Quiet in here

[Sylie]

Haven't seen anyone or heard anything from anyone.  

How is your summer going?

How are your birds doing?

Anything new happening?

[dawg53]

Hi Sylie. My wife and I have been very busy since we moved from Jacksonville to Glen St Mary, Florida. I had to build new pens and ordered a shed instead of building new coops. So now the shed is a coop lol. I split it in two for both my flocks.
We have 2.5 acres that I've had to whip into shape, not to mention getting a well house built and a screened patio installed on the back porch. It took me a full month to get the pens built and turn the shed into a chicken coop, and boy oh boy, was it HOT! Yep, upper 90's working outside. I'd start working at the crack of first light at dawn and stop around noontime, take a shower and have lunch. Then take a nap and start working again around 6pm until dark. It was just too hot in the afternoons to work outside.
I was driving back to Jacksonville every other day to our old house checking on the chickens, and I'm glad we have our birds at our new place, no more driving back and forth.
My wife performed a miracle getting the new house all fixed up inside literally without my help all the while my time was spent outside.
Everything is complete now, time to relax some.
I've been hanging out at BYC since there's not much going on here, but I do pop in here once in awhile to see if anything is going on.
I have to get a MRI on my left shoulder Wednesday. I fell off a ladder and landed squarely on my left shoulder, I was high up on the ladder too. I went to the ER and x-rays revealed no broken bones. Doc said it was a strain/contusion. My shoulder still hurts and my primary doc thinks it might be the rotator cup? or something like that. The MRI will tell all.
So there you have it in a nutshell. We're still getting a few nitnoid things done around here, nothing major though. We wont be moving again, it's a killer!

[boskelli1571]

Sounds like you have been very busy Dawg!  I got home yesterday from the hospital - had a lower back fusion, so I'm not up tp much at the moment, doing good tho'

[dawg53]

Aug 10, 2019 13:50:59 GMT -5 boskelli1571 said:

Sounds like you have been very busy Dawg!  I got home yesterday from the hospital - had a lower back fusion, so I'm not up to much at the moment, doing good tho'

I hope your back heals quickly Sue. My brother had that done years ago on his lower back. His lower back is still always hurting. I go to the chiropractor regularly to get my back adjusted. No doctor is putting a scalpel to my back!

[Sylie]

Hi guys! Glad to see that you are still around.

Sue, I'm sorry about your back issue. I sure hope that it heals quickly and completely.

Dawg, you have definitely been busy, what a lot of work! I'm sorry about your shoulder, and not to be repetitive but I really do hope that it heals quickly.

I have been crazy busy myself. Summer kind of does that.

We have been building a new duck coop since all of my chicks turned out to be hens (never would have guessed that would happen!) So the chicks are in the biggest coop (we call them chicks even though they are laying now just to differentiate them from the older hens who are referred to as "the adults". The adults are in the medium size pen even though there are only 2 of them because the ducks don't mind the smaller coop so they moved into the smaller, new coop.

I can't get the chicks to go into the coop at night though, they just sleep in their run. For now, that's alright because it's just too stuffy in the coop with the heat and humidity we've been having. But I am worried that I won't get them into the coop when fall comes. I've tried baiting them in with corn but it seems two will come in but the other 2 won't, then one will go out while the other 2 come in and while I'm trying to get that last one in, the other 3 go out! *smacks head against the wall until unconscious*. Due to a certain person not listening to me when that coop/run was being built, the run is only about 3 feet tall so I can't go in and "herd" them into the house like I do with the ducks.

Enough of my whining, I'm glad to see you are all still alive

[dawg53]

Sylie, did you initially use a red heat lamp raising your duck "chicks?" Keep in mind that I dont know anything about ducks.
However with chicken 'chicks,' when I first put them out into their new pen/coop, I use a small red light bulb installed inside or outside a vent to attract the new chicks inside the coop in the late evening. Once they are in the coop, all it takes is one chick to hop up on a roost and the others (for the most part) copy cat the others. Then I secure the pop door for the night and then shut off the red light. I do this for about week or so until they finally get used to going into the coop for the night without having to use the red light. It works great because they were used to and attracted to the red heat lamp when they were only several days old.

[Sylie]

Dawg, I'm not having a problem with the ducks, they are 3 yrs old and go to bed easily, I only commented that the ducks are easy to herd into their house where the "chicks" are not.

