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helwenThird day of caring for the chickens. I'm happy to say that L seems to have taken a turn for the better, although I admit this is not completely loving or altruistic of me... the chickens need water twice a day. This is because the automatic watering system isn't working right now, and it will be a complicated thing to get it working, I think. Besides it just would have frozen over the winter.
So, two 5-gallon jugs, twice a day, one for each group of chickens. I can't actually carry a full one, but I get it as high up as I can manage. L can carry one in each hand. I can't. And to save making a third trip from the house to the barn, I put my arm through the handle of an egg basket or two, which makes getting through house doors interesting.... I actually gave up on that today and carry each thing out through the doors and then went from just outside the house.
The process for each room of chickens is to bring in the water and a small bowl of cracked corn. They get a treat and you get not quite so many chickens under your feet while plugging the waterer, unscrewing the top, pouring in the water, and closing and opening things again. And of course I have to put the water down on the floor while I'm opening the waterer, so I get chicken stuff on my hands from holding the bottom of the container to pour. The floor is covered basically with a mix of chicken poo and wood shavings, and looks pretty much like tan-colored dirt. If your coop/barn has a wood floor you have to keep the floor as clean as possible because the manure will rot the wood. But if you have a concrete or stone floor, you can leave the manure and wood shavings down for the winter, which is a good thing because it helps to keep the chickens warm.
Anyway, after watering I gather eggs, spreading a bit more corn as needed, and then after that is checking the feeders. Although yesterday I was tired and only checked to see that there was still some feed, so today I had to put out a lot of feed. And since the chute only holds about 2-1/2 bags of feed, that has to be filled every couple of days too.
This afternoon was the first time one of the rooms still had a decent amount of water in it. The other was dead empty, and I realized why. Two days ago it rained hard, but it took until late night for the water to work its way through a roof leak somewhere and into the middle room. I reported it to BIL R, as that's his area. The water soaked into the manure and softened it, working its way over to where the waterer is, and undermined one side, tilting it. So every time the chickens drank from it, it spilled water out. It is now more level, after I moved it and scooged it around in the muck. Hopefully the water will last overnight this time. And I'm thrilled that I only have to carry one can of water tomorrow morning, because my joints are about to call it quits, and some of the muscles aren't far behind...
Ah, and then there's washing and checking the eggs. We get a little over five dozen per day now, and we fell behind last week because of getting ready for the event. So now I'm trying to wash more than that each day, to catch up. Yesterday I washed around 100, today only 72. But I also delivered 16 dozen to Elmer's today and boxed up another three dozen, so there's that. Oh, and I cleaned out some of the nests and put in some fresh bedding, because I got some wood shavings to put in the wetter areas to try to deal with the water from the leak.
And... I _might_ be catching the stomach bug L has. Yay. Taking preventative measures for that, plus watching the respiratory thing that I haven't managed to quite kick all winter, and hoping I stay 'healthy' long enough for L to get back on his feet.
It's kind of interesting, in a way. Each time I get done, I wonder if I'll have the energy and ability to do it again. Heaven knows I don't get a lot done besides this, although I actually managed to cook myself dinner last night and made eggs for lunch today. Good thing I got a bag of that cabbage and syrian cheese from the event -- not the most exciting fare, but it's done the job for a few meals so far. And I have easy noshes like nuts, dried fruit, gluten-free chewy bars (like granola bars), and some mixed salad greens from some farmer in S. Deerfield. And I realized today I could always open a can of tuna and that would be easy.
So, I guess I'm starting to figure it out. But I still wonder if the body will work for the next time... also, I'm a little tired of being covered in chicken poo -- yes, even my sweatshirt, because I have to carry the water cans against my body in order to get them down to the barn. I think if the weight were just a few pounds less I could manage indefinitely - and no, I don't want to do it three times a day. It would probably take almost as long for each trip and I have other things to do (or try to do).
Things to remember when caring for chickens:
- don't wear shoes with laces, the chickens think they're worms
- don't wear things with buttons, the chickens think they're bugs or something
- take the cap off of the water can before going into the room; one less thing to juggle
- the tops of feeders can be used to stick some things like say, a bowl of cracked corn in, and make juggling a little easier.
- chickens like being talked to
- thank the chickens for the eggs
- remember to moisturize; your hands are going to get dry from washing them so many times.
