Saturday, the Planner went the big city #1 to make homemade sausage with the family leaving me and the Kid at home have Mommy and Kid time. And what better way to start the full day than with homemade pancakes. Oh, I know, having non-burned pancakes! That's right, mommy did not burn the pancakes today. Please mark this in your calendars. Unburned pancakes are so fantastic!
Next on the agenda was making a new water bottle for the chickies. Sometime during the week, the chicken nipples arrived in the mail. These are the best invention since sliced bread. Nipples allow chickens to self-regulate their water needs and won't drip. This results in clean drinking water and a clean coop, or in this case a clean nesting box. On a side note, the water system being used in the nesting box right now works fantastically well and creates very little water mess. If there was more room in the brooding box or was I not a nipple fan, a larger scaled model would be used.
Nipples are easy to install and can be used on a variety of bottles. The chickens in North Carolina had four nipples attached to the bottom of a five-gallon bucket and one an inverted Gatorade bottle for the smaller chickens. Nipples only have two restrictions. They must be attached to a flat surface and must be mounted hanging down. There are other watering devices, the chicken water cup, which allows a side mount. The cup allows water to drip into a small cup but is known to become dirty throughout the day.
Once a hole is drilled, the nipple must be sealed to prevent leakage. If using a tight sealing lid like this jug, a small pin hole must be drilled opposite of nipple to allow air movement. Without this pin hole, the nipple creates a vacuum and water will stop flowing. Chickens are like raccoons and they love shiny objects. In attempts to attack the silver nipple, water is released. Ta-da. Working chicken nipple.
Next on the Mommy and Me weekend, a new feeder. The chicks are now eating too much for the old version and it requires filling twice a day. Filling twice a day is high maintenance in my book. After much research on non-spilling chicken feeders, I created my own from a combination of many examples.
Many models use 3" PVC. Finding this too expensive for chickens combined with short term usage in a tiny space, a plastic water bottle was substituted for PVC tube and 2" unions were used instead on 3". Non-pressurized sewer pipe is still much cheaper but the store did not have the items desired.
The final result worked great. The Kid could fill on his own with no assistance needed and the unions will be usable after the feeder is no longer needed.
The only improvement would have been a stronger walled bottle. If not careful, the sides bent upon placement and the feed did not pour out easily. We concluded our afternoon with a trip to the local market days event to visit some friends and to eat some homemade caramel kettle corn. What a great day we had!
On Sunday, the chicken's new, Planner designed for heat and wind coop, was started and the chickies were let outside for the first time. Outside in a modified dog kennel, but hey, it was outside to them. Besides, they were being carefully watched over.
What a great way to wrap up last weekend than by watching little peepers peep and ruffle in a dirt bath!
Early Monday morning was when things went wonky in the planning department. The meteorologist said a slight chance of scattered thunderstorms. And by the looks of the radar, we were barely going to catch the storm. A little rain, in an area where rain is always needed, is always good. Right?
A little rain, I said. Not a deluge. So much for working on the subframes.
Back to the drawing board, literally. The Planner took this time off to redesign some aspects of the chicken coop and shop. But those new ideas only took so long and the water was still there. As you can see by the picture, the cramped workspace is the reason Plan473 is working so hard to move out of this cramped trailer. The Planners knees are in the picture because there is not enough room when someone else, oh that would be me, is sitting on the couch. The Planner crams his folding chair into the space to work. These are not optimal working conditions. Now to this picture, add the dog under the chair and the kid in every other space available. I swear if you move an inch his crap moves in takes two inches as a result.
So, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right. With a kink in the plans, the chicken coop now becomes top priority. Yeah! Tuesday materials were purchased. Holy moly, who knew a little chicken coop would cost soooo much!?! Eeeh gads! All for the love a few little peepers. Good grief.
Wednesday the boys finished digging pier holes to the appropriate depth (don't you just love a project requiring the Kid to practice multiple math skills all at once!) and piers were placed, packed, and braced.
Substructure for the coop took longer than planned but the Kid did a great job using his math skills to ensure the boards were cut to the correct length.
Thursday, the floor, two walls, and the roof were installed. Yes, more kid math was required.
The coop looked great when I came home but by setting the sun, it is just beautiful!
The boxes are cleaned regularly but the heating pad is beyond dusting off at this point. Ten days of ten chickens pooping and playing has really taken its toll. But this plan for a heating pad took these things into consideration. Hence the reason, the Press N' Seal wrap. Less than five minutes later, the heating pad looked brand new again. On a side note, the towel did not smell of chickens nor did it have poop on it. I am just loving this method!
Friday ended with a bang. The big bang. Last month the Big Freeze killed trees, plants, and flower gardens for hundreds of miles across the great state of Texas. This month, we are melting. Melting. Did you use your Wicked Witch of West voice? No? Then you should read it again. Meltinnnnnng!
Temperatures are in the upper 80's but the sun's intensity is much, much hotter. Living in this aluminum can RV is like a living in a solar cooker in the summer. Can't cook, can't live, can't stand in here with temperatures this hot. Gonna have to move this trailer elsewhere before it is all said and done. It is too damned hot!!!
So, while plans were adjusted to accommodate the rain, it was a great week. Just look how much these cute things have grown. The weekend plans are to continue with the coop in cooler weather. At least that is what the weather man says. Cooler weather. Yeah!