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Old 04-30-2017, 12:31 PM   #21
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Being cheap was an afterthought, but with only 5 sheets of plywood, it's not bad.
Lessee -- probably 1/2" aircraft mahogany 7-ply 90-degree plywood, $325 per sheet -- $1625.00, not too bad.
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Old 04-30-2017, 02:44 PM   #22
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Lessee -- probably 1/2" aircraft mahogany 7-ply 90-degree plywood, $325 per sheet -- $1625.00, not too bad.
Naw, if she had wanted mahogany we'd have recycled the piano.

My daughter and I made the ramp and finished up the last of the door latches today. And she found a newly constructed paper wasp nest right beside the garage door.




Got pretty excited over that. Anyway, all that's needed is waterproof paint on the roof and ramp and it's done. (Aside from a trip to Tractor Supply for "Furniture" )
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Old 05-11-2017, 07:03 AM   #23
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Well, lets see some pictures of your flock. They should be scratching up the dirt looking for the bugs by now.
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Old 05-11-2017, 04:28 PM   #24
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They're not here yet. Sweet Wife needs to make a run to Tractor Supply to get feeders and waterers. Maybe that will happen this weekend, and then next week sometime we'll get the birds.

I've seen them. Don't recall what kind they are, but they looked like they'll grow up to be a good looking flock. As far as chickens go, anyway.

We've started work on the enclosure. Maybe that will get finished Memorial Day and then they can "free range" in about 200 sq. ft.
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Old 05-11-2017, 05:29 PM   #25
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Don't forget the straw for the nests, ground corn for the feed and the medicine to put in the water to keep them healthy.
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Old 05-11-2017, 05:40 PM   #26
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Humph. Forget the medicine in the water. That's the kind of thing that causes the curse of antibiotic-resistant microbes.

As for the good-looking chickens, I never saw any. I have seen many good-looking chicks, though.
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Old 05-12-2017, 06:42 PM   #27
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We will have all natural, drug free chickens. And they may arrive tomorrow.

Sweet Wife has a flurry of activity planned with B-I-L to put the finishing touches on, some furnishings and the flock in, the coop.
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Old 05-12-2017, 08:11 PM   #28
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Don't forget the straw for the nests, ground corn for the feed and the medicine to put in the water to keep them healthy.
Sweet Wife was telling me about "magic water" which is just water with some apple cider vinegar and some other stuff in it. They're supposed to get that once a week.

Hope they like it.
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Old 05-27-2017, 05:48 PM   #29
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So, today is the day the flock arrives and there is a bunch of work to do.

First, make feeders from PVC pipe. The 3 short ones go inside of the coop. They hold about 3 pounds of food or oyster shell each. The taller one goes outside the coop with the feed opening actually under the coop to protect it from rain. It gets a coffee can set over the top to keep the rain out.

The red bucket (from Firehouse Subs, $2, smells strongly of pickles) is a homemade waterer. From Tractor Supply you get "nipples" which screw into 3/8" holes drilled in the bottom of the bucket. If you tap (or peck) the nipple it dribbles out a little water sort of like a hamster bottle.

We made 100 jokes about chicken nipples. None of which are worth posting here.

But now the coop is ready for the girls to arrive.
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Old 05-27-2017, 06:08 PM   #30
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Default They're here!

When we got to B-I-L house there was some confusion over the "shipping container" the birds were to travel in. Sweet Wife understood we were borrowing a dog crate to haul them in. B-I-L had no clue, and come to find out loaned the dog crate out some time ago and had no idea where it was. So we rounded up some cardboard boxes, cut some air holes, shoved 4 chickens in one and 2 in the other and loaded them up in Sweet Wife's mini-van.

Amazingly they rode quietly, and didn't stink too much. Seems like as long as a chicken has a companion, they remain reasonably calm.

