Third boiler month, chickens, spinny bits...

December 8 - another month already gone by, and many more bags it seems...
Here are the boiler stats:

197 bags used over 91 days is 2.165 bags/day.

189.6 g.e. / 30 days = 6.32 g.e. per day. (79 bags third month)
Average -1.4°F for the month. 3.7° Colder than average.

I'm getting my weather here, by the way, though it probably does not take into account the fact that I live higher up than the rest of town and it is generally warmer at the house than in town. I have no statistics or averages for the neighborhood, so I use the GI site. I'm trying to collect data, which means I write it down when I remember - which means not often - I need a home weather station that archives...

The chickens are back in form after a slightly different ventilation pattern, a slight feed change, and a change in their light schedule. We passed the 100 egg mark this past weekend and we're getting an average of 2 eggs a day from the Farmtastic 4. (You should see them in their spandex jumpers) Their air comes through the boiler house wall and then goes back into the boiler room - but now it's warm air cycled by fan and timer 30 minutes on, 1 hour off. This keeps the Banty Shanty at about 45°F (too warm is a bad thing for birds) and they seem pretty comfy. We switched from wood chips to straw for the flooring/bedding and the dust level has fallen off to almost nothing. They've switched feed brands (all layer mash is not equal) and seem to be eating more. We give them bread ends on occasion and they tear it up. They're getting worms from the bin in their stockings ;) The lights are turned on at random times between 5:15 and 9:00 in the morning, and are turned off between 8:30 and 10:30 in the evening. They have 2 - 40W 'full-spectrum' flourescent bulbs in the ceiling fixture and it seems to simulate day fairly well - even the 'day length' differences. The on and off of the light coincides with our chook-check twice a day - feed, water, egg pickup, checkups, talking... And we added a box of sand to the aviary - they now have a place to flop about and 'bathe' / play.

I've been back in the shop working on a few small things, and I finally thought to take some pictures and get them on the web - Spinny Bits The last 3 pictures (Herod's bowl, fruit bowl, wedding gift) are from blanks I put up green about 7 months ago. I hope to get some more blanks roughed out over Christmas break (for next Christmas - heh heh).

Back to reading other's blogs...

See you next time~


A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.
~Robert A. Heinlein