luvinlife offthegrid- will winter ever arrive?

[BarredBuff]

Nice flock! Sorry about the rooster, I know its happened here before. But pretty chicks all the same. Sounds like you are getting you garden all planned out and nice!!

 

[Denim Deb]

Hope you're able to get some eggs to hatch. Sorry about your roo. And, I'm so glad that your son is doing better.

 

[lazyday]

What a handsome boy you have ........ Sorry your rooster was killed.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Barred Buff- yes , the garden is getting there. All my started seeds are up but not quite ready to transplant and I'm getting anxious.

Denim Deb- I just candled yesterday and 6 out of 7 eggs are viable. Thanks for the well wishes on my boy.

Lazy- yes he is handsome! I can't believe I miss a rooster this much. He really was a good little guy.

The girls don't miss him much, though. Before he was killed I got 6 or 7 eggs a day- with 4 on a slow day. Now I'm getting 9 or 10 eggs a day with 8 on a slow day. This happened after the last roo went to camp as well.

 

[Icu4dzs]

The batteries have just been replaced. We woke up one October morning and there was no power (an oddity for us.) Hubby checked the batteries and they were bone dry. Really? Ugh. Oh, well. We needed a larger battery bank bc we increased our solar output. I set up a monthly email reminder, and a monthly honking "nuclear meltdown" sounding alarm on his phone. Apparently my monthly nagging wasn't enough. We got 2 volt cells, big industrial sized ones. 1530 amp hours, I think hubby said. We have a 24 volt system. I will have to make sure he checks them. I might start a poll with the question, "How many sets of batteries have you fried?" This makes 3 for us.

I guess I'm just getting around to reading a lot more journals lately. I've had some time off, and that's been helping my memory work better. I find that when I am tired and fatigued, my memory doesn't work quite as well as it should. It seems to be better now.

Sorry you lost Those batteries. That must've been a pretty big hit. I am actually really glad that I bought the AGM batteries and are maintenance free. All of my batteries are 12 V batteries but I have them wired in parallel to make 48 V because my system is a 48 V system. The wind turbine produces 48 V. The three banks of batteries are wired in series which then goes straight to the inverter. All of my batteries are 305 amp hour batteries.

I found a 25 watt heated water bowl for the chicken coop, I'm hoping it works as advertised. We'll have to hook it up to the kill-a-watt meter to see how much it's really drawing. We also installed a LED lamp for the girls in the morning. We've only had 3 hard freezes, which is unusual for us this time of year.

how did that 25 W heated water bowl work out for you? I'd like to know what brand it was so I can get one for my cats and my chickens.

By the way, I notice that you live in upstate New York. I have some friends in Portlandville. I visited with them in October 2011. The pictures that you posted certainly made me think that you might even live in the same area.

Just as an aside, I found one of those "wind eggs" today. It certainly was a small little thing. What did Stories book tell you about those? The Roo I have now seem to be doing a much better job of keeping the girls happy. I let them out and run around the place and he seems to keep them pretty well in check although they go where they want.
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

The batteries have just been replaced. We woke up one October morning and there was no power (an oddity for us.) Hubby checked the batteries and they were bone dry. Really? Ugh. Oh, well. We needed a larger battery bank bc we increased our solar output. I set up a monthly email reminder, and a monthly honking "nuclear meltdown" sounding alarm on his phone. Apparently my monthly nagging wasn't enough. We got 2 volt cells, big industrial sized ones. 1530 amp hours, I think hubby said. We have a 24 volt system. I will have to make sure he checks them. I might start a poll with the question, "How many sets of batteries have you fried?" This makes 3 for us.

I guess I'm just getting around to reading a lot more journals lately. I've had some time off, and that's been helping my memory work better. I find that when I am tired and fatigued, my memory doesn't work quite as well as it should. It seems to be better now.

Sorry you lost Those batteries. That must've been a pretty big hit. I am actually really glad that I bought the AGM batteries and are maintenance free. All of my batteries are 12 V batteries but I have them wired in parallel to make 48 V because my system is a 48 V system. The wind turbine produces 48 V. The three banks of batteries are wired in series which then goes straight to the inverter. All of my batteries are 305 amp hour batteries.

I found a 25 watt heated water bowl for the chicken coop, I'm hoping it works as advertised. We'll have to hook it up to the kill-a-watt meter to see how much it's really drawing. We also installed a LED lamp for the girls in the morning. We've only had 3 hard freezes, which is unusual for us this time of year.

how did that 25 W heated water bowl work out for you? I'd like to know what brand it was so I can get one for my cats and my chickens.

By the way, I notice that you live in upstate New York. I have some friends in Portlandville. I visited with them in October 2011. The pictures that you posted certainly made me think that you might even live in the same area.

