Washingtonians

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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I thought you just weren't supposed to FEED them after midnight...or THEN they would turn into something scary! LOL

 

[SadieSue]

Wow - I was just looking at some of our past posts from last (pardon me for mentioning this) Christmas, and we were only up to 1500 pages or so then. And now look at us! Have we had an incredible amount of stuff to talk about in the past year? I was mostly lurking at that point a year ago while I was still bugging DH about building me a coop and he was pretty certain he would NOT be doing that or getting into having anything to do with chickens in his back yard.

Of course, somehow it all magically worked out and now I'm casually looking for a small second coop.

But gosh you guys - I can't do the math quickly but from 1500 something pages a year ago to what we're up to now? We are one chatty bunch!

 

[SadieSue]

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@busted chickens!

 

[SadieSue]

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The problem "I" see with the eve timer for lights is that (from what I know) chickens have very poor sight in the dark. If you suddenly turn out the lights will they find thier way to roost. This is why I prefer to do my timers in the am andlet the birds go to bed with the sun.

Good thought, thanks.

I went looking for solar lights at Target yesterday and all they have is Christmas ones. I don't want to put a lot of extra wires inside the chicken runs because in my experience anything that an animal can get hung up in it will: you've never lived until you've spent all of daylight on a sub-20F day trying to remove the head of a Shorthorn heifer from the frame of a sixteen-bottom breaking plough. (Hot water on the iron and a lot of soap on the heifer's neck ended up working but it was one of those moments when you're reminded why spending $250 on an ampule of semen is not, in fact, a better bet than going to a casino and putting it all on black).

I'm going to try to get to Olympia Supply today or tomorrow, since they're at least a local store with ane Ace Hardware franchise instead of a big out of state corporation. Target, and Mervyns's when Target owned them, seem to have trouble understanding that everywhere is not Minnesota. WalMart at exit 111 has once again "inadvertantly" killed all the trees between their sign and I-5. Fred Meyer's is having another one of their "reduced price" sales based on artificially inflated prices the four weeks after Labor Day. I found what I want on Amazon- a 10LED solar shed light but you know, it would be nice to buy something that makes me feel as if my neighbors are at least benefitting by getting a paycheck

http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Edg...PNRY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319922943&sr=8-1

Julia, is this the light from Amazon you were looking at? This seems reasonably priced and may work out in my coop. Hmm... Is this something that can be set with a timer then so it will go on way early in the morning? I'm not really certain how the solar power deal works. Although we are using one of the solar auto doors which I LOVE - it's been working like a charm ever since we installed it in April.

 

[SadieSue]

Huh. Now I'm talking to myself. Guess I'd better go wash the tablecloths for the party at the wine shop tomorrow. 2500 lbs. of grapes coming in means I'm working on a Sunday, but it will be fun! Made my biscotti yesterday. Our customers had better eat them all - I don't want to bring any home with me.

Hoping for sunny weather while we send the grapes through the crusher/destemmer set up outside!

 

[pettec63]

Oh my gosh! I found a place to sell my chickens and Muscovy's!! I had two Nubian goat wethers that I took to the Toppenish sale, (put them on CL) hadn't gotten one call on them, so I thought , gotta go, I don't have extra money to feed them. When we got there, there were trucks parked across the street selling chickens, pigeons and geese!!!
So, guess I'll be loading up all the roos and ducks I can't sell on CL down there, people were buying like crazy!! I hate to say it, but, my birds looked way better then what was down there!!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
Good thought, thanks.

I went looking for solar lights at Target yesterday and all they have is Christmas ones. I don't want to put a lot of extra wires inside the chicken runs because in my experience anything that an animal can get hung up in it will: you've never lived until you've spent all of daylight on a sub-20F day trying to remove the head of a Shorthorn heifer from the frame of a sixteen-bottom breaking plough. (Hot water on the iron and a lot of soap on the heifer's neck ended up working but it was one of those moments when you're reminded why spending $250 on an ampule of semen is not, in fact, a better bet than going to a casino and putting it all on black).

I'm going to try to get to Olympia Supply today or tomorrow, since they're at least a local store with ane Ace Hardware franchise instead of a big out of state corporation. Target, and Mervyns's when Target owned them, seem to have trouble understanding that everywhere is not Minnesota. WalMart at exit 111 has once again "inadvertantly" killed all the trees between their sign and I-5. Fred Meyer's is having another one of their "reduced price" sales based on artificially inflated prices the four weeks after Labor Day. I found what I want on Amazon- a 10LED solar shed light but you know, it would be nice to buy something that makes me feel as if my neighbors are at least benefitting by getting a paycheck

http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Edg...PNRY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319922943&sr=8-1

Julia, is this the light from Amazon you were looking at? This seems reasonably priced and may work out in my coop. Hmm... Is this something that can be set with a timer then so it will go on way early in the morning? I'm not really certain how the solar power deal works. Although we are using one of the solar auto doors which I LOVE - it's been working like a charm ever since we installed it in April.

Yup, that's the one; I suspect it would need some fiddling with adapters to get it to work with a timer (the sort of thing Radio Shack used to be full of, which now you have to get at Frye's or online).

Or rather ask The Programmer to fiddle with adapters, or possibly The Maestro: it is good to know electronics hobbyists.

I should figure out how to get to the shop in the next few days, to buy a bottle of Chocolate Port for my cousin-with-the-chicken's sister's 50th birthday party.

 

[Jake Levi]

Most all hardwares now have timers indoor and outdoors. Plug your light into it and you are in business.

Some 38 years ago when I took poultry science,(which I guess makes me an ancestor) there were reports we read from an ag school which said that additional lighting over 12 hours a day had a fast decreasing return on investment on lighting beyond 14 hours. FWIW.

It was also mentioned earlier about lighting on the early wake up side rather then splitting the difference between rising and shutting down, myself I wake them early and let them shut down when they are ready. The same as Stumpfarmer and CR. Some two hours extra in the morn and/or evening. I havent seen any studies on lighting at different ends of the day or both. Myself I am satisfied with a total of 12 hours, but in Jan they get just barely ten and increase it a bit each month. Starting with backing up morning til sundown.

 

[Sudsy Chick]

I posted pics of the chicks at six weeks in the gender/breed thread if you'd like to take a guess

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7736854#p7736854

PS - here are Illia's gueses from 4 weeks!

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[hallerlake]

Quote:
http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Edg...PNRY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319922943&sr=8-1

Julia, is this the light from Amazon you were looking at? This seems reasonably priced and may work out in my coop. Hmm... Is this something that can be set with a timer then so it will go on way early in the morning? I'm not really certain how the solar power deal works. Although we are using one of the solar auto doors which I LOVE - it's been working like a charm ever since we installed it in April.

Yup, that's the one; I suspect it would need some fiddling with adapters to get it to work with a timer (the sort of thing Radio Shack used to be full of, which now you have to get at Frye's or online).

Or rather ask The Programmer to fiddle with adapters, or possibly The Maestro: it is good to know electronics hobbyists.

I should figure out how to get to the shop in the next few days, to buy a bottle of Chocolate Port for my cousin-with-the-chicken's sister's 50th birthday party.

Chocolate port????