I did use a red heat lamp for them when they were little but they are laying now and full grown. (or mostly full grown) I can try the heat lamp trick.

This whole problem started when we rearranged living quarters. The "adult" chickens were in the biggest of the 3 coop/run set ups but there are only 2 of them. There are 4 "Chicks" and they were in the medium coop/run set up. There wasn't enough space and they were fighting so I swapped the "adults" and "chicks" and now the chicks won't go into the coop at night. They go in during the day no problem, they lay their eggs in there, eat/drink etc but just won't go in at night, they sleep in the run. I have left them in there for a week now hoping that they would get the idea that it is now their home and maybe would go to bed in there but so far, no go. I let them out in the yard the other day hoping they would automatically go "home" when it got dark but I found them sleeping on my back porch when I went out to put the ducks to bed (the ducks have never put themselves to bed, I always have to herd them into their coop)

[maryellen]

With chicks you have to put them.all in the coop and lock them.in . Do this every night for a week then they will get it and go in on their own.
Omg dawg so glad you didnt get seriously hurt. Its probably your rotator cuff or a really bad sprain if you landed on your shoulder.
Sue get better!

[Sylie]

I can't put them in the house and lock them in, it's way too hot and stuffy in there, they'd suffocate. We need to put new ventilation in it. The ones we put in when we built it just don't do any good. We are looking at a roof vent like you would put in a house bathroom or something like that. The way we built this coop (it was the first one we ever built and were new to chickens lol) was a little off of what a good coop would have. We just need to fix the ventilation. It's VERY well insulated, 2 inches of blown in insulation in the walls and floor and 2 inches of foam in the ceiling. The people door has a screen door so that works well during the day but at night when I close it, it gets ridiculous in there.

I can do it in a few weeks when things start cooling down. For now, I am just letting them out of the run for a few hours then physically pick them up and put them in their run and say "home" lol (the ducks and adult chickens all know "home" already so I'm teaching the chicks) I'm sure I"ll get it figured out.

[duckrunner]

Nobody asked but I have braces and a scoliosis brace now. I’m away from the birds so I don’t talk here much but how are you guys?

[Sylie]

Aug 18, 2019 4:23:59 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Nobody asked but I have braces and a scoliosis brace now. I’m away from the birds so I don’t talk here much but how are you guys?

I'm sorry to hear about all of your braces   Are you adjusting to them okay?  

I"m doing okay. Got through all of the really hot weather and now we are just hot. lol 

Don't be away so long! It doesn't matter if you are away from your birds, you can still chat with us anytime.

[boskelli1571]

Aug 18, 2019 4:23:59 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Nobody asked but I have braces and a scoliosis brace now. I’m away from the birds so I don’t talk here much but how are you guys?

Sylie is correct - we can always talk about anything, after all we're women right?? (Sorry Dawg ) Will you have to wear the braces permanently or this just a corrective thing?

[duckrunner]

Aug 20, 2019 18:52:02 GMT -5 boskelli1571 said:

Aug 18, 2019 4:23:59 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Nobody asked but I have braces and a scoliosis brace now. I’m away from the birds so I don’t talk here much but how are you guys?

Sylie is correct - we can always talk about anything, after all we're women right?? (Sorry Dawg ) Will you have to wear the braces permanently or this just a corrective thing?

lol very sorry guys i sounded so passive aggressive 'NOBODY ASKED' it was like i was trying to make you guys feel bad lol, i have to have them for 2 years and the scoliosis brace for a pretty long time minimum 13-17 yrs old 

[duckrunner]

Aug 18, 2019 22:40:10 GMT -5 Sylie said:

Aug 18, 2019 4:23:59 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Nobody asked but I have braces and a scoliosis brace now. I’m away from the birds so I don’t talk here much but how are you guys?

I'm sorry to hear about all of your braces   Are you adjusting to them okay?  

I"m doing okay. Got through all of the really hot weather and now we are just hot. lol 

Don't be away so long! It doesn't matter if you are away from your birds, you can still chat with us anytime.