Just as an aside, I found one of those "wind eggs" today. It certainly was a small little thing. What did Stories book tell you about those? The Roo I have now seem to be doing a much better job of keeping the girls happy. I let them out and run around the place and he seems to keep them pretty well in check although they go where they want.
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

The water bowl worked well. I got it in Petsmart, I don't remember the brand it was. I think Cabelas has one too. I was going to order one online, when I saw one in petsmart. I think they're all the same type of thing. I'm sure any 1.5-2 gallon ones that are advertised for 25 Watt usage will work. I didn't get to really "put it to the test" this past winter, because the coldest it got was 5 below. It was a weird winter. When it was really cold and I knew it'd freeze, I dumped and unplugged it every night. I'd go out at around 6:00 am to refill it and plug it in every morning. On days when I had a chance to sleep in (not very frequently!), I'd leave it plugged in. I really just got it so I could not worry about water while at work all day. The reason I dumped it was because plastic is brittle in the cold, and since I wasn't leaving it on all night, I didn't want it to freeze and split. The chickens don't drink in the dark anyway, so why waste the electricity? Of the few nights I forgot to dump it out, it didn't crack. So maybe it would have been fine.

It looks exactly like this one, and I think this is the brand name. Different places have very different price ranges, so shop around. http://www.discountpetsuppliesstore.com/servlet/the-1692/Thermal-Heated-Dog-Bowl/Detail

I have Storeys Guide to Raising Chickens written by Gail Damerow. I find it a pretty good reference book that I will probably use quite a bit.

I checked google maps for Portlandville, and it's quite far from me. I live in the north-ish Adirondacks. I think I'm closer to Canada than I am to your friend! I also realized that I never gave you the tortiere recipe. Oh well. It's pretty simple- I'm sure the one you made was pretty good.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Eggs in the bator are doing well. I have 6 little swimming aliens in there. A couple have air cells that are smaller than the others, I hope they'll be ok. I think the shells on those are a little thicker, so they don't lose as much moisture through the shells. I might have to let them dry up a little. My sons 4H group is coming to candle on tuesday, which is day 15. Should be fun. I'm really loving this little incubator. I might buy one- brinsea mini advance. I have had bad luck with hovabators. But I was a newbie, and i might have needed a digital thermometer. This thing keeps the temperature right at 99.5 at all times. Going to a graduation party this afternoon, and at sme point today I have to get rid of some eggs. 2 of the people that take them weekly are out of town for a while. I'm sure my uncles will take some.

It's been nice catching up on outside work around the house. I have to get my rain barrel solar pump set up so I can water. My planting and transplanting is waiting on that. I have to figure out where I'm putting the strawberries. 9 of the ten plants took, so that'll be fun. The blueberries still look pathetic. I think I need more of them.

The wasp population is drastically low again this year. I wonder what's up with that.

I started a bunch of seeds and didn't label them. Among the started, I have zucchini, cucumbers, and cantaloupes all in the same seed tray. I'll have to wait til they're a little older so I can tell them apart. Right now they all look the same , but they're different sizes. Never grown cantaloupe, but I'm sure I can tell them apart based on what I know the others look like. I have 4 pumpkin plants and 5 watermelon plants I have to find a spot for, I didn't plan for them in my original garden plan.

My parents are out of town, so I am not sure what I'm doing for memorial day. I think I'll bring some flowers to the cemetery for my grandfather, and bring a potted plant to the town memorial. I hope everyone's having a great weekend.

 

[Denim Deb]

I wanna know how you do w/the Brinsea. I'd love to own one, just not sure which one. I have the LG, and have horrible luck w/it.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Deb, I love how dead-on the temperature stays. With the other one, I was constantly fighting the temperatures trying to keep it lower. The bulb thermometer coupled with the wafer really stymied me.

This is my third hatch. The first one was during the county fair as a project for people to view in the 4-H exhibit building. People could candle if they wanted (twice a day when I was there). There were 5 eggs, and I got one chick. Manual egg turning, no hygrometer. The second one was the next years fair. We put in a dozen eggs and again got two chicks. I used an egg turner and no hygrometer. I really didn't know what I was looking for when candling, and I think that most of the eggs were infertile so I can't really blame the incubator. You can't get blood from a stone, as they say. This time I still have no hygrometer but I know to watch the air cell size.

Hatch rate will tell, but I know that the 6 still in there are doing well. I will really hate to return it to the 4H office. This one holds 7 chicken or duck eggs with the turner, but I guess some people turn by hand and put more eggs in. There is a quail egg turning disc too. I don't know if the fully automatic version of the mini advance is worth the amount in extra dollars one would pay. 7 days left til hatch.

 

[Denim Deb]

I don't want the mini one, it's too small. I'd love to have the one that has everything, turner, thermometer, hygrometer, etc.