Thoughts for a Saturday moring

[AmericanMom]

I sit here with my steaming cup of coffee making plans for this spring and summer, I was pleasantly surprised last week when it looked like a Jersey Giant I have was wanting to go broody, sure enough she did and now is on day 5 sitting on 9 eggs. I typically don't candle my broody eggs as I know all my eggs are fertile. The day after I sat them I got a call for someone wanting me to incubate 8 eggs.. perfect, these chicks are already sold.

I know this is just the beginning and many of my birds will start going broody
We are in the process and hope to finish the coop expansion today. We are giving the chooks 220 square feet of living space with a blocked off area just for the broodys. They free range 1/3 acre, with daily access to the garden area until spring. I don't know exactly how many layers I have but I believe its somewhere in the 50's range

My thoughts this morning are of warming up the incubator, I sell hatching eggs, chicks and twice a year established layers and thinking of getting a jump start on the feed store chicks that will be offered next month. DH just rolls his eyes but always supports what my plans are, I have proven that I can make these birds pay for themselves and he is wonderful in allowing me my addiction

What are your plans for the coming year? I find it funny that after the spring and summer work load we look forward to winter and some rest but if you are like me two weeks into October and I am already starting to plan next years improvements.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I hope to get my prototype winter water system complete in the next week or so to test its effectiveness so I can make one for each coop complex.

Also, automatic doors is a must. The reason they're not installed yet is there are 8 housing units so something else that has to be engineered.

More cross fencing so each housing unit has at least 2 forage areas for rotating pasture.

 

[AmericanMom]

I hope to get my prototype winter water system complete in the next week or so to test its effectiveness so I can make one for each coop complex.

Also, automatic doors is a must. The reason they're not installed yet is there are 8 housing units so something else that has to be engineered.

More cross fencing so each housing unit has at least 2 forage areas for rotating pasture.

Thank goodness where we are predators aren't an issue.. DH has tons of direct burial conduit and we were thinking of the auto waterers and feeder.. Would sure help us with our vacation plans later this summer

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Most of my setups can be left for up to a week, except for the dead of winter.
All the auto water systems can fail so it's important to have someone check them occasionally. A chicken can go days without food but not 24 hours without water. I check mine daily.

I don't know where there are no predator problems. I'm in the suburbs of a large metro area and have coyote, fox, mink, weasel, raccoons, possums, neighbors' dogs and a wide array of the aerial type. There are also bobcats, mountain lions and bear not far away. I haven't had any of them here yet.
Mink killed $4,000 of chickens last summer.

 

[AmericanMom]

Most of my setups can be left for up to a week, except for the dead of winter.
All the auto water systems can fail so it's important to have someone check them occasionally. A chicken can go days without food but not 24 hours without water. I check mine daily.

I don't know where there are no predator problems. I'm in the suburbs of a large metro area and have coyote, fox, mink, weasel, raccoons, possums, neighbors' dogs and a wide array of the aerial type. There are also bobcats, mountain lions and bear not far away. I haven't had any of them here yet.
Mink killed $4,000 of chickens last summer.

Yep, one week is our limit and as we will have someone gathering eggs daily while we are away they will also check on food and water, we just wanted to make it easy for them

I live in a semi rural residential area and although we have an acre our lots are long and narrow, we have neighbors on each side and behind us, thankfully they don't mind the chickens and everyone has dogs. We haven't had so much as a raccoon in over 12 years of being here, I shouldn't have said no Preds tho, we do have hawks

 

[duluthralphie]

You guys have such great thoughts and plans...

I have a hard and fast rule to never think on a Saturday...

My plans for the year, which I thought of on a weekday, are to build more coops and more covered fences. I want to be able to control breeding and keep chickens segregated. I will still free range and allow the birds to inter mingle when I am done hatching. I found out last year I can free range from more than one coop at the same time. The birds almost always go back to their proper coops at sundown.

I want a coop for guinea fowls and a covered fence so I can lock them up for proper jail sentences when they start their gang activities.

I also want 2 turkey coops. My coops will be much simpler this year. I am going to build pole barn type coops, so I can just remove a side and drive my bobcat through for cleaning. I am getting to old to muck out coops.

I also want to move one of my larger coops and divide it into 4 pens. But I refuse to think about how to do that on a Saturday...

Have a good one,, BTW My coffee is cold, should I risk asking my wife to get me a fresh cup and risk a beating or get up and get my own,,,,Dang I hate thinking on Saturdays!

