What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

Got moldy in a few weeks.
Umm yah, that's what they do, and why people use them.
They get moist and start to compost. If you can get the plain brown ones that have not been died white, even better.

Oh, I understand that process. I was referring to transplanting the pots before they fall apart. The advantage to the paper pots is that they do break down fast and turn into compost for the garden. If I have plants that need longer than a few weeks, then I suppose a plastic pot would be better.

I don't know how long a soil block would last, but I suppose the roots of the plants would help keep it together. The soil blocks have the advantage of air pruning the roots and they have less transplant shock then some other methods. I would like to tray of those this spring as well.

 

[gtaus]

Maybe we need to invest in an automatic feeder /waterer so when we do have these days where we decide, im gonna git this done PERIOD... we are allowed to sleep in, most of the next day and not have to worry about feeding / watering / etc, because it's being done automatically !

I have a 3-gallon metal fount waterer and a 5-gallon PVC hanging bucket feeder. I only have to refill the waterer every 10 days and a half full feeder bucket lasts 10 days. That's for 10 chickens in my flock. My chickens required less than 5 minutes of work per day on average.

Also, I tend to the chickens when I get up. If I sleep in, I refuse to feel guilty about it. I do not set my alarm to wake me up to go let the chickens out. They have to wait until I'm ready.

I lock them up at night usually a half hour before sunset. They go into the coop themselves. I can see the chicken run from my kitchen and dining room windows, so when the chickens are no longer in the run, I go and shut the pop door on the coop for the night.

I have considered getting an automatic door, but, for now, I like having to go outside twice a day to open/close the pop door. I count the chickens, check on their food and water, and make sure nothing looks abnormal in their behavior. If I had an automatic door, then I would probably not take the time to check up on them like that.

Well, I would still have to collect the eggs daily. In any case, chickens make wonderful animals to keep. They don't take much effort if you have a good setup, and you get eggs from them. In my case, I have composting chickens which make tons of compost for my gardens and I get eggs as a bonus. What's not to love about that?

 

[Ascholten]

Also, I tend to the chickens when I get up. If I sleep in, I refuse to feel guilty about it. I do not set my alarm to wake me up to go let the chickens out. They have to wait until I'm ready.

Oh that must be nice. My chickens ARE the alarm clock to get up !
Yah, I got some spoiled rotten little drama queens, but I think they got trained a teeny little bit from the one inside too

Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

Currently mine have a ton of places to run and hide and they do that very well. I don't worry too much about problems because they have shown they will zip and hide on a moments notice.

Part of me wants to just leave their coop door open and they can go in and out as they please, but another part of me says sooner or later something is going to get in there that way and although yes they can all 'run back out' to relative safety it might cost one or two until the mad rush gets out and I don't want that. Plus if something does manage to get in, I want it to STAY in long enough for me to show up with my rifle to be done with it once and for all so I don't have to worry about return trips to the cackle snack bar.

Aaron

 

[gtaus]

Being 4 feet deep I’m not sure there is any scenario where I wouldn’t have to bend though to change out puppy pads or grab a chick from the back wall.

Looks like a very nice setup. But I understand having to bend over to get into there to do your maintenance. Setups make a big difference.

My brooder is a simple tow behind garden cart that I just put a wire frame on top. I can walk around my cart from any side. If I need to replace the waterer or refill the feeder, I just remove the wire top and reach down and grab whatever I need. Chicks have nowhere to hide in my brooder.

For the past several years, I have just used deep bedding in my brooder. I know some people swear by those puppy pads, but I suspect you have to change them out a lot. With my deep bedding, I start off with an inch or so and continue to add fresh bedding on top as needed. By the end of 8 weeks in the brooder, I might have as much as 6 inches of bedding in the brooder. But I never have to clean it out! That's really nice for me. I only clean out my brooder once when I move the chicks into the main coop.

I used wood chips as deep bedding in my first batch of layer chicks 3 years ago. That worked fine. This most recent group of chicks got paper shreds in the brooder. For me, that worked out even better. In both cases, the spent deep bedding gets tossed into my chicken run composting system where my chickens turn it into compost for the gardens. Paper shreds compost much faster than wood chips.

Just out of curiosity, how often do you have to change out those puppy pads? Can they be cleaned and reused? Are they compostable or do you have to put them in the garbage?

I am always looking for better ways to take care of my chickens. I am really happy with the deep bedding system which takes very little effort, but still am interested in other methods and learning about what advantages they may have.

 

[Ascholten]

One other thing I have notice about deep bedding. In my coop once it gets an inch deep or so, they dig thru it and throw it more towards the outside part caged in part of the coop, so cleaning / changing, is not that much work anymore. It never gets bad enough to be an issue so far, it all ends up outside, trampled in and ran all over the place.

Aaron

 

[gtaus]

I am off all pain meds, just taking muscle relaxers for the spasms I get. I am afraid I’ll be in pain when I start PT next week & the doc said he’d call in more meds if I need but would like me to try acetaminophen before I head out so that is my plan - just like you said! Here’s hoping!

I am happy to hear that you are off all pain meds. I cannot tell you how many patients I have had that get addicted to pain meds and it usually destroys their life. At the same time, a person should not have to be in constant pain, either. When I worked in the hospital, we would have our patients take their aspirin/acetaminophen a half hour before going to PT. And they usually got an extra dose after PT if it was a tough day. The idea was to prevent as much pain as possible, and to blunt the pain after PT so we would not have to use the heavy narcotic pain meds attempting to chase that pain that makes us all so miserable.

Being in pain slows down the healing process, so I hope you can stay ahead of it. One doctor told to think of it that your body will first attack the pain issue before it will attempt to start healing your body. So, pain management is very important to proper healing. Best wishes on your recovery.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

For the people who start seeds inside, have you tried using distilled water?

I didn't notice any mold last year on my seed starts and I only used distilled water.

 

[Ascholten]

For the people who start seeds inside, have you tried using distilled water?

I didn't notice any mold last year on my seed starts and I only used distilled water.

why distilled water when the soils you use have so many bacteria's etc in them. If they have been treated / heated to the point of being sterile then you pretty much killed them anyways. Is the water you are DRINKING... so toxic that you can't even get plants to grow in it? if so, then might want to find a different water supply.

Just curious
Aaron

 

[pennyJo1960]

I use distilled in my Incubator. Everything ele gets warm tap water.