Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

Weatherman said it was going to snow. He was correct. We got almost 10" in the last few days !!

The chickens are getting large enough and producing enough body heat that I had to start up one of the tunnel fans.

Since the same curtain covers two fans and it's suppose to be below 0F here for a few nights I decided to put plastic in the other fan to help keep the cold air out. We shall see if it makes a difference.

 

[Tom Sestito]

I'm just north of you (Canada) and was previously jealous of how little snow you've got. Now I'm grateful that the storm that whalloped you, missed me!

 

[oldironfarmer]

I guess it's pretty common to feed extra on Thanksgiving and Christmas. They have no idea why but are happy about it.

Nice jig to straighten boards. I usually snap a chalk line and freehand cut, usually on the concave side, then joint it and don't cut the convex side until I'm cutting up for use since I may need 3 ft of 7-1/4" board and I have a board that tapers from 8" to 6" but have the 3' I need.

Looking forward to seeing your butcher block glueup.

 

[C_F]

The chickens are getting pretty big, when are they due to ship out?

 

[jblnut]

I'm just north of you (Canada) and was previously jealous of how little snow you've got. Now I'm grateful that the storm that whalloped you, missed me!

It rained like crazy 60 miles South of us and 50 miles North of us they got very little. To our East about 30 miles they got 19" !!!

I guess it's pretty common to feed extra on Thanksgiving and Christmas. They have no idea why but are happy about it.

Nice jig to straighten boards. I usually snap a chalk line and freehand cut, usually on the concave side, then joint it and don't cut the convex side until I'm cutting up for use since I may need 3 ft of 7-1/4" board and I have a board that tapers from 8" to 6" but have the 3' I need.

Looking forward to seeing your butcher block glueup.

I remember giving the calves and youngstock extra on Thanksgiving and Christmas when we still dairy farmed. It seems like the right thing to do I guess

We used to straighten boards out that same way but once Dad started doing this there was no going back !!!

I hope to get it to the point we can start gluing on Sunday.

The chickens are getting pretty big, when are they due to ship out?

It should be sometime on the 7th or 8th I'd imagine. Time flies when you're having fun !!!

 

[jblnut]

I took the back plexiglass window out of the skiddy this spring when it warmed up and promptly lost it. Time to make another one to fit as it's getting COLD out and I'm going to have more snow to plow tomorrow !!!


Look at how clean it is (for now) !!! I drilled holes larger than the self tapping screws I used to hold it in place before I put the screws in. The last one cracked a bit so hopefully the larger holes will allow a little flex


Well this picture didn't turn out for ****. The 7F outside air mixing with the 70F air inside is causing some serious fog in the barn !!!


On the surface it seems silly to blow all this heat outside but it's mostly body heat from the chickens. The heaters are running very little to maintain the temp required. They do need to run a little to keep the humidity under control but aren't running too much yet.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: nice work on the new window on your Bobcat (I think that's what it is). just curious if you and your chicken company wanted to change from raising chickens for their meat to laying eggs is that a entirely different set up?

Also I love the bus for a camper and did you really paint the entire bus with only a gallon of paint?

I recall you leasing a fair amount of land to grow some of your crops on. do you still lease land or did you purchase it after you had a few good years? also how many acres do you own cause you sure have quite a few big buildings?

here's to a great 2019.

 

[jblnut]

JB: nice work on the new window on your Bobcat (I think that's what it is). Just curious if you and your chicken company wanted to change from raising chickens for their meat to laying eggs is that a entirely different set up?

Also I love the bus for a camper and did you really paint the entire bus with only a gallon of paint?

I recall you leasing a fair amount of land to grow some of your crops on. Do you still lease land or did you purchase it after you had a few good years? Also how many acres do you own cause you sure have quite a few big buildings?

here's to a great 2019.

It's a Bobcat 763, the little brother to Andy's 773. There are three basic types of chicken barn. Laying, brooder, breeding and broiler. Well okay four I guess. They are all different dimensions with different equipment. This is and forever will be a broiler barn used to grow chickens for meat. The only eggs laid by chickens are used for hatching new laying hens or for the chicks that come into my barn. To my knowledge non are sold as eggs to be used for cooking.

Well I guess not only one gallon. I used an entire gallon of primer and the gallon of paint did all but a three foot stripe down the top center of the bus.

We still lease a fair bit of land to crop farm, well over half is leased. We live on a 60 acre patch up here. The buildings probably occupy 10 acres or so total I'd imagine.

 

[jblnut]

Yes WTForcast, I agree. It is cold outside this morning.


