Good Morning! in 2018

[Brebis]

Yes, silly weather here too. Set out yesterday afternoon to pick up DH in Belleville from work and grey but dry and warm when I left by the time we set off home it was already a freeing blizzard, had to stop 3 times along the way to get the ice off the wipers.
Got up early this morning to about 8” of drifted snow and had to thaw the car and dig it out so we could take the kid to Belleville to get the train...made it!

The homemade rink however didn’t survive the big thaw. My stepson had spent the last 2 1/2 weeks building it by himself and with friends. It was about 25 x 50 feet and was just about done after endless watering in wicked cold. He was pretty calm about it and will be back building it again...determined kid! He did get a few short skates on it so not a total loss!

[Jaye]

In case anyone is looking, Econo Heat 400-watt wall mount flat panel heaters are on sale at Home Hardware this week for $74.97. SKU# 3836-072
I have one of these and it's going down to -25 and beyond again in these parts tonight, so my heater will be on. One of the best buys I've made for my hens in winter.

[thegawd]

Nevermind the chickens.... i should get some of those for my shop! Haha

[ross]

Thought you had a wood burner in there Al

[thegawd]

nothing in the shop Ross besides a space heater directly on me and a 200 watt heat lamp right above my head.... a great idea from a smart guy i know...

[Jaye]

Nevermind the chickens.... i should get some of those for my shop! Haha

You should, Al. They're great. I'm lobbying to get another for our laundry room/powder room area, because it's our entry from the garage, and is quite a bit cooler than the rest of the house (we heat with a pellet stove, no central heat).

[JimW]

Good afternoon nice and sunny here, but minus 16 going down to minus 25 ago tonight, oh fun. All of our snow had melted yesterday, the melt water caved in part of the roof on my main turkey pen and made a big wet mess which is now a big frozen mess. Not happy. This is the year for all new coops/runs/breeding pens!!! My set up is totally inefficient at the moment, designing and building one new coop/pen each year. This year is the year, I need to figure out a new design and build all new!!!

Thanks for the heads up on the heater panels I think I might need some of those.

JimW

[Killerbunny]

Jim - how did the meat chicks from Millpond Hatchery do for you?

[JimW]

Jim - how did the meat chicks from Millpond Hatchery do for you?

They did very well. I got 26 chicks I lost 1, quickly figured out I did not have the room for 25 quickly growing meat chicks, so I sold 15 of them around 4 weeks old and kept the rest (I kept the smaller females). The ones I kept I grew nice and healthy I grew them slow on restricted feed, they dressed out around 5-6 pounds or more. I am sure they would have grown much bigger if I fed them more.

I will definitely get more this year, I plan on having Millpond custom hatch a few batches of my eggs for me during spring and summer, as I perfect my incubating abilities, so I plan to order small batches of 10 or so meat chicks 2 or 3 times so I can stagger out growing them up.... 1 batch in brooder for 2 weeks then to small grow out pen for 2 more weeks then final grow out pen for 4-5 weeks, then to freezer.

That is my plan if I can actually stick to a plan for once. lol

JimW

[Ontario Chick]

Good morning, I mean noon,
DH moved Mactavish out of the brooder and set up my photo booth.
I caught some chickens and took 147 pictures, just went thru them, there may be 2 or 3 usable, none very good, but weather was perfect so no complaints.
Now I feel I have done my duty, so all you lunging better get on with it!!! :)