Chicken Coop Update

As promised, we have a chicken coop update!

We still had one of our brooders (a box with a heat lamp set up for itty bitty chicks) in the sunroom, which was driving Tim nuts. He asked me what we could do to get the chicks out into the coop and I told him that since they were still not completely feathered they needed to have access to a heat source and since they were so small compared to our other chickens they needed to be separated somehow until proper introductions had been made :)

My smart hubby's solution to the problem?

This!

From materials that we already had (including the wood from the free pallets we picked up!), he arranged for the chicks to join the big chickens!

The sloped top makes it hard for chickens to roost on it, the chicken wire keeps the chicks safe from the pecking order while they grow, and the hinged lid makes it easy for me to clean, love on the chicks, feed and water them, etc.

Keelin was at school (this was done last week, by the way) and Jackson wanted to help us take the last 3 small chicks out to the coop. He wanted to carry one of our Buff Orpington pullets and that is my arm trying to encourage him to be gentle with her wings.

I think it's precious how gentle they try to be, even Jackson in his 2yr old way.

While Daddy arranges the new chick box, Jackson hangs out with the "beebee kickin'" and enjoys the sun!

A little hug for the chick *sigh* and in the background there, you can see one of our rain barrels sitting by the dog run. And yes, that is a big, blue plastic kiddie pool- for the dogs :)

The new setup. I was a bit concerned about putting the box right under the roost, but so far, the hens have stayed away from it! The water has been put up on a wooden pallet to keep the shavings out and been very successful at keeping the 26 free roaming chickens from mucking up their water.

The 2 wooden boxes under the roost are what I transported the  now-4 grown chickens home in a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the people I got the chickens from, the pullets can now reach the roosts, which they enjoy!

The heat lamp has since been moved to a corner of the chicken box and thanks to the beautiful weather, is only on at night now.

One of our Black Australorp pullets checking out the chicks new digs!

What do we do with gorgeous weather around our house?

As many of you know, NC has had some CRAZY weather lately!

We heard that this weekend was going to include some wild weather, so we spent a couple of days outside hooking up our pups, loving on the chickens, and mowing the big backyard!

Yes, with pictures!

Our yard looking a little wild...

After Tim mowed, we moved the swingset to a better location.

I said earlier that the low lying ground wasn't going to be a problem, but it is,

so we remedied the situation! Maybe now we can cement the set into the ground?

My sweet hubby and our boy on my dad's riding lawnmower!

This thing was bought the year I turned 1.

A lawnmower working 23 years later?

Unheard of!

They don't make 'em like they used to!

Sadly, it's my dad's and we really need to buy our own.

Will probably hit up Craigslist and try to find a good old one!

Tim teaching Keelin how the mower works- she was mildly hesitant :)

Keelin and her special hen, Reeses.

She loves her chickens! It's adorable.

And thankfully, we have friendly poultry!

Tolerant, at the very least!

Keelin and our 1yr old Boxer, Max.

He is such a sweet dog, you guys...

Not sure why his ears are flapping in the breeze! :)

Keelin holding one of our Cornish Rock chicks

(i.e. a meat chicken)

Remember in the post where I quoted Bittman about how agricultural animals are treated so much worse than pets? Not ours!! We don't name the meaties, just because that would make it really hard for the kids when they are killed (not harvested.) Otherwise, they get lots of lovin' just like the rest of our pets.

Keelin here is informing me that she wants this one to be a pet, not dinner.

*sigh*

Jackson and Keelin, posing with two Cornish chicks.

Pardon the bright light, it was really early in the morning!

You can see just how big the Cornish chicks are- and they're only 3 weeks old.

And today, the rain came down so hard that we couldn't even see out of the windows. It was like a sheet of white! Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with any tornados and there was no damage done to our property or that of anyone we know. Come on, NC... how about some mild weather!!

Let there be light! And water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!

I ran to the craft store this morning to pick up a new pack of fabric pens. Still no electricity. *sigh* I had already taken care of our animals, straightened up the house, and cleaned my vehicle (some of the few things I could do with no water or power), so we decided to grab a couple of sandwiches from a deli and have lunch!

When we got onto our street, I noticed two trucks from the power company coming down our road. What a good sign! We pulled into our drive way and I looked up at the house just in time to see the light come on in Keelin's room! Let there be light!!

From Monday night to Thursday afternoon, nooooooo electricity.

The things I have learned from this madness:

1. Fill up your bath tub when you know it's going to storm. Just do it. Having two kids 4yrs old and under plus a pregnant bladder and one of those kids in full time cloth diapers... Okay, let's just say, we could have used some water, especially to flush!

