POULTRY PALACE DAILY LOG BY NIMBLEFOOT

This is the most happening thread on the planet folks. Check in daily after the Mighty Wonder Chicken has his caffein and chick count...... :)

The chicks are doing great this morning. They did manage to drink that full gallon of water yesterday. From now on I'm going to check that water morning and evening. I have no idea when they actually run out and that's not a good thing. My ex-dog Freckles will be here tonight and I can hardly wait to see if she goes ballistic over the chicks. She thinks she's such a killer. Then again, she did run off three miles just to kill two of that guys ducks:( Interesting note: that little package of electrolyte powder (only .25 tsp to 1 gal of water) is enough to provide 20,000 chickens with a weeks worth of electrolytes. 20,000 chickens. Good grief! Well, that's today's report from the Poultry Palace.

Nimblefoot
4.28.08

We need a webcam --- !

why do I keep getting this vision of NF creeping down into a dark basement checkin chicks talk 'bout "they put the lotion on their skin"???


Don't be sending me an egg...I want a young hen..haven't had some chicken pastry in a while

Pluck it first!

hey NF....can I hold one of them there nice little bitty chicks, I just wants to pet it....just call me Lenny...

Take a trip into town for provisions and just see what the hell happens. I did pick up some wood shavings at one of the many sawmills for chick bedding. They tend to poop it up in about five days. Can't wait to compost this stuff and use it in my Mary Juana patch;)

Yeah, GNM, lots of people would like a young chick, doesn't mean it's going to happen though.

I'm glad Chappy started this for me. I'd been thinking about the same, but was going to call it something like "What's Happening in Your Basement"? Probably not a good idea, considering Austria and all...

Nimble, that chicken poop is fantastic for your garden. Of course I now have the Southern Culture on the Skids' song "Chicken S--t Farmer from Carolina" going through my head.

How are you keeping the chicks warm, Nimblefoot...we're having some cold nights...

The chickens did well last night. The score is still 23 to 2 and holding strong. Yesterday I put the water container on a 2x4 so they couldn't walk around in it and muck it up. It seems to have worked, they didn't go through the whole gallon yesterday. Perhaps they were tracking in so much litter that some of the water got absorbed. I also put the food up on a 2x4 and now they can't walk in their food. Pooping in their food and eating it can't be good for them.

Mata, the heat lamp hanging over the box keeps the little tykes warm no matter what the weather. If it gets real cold I'll put the cat down there to cuddle up.

better watch it, them could be cat-killers ya gotz there.........

Rabbits have to eat their poop to digest food. Maybe chickens are the same?

Ok folks, place your bets.........did Nimblefooze lose one last night?....I don't think so........Maybe we oughta call it the Pampered Chick Poultry Palace................

cmon sleepyhead.........get that report out to the eagerly awaiting world.....the suspense is giving me heartburn...........

Okay, okay, here it is, the morning farm report (from a guy who don't know squat about it, lol).

All the chickens are alive and seemingly happy. I took their feeder outside, dumped and cleaned it. That should at least minimize the poop eating. I tried putting it up on two 2x4's, but it's a little too tippy. I'll have to rig up something else to keep them from standing on top of it and pooping in the food while they eat. Sass, poop eating may be good for rabbits, but not for chickens. They are very susceptible to diseases and need to be kept well fed, clean and dry. This is particularly true if they are "cooped" up. Once they are free range, or at least spend a good part of the day outside, the problem seems to take care of itself.

Today's list: keep working on the coop. Tear off the interior wall, check for holes that predators could enter through. Check insulation and replace as needed. Start working on roosts and nesting boxes.

Finish wire cage. Repair clothes line so that clothes don't pull way down to one side as they are hung. Simple fix.

Find out status of new wood flooring.

Get some more beer.

I missed the beginning of this. What's the purpose of all the chicky-poos? Are you gonna eat 'em? Set 'em free to roam the yard? Sell the eggs?

When I was a little girl we had an incubator in our basement and raised chicks from eggs. When they were old enough, we moved them out to the chicken coop. The day my great grandpa came over to chop the heads off the chickens we were going to eat was always a highlight.

In my experience you will never keep them from crapping in the food trough until they are a little older and you can feed them from a creep feeder.

Good luck.

Diapers;)


Ruby, I have no earthly idea why I do half of what I do. It's a farm so it needs chickens? A little more noise/company around the place? Cuz my daughter and mother don't want me to? Fresh eggs and chicken? Probably a little of all of those.

I may just give away the eggs. It makes me feel good to do stuff like that:)

I was just in the basement looking for my laundry basket (still can't find the damn thing. How do you lose a laundry basket?) and noticed one chicken sort of laying on its side and getting pecked by another. I tried to swoop in and grab it up, with the intent that it be isolated so it can eithr have a chance to thrive or die, but it jumped into the middle of the herd and hid. I sat there for 15 minutes trying to figure out which one it was, but no luck. I'll check periodically and see if I can give the little feller/girl a fighting chance.

Good news! I fized the clothes line poles. Now I could hang my laundry if I could only find the damn basket;)

Maybe its its hidden because you already filled it with stuff. Buried under a pile of construction debris, perhaps?

You can take your butter an' aig money an' do some card-playin' (blatantly lifted from Snuffy Smith with no apologies)

And for the sake of all that's holy, move the beer run to the top of the list!

(around here the Farm Report is LOTS earlier)

Ruby, the best time my son would have is when Uncle Pete would snatch up some chickens and chop their heads off and stick em in the wood pile to bleed out.......Jake would always stand there and tell Pete to 'get another one Uncle Pete!"..........what is it with kids and head choppin????

Literature says the best way is to cut their throats. No real chance of missing and lots more personal.