Just my luck one of the steer waterer heaters stopped working. Frozen up almost solid. Great.


I have a few new heater elements around because I was going to replace them both this summer when it was WARM out so I didn't have to do it when it was -20F outside. I guess I never got around to it


Dad and I took it all apart and I tried thawing the valve out with my work van. Although it worked very well to thaw it out it in the tailpipe it ended up being cracked and was junk. If only I knew someone that could melt it down and turn it into something useful


New heating element and water valve installed and working. It took an hour in this cold to get it done. Grrrrr. I really need to get better at doing preventative stuff like this when it's warm out !!!


All back together and happy again. The ice will melt in a few hours once the cattle splash the warm water around.

 

[stillp]

Shame you can't pipe the waste heat from the chickens to heat the steers' water!

Pete

 

[C_F]

Oooh man, you guys sure got a cold snap!

Using the warm exhaust to thaw a frozen valve, is a great idea! Myself, I would have probably taken the valve into the house to thaw...then gone back out to fix it in April or so.

 

[jblnut]

Shame you can't pipe the waste heat from the chickens to heat the steers' water!

Pete

Oh boy that'd be neat

Oooh man, you guys sure got a cold snap!

Using the warm exhaust to thaw a frozen valve, is a great idea! Myself, I would have probably taken the valve into the house to thaw...then gone back out to fix it in April or so.

It's already "up to" 5F so yay for that I guess. I knew it was going to get cold last night but it wasn't suppose to get much below -5F from what was forecast.

I had the van up there and running so I had all my tools and a warm place to duck into if I got cold. I had it on the defrost vent for a while but it wasn't working that well. What I really needed was about 20gal of hot water. That would have thawed everything out in a hurry. Didn't think of that until we were done somehow

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: yep isn't it weird that roof leaks, broken pipes, heaters seem to happen when the weather is it's worst and not on a 75 degree day? nice fix on the water heater and not sure how you keep your fingers from getting frostbite at those temps. OUCH!!

so I guess you give all your 45,000+- chickens a personal good bye in a few days and then another new bunch of trainees will show up soon after that?

here's to a great 2019.

 

[jblnut]

JBL: yep isn't it weird that roof leaks, broken pipes, heaters seem to happen when the weather is it's worst and not on a 75 degree day? nice fix on the water heater and not sure how you keep your fingers from getting frostbite at those temps. OUCH!!

so I guess you give all your 45,000+- chickens a personal good bye in a few days and then another new bunch of trainees will show up soon after that?

here's to a great 2019.

It never fails that when it's nasty out you need to fix something you've been putting off. Surprisingly my hands stay quite warm when I work outside even when it's -20F. I must have good blood flow. My Dad, however, wasn't as excited about helping so I let him hold the torch to thaw things out. A couple times he joked about starting his gloves on fire to warm up

I haven't gotten their official departure notice but they should be leaving in about a week. They're getting about to eating size

 

[jblnut]

It's quite rare that a plan I made a week ago works out to still work out. We started gluing the countertop together yesterday.

I modified a joint knife to make a better glue dispersal tool. A couple notches in the center to leave nice beads of glue should work well.

Once in a while an idea actually pans out to be a good one

One row at a time. Drop them down, spread glue and stand them back up.

12 pipe clamps and 7 Quick Grip clamps should do a dandy job of holding it all together

New Years day I hope to get the other chunk together, get both halves planed and glued together Saturday and maybe start staining on Sunday. We'll see. This one is not glued yet, just held together after we laid it out.

 

[oldironfarmer]

You have my address for scrap...

Our record low ever was -25F a few years ago. I didn't have my parka from Alaska projects.

Countertop is looking good. I use plastic Bondo spreaders for spreading glue, your knife idea looks good.

 

[jblnut]

You have my address for scrap...

Our record low ever was -25F a few years ago. I didn't have my parka from Alaska projects.

Countertop is looking good. I use plastic Bondo spreaders for spreading glue, your knife idea looks good.

After a few days of -20F when it warms up to 10F I'll work outside in a sweatshirt and it seems like a heatwave. -25F and we usually put gloves on and make sure our jackets are zipped and trudge on with the day

Bondo spreaders are a great idea !! This was a use what we had deal and now that we have them I'm sure I'll forget all about the Bondo spreaders until I lose this one

 

[jblnut]

The feed guys were running behind because of the snow storm and slippery roads and arrived by me 18hrs behind schedule. I was down to 2 ton of feed on hand or enough for about 5-6hrs. I don't like to go with less than a day on hand until the very end so I was happy to see them here !!!

