Smelly Chicks
With Sue due back today, a general tidy up was in order. After wrestling with the hoover for a while I headed outside.
Today was a rare one for 2018, a fine sunny day. I resisted the temptation to work the land though, hoping that today's sunshine and warm breeze would dry the soil enough to be rotavated tomorrow.
Even the polytunnel has been struggling to get warm so far this year, but today the temperature in there rose to over 90 in old money. That should kick all the seedlings into action.
The twenty chicks I brought home last week have been doing their utmost to mess out their cage and stink out the front hallway where they live. We usually keep them here for the first four weeks before moving them to larger and more airy accommodation in the garage, but I decided to speed up the process of getting them outside.
I needed to set something up where I could place the chicks while I cleaned out their cage. It needed a good scrub and a strong hose jet. So I set up the broody ring in the garage - I would need to do this anyway in a couple of weeks.
The chicks were quite happy in there. So happy in fact that I decided they can stay in there. To be on the safe side, they have an overhead heat lamp and the electric hen heat plate. That way they can choose which is most comfortable for them and if one fails the other will keep them warm enough.
Today was a rare one for 2018, a fine sunny day. I resisted the temptation to work the land though, hoping that today's sunshine and warm breeze would dry the soil enough to be rotavated tomorrow.
Even the polytunnel has been struggling to get warm so far this year, but today the temperature in there rose to over 90 in old money. That should kick all the seedlings into action.
The twenty chicks I brought home last week have been doing their utmost to mess out their cage and stink out the front hallway where they live. We usually keep them here for the first four weeks before moving them to larger and more airy accommodation in the garage, but I decided to speed up the process of getting them outside. I needed to set something up where I could place the chicks while I cleaned out their cage. It needed a good scrub and a strong hose jet. So I set up the broody ring in the garage - I would need to do this anyway in a couple of weeks.
The chicks were quite happy in there. So happy in fact that I decided they can stay in there. To be on the safe side, they have an overhead heat lamp and the electric hen heat plate. That way they can choose which is most comfortable for them and if one fails the other will keep them warm enough.