This sure brings back memories. I wish we lived on a farm so my kids could grow up like that. This would have been in the mid-seventies.

My younger brother and I would run into the coop and catch the roosters since my mom simply did not have that skill. We'd eagerly bring them to my great grandpa out in the yard. All I remember about him is that he was so tiny and old and feeble. He had to use a walker just to stay upright. He'd lay the squawking chicken down on the the chopping block (an old stump) and steady himself with his walker while also gripping the axe. Then in one movement he'd let go of the walker, lift up the axe as best his geriatric arm could and then bring it down...thwump! Half the time he'd miss the unfortunate chicken altogether and have to repeat the process. After successfully decapitating the chicken, he'd push it to the ground where it would continue to run around....just like a chicken with its head cut off! What great fun we had watching that!

Here they come to snuff the rooster....     LOL

I just checked the chicks and all seem to be well. False alarm?

Yeah, Ruby, some of my fondest memories are of feeding the chickens and picking up the eggs with my Grandpa. Killing them was a learning opportunity and he always talked about how animals were put on earth to feed us.

bump........waiting for NF to wake up.........cluck cluck........

Maybe when the roosters start crowing I'll get the farm report out a little earlier. Today I just happened to get up early:)

Another night of no body dying. What's that, 4 or 5 in a row now? The little buggers are really starting to feather out now. Their intake seems to be switching from mostly water and less food to lots more food and less water. They are big enough that they can kick the feeder off the 2x4 and nudge it around their box. There's lots of wing flapping and most can make short flights within the box. What the heck is going to happen when I have 23 chickens flying around the basement? Won't that be a sight!

Oh, yeah, the bugs (the one's that come in swarms and looks like ladybugs) that were having their way in the chicken box are now immediately disappearing. Evidently they're now big enough to eat bugs. On one of my chicken websites (tail talk?), a lady posted about how there was a 70% reduction in various insect pests in her yard, once she got chickens. How could she know this? Random sampling? A survey? Maybe last year there were 10 mosquito bites on her butt this year only 3? I don't know.

Today's farm chores. Finish that damn chicken cage. Keep working in the chicken coop. Screw down the subflooring in the dining room. Buy more beer. In fact, as advised, buy the beer first.

Okay, now it's time to pay bills.

better buy that beer before you pay the bills............know what I mean?

I can't ever remember seeing a grasshopper make it all the way across the chicken yard. They will clean up insects of like a vacume cleaner.

I will see if I can find a set of plans online for a creep feeder. It will cure your problems.

What they're eating are Japanese lady beetles...lady bug lookalikes that bite and smell like peanuts when you squish them...very cool if your chicks eat them...

I really don't like those bugs. They bite, too.

They suck down aphids like there is no tomorrow though.

Mata - how do you know they taste like peanut butter?

I didn't say they TASTE like peanuts...I said they SMELLED like peanuts...I know that because I've squished so many...they are a PAIN!

Yeah, like everyone believes that, lol.

Our friend sells his eggs for $1.99/dozen. We save our store egg cartons for him and he sends us home w/ 18 eggs everytime we see him. Home grown eggs are the best.

On one of my chicken websites (tail talk?), a lady posted about how there was a 70% reduction in various insect pests in her yard, once she got chickens.


do they eat ants???...our yard is full of ants in the summer....& then there are those damned love bugs....

oh....& when ya kill the chickens, if ya sever the spinal chord, it causes distress to the chicken & the meat isn't as good....when I worked @ the chicken place we killed them "humanely" (sp?)why doesn't that word look right??...anyways...we stunned them & then sliced open their throats to let them bleed......lol....

the clock is tickin...........for chicken............

I wonder if Mata is having a bowl of those peanut butter tasting asian beatles for breakfast this morning?

I've been up for awhile, discovering new chicken raising websites. Looks like I got some work to do, they already need more space than I've been giving them, 2 feet per bird...46 sq feet in the basement. That's a lot of floor space...wonder if I could build a 2 story structure with a little ladder?

More later when the coffee is finished its work.

Okay, poultry fans, the score is still 23 live chicks and 2 deceased.

I read this morning that they need two square feet per chick. Doesn't that seem like a lot? They're only 10 days old or so. I may have to expand their space today.

I also learned this morning that I don't have to heat the chicken coop in the winter, just make certain it's insulated and draft free. A concern, however, is keeping the water from freezing up.

It (the source) also recommends dabbing vaseline on their combs and wattles to keep them from freezing, becoming infected and breaking off. I can only imagine the Nimblefoot/vaseline/chicken comments I have in store for me.

That's okay, I also read of a condition that roosters develop called "cranky cock". Do you want me to spring that one on you? There are treatments for it;) Lol

Lol!

There's heated water bowls you can get, to keep the water from freezing.

us roosters know all about that cranky cock stuff...........just ask our 'significant others'.........

Yep, I have heated bowls for the bunnies. The nice $19.00/one quart version/made in USA bowls that I bought have a finicky thermostat. One didn't work from the get-go, one stopped working just before March. I've gotten one replacement. Will have to nag the company for one more I guess.

This thread is worthless without cute chick pictures.

those are on the old TT Atonement thread...........

This thread is cute without worthless chick pictures.

peep peep peep

Where did you order them from? McMurray?

No, the local farm co-op orders them every spring. Although I'm early in to this, so far it has been much more fun than I imaginedL)

Quote:

Nimblefoot
It (the source) also recommends dabbing vaseline on their combs and wattles to keep them from freezing, becoming infected and breaking off.Lol

who knew? this place is a wealth of info. How does vaseline help circulation?...or is it just for topical moisture reduction?......next up..

Nimble's Chick Massage Coop


this just keeps gettin uglier and uglier.

he wishes some chick would massage him...........