Washingtonians

[Ogress]

Quote:
Thanks for the recipe! Tomorrow is my DH's birthday; I'm going to make that for him! It's a pretty good one to have around the house because I don't like peanut butter unless it is on celery sticks or in peanut sauce. I also don't like cheese cake, at all, ever. DH's two most favorite are cheesecake and peanut butter chocolate pie. That sounds like it will taste like a peanut-butter cheese cake!

 

[broodytood]

Anyone happen to know at what age you can tell what color earlobes a chick will grow up to have? Thanks

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Yum!

I'm mucking out the coop today.

It's not bad yet, but I was dumb to paint the walls off-white behind the roosting bars. Some of those girls sprayed the wall when they were eating from that molasses block! The coop smells of molasses more than chicken turds.

Does anyone do deep litter? I scoop the yuck from the wood shavings and replace them all every few weeks. Need a better method. I spend too much on shavings.

(edited for typos)

I use the deep litter method and it works well. With probably 50-60 birds I only go through two bales of shavings every other month. How large is the area and how many birds do you have in there? The best thing--you walk in and you only smell pine shavings. If you were blind-folded you wouldn't even know there were that many chickens in there.

Another suggestion would be to build a poop board or something under the roost and re-configure the roost so it's off the wall.

One that is angled poorly (scrap the wall every time I clean in there, but DH will be moving it a little this summer).

Some that are better:

Cover your run with clear plastic roofing if you can afford to do it--this will encourage them to spend more time outside even if it's pouring rain and less time pooping in their coop.

Mine are only inside to roost at night or lay eggs--unless it's pouring rain or really windy.

I use sand in the runs which helps keep them from tracking too much mud & water in....the shavings getting wet will make it smell bad in there in a hurry.

Lastly, I covered all of the ramps with stiff, nylon "boot brushing" mats. This helps wipe off their feet before they enter the coop and cuts down on the water & muck they track in. It was really easy....basically you just need a drill, some screws, a measuring tape, a perm. marker and a box cutter.

A finished one:

I bought the mats for $3.79 a piece at Wal-Mart.

Installed (you can see it behind the roo):

And a hen coming out:

It also helps keep from them tracking too many shavings out in to the run....

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Thanks for the recipe! Tomorrow is my DH's birthday; I'm going to make that for him! It's a pretty good one to have around the house because I don't like peanut butter unless it is on celery sticks or in peanut sauce. I also don't like cheese cake, at all, ever. DH's two most favorite are cheesecake and peanut butter chocolate pie. That sounds like it will taste like a peanut-butter cheese cake!

Oh and make sure you use CREAMY PB....not the chunky crap. LOL I use JIF and sometimes I'll add a little more than the 1 cup.

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
lol So far the only dreams with cravings have been about coca cola. I quit drinking soda two weeks ago, and the cravings are worse than the nicotine. lol

Am I arse backwards or what!?

Thanks to everyone else for all the tips and well wishes!

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
lol So far the only dreams with cravings have been about coca cola. I quit drinking soda two weeks ago, and the cravings are worse than the nicotine. lol

Am I arse backwards or what!?

Thanks to everyone else for all the tips and well wishes!

My DH used Diet Pepsi to help him get over chewing...not good for his teeth (which is a whole other subject) but at least he's not chewing anymore.

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
Thats sounds incredibly yummy. I might just try that tonight. Oh wait... Nope cant tonight. Tonights Im making GF brownies and banana bread!

 

[jbear]

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umm.. YUM! I think I might make this deliciousness....

 

[Chickielady]

Hello again all, once again I have been dropped off subscription.
How does that happen ?
Does someone kick ya off every so often or is there a "timer" that automatically kicks you off your subscribed topics ?
Anyway, DH's Mom is "stable" they have her knocked out due to pain..have given her lots of meds, she has some sort of staph that has gone body-wide into numerous organs & maybe her neck & spinal column.
Her back pain was horrible, DH has said.
They are doing an MRI to look at her spine to determine if it is infected (

How does a hospital get STAPH in a surgical patient!!!!!!!!!

)
So there is still a chance she can pull through.
She has been tube fed & has a breathing aparatus going...so we waite.
Toni I may need to you to camp here a few days after all, but can you hatch chicks ?
Actually, the incubator does the work, I just watch through the window.
But 4 pens of babies to feed/water and 5 coops of birds....it is at worst, about 2 hrs of work a day & you can eat, sleep & watch TV & be on this puter??
Then I can ride down there with my parents & ride back with DH...just thinking too loud is all....

AND I LOVE MY POOP BOARDS!!!!!!!! My work is soooo easy, and floors stay soo clean!!

Poop tray boards contain sand, and have a brief lip on them and I caulked around so it does not sift down..and easy to clean every 3 days or so I get a 5 gallon "poop" bucket & cat pan spoon, and scoop just like cleaning a cat box, and dump the poop in the compost.
The sand really works & helps the compost too!

Floors have shavings and stay super clean, birds spend most of the time inside, roosting.
Days they are outside.
I change the floor shavings about 2 X a year.
Love it.

 

[TifsBroodyBabes]

Quote:
lol So far the only dreams with cravings have been about coca cola. I quit drinking soda two weeks ago, and the cravings are worse than the nicotine. lol

Am I arse backwards or what!?

Thanks to everyone else for all the tips and well wishes!

I have been through the coca cola craving too.I miss my 2liter bottle of CocaCola a day!!! That was 10 yrs ago and if I have soda now it has so much ice in it I dont know why I bother with the soda.So mostly I dont drink it. You'll get through this your doing a good job.Keep it up