Dear Evil Mom,
I was wearing my jammies when I went out to check for eggs. My bed was not made. My hair was not brushed but my teeth were. Oddly enough, the chickens did not seem to mind.
Well, I could barely understand her. Anyway, she came and bought some ducks, a dozen eggs, and then asked himself if we had any trees for sale, and pointed to out cedars. Himself said no, she couldn't have any of our trees, but then I thought perhaps she wanted "wood". So I took her to the wood pile and she nodded frantically. So, we got rid of all the unwanted wood from the removal of a horrid old maple. Pity we don't have a wood burning fireplace, but oh well. . .
My chickens do not care what kind of pants I'm wearing; they will affectionately stab at my legs whenever they get the chance. They'll also forage/scratch at my shoes if I stand still long enough.
Turns out our contractor for the roof trusses is none other than CR's nephew who just got married and is now off gallivanting on his HoneyMoon somewhere for the next 2 weeks~~~~~~~~~~~
I discovered that my chickens were, in fact, infected with roundworm when I found a poop with worms wriggling out. I've given them Wazine to clear out most of the worms and will be giving them Eprinex (thanks to FirewifeJess for the suggestion) in two weeks to finish the job. Is it just the stuff for cattle? I haven't found any for poultry, so I'm assuming that the cattle kind is what everyone uses.
They have deer on them. There are white spots on the necks and tails of the deer. I think maybe it looks like little eyes all over watching them or something.
When they hear me open the back door they always come running to beg for a treat. It's all find and dandy until I open that screen door and they see the pants. I've had them turn in mid flight to go the other direction.
Phew - extra hot today! So I decided it was the right day to mess around with the treadle feeder. I followed pretty closely the instructions found in the Learning Center under "feeders and waterers". Now that this prototype is built, I know what changes I'd make.
The feeder is 16" high (not counting the lid) and it's footprint is 16x16". It's big! Almost too big maybe. It should hold close to 40# of feed. As you can see it takes about 6 lbs. (3/4 of a gal) to open the lid. That's too much weight. So I'll have to fiddle around with the lifting mechanism. Future models will use lighter weight arms (I used quarter-sawn oak 3/4" square), and will be a big longer. I used a piece of masonite for the lid - I think that's too flimsy, I will use 1/4" plywood next. I also built this out of the plywood I hard on hand already. I could reduce the overall weight of the feeder (~20#) if I use thinner plywood. I can change the lid up a bit and drop a bit of weight there as well.
Some of you have shown interest in treadle feeders. A sheet of plywood makes two. Then we need some material for the arms, and of course the pivot posts. Over here in Yakima, I can get a 1/2" sheet of sanded fir plywood for ~30 bucks. The feeder needs 8 pivot posts (sex-bolts, binding-posts). I found those on the 'net for .45 cents each (plus shipping & tax) if I buy 25 at a time (That does 3 feeders). Add a few bucks for some odds and ends:
