More Projects

 

I bought some more chickens last weekend, two breeding pairs of Seramas, originating out of Malaysia, and a White Cochin rooster, of Chinese origin. I really wasn't planning on buying any chickens until later this spring, but I just happened upon these on the way out of Atwoods parking lot here in town. They had the Seramas out with them, and Emily asked if they had anymore for sale beside the two pair they had there, and the lady said she only had a White Cochin at home for sale at the moment, and that's when I really got interested because she was only asking about half of what those normally go for around here. That, and momma had been wanting one since we went to Newcastle, Oklahoma to buy some barbwire from this guy. They had a Black Cochin, that basically lived inside their house, and she fell in love with their feathered legs. And, I have been on the hunt for a nice looking one ever since. Also, the lady had been showing the Cochin at livestock shows, and he was bread to be a show chicken. So, that raises his worth almost four fold.

 

I've been building coops for them nearly all week, there were a couple of days I didn't get to work on them all day, because of family obligations and job interviews, which I officially have a job now. But, I have two of the coops done, and another about a third done, and I will build one more like this one I'm working on, because I like this design better than the first A-frame coop I built. Same basic design and concept, just wider and lower with easier access to everything. Learn from your mistakes I say. The two A-frame coops I'm working on now will be about the same size as the yard portion of the big coop with the external hut, but with the hut built in the top like the narrow A-frame I build first. I love the A-frame design, it allows for maximum ground space for them for forage through the grass, provides adequate nesting space that is raised like the chickens need to feel safe, and yet it is still compact and easy to move around. Although I don't have wheels on any of these, I can easily pick up and move them around where ever I want, which would be made easier if I added some hardcloth to the bottoms so I wouldn't have to remove the chickens when I move the coops. But, I would just as soon go through the trouble of gathering up the chickens rather than have them walking on the hardcloth wires, this gives them a more natural grazing area.

 

The chickens weren't in bad health, but they did show signs of neglect and over population for the area they had been kept in. The Cochin looked the best of the three, and he looks ten times better now than he did a week ago when we got him, I suppose he got the better treatment since they had been showing him. The other four were missing a few feathers and the vanes were gone from the feather shafts on their wing tips. So, I've been giving them heavy supplements of calcium in their food. Plus giving them treats high in protein and calcium, which has helped tremendously. But, they're still recovering. If they had been in real bad shape, I wouldn't have bothered with them, but they showed good energy and nice muscle structure. And, the didn't have signs of any other aliments or disease. As with any animal, you have to know what to look for when buying them. Some things can be a simple fix, like the calcium deficiency, others can almost be a lost cause and end up costing more time and money that if you had just passed and spent more on a better looking animal. With chickens, pay special attention to their combs and wattles, feet and legs, beak, eyes and their vents/cloaca. Those are the areas where you can find signs of sickness or disease. If you have any doubts, walk away from the purchase without a second thought. It's better to spend double on a good health animal, than to spend thrice on a sick one. Personally, I'm still learning what to look for; what's good, what's bad, and what's acceptable. So, I'm not an authority in any way. But, do your research and learn everything you can about the animal you plan to buying.

 

Now for the pictures.


The larger A-frame with external hut for the Cochin

Cochin hut with my free range rooster Roger on top

 

 

 

Strut & Rosie, Seramas

Pretty Boy, White Cochin



Kenmore & Maytag, Seramas

Small A-frame with built in roost



Chicken Hut...Finally

Well I finally got the hut part of my chicken coop built yesterday. And, I'm so glad it's done. With the snow and rain we got here Christmas week, and the fact that I have to build outside, I had to wait untill my wood and work area dried out to where I could actually do something with it. Now it's time for the fence panel portion of the build.

 

 

 

 

 Plus, here's some other projects I have done. Built the dog house for my neighbour's Bully Dog. And, the end and coffee tables reside in my living room. Now... If I can only get people interested in buying them.

 

Some Random Stuff.

I hate days like today, when I have a bunch of stuff rambling through my head, but can't get them organised enough for coherent thought. Sometimes I have a tendency to babel about random shit. Enjoy.

A business card sized piece of parchment was found that indicates that Jesus may have been married. And, it seems to caused quite a stir. A lot of religious doctrine is based on the idea that Jesus was celibate, or un-married, which is often confused with chaste or chastity, which is the vows that monks and the pope take is a vow of chastity, which means remaining pure and abstaining from sex. The woman that identified the papyrus named it The Gospel Of Jesus Wife. Here's the translation of it. And, is has been disputed as a fake or forgery. But, from what I can tell, the main uproar from the Vatican and the churches is that it seems to indicate that Jesus wasn't single, and boned on a regular basis, being married and all. I know it's hard for man to admit when we're wrong, but when you're way off or something comes up that may put your thinking back a few thousand years. I think it should be worth a serious look and some serious contemplation. Also, as it would turn out, it was a common belief in ancient times that Jesus was married, seemingly before the formation of the Catholic Church, which has had substantial effect on world wide Christian religions. It was the Catholic Church that decided what books of the bible were kept, what doctrine was, and pretty well molded Christianity into what it is today. The Apocrypha, which are gospels either left out of The Bible, or discovered after the compilation of it's current incarnation. Some of which were left out because of authenticity reasons, accuracy, and some for reasons unknown. What I wonder is, if Jesus was married, what does it matter in the long run, does it really change the core of Christianity? I wouldn't think so. I would think that The Pope, and chaste monks would rejoice in the revelation of Jesus being married. "Sister Anne, please meet me in my study after dinner." I don't think that Jesus having a wife would or should shake the foundations of Christianity. Now, if we found out that his father was say, Lucifer or Darth Vader, then you may have some foundation and core rocking going on there. But, even in that case, what would we learn, either that Jesus was sent to earth or foil God's grand plan. Or, that some names got mixed up, as people are bound to to at times. About the only thing that I can see that would bring the walls of the Christian religions down, is if we found the last page of The Bible, and it simply said "The End".

Facebook gets on my nerves. There's too much crap to like, too many companies that want your attention, too many "I'm taking a dump" and "Starbucks is soo good" status updates. It's damn rediclous. I go on my wall to check things out, and I go back two pages and haven't made it past noon, and it's mostly from pages I like and click here for your game coins or gifts or whatthefuck ever. And, it doesn't even have a cool layout or design like MySpace does. But, eveybody's there because it's newer, not necessarily better, but newer. You get on your page, click through a bunch of Farmville requests, stare a a blue and white page, and think what the hell am I doing? And, you know what the real bitch of it is? I'm going to post a link to my blog on there after I publish it.

I like to think of myself as a master builder of small things. I'm pretty damn handy with a saw, hammer, and drill. I can build damn near anything you can imagine out of wood. I'm currently working on a chicken house and coop, and will post pictures when I'm done. But, the main problem is, I don't have a variety of tools, I kinda need to do the projects I want to do. And, damn sure don't have to tools I want and need to go into production of my projects to sell them. It's like being a professional fisherman that just has a Zebco 33 on an Ugly Stick and nothing else.

Well, thanks for reading my rants. Have a Merry Christmas y'all.