There's always a Pisa-esque stack of books threatening to topple off of my night table. The fruits of my frequent library raids keep me entertained while I nurse the baby, and in the (highly unlikely) event that I have a few minutes to spare, I bury my nose in a book. While I do read my fair share of fiction, my book-stack tends toward the how-to, DIY variety. You can gauge my obsession-of-the-month (week?) by scanning the stack at my bedside. (My bookmarks kind of echo my library pile in that regard.) Right now I'm enthralled with the whole urban-homestead movement. I'm planning our garden with a vengeance borne of cabin fever, and the kids are drawing up increasingly complex chicken-coop plans. Now you tell me: what's in your book-stack?
Do you have chickens? We have 9 hens who each lay an egg a day and also 12 little chicks brooding. They are two weeks old.
ReplyDeleteWe use a little tykes play house as a chicken coop. But you need a heated coop. Maybe you can get an old shed? Or even buy a used coop?
Craigslist might have one. They don't need the coop until they are 12 weeks old. So you will want to start brooding them in March or so. They are lots of fun for the kids to play with.
Then by June you will put them out in the chicken house.
By October, you will need heat for them.
I brought my hens into the stall shower for the night when it got down to 30 degrees last week. They cannot take temps below 35 or so.
We have Barred Rocks (smart, very smart and gentle) and the chicks are Australorps and Buff Orps. These are very very gentle.
The Barred Rocks are so smart that they can hum a tune after you sing it for them a few times. They also know who sleeps at which window and they peck at the window at 6am when they are up before us and want food.
Take care.
We're planning to get chicks in March (clever girl!) when we put the garden in. You're the first "real, live" person I know who hasn't gawped when I mentioned raising chooks. :) The kids are building a coop on to go above the compost pile, but I LOVE the Little Tikes idea!
ReplyDelete