The Old Folks Home

[CapricornFarm]

Lots of good coop building threads on here with many good pictures.

 

[Cryss]

Watch out for advanced chicken math!

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Too late. I've started asking questions about goats

 

[microchick]

There are so many Amish around us that are living 100% off the grid that I cannot imagine it being illegal here. Many collect water off their metal roofs into storage containers and run it through a filter for consumption. It's weird that they won't hook into the city rural water but they will spend 400$ on an osmosis water filter from Lehmans. Same with rural water. A neighbor told us that it would take 1500$ to hook his house into the rural water or over 2000 to have a well put in (no electricity for a pump, mind you) so he was looking into a well....it's like...duh.

The big problem we ran in to the first few years that we owned our off the grid(at that time)farm was getting insurance. They want you to have wiring for electricity which we didn't have. We finally went through the farm bureau who didn't care if we did or didn't. Didn't care if we heated with wood, didn't care if our power was from a generator. It was a long road finding them but we have been with them ever since, long after we went on grid.

 

[MrsMistyReal]

 

[microchick]

Man little owl I hear ya!

My chickens seem to be handling the cold better than I am. Less than 30 minutes outside and my toes and fingers are numb. They have no desire to come out in the cold and I can't blame them although I told them if the weather didn't break pretty soon so I could clean the roosters combs were going to be touching the ceiling.

The only interesting thing I saw was a set of fox tracks in the snow between the barn and the coop. DH said one of the young dogs took off in that direction this morning raising all sorts of noise so maybe it got wind of the intruder and made sure it was on it's way out of the area.

 

[Kusanar]

G'morn everyone. Just found this thread which is WAAAAAYYYY toooo looooonnng for me to read through!!! I read a few beginning pages and 2-3 end pages so I'm not really up on all the conversations. I'm just gonna jump in here. Some of you have probably seen some of my posts and know I'm a newbie, only had my chickens since November. I'm starting a bit late I life. This month I'll be 67 years old. I wish I had been doing this all my life. I'm grateful for this site teaching me so much. Starting out in New Jersey winter with young pullets in a TS coop is challenging for an old fart like me. So now, question... how does this thread differ from the rest by targeting us senior citizens? I'm hoping it shows some ways to make things easier for bad backs, arthritic knees, and poor eyesight. It's hard enough figuring out how to get started keeping your feathered babies safe and healthy at any age. Anyway, that's my way of saying "Hi gang!"

Welcome! I'm one of the younger crowd they were telling you about, I'm almost 30 years old, but I hang out in here more than I do anywhere else...

I got a sign of Spring yesterday - my minis are starting to shed! They looked such a mud-encrusted mess, I decided to clean them up a bit (anyone else with horses knows that's a total waste of time, because the moment you turn them loose, they go roll in the mud again). Well, at least they looked like someone cares for a few minutes, anyway . . I had to stop brushing every few passes, 'cause the brushes were filling up with fur, as they will continue to do for the next 6 weeks or so. Time to dig out the shedding blade, Spring is here!

Wait, you BRUSH your mini's? I body clip mine.... from the last time I body clip him in the fall to the first time I clip him in spring, he doesn't get touched... I did clip his lower legs a month or so ago though because he had so many cockleburs in his feathers he could barely bend his legs... gross little teddy bear...

 

[CapricornFarm]

Too late. I've started asking questions about goats

I am getting goats too! I had LOTS of them when we lived in TN. Gotta get fences up here in VA.

 

[MrsMistyReal]

I am getting goats too! I had LOTS of them when we lived in TN. Gotta get fences up here in VA.

What type of goats are you getting?

 

[CapricornFarm]

What type of goats are you getting?

Nigerian Dwarves! I have had meat goats and big milk goats, but the little ones will be cheaper to feed and babies are cute as can be!

 

[MrsMistyReal]

Nigerian Dwarves! I have had meat goats and big milk goats, but the little ones will be cheaper to feed and babies are cute as can be!

Not to be rude but are they the ones play dead? The screaming goat video was hilarious.