little firebrand!

Lisa

 

[Tomtommom]

My ex-husband is close to 6 ft tall, 300 lbs and his grandma still called him 'Little Ray', since her husband was Ray senior....

 

[topdycke]

Blooie, That is so romantic! Congratulations!

 

[Loc20chick]

Now you have got to pull up alongside of Blooie and sit on the bucket and tell us what you did. You can't just leave us hanging.

Lisa

X3, you've got to tell us

Sorta.

But now I'm going to try to catch this skunk that's hanging around here. Also I have to try to catch a coon or badger for someone. I hope its a badger.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Bee! "I charge extra for intrusive questions!" That's inspired.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

My son came home today to stay for three months before he heads out to grad school at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He walks in, says "Hey mom, have you lost weight?" LOVE that boy.

 

[Beekissed]

My son came home today to stay for three months before he heads out to grad school at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He walks in, says "Hey mom, have you lost weight?" LOVE that boy.

I love him too! And I don't even know him.....

Not very often my boys notice things but when they do it's always a pleasant surprise.