Got them home and dumped them over into the coop. They seemed fairly calm and happy to be out of the boxes. They figured out the feeders right away. The waterer took a little longer as it is a different system than they were used to at B-I-L's brooding house. Sweet Wife proceeded to "teach" them how to use the nipple water system.

Chickens are good mimics. If one bird sees another doing something they'll do it too. Especially if it involves food or water. We checked on them a few hours after arrival and one was getting a drink, so we figure they'll all figure it out shortly.

BTW we have 3 New Hampshire Reds (not Rhode Island Reds) and 3 Barred Rocks. They're all supposed to lay brown eggs.

So here's the girls all tucked into their new home. And Sweet Wife teaching one of them to use the waterer.
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Old 05-27-2017, 09:40 PM   #31
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Be sure to have friends save the empty egg cartons because you will need them once they start laying 4-6 eggs a day unless you like large omelets. Looks like they need to put on a little weight. Who is going to gather the eggs every day and make sure they have feed and water and be sure to close up the hen house at night to keep the varmints at bay. You will soon know what it is like to grow up on the farm like I did and do your chores. LOL
Compost the manure and put it on the strawberry bed, you will have an abundant crop of berries as they like a "Hot" fertilizer.
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Old 05-28-2017, 08:23 AM   #32
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We made 100 jokes about chicken nipples.
I have inspected many chicken breasts, and none had nipples. I wondered at this.

So, all those flocking chickens have to use their peckers on the nipples because their fingers have been cut off to be served as fast food. Now I understand.
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Old 05-28-2017, 09:09 PM   #33
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We have quite a collection of egg cartons since Sweet Wife uses them to start seedlings.

The girls are still young and growing. We won't be getting any eggs until September or October. They have figured out the feeder and waterer. I had some reservation about the height of the opening of the feeders but I guessed about right I think. The waterer height can be adjusted by adding/removing carabiners that hold it.

Sweet Wife understands that when construction has completed on this project, my involvement will become minimal. We'll have to move the compost pile a little closer to the coop!
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Old 05-28-2017, 10:07 PM   #34
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Sweet Wife understands that when construction has completed on this project, my involvement will become minimal.
And we all understand that you think your involvement will become minimal.
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Old 05-30-2017, 06:20 PM   #35
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Wade, if you eat watermelons do not throw the rinds away in the garbage. Chickens love to peck out the meat (the white part) of a watermelon and will have it down to paper thin shell when they finish. They go nuts over it. With all this rain and continued rain are they scratching in the mud?
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:00 PM   #36
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With all this rain and continued rain are they scratching in the mud?
They're still "cooped up"

We haven't yet finished the run enclosure so they still stay in the coop. We hope to finish the run enclosure in the nest few days. I'll put up some pics when that's done too.

They seem to be looking forward to stretching their legs a bit.
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Old 06-15-2017, 11:21 PM   #37
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We hope to finish the run enclosure in the nest few days.
A uniquely apt typo. I salute.
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Old 06-16-2017, 06:41 PM   #38
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A uniquely apt typo. I salute.
It's either Freudian or Spellchecker, one or the other.
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Old 06-16-2017, 07:03 PM   #39
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Update...

The run enclosure is taking shape. It's an old "insta-shade" frame that we're covering in 2x4 welded wire. We have almost all the wire up, just a little more to go.

Also made the "door panel" (for lack of a better term) and the door. It will fit between two legs of the insty-shade.

And there's a bunch of other little things like making another waterer for outside the coop and so on.
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Old 06-16-2017, 08:48 PM   #40
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I guess the pleasure of owning your own flock outweighs the expense of buying eggs at the grocery store LOL. Looks like the hawks are going to go without a meal also. Since you are a livestock owner you will be limited in the amount of time you leave on a vacation. Or, will BIL feed and water the hens and gather the eggs while you are gone? I guess the next pic will show a flock of contented cluckers scratching for bugs in the dirt and taking a dirt bath.
Whew, glad autocorrect didn't get that one.
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