This message is quite old... how are you and your birds doing now? Also again sorry for sounding so weird in that post, and my braces are really good now actually. How are you all? Also i am in the land of scots hehehe

[Sylie]

Hey Ducky! Yeah it's been awhile since we saw you. don't worry about sounding weird in that post, it was all new and you were still adjusting, it's perfectly fine. I'm fine, busy as all get out. The birds are all very well trained and I have no issues with them anymore other than the dang things LOVE plastic! (the chicks) I wrapped all of the runs in plastic for the winter and they keep eating holes in it. We even put plywood at the bottom of the runs covering the plastic so they wouldn't eat it, they just stretch their necks and do it anyway. Right now I am patching the holes with duct tape on the inside and outside (so they don't get their beaks stuck) but they just make a new hole next to the tape or somewhere else. At this rate, I'm going to end up buying so much duct tape that I will own the company.

What are you doing in Scotland? Having some fun I hope!

Keep in touch

[boskelli1571]

Nov 15, 2019 14:54:14 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Aug 18, 2019 22:40:10 GMT -5 Sylie said:

I'm sorry to hear about all of your braces   Are you adjusting to them okay?  

I"m doing okay. Got through all of the really hot weather and now we are just hot. lol 

Don't be away so long! It doesn't matter if you are away from your birds, you can still chat with us anytime.

This message is quite old... how are you and your birds doing now? Also again sorry for sounding so weird in that post, and my braces are really good now actually. How are you all? Also i am in the land of scots hehehe

Glad to hear you have adjusted to the braces, good for you. I had to wear a back brace after my surgery for about 6 weeks and I was whining like a baby about how hot/uncomfortable/heavy it was....whine, whine,whine.

How is Scotland? I hear the weather has been pretty awful over in the UK.

I lost 4 birds this year - 3 from old age and 1 to an attack, but I had 4 pullets hatch out

[duckrunner]

Nov 16, 2019 8:03:22 GMT -5 boskelli1571 said:

Nov 15, 2019 14:54:14 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

This message is quite old... how are you and your birds doing now? Also again sorry for sounding so weird in that post, and my braces are really good now actually. How are you all? Also i am in the land of scots hehehe

Glad to hear you have adjusted to the braces, good for you. I had to wear a back brace after my surgery for about 6 weeks and I was whining like a baby about how hot/uncomfortable/heavy it was....whine, whine,whine.

How is Scotland? I hear the weather has been pretty awful over in the UK.

I lost 4 birds this year - 3 from old age and 1 to an attack, but I had 4 pullets hatch out

Yes it's definitely uncomfortable and hot in the brace! hope your back has cleared up now. Scotland is very cold yes! how is your weather? Aw that's really sad, but the pullets sound cute lol

[boskelli1571]

Nov 17, 2019 8:29:54 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Nov 16, 2019 8:03:22 GMT -5 boskelli1571 said:

Glad to hear you have adjusted to the braces, good for you. I had to wear a back brace after my surgery for about 6 weeks and I was whining like a baby about how hot/uncomfortable/heavy it was....whine, whine,whine.

How is Scotland? I hear the weather has been pretty awful over in the UK.

I lost 4 birds this year - 3 from old age and 1 to an attack, but I had 4 pullets hatch out

Yes it's definitely uncomfortable and hot in the brace! hope your back has cleared up now. Scotland is very cold yes! how is your weather? Aw that's really sad, but the pullets sound cute lol

My back is as good as it will ever be after 60+ years of abuse!

Our weather too has been cold. We had some snow and the temps were in the 10-20F (-10C) range for a while but it's getting warmer now.

Are you in Scotland for good or just visiting?

[duckrunner]

Nov 17, 2019 16:37:03 GMT -5 boskelli1571 said:

Nov 17, 2019 8:29:54 GMT -5 duckrunner said:

Yes it's definitely uncomfortable and hot in the brace! hope your back has cleared up now. Scotland is very cold yes! how is your weather? Aw that's really sad, but the pullets sound cute lol

My back is as good as it will ever be after 60+ years of abuse!

Our weather too has been cold. We had some snow and the temps were in the 10-20F (-10C) range for a while but it's getting warmer now.

Are you in Scotland for good or just visiting?

-10c wow that's cold lol, and i'm in scotland temporarily but for quite some time. Might be moving to norwich and buying a house there

[boskelli1571]

I never made it to Norwich, but I'm told it's a lovely old town. I was born and raised in England and I do miss the British sense of humor amongst many things.

    Here's hoping you have a good Christmas and New Year to come