2. Having rain barrels absolutely saved my sanity! What would I have done for this long with no water, two dogs, and 29 chickens? I'd have been forced to buy bottled water for the poultry!! I love them and all, but how about a NO?!

3. I don't sleep well with two kids in my bed and one in my belly. I got kicked from ALL sides in the night- quite literally. But there is nothing that can make you feel quite as warm and fuzzy inside.

4.

And #4 is a doozy.

When was the last time you took a good long look at your water usage habits? How much water do you waste? Do you take it for granted? As environmentally minded as I am, I do take my water for granted- yes, even utilizing rain water and trying to be gentle on my well- I take water for granted. The very fact that it comes out of my taps (most of the time) when I turn the knobs is an incredible luxury. But how often do we think of it that way?

We're not entitled, people. Water is a resource and just like the rest of them, we're crapping on it. Or in it, as the case may be. :-/ I will just say, this experience has made me so grateful for the everyday, monotonous running water at my house.

A trying evening...

I buckled up the kids and drove 45 minutes to pick up some chicks tonight. The guy wasn't home. What. The. Heck? I called. Knocked. Nothin'. Dude knew I was coming. Well, there was a place about 15 minutes down the road that supposedly had the same breed I was looking for, so I drove there. It was about an hour before they closed, supposedly. Closed. Dark. Locked. Nothin'. At this point, I'm thinking- "Seriously, people? You consider yourselves businessmen?!"

So, after two hours of nonstop driving and nonstop disappointment, I took home two heartbroken kids and no chicks. We stopped and split a milkshake, but it didn't help. By this point, they were exhausted, sad, and my composure was slowly but surely fading.

Oh, and lest we forget- I'm 17 1/2 weeks pregnant. So, yes, I cried the whole way home with the kids.

I didn't care about not getting the chicks (I'll get them eventually), I didn't overreact to the kids being upset (They're 4 and 2, it happens, they'll be okay), but I had just had it.

Then my sweet Keelin reminded me that our night could have been much worse. I asked her how she thought it could have been worse. She said, "We might have seen a rabbit get eaten by a lion- and that would have been bad." Yep, Keelin, that would have been bad. Shaking off the annoyance, crawling into bed, and reading a book. Goodnight :)

Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others, by Mark Bittman (one of my favorite NY Times contributors)

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/some-animals-are-more-equal-than-others/?smid=tw-bittman&seid=auto

This is an article that touched a nerve with me and I wanted to share it. The basic premise is that a girl in NY was sent to jail for killing her brother's pet hampster, while animals raised for food are tortured legally- and the double standard in that.

It absolutely tortures me to watch something like "Earthlings" (which will change your life), because it just makes no sense to me to harm a creature for any reason, much less justify it by saying that the animal is for food, leather, fur, etc.

Our chicks are absolutely pampered from day 1. The coop that they are going to move into when they are bigger is made to keep them happy and safe, from the height of the nesting boxes, to the type of materials on the floor, to the location of the run designed to keep them safe from predators while they forage, to the materials used for their perches.

Some of our chicks were purchased to be pets. We don't expect our bantams (our little guys) to be big egg producers or be big enough to eat. They're here because they're adorable and we wanted our kids to know that they were permanent and meant to be pets. Some of our pullets (female chickens) were purchased to be egg producers- the eggs will be eaten by us, our family and friends, some will be donated to those less fortunate should we have that kind of bounty. Some of our chicks, on the other hand, are going to be eaten. They will be killed humanely, processed in a clean and effective manner, and never once do we plan to lose sight of the sacrifice made by an animal that is to be eaten. The chickens meant for food will never be kept separately, treated with any less kindness, fed any less quality organic food, or spoken to less kindly than our pet chickens.

For this reason, I cannot understand the abuse of animals raised to be eaten. We know that some of our chickens will be eaten, but that does not change our treatment of them. It doesn't change the fact that just by living and being here on this planet, they deserve to be treated with kindness and not deprived of attention, food, water, proper living accomodations, or anything else that we consider important to give our pets.

I encourage everyone to keep that in mind when they shop for groceries. Grass fed, free range beef is the way to go. Preferrably from a local farmer that will let you visit his herd. Free range hens that are allowed to have sunlight, fresh air, and forage. Eggs produced by happy, well cared for hens. Cage free does not mean free range, either. A cage free chicken can live it's life in a hen house with no sunlight.

Just be aware. Be conscious of the decisions that you make when you buy groceries. It makes a world of difference to creatures that most people deem unworthy of such considerations.

My productive Tuesday!

Well, today my little brother came by early so that we could take my van and my dad's van and go pick up more free wooden pallets. We got darn close to a dozen! Very exciting!


