Washingtonians

[blueducklings]

Quote:
OMG,
I was afraid to scroll down.
Glad I saw the rest of the body that was attached to it.
Too much talk about freezer camp.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
Probably, he was the guy who was always there, keeping the computers running and teaching a couple of classes, as well. There were other instructors, but he was the one who ran the lab.

My DH, Jeff, would have been there in 1990-91. And now has a more than full time job keeping the computers at PCLI's 18-20 branches (I lost count) talking to each other. He got the job straight out of CC and has been there ever since!

Cool! I'll let Franklin know!

Although these things are more evidence that he's a grown-up, no doubt.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
I've got bunches of it as well, and my arms and legs always have cuts, especially when I take the riding mower through the orchard and don't notice the shorter vines that get around my ankles until I've driven through them and they tighten up and rip my legs open! I now wear gaitors when I mow! The hens LOVE the berries on them, so I am leaving up the vines that grow along the fence-line to feed the hens and hopefully deter the unwelcome dogs and wildlife. My dogs now do great with the chickens! I left them all out free-ranging from dawn to whenever the hens decided to head back home ... sometime between 5&6. I'm feeling better about the wildlife situation. Shasta is getting HUGE, I don't think there's much that will tangle with her.

Oow! I wear my knee high gum boots to mow...and usually shorts.
But always watching for rocks & logs in the grass, I often get a long string of blackberries snag my arms or right across the top of the head....I hate them!
Goats will not eat the big berry canes, but if they can, they nibble off the leaves.
Then the canes on the outside where the goats eat, will die off..and get rock hard.
You still have to cut the canes back.
Mine are growing on a steep slop too...very hard to get at them with any machinery..spray has killed them pretty good but I think they will win the war.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Ok, but how smart do your chickens have to be to figure it out and NOT bean themselves in the face when it opens? Mine are dumb...yeah, no reeeeally dumb.....

There are some vids on Utube that show a chicken using one and how to train them to use it. Seems pretty simple! Even for the 'challenged' chicken!

Last time I had one of those, the group of chickens stand on it, it opens, and they proceed to "beak" out all the feed all around on the ground anyways.
The lid is open when they are eating, and so it was as if I had a shoe box of feed on the ground for them, and they kicked it out all over with their beaks.
Back to square one.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

About boys: mine will be 25 at the end of May, and worked cattle with us yesterday with no argument and little need for direction. My 13yo nephew, on the other hand: not so much. It helps to remember that about two years pre-puberty, their brains begin to melt, and basically re-form until they get their full growth (for my nephew, we're figuring that'll happen when he's about 6' 8" or so: BIG kid!). On the other hand, things would have gone a lot quicker yesterday if he'd remembered to keep his feet on the ground and his mouth closed when we were trying to get cattle up the chute instead of climbing the chute and yammering.

Mine never did that, but his sister (23 next Wednesday) did.

My Grandmother Jane always said, in re boys and work, "When you have one boy, you have a boy. When you have two boys, you have half a boy. When there's three of them, you're all alone." She had eight of them (and four girls) so I'll take her word on that.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
Grandmother had 12 kids? Or 8? If I am reading this correctly 8 BOYS?

I do not think I could ever handle this - they would have drove me to drink - LOTS!!!!!. Crazy. But I sooooooo agree with Grandmother's logic.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Mine aren't quite exterior, but I do have a slant built into them. I followed plans posted on this website by "Opa". The eggs roll back into a storage room. I don't have the matts he uses in them, I just use a bix of shredded paper and wood shavings. If I don't make it deep, the eggs roll back.

So I got the exterior nest boxes done and they turned out way better than I planned.

(cause I didn't have a plan ... or drawing!

) Before I screwed on the floor board, I put a 1/2 inch piece of scrap wood under it on the side that is away from the egg collection door. The egg rolled great. One of the people that I viewed their plans used coconut coir sheet in the bottom of the nest box. I'm going to try that and hope that the eggs will still roll to the back. I also made a drop down door instead of a hinged lift up roof cause my kids are going to collect eggs and are not tall enough to reach down inside. I'll have to attach chain to the door to keep it from opening too far. This will make a ledge that they can set the basket while they gather the eggs. All in all, it was a successfully productive afternoon! Now, if I can only find sheet coir around here!

Sheet coir ?
Do you mean sheet rock ?
Chickens will peck at & eat sheet rock...and how are you insulating it (the nest boxes) ?
I would love to see photos.
We are making ours with a sheet of OSB sandwiching a 1/2" sheet of styrofoam board insulation.
The sheets are cheap, and easy to glue on with liquid nails, and OSB on box sides (think SIPS panels)
Then the nest boxes are inside, but we are building a hatch door outside to reach in to get eggs.
I just built a hot frame with the foam..and OSB.
Took a sheet of both to build, 2 hinges and liquid nails, and an old double paned window.
It is 3 X 3 feet, 2 foot high in back, 1 foot high in front, a sack of sand inside & about 15 feet of heat tape keeps it at 78 degrees all night even in 33 degree weather.
My vegies are loving it!
Will get a pic later today.
You have to get a window, then build the box to fit it..I still need to paint it if the weather ever allows.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
What about a smoke n' grill barbie ? (No, not the doll

)
You can add small wood to the bottom hatch & presto!

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Now I have heard of packing eggs in a lot of things to protect them during shipping. But this is the first time I have heard of using WATERMELON.

These are actual chicks. Seven of them. I hope they realize they'll never get properly ripened watermelon again.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Congratulations on the nest boxes! Do you have pictures? The coconut Coir sounds interesting. . . I think I will give that a try. Those plastic grass matts just seem so cold. I have mail-ordered them before and put them around my fruit trees.

I cut pipe insulation and lined the back of the roll-out with it so the eggs won't crack.

Oh I like the pipe insulation idea!!! I'll take pics tomorrow. I worked till after dark today so I couldn't get any when I was done.

Chickens eat pipe insulation too.