-17F here again this morning. It's hard to count all the chickens when it's foggy in the barn

The guys that make the Poultry Hawks put out a neat little accessory and sent me one to try.

It's the "Rail Brush" and is suppose to keep the chicken dust off the top of the rail. It's actually a really good idea and should prolong the life of the rail.

The steers get rather frosty when it's colder than -10F. They don't seem to mind and go about their day growing delicious steak like they don't have a care in the world.

 

[Bob Heine]

-17F here again this morning. It's hard to count all the chickens when it's foggy in the barn

Is it me or is Henrietta looking a little pale?

 

[Toothaker]

Is it me or is Henrietta looking a little pale?

(note to self: Don't take a swig of Dr. Pepper right before reading one of Bob's posts)

 

[jeepxj]

any way to angle the rail brush for a more snow plow effect?

 

[jblnut]

Is it me or is Henrietta looking a little pale?

She's been in a fowl mood lately on account of the artic air blasting her in the face every 5 minutes so it's to be expected. On top of that I think word is spreading through the flock that they will all be going on "vacation" this coming Sunday evening and poor Henrietta doesn't know what the cluck to think !!

(note to self: Don't take a swig of Dr. Pepper right before reading one of Bob's posts)

You shouldn't be drinking Dr. Pepper straight anyway. That is some pretty strong stuff. I like to dilute it with some Captain Morgan. I've tried but I just can't drink it without being diluted

any way to angle the rail brush for a more snow plow effect?

The bristles are placed as such that that is exactly the idea they were going for !!

It would seem as if I need to adjust it a bit so it rides flat ....

 

[68400BIRD]

You shouldn't be drinking Dr. Pepper straight anyway. That is some pretty strong stuff. I like to dilute it with some Captain Morgan. I've tried but I just can't drink it without being diluted

You should both know that drink is called a Dr. Morgan. Quite tasty!!
It seems we did not get the heavy snow or the cold temps that you got.

 

[jblnut]

You should both know that drink is called a Dr. Morgan. Quite tasty!!

It seems we did not get the heavy snow or the cold temps that you got.

Quite tasty is quite correct. Morgan is the 24th unique flavor they forgot to add in during the bottling process

The weather could always be worse I guess. A bit North and a bunch East they got 19"

The cold blowing snowy mess is creating some issues we'll have to deal with sometime soon I'd imagine. I don't think these little roofs were designed to hold this kind of weight

 

[jeepxj]

ahhh yes. they thought of a snow plow. cool.

 

[Bob Heine]

She's been in a fowl mood lately on account of the artic air blasting her in the face every 5 minutes so it's to be expected. On top of that I think word is spreading through the flock that they will all be going on "vacation" this coming Sunday evening and poor Henrietta doesn't know what the cluck to think !!

JBLnut, you could truthfully tell them they are going to a warmer place on their "vacation". It should put a smile on their faces but they never let their emotions show, at least to me. It's a tough crowd for a Feeble Brother.

I also noticed the white stuff on your roof. Down here the DEA would be knocking on my door if my roof looked like that.

 

[njhoudini]

I modified a joint knife to make a better glue dispersal tool. A couple notches in the center to leave nice beads of glue should work well.

Nice DIY tool! I've read some woodworkers suggest keeping the fake credit cards you receive in the mail for spreading things. Since you were probably going to throw it away anyway, you can use it to do something useful before it ends up in the landfill.

 

[Toothaker]

Nice DIY tool! I've read some woodworkers suggest keeping the fake credit cards you receive in the mail for spreading things. Since you were probably going to throw it away anyway, you can use it to do something useful before it ends up in the landfill.

I was wondering what to do with all those AARP membership cards I keep getting in the mail. For some reason, they are confusing me with an old guy!

 

[jblnut]

ahhh yes. they thought of a snow plow. cool.

These guys are pretty on the ball with lots of things. There have been a few changes to the rail system to make it easier to install as well as having a MUCH nicer remote control system now as well.

JBLnut, you could truthfully tell them they are going to a warmer place on their "vacation". It should put a smile on their faces but they never let their emotions show, at least to me. It's a tough crowd for a Feeble Brother.

I also noticed the white stuff on your roof. Down here the DEA would be knocking on my door if my roof looked like that.

Yesterday I told them they would be getting a hot oil tan and they didn't seem to care. I think they figured it out and were ignoring me.

Oh boy, you really think it'd take that much white stuff on the roof to make the DEA notice

Nice DIY tool! I've read some woodworkers suggest keeping the fake credit cards you receive in the mail for spreading things. Since you were probably going to throw it away anyway, you can use it to do something useful before it ends up in the landfill.