Here is a picture of Daniel measuring the board on the pallet to determine where to saw. The piece he's cutting will be the front of a nesting box.


Here is a picture of the finished compost bin! I hammered this thing together today with minimal help from my brother. I'm proud of myself, because I am certainly no carpenter. I can't believe that I only smushed my thumb once!

The organic material that is in the bottom is leaves and such that I raked out from under some neglected landscaping around the house a few weeks ago. I left it sitting in piles and wouldn't you know, when I went around collecting it today to put it in the compost bin, it definitely looked like the beginnings of a rich compost, complete with DOZENS of earthworms! It was definitely the perfect thing to start our bin with. (I'll cover composting and the importance of worms in a post later, maybe this week.)


Here is a picture of one of the nesting boxes. So far, this thin sheet of plywood has been the only thing for the chicken coop that we've spent money on. Got a big sheet from Lowe's for $15 and it will make up the sides of 10 nesting boxes. Not too bad! The backs and fronts will be made from the repurposed pallets!


Here is Daniel hiding, from the rain we were expecting, in the shed hammering nesting boxes!

I saw this soil test kit at Lowe's today and it was fairly inexpensive, so I grabbed it and decided to test our soil. Results: Our pH balance is good, our Nitrogen is on the low side, our Phosphorus is on the low side, and our Potash is low. This means that I need to enrich our soil a bit, so I'm now on the hunt for natural ways to bring up those numbers a bit before my seedlings go in the ground! That will be my project for part of the day tomorrow.

And since I know that our soil is in need of some TLC, I'm even more thrilled about having the compost in the works.

So today was just really nice. The kids spent most of the day outside playing, Daniel and I snagged some free wood (and found 3 or 4 other sources for possible pallets to reclaim), he put some nesting boxes together, I worked on the compost bin, cleaned out the chicken brooders, and did quite a bit of laundry.

I was going to take a picture of our super cute newborn diapers on the line, but wouldn't you know- it started raining and I had to dash to grab them before they got even more wet. Will take a picture next time!

It's Friday! I'm in love!

With Craigslist :)

We have had so many phone calls and visits about our car! I just wish that more people knew how to drive a 5 speed. The green machine would have been sold to the first visitor/caller if that had been the case! We have a very interested guy coming by in the morning, so hopefully he will buy it. That would be delightful!

I was productive today! Finished detailing the car with Daniel, did some yard work, ran a ton of errands, cleaned out the chick's area, washed a load of diapers, and now I am going to enjoy a yummy batch of sweet potato fries with spicy salt and no-HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) ketchup. Delicious!!

http://www.mamaeve.com/index.php/general-parenting/204-might-be-a-counterculture-mama-if/

This is a really interesting post. I found it through a parenting board I enjoy reading and I identify with most of the list. I guess I am a bit crunchier than I think I am! Which is definitely not a bad thing. I strive to be crunchier- getting back to the basics is never wrong, people. Anything you can do that is "mainstream" can be done in a healthier way. I promise- and you don't have to turn into a homebirthing, toddler nursing "Counterculture Mom." For example:

If you're addicted to tupperware, I can show you my amazing glass food storage that can go from baking in the oven to the microwave, to the dishwasher, to the freezer, etc. And no, it isn't more expensive than the plastic stuff! I paid $30 for a huge mixed-size of containers to start with and then added some Mason jars to the mix. They rock!

If you think little plastic tables and chairs are cute for kids, you should see the wooden ones! They are no more expensive and aren't going to off-gas or leach chemicals like a plastic set. They don't have to be handmade, either. We got our set from Ikea for $20.

Farmer's market produce that isn't organic might be better than organic, he or she may just not be able to afford what is required to be labeled organic. I pay less for farmer's market delights than people pay for Mexican produce at Walmart. Support your local little guy, stimulate your own little economy, love your earth, love your body... We bought some maple breakfast sausage from a farmer at our market that lives 20 minutes away from us. He handed me a dozen (free to us) eggs from his happy, free-range chickens and told me that he wanted to ensure that we would have delicious eggs to go with our delicious sausage. The egg whites were not pale yellow like store bought eggs, they were bright yellow/ almost orange, and the most flavorful eggs I've ever tasted. Cannot wait to visit him again and let him know how much we enjoyed his hard work and admired his commitment to his animals and to his customers. His free dozen eggs have earned him a customer- at least until our teeny chicks start laying themselves :)

Okay, my poor brain has had it. It is official, I need to treat myself to some sweet potato fries and then get some sleep before I drive 2.5hrs to do Elizabeth's baby shower tomorrow!