Homestead mailing list

[Bevanron <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Keith B wrote:
> First I want to congratulate you on your hatchlings. We've only had 
> one hen give us chicks in twenty years of raising them. Several have 
> gone broody for days but I think it's a matter of them needing more 
> privacy than a nesting box in a coop full of other old hens. The one 
> that did sit long enough had them outside, under the coop where I 
> couldn't reach her.

Thanks!  It's good to know that I am not alone in this seemingly simple
goal of having chickens reproduce on their own.  I have had them set for
weeks, only to abandon a clutch right before they were due to hatch.
Usually, however, something spooks them off the nest and they don't get
back on there.  Like you, I think they need more privacy, a larger area.
 Everything just seemed to click this time, with a Barred Rock of all
things-they just aren't known for their instincts.  I would have thought
that my Buffs or Turkens would have been more likely to be broody.
Ms. Rock gets more aggressive and protective by the day.  Ron wants me
to take the chicks away and put her back in the coop, but doing that
thwarts the instinct instead of reinforcing it.  It also makes me have
to work harder to take care of the chicks and she is doing a fine job
all on her own.  That naked neck gene must be dominate because 4 of the
7 chicks are naked necks.  I love turkens and my rooster is a very large
turken.  It'll be good to have more of them.  When I got my rooster a
few years ago, the turkens in the bunch grew faster and larger than the
other heavy breeds.  I just thought I would mention that in the event
anyone is thinking of getting some meat birds.



> Haha, that may be why Gin isn't more interested in my converting the 
> barn to a woodshop; I would be there all the time. Do you help Ron in
> the shop?

Yup.  We build together, and sometimes I just sit and keep him company.
 On some projects, he builds and I do the sanding, finishing and
staining.  Our table saw is set up in a way that I have to help hold
large sheets as they go through it.  I can operate most of the stuff in
there except for the lathe and planer.  The planer is a two person thing
as well with the long boards.  I am most uncomfortable with the radial
arm saw, and I most like using the band saw. :)  Call me Band Saw Bev.
:)  I always have him double check me when it comes to changing the
blade, however.
This past weekend Ron made a steamer for bending wood.  That contraption
kind of gave me the heebie-jeebies.  I walk out there to see this huge
PVC pipe bomb(not really, but that was my fear) attached to a hose which
attached to my cast iron kettle which was sitting on a propane burner on
slightly unlevel ground.   It reminded me of the way I feel around
pressure cookers. :)  The steamer worked great, however, and he got the
wood bent for the inner stem of his canoe.  He also made a jig that goes
on the router to make the cove and bead edges for the wood strip tube
for the telescope.  That sucker is going to be beautiful. It's Spanish
cedar. We'll be donating that telescope to the local science museum.
This week, we added another project to the list of things to do.  This
is a rush project..we're going to build an adjustable drawing
table/easel for my daughter's birthday.  Ron built one for me years ago,
and now that Kate is getting back into painting, she asked for one, too,
so we now have a week to get it done.  So now the priority list has
changed again...drawing table, canoe, telescope, and and then all the
things I want are way down on the list. :)  He needs a bigger shop, too.
Once he sets up the strongbox for the canoe, we won't be able to walk in
there, let alone work in there! (Canoe is going to be 17'8" and the shop
is 21' long)

Bev



--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W