 

[AmericanMom]

You guys have such great thoughts and plans...

I have a hard and fast rule to never think on a Saturday...

My plans for the year, which I thought of on a weekday, are to build more coops and more covered fences. I want to be able to control breeding and keep chickens segregated. I will still free range and allow the birds to inter mingle when I am done hatching. I found out last year I can free range from more than one coop at the same time. The birds almost always go back to their proper coops at sundown.

I want a coop for guinea fowls and a covered fence so I can lock them up for proper jail sentences when they start their gang activities.

I also want 2 turkey coops. My coops will be much simpler this year. I am going to build pole barn type coops, so I can just remove a side and drive my bobcat through for cleaning. I am getting to old to muck out coops.

I also want to move one of my larger coops and divide it into 4 pens. But I refuse to think about how to do that on a Saturday...

Have a good one,, BTW My coffee is cold, should I risk asking my wife to get me a fresh cup and risk a beating or get up and get my own,,,,Dang I hate thinking on Saturdays!

LOL, I wake up at 5 am no matter the day, my husband thinks I think to much which causes him to have to think which sometimes he says is painful on a weekend We are working on plans for a separate turkey pen but to date we have been unable to separate them, they were raised with the chickens and freak out when we have tried to separate them. Our Main chicken coop started out small, 8x10, housed 12 hens, over the last two years it has been expanded twice, DH says this is the last expansion. I guess I am ok with that lol I could always quit breeding the rabbits and use the rabbit house if I need too

... Main concern today... Plyboard up to enclose the expansion, Broody pen and covered run to deter the hawk attacks we suffered last year, ladder roost for the chooks, went out this morning and one of the old roost was broke due to their weight..

 

[ChickenCanoe]

By the way AmericanMom. I love Jersey Giants. I've had Black, White and Blue but none ever went broody.

 

[duluthralphie]

LOL, I wake up at 5 am no matter the day, my husband thinks I think to much which causes him to have to think which sometimes he says is painful on a weekend We are working on plans for a separate turkey pen but to date we have been unable to separate them, they were raised with the chickens and freak out when we have tried to separate them. Our Main chicken coop started out small, 8x10, housed 12 hens, over the last two years it has been expanded twice, DH says this is the last expansion. I guess I am ok with that lol I could always quit breeding the rabbits and use the rabbit house if I need too

... Main concern today... Plyboard up to enclose the expansion, Broody pen and covered run to deter the hawk attacks we suffered last year, ladder roost for the chooks, went out this morning and one of the old roost was broke due to their weight..

I wake up at 5am everyday also, the benefits of being old, I guess.

I need more space for birds. My turkeys have their own coop, BUT they refuse to use it. They lived with the chickens too long, I think. When I moved the chickens out of the large summer coop to the smaller winter coop with a covered run, the turkeys moved themselves to the same area. Up to 3 hen turkeys roost inside the rest outside or on the roof of the coop. I really want to get them separated this year. I have red and blue slates and want them to breed separately. This would all be easier if I could just bring myself to butcher and eat 3 toms.

I also need to keep my 3 roosters breeding true, or with whom I want them to breed with. So I need fences and coops.

I also need the guinea fowl somewhere else too. I am somewhat upset with them right now, so I may feed them to the eagles or owls. However, they are my wife's favorite bird and any harm befalling them could be bad for me.

 

[rnchick74]

MY thoughts for this Saturday are: I figured out why my Brisnea mini advanced wasn't turning the eggs correctly - it was spinning the eggs around, but they weren't turning. I had the egg plate upside down. Silly mistake but easily fixed. I've got my 1st batch of chicken eggs going - it's been 24 hrs. Of the 9 that were shipped to me: 6 Tolbunt polish, 2 extra Tolbunts, & 1 Isbar - 1 was scrambled with very bad air cell; 1 had a very large saddle shaped air cell - so I set 7 (which is the max of my incubator anyways). The isbar had a "loose" air cell - it was a little jiggly so probably partially detached. I let all the eggs sit overnight & when I candled before I turned on the heat - the air cell looked much better.

Now the anxious wait begins! Why was incubating parrots so much less stress when I was a teen? I think it was because I didn't care as much - it was just totally fly by the seat of my pants...where now, I put a lot of energy, research, hope, $$, etc into things.

Rambling thoughts!