The credit card idea is a good one. I get plenty of those dumb things in the mail.

I was wondering what to do with all those AARP membership cards I keep getting in the mail. For some reason, they are confusing me with an old guy!

We purchased this place from an older couple (he is 94 and she is 92) and we get all sorts of interesting mail. A few days back we got a coupon for a free pack of Depends when you subscribe to an auto reorder monthly deal. I gave it to a co-worker who has gotten sensitive about his hair going grey

 

[Bob Heine]

Oh boy, you really think it'd take that much white stuff on the roof to make the DEA notice

We're talking South Florida. DEA won't bother if it's less than a ton.

 

[Toothaker]

.
.
.
The credit card idea is a good one. I get plenty of those dumb things in the mail.

We purchased this place from an older couple (he is 94 and she is 92) and we get all sorts of interesting mail. A few days back we got a coupon for a free pack of Depends when you subscribe to an auto reorder monthly deal. I gave it to a co-worker who has gotten sensitive about his hair going grey

AAAAhahaha! That's funny and cruel at the same time.

A place I used to work at made a big deal about turning 50. Whenever somebody turned 50 they got a walker, cane, black decorations at their desk and things like gift cards for Depends. Somehow they missed "celebrating" my 50.

AARP started sending me fliers in the mail before I turned 50, which means that I've been getting them for around 10 years now. But I'm one of the kids! I'm not that old!

 

[Toothaker]

The bristles are placed as such that that is exactly the idea they were going for !!

Funny, the prior pictures didn't seem to show that angle. Our eyes are so much better than cameras.

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: funny stuff for sure going on here on your thread while you are freezing your *** off. I have a question about your method of your butcher block since you are making one quite a bit longer than your boards. what is your system or method of putting the board joints to offset them? i'm guessing you cut some short or maybe just in half so the joints can be dispersed?

funny you guys mention 50 being old cause we were hoping to get SENIOR DISCOUNTS when we turned 50 and when we turned 49 they raised the age to 55. then as we neared 55 they raised the age to 60 and now that i'll be 63 at the end of the month i think the age to get SENIOR DISCOUNT around here is 65. i guess if they keep moving up the age i'll never actually be a Senior cause I've always felt like i was 25 hence my wife's BDay gift to me a couple years ago.

make sure to pet all the chickens this week before they head to the tanning booths.

 

[jblnut]

We're talking South Florida. DEA won't bother if it's less than a ton.

AAAAhahaha! That's funny and cruel at the same time.

A place I used to work at made a big deal about turning 50. Whenever somebody turned 50 they got a walker, cane, black decorations at their desk and things like gift cards for Depends. Somehow they missed "celebrating" my 50.

AARP started sending me fliers in the mail before I turned 50, which means that I've been getting them for around 10 years now. But I'm one of the kids! I'm not that old!

You're as old as you feel. Some days I feel how I'd imagine an 80 yr old feels. Some moments I know I feel 9 again ... like when I fart and giggle

Funny, the prior pictures didn't seem to show that angle. Our eyes are so much better than cameras.

Yeah, it may have been that the camera guy doesn't know how to take pictures .....

JBL: funny stuff for sure going on here on your thread while you are freezing your *** off. I have a question about your method of your butcher block since you are making one quite a bit longer than your boards. what is your system or method of putting the board joints to offset them? i'm guessing you cut some short or maybe just in half so the joints can be dispersed?

funny you guys mention 50 being old cause we were hoping to get SENIOR DISCOUNTS when we turned 50 and when we turned 49 they raised the age to 55. then as we neared 55 they raised the age to 60 and now that i'll be 63 at the end of the month i think the age to get SENIOR DISCOUNT around here is 65. i guess if they keep moving up the age i'll never actually be a Senior cause I've always felt like i was 25 hence my wife's BDay gift to me a couple years ago.

make sure to pet all the chickens this week before they head to the tanning booths.

Your butcher block questions will be answered in due time ....

My Dad says the same stuff about senior discounts. They keep ratcheting up the age making him ineligible every few years

The chicken transporter team arrives at 4:30PM on Sunday so I'll say my goodbyes as I walk the barn the last time around 1PM. They'll soon be in a grocery store near you

 

[cvairwerks]

AARP started sending me fliers in the mail before I turned 50, which means that I've been getting them for around 10 years now. But I'm one of the kids! I'm not that old!

