Weather and update

Hey everyone,
Is the weather crazy or is it just me?
Last Friday we got 1 1/2" of snow and the temps dropped into the 20's!! And two days later it was in the 40's with rain. No more snow. And yesterday it was 75 degrees with high winds and lots of rain over night! And now they are telling us that we may get more snow tomorrow! CRAZY!!

As far as the update....
I have not gotten much done with regards to the Chicken Hotel. Work and the weather have had an impact. I tried to get some work done the other morning after work, But after less then an hour, I couldn't even feel the screws I was holding in my hand! It was past time to get in the house and warm up!

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off and I was able to make two major SCORES for the Homestead!

Score # 1

3 truck loads of pallets!

And as you can see,  they are not your typical pallets. 2x4 and 1x4 are what most of them are made of!

And there are a few of them that are over 10 feet long!

They are building a new "Walgreen's" in town and they had a dumpster full of them. I had to unload the dumpster to get to the ones I wanted and then put the ones I did not want back in. It took 3 trips to get them all home and they are on the back deck for right now. When I get the work shop delivered, I will have a place to store them and break them down.


 Score #2

Below is a picture of the inside of the truck bed. And what is that in there? 38 2"x3"x8' Pine posts and 6 2x"2"x8' oak posts. Also several shorter sections of 2"x4"

Some nails still need to be removed.

And over the top of all of that are 1"x4"x8' boards! And some shorter sections of the same.

I got all of this at the import company that I have mentioned before. They had 3 shipping containers of marble  that were packed in this lumber and I had to wait until they could off load each stack. Then I broke it down, pulled nails and loaded it all into the truck. It took all day just to get what I did. When I left, there was still several stacks that had to be unloaded. They asked if I would be back next week for another load. When I said that I would, they said that they would set the rest of the wood off to one side for me. Normally they just burn it all.

And why do I consider all of this a big score? It only coast me the time to pick it up!!! Yep...Free!!!! And that's the right price! I will find some projects to use all of this in!

Tom

Chicken Hotel Update

Hello Friends,

I finally got started on the construction of the inside of the new Chicken Hotel. It has been a work in progress and I have not been able to work on it much, What with Overtime at the Job and all the rain/cold that we have had the past few weeks!
Yesterday was supposed to be the start of my 3 day week-end, But I got drafted for overtime yesterday morning and after 8 hours of scheduled time, I got 8 hours on the same post! 16 hours on SUICIDE WATCH! No fun, and the worst part is I have to make two separate log entries every 10 minuets, describing what the inmate is doing....Sleeping, Standing, Sitting or Banging his head against the wall ! Like I said, No fun!

Anyway, What I got done in the CH....

Nesting Boxes

 Five Milk crates that I have (I do not remember where or when I got them!) I built the shelf out of recycled wood and attached across the front is a 1/2 inch PVC pipe that runs across the front.

Here is a close-up of one. You can see the PVC better in this one. Also installed a narrow board across the bottom to keep them from kicking out the bedding and so eggs can't roll out.

This is the shot taken before I placed the Crap Board on top. The board is there to keep some of the hens from Crapping on the hens that use the nests.

Tomorrow I have to go get some hardware to finish a wall I'm building to the left of the boxes. This will be what I consider the work area and storage area. And the wall will keep the Chickens out of that area (I hope!)
I still need to finish the wall and install a door for it. And still in the planing stage are the Roost's and Chicken door to the outside. Also I'm still working on the fence panels that will make up the run for them. They will also be built out of PVC and Chicken Netting. I will make sure I get pictures of all of that as they go in!

Egg numbers are still at 8 - 10 eggs a day and as of today 110 sense the  first of the year...... They do not seem to be slowing down at all!

Next post... More construction on the CH!
Tom

Chicken Rodeo

Yep, Another Chicken story!

I have been working on the new Chicken House and the other day I set up the stand for the nesting boxes. If you have been here before, then you know that I use milk crates for that purpose.
In the old coop I had 5 crates set up (3 across the bottom and 2 on top) and they sat at one end of the coop near the door to make it easier to collect Eggs. Well I pulled them out of the coop to transfer them to their new location and a bunch of mice came running out from under the the bedding and the RODEO was on!!

There must have been a dozen or more mice under there and there were about 5 of the hens in the coop looking to see if I had brought them anything to eat. I have never see the Hens move so fast! The mice were running all over the place and the Girls were in hot pursuit. I was standing in the door way and the mice decided that was not the way out.
So they used the Chicken door out to the Chicken run.....Where the rest of the flock was!!! Talk about "Bull Dogging"!!!). Only in this case the Bull got eaten!
Very few of the mice made it out of the run and the Girls had a great time! A few of them still scratch around that area to see if they can find any more, But the mice have decided to take up house keeping else where!

As you know, Egg numbers for 2012 were 849 and I started counting a new on New Years day. 8 days into the year and the number is 63. The cold and wet conditions we have had so far have not slowed them down at all!
I hope to get the new place finished this coming week-end. But there is a lot of over time at work and I might be there more then here. But it will get done!
Tom