The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[hellbender]

Exciting!

Eight weeks is an excellent age to pick the dog up and it MUST live in the vicinity of the birds...not in the house and have as little human contact as is necessary to provide food and water..no petting or even talking for a while.

If the pup could have been born there with the birds, that would have been best but eight weeks will work if you can force yourself to leave it alone and NOT make it a pet. just MHO.

At the age of 4 years, I'm going to let my Heeler beotch have a litter this spring...in season now.

 

[aoxa]

I just turned down my heat because of my second monthly bill in a row that was $200+. I know some of it is those danged lights for Booster's comb, and the heated water bowls. I keep the house at 62, now it is turned down to 56 or so - with infloor heat it is like a radiator - gets cold and takes a while to heat up, and once it hits temp and turns off, the heat still radiates out so it keeps getting warmer. Polar fleece and stocking caps!

Danged winds drifted over the path to the coop when I got home, so had to shovel that out tonight. Not sure if I will make it out of the driveway in the morning. I am so done with winter! My daughter pointed out that this is the coldest winter in her life, she is only 32...and it is the coldest winter in 36 years here so far.

You don't even want to know what my bill was I just got in. Our house is too darned big... and I can't stand a cold house..

 

[lazy gardener]

Delisha: Were your eggs that you lost in your incubator? I bought a convertor that runs off a car battery, can be plugged into a cigarette lighter, or hooked directly up to the battery terminals. We're all most out of wood... at least wood that is not buried under the snow. Have a 1/4 tank of oil that we haven't touched for 3 years. Hubby says that it would be good to burn the oil instead of letting it sit in the tank for longer... so we'll be cranking up the furnace just about the same time that I start the incubator. That'll keep inside temps nice and steady for a nice hatch!!! Congrats on the LGD. How exciting...


BTW, I'm so very sick of winter that I could

.

 

[Shan30]

Just curious, what kind of wood are you burning?  Some green wood burns better than seasoned, as hard as that might be to believe.  

I provide wood to an older lady and she demands yellow locust (even though I don't charge her)    I'm not in the wood business..I just help her out because she has no one else.  The state gives her a little money to pay for wood but I just let her have it.

This is incredibly kind and sweet of you. Firewood is not easy work just to keep one house warm never mind taking on a second out of the goodness of your heart.

Our last hydro bill was $420 and this one is $275 using wood heat. Occasionally we turn on our 2 year old high efficiency Mitsubishi heat pump. How is that even possible right? Hydro rates are going crazy here. Winter is usually pretty much over by now so we only have a few weeks worth of wood left. Oh well we snuggle more when its cold anyways

Snow coming off the coop roof ripped the gutters off and killed the last of the fencing so I know what my plans are this weekend! Oh and getting the brooder set up! New babies yay!

 

[fenwickchic]

I ordered a garden sifter thingie that is supposed to come today or tomorrow to sift the lumps out of my ash. It usually has some various debris in there that needs sifting and I'm too unmotivated to make anything. Good timing I guess. I was looking at all of these on Amazon:

Ended up ordering the one that looks like a spring form pan as the folks that were reviewing it said it fit over the top of a bucket well.

I'm too cheap to buy that. I just use an old window screen over a big plastic bowl. Sure looks a lot nicer though.

 

[hellbender]

This is incredibly kind and sweet of you. Firewood is not easy work just to keep one house warm never mind taking on a second out of the goodness of your heart.

Our last hydro bill was $420 and this one is $275 using wood heat. Occasionally we turn on our 2 year old high efficiency Mitsubishi heat pump. How is that even possible right? Hydro rates are going crazy here. Winter is usually pretty much over by now so we only have a few weeks worth of wood left. Oh well we snuggle more when its cold anyways

Snow coming off the coop roof ripped the gutters off and killed the last of the fencing so I know what my plans are this weekend! Oh and getting the brooder set up! New babies yay!

I'm extremely fortunate. I have free natural gas and so is my water free...I have a artesian spring so it doesn't hurt me to help others once in a while. I have eggs delivered to my wood person and a few other folks who have a hard time of it. This weather has been especially hard of everyone but the less fortunate have taken some pretty hard hits.

