dalthauser

Saturday I visited a ~~chicken friend~~ a friend who has chickens to pick up some old gates her husband was going to burn. They will come in handy when I build the new coop this winter. I'll have to replace some of the wood but that's okay - I can use the old wood as a template.

While there she showed me a cool way to weatherproof coop windows for the winter

Plexiglass and those turny thingies - so siimple!! Now I don't have to worry about making more venilation windows so the birds can stay cool in the summer heat.

Carla lives in the "hills" outside San Marcos. You drive past Bobcat Stadium on the way. This is where Sierra graduated.

I stopped at Sam's on the way home. I got eggs, bread (first time in a long time to get store bought bread0, a goat cheese log, and a printer. Funny thing about the printer - I paid $49.99 for it. The replacement ink is $58.60....... I can't really afford a printer, but I am motivated to get to work on a business plan for my new venture!

They had Pluots there, but I didn't buy any. They were $1.9something a pound. Maybe next year my Pluot trees will fruit - maybe the year after that. I'm looking forward to it!!

The Yard and Isolation Wing to the right :-)

Closeup view of Solitary. Nobody is in it anymore, so I'm going to work on modifications this weekend.

Yard Birds @ 5 Weeks

Basking under the heat lamp just before bed. They actually stretch out like a person - it's funny and strange.

Here most of them are huddling together by the door. They like the warmth, but they like the fresh air too - so their butts are under the heat lamp and their heads in the doorway. (this is currently my Windows Wallpaper - how pathetic is that? haha).

I woke up Tuesday morning and immediately checked on the chickens. To my utter dismay they'd knocked down the brooder wall during the night and spread litter and chicken poop all over the room. Total disaster. They are too big to stick in a rubbermaid container for any length of time, so I decided now is as good a time as any to build a "chicken tractor" for them. I figured I could put them in it while I clean the room and shampoo the carpet.

I got what I needed from Home Depot. 1/2" PVC pipes, connectors, and chicken wire. Total bill $45.00 (and there is left over chicken wire and connectors). The only thing I had to go on is a picture from a chicken forum. It was very much like using Tinker Toys. Fun. Well, until it came time to get the chicken wire on it...... All in all it took about 3 hours to complete because of my lack of skills (and the fact I was doing it alone). With help it would have only taken about 30 minutes. It's not entirely sturdy (later I will glue the joints in place, and it's incomplete (I still need to make end walls and a door) - but it's a good temporary pen as long as I'm around to supervise :-)

Once I got the first hoop up - I knew I could do this. Until then I really wasn't sure if what I had in my head was going to work.

Chicken wire is frustrating to work with. I have many wire holes in my fingers.

Complete for now. I'll finish up another day.

( PICTURES OF THE CHICKENS FIRST DAY OUT BEHIND CUT )

I was able to work on the coop this weekend. Including getting the base coat painted! I bought the color coat, but I had to do some caulking - and it needed time to cure. I'll paint and finish the fence (except the gate) Tuesday.

( PICTURES GALORE :-) )

I watched ENCHANTED last night. It was very funny, but I was a little disappointed she went for the earth guy. It seemed like he had a great partner already - and she was so in "love at first sight" with the prince. Then it went in a whole other direction. I would rather have seen earth guy help her find her prince, princess help earth guy loosen up so his relationship is more romantic and spontaneous, etc. And that awkward housecoat scene where she touches his chest hair longingly - ewww.
I really liked the squirrel.

Amanda Overmeyer got voted off AMERICAN IDOL Wednesday. Didn't really see that coming, but she wasn't one of my favorites. I didn't care for her much, but she was better than several others.

Chicks are growing like crazy. I'm keeping their brooder at 90F now instead of 95. Next week I'll decrease it again. I'm getting attached; it's going to be hard to say goodbye to 19 of them.

CLICK BELOW FOR CHICKEN COOP PROGRESS :-)

( COOP PROGRESS (PHASE II) )

Sahlah
Thank you! I love it. It's awesome to get something in the mail from a friend - totally made my day.

It Rained Mud
Here in the San Antonio area it actually rained mud yesterday. I'm not kidding - It was the weirdest thing. I'll need to wash my truck now I guess.

American Idol
It was Beatles week again. Nobody sucked. Chickeezee was my favorite performance - he sang "I've Just Seen a Face". Next favorite Brooke with "Here Comes The Sun". Everyone else was good too. I predict that Kristy Lee Cook will go this week unless the country fans all unite. If that's the case then Ramiele will go. Michael Johns hasn't impressed me, but he's really good looking and has chrarisma - so the ladies will probaby keep voting him in for a few weeks to come.

Coop Update
I worked on the coop yesterday. Got the upper level entry door made (though I'm thinking it's going to be too small), the roof on, the latches on the side doors, and the "stairs" completed. I'll post pictures tomorrow because I have so little time to get this journal updated and read my friends' posts.

I'm on my last actual vacation day. It was very restful in spite of it being "working" time off. It's nice to get out of the routine for a little while.

CHICKENS
The chickens are doing fine. They are all still alive. I had a little issue with "pasty butt" which caused me to have to drive to the drugstore and buy little cuticle scissors so I could trim the fuzz on some of the babies butts that was caked with poop. Very gross but necessary.
They are like little space aliens - very entertaining, but there's so many of them!!!
My friend Barbara is going to take 12 of them, so that will cut down the population a little.

( CHICKEN PICTURES OF THEM 3 DAYS OLD )

COOP
I spent the last couple of days working on the coop. Seeing the chickens growing so fast is a good motivatior!
I am not even close to being done, but I have time. The chickens will stay inside for another 3 weeks yet.

( COOP CONSTRUCTION (PHASE 1) )

Well, I'm at the library doing this, so I better get back home and back to work. I'm off tomorrow, but I'll post again on Wednesday from work.

* Earlier this week I attempted to repair my leaking tub spigot (SPIGOT!!). I met a nice gentleman at Lowes who was kind enough to offer to come over and assist me since I'd made over 4 trips to the store that day trying different things. That evening when I got home I went ahead and put everything back together and turned the water on - voila! No leak (well, just an intermittant drip which was nothing). So - it's all good for now. I did learn some things from the experience though which is good, and I made a friend who told me to keep his number in case the drip decides to come back.

* I still haven't found my cell phone that I lost just before Christmas. Frustrating.

* I ordered my chickens Tuesday. They are Delawares - I bought 25 females and 1 rooster. I plan on only having a flock of a dozen, but I needed the extras for warmth while traveling - the extras that make it to adulthood I can easily sell to someone who wants an egg laying pet.

* I placed an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to help me build my chicken coop. I offered vegetables and eggs in exchange. I got many replies. One from someone with the email address of DrtyCowboy1@chooseaserver.com and one from a man who says he's too far away to help, but shared a poem with me about naked people..... :-) Most of the replies were helpful though.

* I watched Santa Clause 3 last night. It was pretty good - seemed really low budget - but I really liked Jack Frost though.

* With the whole housing crisis and recession in the news I'm reminded to be grateful that I own my home with a reasonable low interest mortgage that - as long as I'm employed - I can afford to make payments on every month. There are plenty of people not as fortunate as I am. I feel very poor most days, but I don't have the massive credit card debt other people have, and I live within my means - so that's something.

* Here is a random picture of me brushing my teeth .........

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Entries tagged with coop

Road Trip

The 5th Week of Chickens

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June 2017

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