dogmom4

Glad you're feeling better Sue!

So I was needing a break from clearing the garage and being annoyed with rats and had my DS drop me off downtown. Walked around a bit and as I was walking home past Our local thrift store I saw this. Actually there were two of them. For $25 each. Solid wood with shingles on the top. I went inside right right away to pay for the nicest looking one...glad I did because by the time I came out there was a guy looking at the one I just bought. Had to direct him to the OTHER one. The coop I have is made for 2-3 chickens and now I have 4. The two older older hens haven't even been letting the two younger ones inside at night. They've been sleeping on top of the coop. Not bad now that weather is nice but I thought I was going to have to put out some big bucks for a larger structure for the winter. The plan is to sanitize it because I don't know what was in it before. (Any ideas on what to use?) I'm also thinking of putting down something on the floor to make it easier to clean. A piece of linoleum maybe? Or should I just have a thick layer of bedding on top of the wood. Also am going to paint it...this could be fun!

bump!

Hope you're having wonderful day!

Sounds like things are working out for the best. Have a good time with your hubby!

The difference on my side of the country is that we're having cooler than usual temps. Right now I have a blanket over my legs (in July!). The days are only hitting the 80's and sometimes the nights are cooling down into the 50's. While it may sound nice...for a summer garden it's bad. I have harvested 5 tomatoes...not whole plants but 5 whole tomatoes. By this time I'm usually swimming in them. The ones on my plants are green and just sitting there. Pepper plants are not growing at all. My cantaloupe and watermelon are puny. Eggplant? One so far about 1\2 inch long. The mammoth sunflowers I planted...the tallest is not even 3 feet tall yet. I am overflowing in green beans however. This is perfect weather for cool weather plants...unfortunately I didn't plant any of those!

So glad you're back ME! We've missed you !

Adding prayers.

That is so exciting! So far I get one brown and one blue green egg each day. Still waiting on the two Rhodies to start laying. Should happen sometime in august.

That is so cool!

Good news!

That got their adrenaline pumping, lol!!

Sorry to hear this Amber.

Thank you!!!

You think it might have been dust kicked up from cleaning? Or maybe the cleaners you're using? Dust is a trigger for me as well as strong smelling cleaners. Take care if you do more cleaning.

Ummm... you could catapult a few of those canning jars my way! I love canning jars. Nice website!

Here lurkers....... We have cake for you.... You know you're out there.........

I am trying to get up the nerve to go in and get some dental work done. I'm not a big fan of dentists.

Hope you both had a great day!

I''d like to know if the administration is getting paid minimum wage.....

Yay! Another lurker joins in! I do the same thing with other forums She...this is the only one that keeps me coming back....

Thanks tmc! I also Googled 'how to grow maggots for chicken feed. Who would've thought you could find so many posts and even a you tube video for that?! http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/feeding-chickens-maggots.html http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/growing-poultry-feeds-3.html http://www.ehow.com/how_5723193_grow-maggots-chicken-feed.html http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/farmlife/msg1211234218530.html

TheReal Food Summit is a FREE online event with 29 farmers, nutritionists, authors and bloggers discussing how eating Real Food is best for not only our health but the health of the soil, the plants, the animals, and the future of our planet. It actually started yesterday but each days presentations are for a 24 hour period. Very interesting so far.

I'm pretty sure we've talked about this somewhere on one of the forums....but I can't find it. So I'm going to just keep adding to this thread.I found this link on making your own organic chicken feed (which btw is exceptionally expensive around here). I'm posting the actual recipe but not all of the information in the link. I know I could grow some of these myself. Homemade Poultry Feed Mix - 2 parts whole corn - 3 parts soft white wheat - 3 parts hard red winter wheat - ½ part Diatomaceous Earth (not the kind you put in your pool) - 1 part hulled barley - 1 part oat groats - 2 part sunflower seeds - ½ part peanuts - 1 part wheat bran - 1 part split peas - 1 part lentils - 1 part quinoa - 1 part sesame seeds - 1/2 part kelp Mix the feed by hand so that it is thoroughly mixed. It doesn't hurt to run your hands through it before feeding in case something settles. This is based on a good bit of Internet research from a variety of places. You may find Bird Farm helpful. It has a lot of specialty mixes. Another good place for information is the forum at Backyard Chickens. Keep the oyster shell calcium in a container so the chickens can eat it as they need to.