 

[CoopChick719]

I don't know why, but this morning after collecting eggs, I made up new words to the song "I've Been Working On the Railroad." This is not the sort of thing I normally do, so I'm pretty happy with myself! (I know many people here don't feed their chickens corn, but it rhymes so well!!) I have a chicken named Dina, so the song seemed appropriate:

I’ve Been Watching All the Chickens
Sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”

I’ve been watching all the chickens
All the live-long day!
I’ve been watching all the chickens,
Just hoping one will lay!

Can’t you hear the alarm ringing,
Rise up so early in the morn!
Can’t you hear the chickens squawking,
“Come give us our corn!”

Chickens won’t you lay, chickens won’t you lay, chickens won’t you lay an e-e-egg!
Chickens won’t you lay, chickens won’t you lay, chickens won’t you lay an egg!

Someone’s in the nest box with Dina, someone’s in the nest box I know-ow-ow-ow!
Someone’s in the nest box with Dina! Hopin’ she’ll just get up and go!

Buuuck buck buckuck buckAWK!
Buck buck buckuck buck buck buck buck buck!
Buuuck buck buckuck buckAWK!
Hopin’ she’ll just get up and go!​

We are kindred spirits, Chaos! I wrote this after I fell in the driveway on my way out to the coop with waterer in one hand & FF bucket in the other. Pretty sure I bruised my ribs...still sore today.

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪Mr. Sandman, bring me some sand (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Make it the biggest bucket that I’ve ever seen (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Spread it on the driveway all over
So I won’t fall on my a $ $ & shoulder

Sandman, my ribs are so sore (bung, bung, bung, bung)
I think I’ll have to ice them some more! (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Please bring me sand before I scream
Mr. Sandman, bring me, please, please, please
Mr. Sandman, bring me some sand. ♪♫♪♫

 

[fenwickchic]

I'm extremely fortunate. I have free natural gas and so is my water free...I have a artesian spring so it doesn't hurt me to help others once in a while. I have eggs delivered to my wood person and a few other folks who have a hard time of it. This weather has been especially hard of everyone but the less fortunate have taken some pretty hard hits.

You are fortunate and very caring to those in need around you. WV has been hard hit in this very long economic recession. I am a little familiar with WV. My son goes to WVU for engineering and my grandmother was from WV. My parents grew up right in the corner of MD bordering WV and PA. I hope things improve. I am in a slightly warmer area, but my heating bills are very high this year and no wood or alternative fuel to use. Just an electric heat pump, so you can just imagine... I feel for my poor chickens in this cold and I worry but they seem to be doing o.k. I can't wait for Spring/Summer when the breezes keep it cool enough I don't need to use AC very much and get some relief on utilities and on feed because the chickens get free range some in the tractor. Come on Spring!!!

 

[hellbender]

You are fortunate and very caring to those in need around you. WV has been hard hit in this very long economic recession. I am a little familiar with WV. My son goes to WVU for engineering and my grandmother was from WV. My parents grew up right in the corner of MD bordering WV and PA. I hope things improve. I am in a slightly warmer area, but my heating bills are very high this year and no wood or alternative fuel to use. Just an electric heat pump, so you can just imagine... I feel for my poor chickens in this cold and I worry but they seem to be doing o.k. I can't wait for Spring/Summer when the breezes keep it cool enough I don't need to use AC very much and get some relief on utilities and on feed because the chickens get free range some in the tractor. Come on Spring!!!

I am perhaps a bit jaded but I think your son is in A Top University.

Right out of high school, I went into the Army, serving 3 tours in Vietnam. Yes...I'm 'crazy' but that time served in the military provided me with as much education as the nine years I spent at WVU but with different emphases.

In South East Asia, I developed a strong empathy for my fellow human being and saw what politics can do to our world. I have never failed to vote after that portion of my education.

After a year of rest in Central America, I entered WVU and nailed down the finer points required to speak and act on behalf of others.

Oddly enough, the time spent in the first 'class room' helped to defray the costs of the second level...Strange world.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Well.....as I said..... too unmotivated at this moment so I just bought one! It was one of those projects that just kept being put of for months and months so I finally just bought it.