So, two 5-gallon jugs, twice a day, one for each group of chickens. I can't actually carry a full one, but I get it as high up as I can manage. L can carry one in each hand. I can't. And to save making a third trip from the house to the barn, I put my arm through the handle of an egg basket or two, which makes getting through house doors interesting.... I actually gave up on that today and carry each thing out through the doors and then went from just outside the house.
The process for each room of chickens is to bring in the water and a small bowl of cracked corn. They get a treat and you get not quite so many chickens under your feet while plugging the waterer, unscrewing the top, pouring in the water, and closing and opening things again. And of course I have to put the water down on the floor while I'm opening the waterer, so I get chicken stuff on my hands from holding the bottom of the container to pour. The floor is covered basically with a mix of chicken poo and wood shavings, and looks pretty much like tan-colored dirt. If your coop/barn has a wood floor you have to keep the floor as clean as possible because the manure will rot the wood. But if you have a concrete or stone floor, you can leave the manure and wood shavings down for the winter, which is a good thing because it helps to keep the chickens warm.
Anyway, after watering I gather eggs, spreading a bit more corn as needed, and then after that is checking the feeders. Although yesterday I was tired and only checked to see that there was still some feed, so today I had to put out a lot of feed. And since the chute only holds about 2-1/2 bags of feed, that has to be filled every couple of days too.
This afternoon was the first time one of the rooms still had a decent amount of water in it. The other was dead empty, and I realized why. Two days ago it rained hard, but it took until late night for the water to work its way through a roof leak somewhere and into the middle room. I reported it to BIL R, as that's his area. The water soaked into the manure and softened it, working its way over to where the waterer is, and undermined one side, tilting it. So every time the chickens drank from it, it spilled water out. It is now more level, after I moved it and scooged it around in the muck. Hopefully the water will last overnight this time. And I'm thrilled that I only have to carry one can of water tomorrow morning, because my joints are about to call it quits, and some of the muscles aren't far behind...
Ah, and then there's washing and checking the eggs. We get a little over five dozen per day now, and we fell behind last week because of getting ready for the event. So now I'm trying to wash more than that each day, to catch up. Yesterday I washed around 100, today only 72. But I also delivered 16 dozen to Elmer's today and boxed up another three dozen, so there's that. Oh, and I cleaned out some of the nests and put in some fresh bedding, because I got some wood shavings to put in the wetter areas to try to deal with the water from the leak.
And... I _might_ be catching the stomach bug L has. Yay. Taking preventative measures for that, plus watching the respiratory thing that I haven't managed to quite kick all winter, and hoping I stay 'healthy' long enough for L to get back on his feet.
It's kind of interesting, in a way. Each time I get done, I wonder if I'll have the energy and ability to do it again. Heaven knows I don't get a lot done besides this, although I actually managed to cook myself dinner last night and made eggs for lunch today. Good thing I got a bag of that cabbage and syrian cheese from the event -- not the most exciting fare, but it's done the job for a few meals so far. And I have easy noshes like nuts, dried fruit, gluten-free chewy bars (like granola bars), and some mixed salad greens from some farmer in S. Deerfield. And I realized today I could always open a can of tuna and that would be easy.
So, I guess I'm starting to figure it out. But I still wonder if the body will work for the next time... also, I'm a little tired of being covered in chicken poo -- yes, even my sweatshirt, because I have to carry the water cans against my body in order to get them down to the barn. I think if the weight were just a few pounds less I could manage indefinitely - and no, I don't want to do it three times a day. It would probably take almost as long for each trip and I have other things to do (or try to do).
Things to remember when caring for chickens:
- don't wear shoes with laces, the chickens think they're worms
- don't wear things with buttons, the chickens think they're bugs or something
- take the cap off of the water can before going into the room; one less thing to juggle
- the tops of feeders can be used to stick some things like say, a bowl of cracked corn in, and make juggling a little easier.
- chickens like being talked to
- thank the chickens for the eggs
- remember to moisturize; your hands are going to get dry from washing them so many times.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-08 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 12:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 12:58 am (UTC)A wheelbarrow is a fine thing, if it isn't mud season. I actually considered backing the car up to the house, putting the cans in and then driving them down to the barn, but I figured I'd never get the car back up the hill again.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 02:35 am (UTC)Ugh. Mud season. We hates it.
Send him my hopes for a good recovery, and take care of yourself!
no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 11:34 pm (UTC)What do you folks do with the post-winter floor sweepings from the chicken rooms?