I get enough trash from AARP every year to fill a medium trash can, They've been sending me that stuff since before I even turned 40! I used to cut my name and address and anything that would identify me off it all and stuff it back in the reply envelope and send it back. After several years of that , I got tired of the time it took, and I just toss it in the shredder without opening it now.

 

[jblnut]

I get enough trash from AARP every year to fill a medium trash can, They've been sending me that stuff since before I even turned 40! I used to cut my name and address and anything that would identify me off it all and stuff it back in the reply envelope and send it back. After several years of that , I got tired of the time it took, and I just toss it in the shredder without opening it now.

I still fill those postage paid envelops up as full as I can and send them back. I always leave my name on the stuff, maybe they'll take the hint to stop sending it one day

 

[jblnut]

Dad got the smaller piece of counter top glued together on Wednesday so they were both done and ready to plane last night. We ran them each through as few times as possible to even them out and get rid of as much glue as possible.

Big piece first pass through ...

Small piece first pass through ...

Last pass on the bigger piece. At 13' long it really fills up dads shop !!

All set up and ready for the last glue pass.

Drives, this is how I staggered the joints. There isn't really any science behind it other than to try to keep them from getting too close to each other. We'd lay out the long pieces and cut shorter pieces in to fill in the rest of that layer. I think only one layer has two seams, all the others we were able to do with only one seam.

There were a few holes as well as a few seams that needed to be filled so we mixed up some putty. It works better to use dust from the sander but we didn't have any so we tried cuttings from the chop saw this time. A little glue and a lot of shavings and we have a color matching wood putty

One particular goofy spot needed A LOT of putty

All glued together !! Hopefully Sunday we can get it cut to fit and I can bring it home to stain/varnish it.

"Are the clamps all tight enough?" "Gee I think so, they're bowing."

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: IMPRESSIVE and quite a team effort there. thanks for showing the cuts that are almost not seen with my old eyes and nice solution to WOOD PUTTY. speaking of wood putty does it stay in the holes after going thru the planer or do you putty as the last step before staining, painting or varnishing?

I bet your bride will love it as i'm thinking you will too in your LITTLE CAMPER.

cheers and thanks for the chicken!!

I don't eat much meat anymore, but it's hard to make CHICKEN A LA KING without your chickens.

keep up the good work and hope some heat blows your way. it was over 50 degrees here in Paradise today and I think we are close to the same lattitude (or is that longitude) as you are. it was pretty windy so maybe we were getting a little heat from DOWN UNDER cause those members seem to be over 100 degrees now.

 

[stillp]

I still fill those postage paid envelops up as full as I can and send them back. I always leave my name on the stuff, maybe they'll take the hint to stop sending it one day

I do that as well, but I like to mix them up a bit - put the flyer from Company A in the envelope for Company B, and so on.

Pete

 

[jblnut]

JBL: IMPRESSIVE and quite a team effort there. thanks for showing the cuts that are almost not seen with my old eyes and nice solution to WOOD PUTTY. speaking of wood putty does it stay in the holes after going thru the planer or do you putty as the last step before staining, painting or varnishing?

I bet your bride will love it as i'm thinking you will too in your LITTLE CAMPER.

cheers and thanks for the chicken!!

I don't eat much meat anymore, but it's hard to make CHICKEN A LA KING without your chickens.

keep up the good work and hope some heat blows your way. it was over 50 degrees here in Paradise today and I think we are close to the same latitude (or is that longitude) as you are. it was pretty windy so maybe we were getting a little heat from DOWN UNDER cause those members seem to be over 100 degrees now.

It's good that the seams are hard to see, that means we did it properly

The putty is put on after the wood is planed. It'll be let to dry for a few days and then we'll hit it with progressive finer sandpaper until it's smooth as a babies bottom !!

My bride likes the counter tops but gives me an eye-rolling look every time she thinks about that nice piece of wood going into a school bus

A few people have asked if I still like to eat chicken after tending for them all the time and I always reply, "More now than ever!" It's good to see where your food comes from and I am proud to be raising and eating these chickens !!

It's suppose to be 35F or so here today which will be really nice for cleaning out the barn. I can't imagine doing it with it's -20F but I'm sure it'll happen one day ...

I do that as well, but I like to mix them up a bit - put the flyer from Company A in the envelope for Company B, and so on.

Pete

That is a great idea !! I usually send expired coupons along as well. I once cut and send a piece of plate steel in an envelope for a company I called and told to stop sending their quite inappropriate advertising to me. The envelops are postage paid on the way back so if it weighs a pound they have to pay for it. I stopped getting mail from them after that