# My task today



## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

I never liked our old chicken coop, the chickens didn't like it either. Our new barn isn't built yet but the chickens all sleep on our terraces so there was nothing stopping me from tearing down the old coop, except fear of injury (the roof was massively over-engineered and weighed several hundred kilos). It took me about two and a half hours, but I managed to flatten it without injuring myself, anyone else or any of our nearby banana plants, or breaking the outflow pipe from our septic tank.










There's still plenty of work to do, but none of it can be considered difficult or dangerous.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It looks like it was raining again. Did you get to take the coop down before it started or after? 

I don't blame them, it looked like it was probably pretty small. 

And guess what? You get to teach them they should be sleeping in their new palace.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

It was big enough at about 7’ x 7’ x 7’, but our matriarch lost most of her first brood there to disease. I wasn’t around when it was built and it had several major design flaws. I’m glad it’s gone and hope I can use some of the wood in the nesting areas of our future barn.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

robin416 said:


> It looks like it was raining again. Did you get to take the coop down before it started or after?.


During. It's about the only way I can work during the day. I get wet anyway, but at least it's with rain not sweat.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't know why but it seems on this side of the screen you have more birds than you might actually have. 

That makes sense, doing that kind of heavy work in the heat.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

We have too many birds already. We took a hen to the butcher yesterday but we still have a cockerel, two hens, three pullets and a wannabe cockerel, seven 2-month-old chicks and three 3-week-old chicks.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Uh huh. And you're building the new palace because you're going to have less birds? 

That's still less than I thought you had but it's still a substantial number. 

I don't anything to happen to the three pullets and their brother. The pics of those four are priceless.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

The brother will get the chop when he’s big enough. He just hasn’t put on any weight for a couple of weeks. No.4 is also slated for the chop once she’s done laying her first clutch. It’s difficult not to get sentimental about this - I love all our birds - but we have to be realistic about why we keep chickens.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

robin416 said:


> Uh huh. And you're building the new palace because you're going to have less birds


I'm worried we will have a lot more, even with my wife's rule that we must limit each clutch to five eggs.

It's looking like batch 3 is five pullets, two cockerels. We have to choose two pullets from that batch.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's how the numbers increase, keep a few out of each clutch. 

I can't eat what I raise so I struggle with the necessity for others. But I do understand.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

I also understand your reluctance. I couldn’t watch our hen getting slaughtered, even though I usually make sure I watch so I’m under no illusions where our meat comes from.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

(And also to double check that the butcher doesn’t substitute the bird I picked out for one that died of natural causes earlier in the day.)


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

You are going to be very close to a smaller type commercial operation! Are you planning to process birds yourselves in the future?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Great pics, thanks for keeping us updated!


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

Nope. I can't either. Not now anyway. I doubt someday, either, but I won't say it's impossible either.... we are a hunting family, too, after all. And farming- so you'd think I'd be used to it. Nope. Still cried when we slaughtered pigs, still closed my eyes to shoot the stupidbird harassing my chickens for days.... I'm too soft.  
However. I believe if I lived in an environment similar to you, [mention]Biring [/mention] , I might have a bit of an easier time than I do now. It makes more sense where you are to me.  Idk. I'm a softie, what can I say??


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> You are going to be very close to a smaller type commercial operation! Are you planning to process birds yourselves in the future?


Yes. The only thing stopping me is the local cultural prohibition on husbands of pregnant wives processing their own poultry.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Biring said:


> Yes. The only thing stopping me is the local cultural prohibition on husbands of pregnant wives processing their own poultry.


It is so interesting to me how the chickens are built into the local culture. You wonder about the historical origins of all the traditions and ritual.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

I imagine it’s something like John killed a chicken just before his daughter was delivered and she was born with a cleft palate. Therefore it’s a bad idea to kill your own chickens before your baby is born.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

That’s about the level of understanding about cause and effect here. “Granny’s granny bathed in rainwater and went on to develop osteoporosis in her 90s, therefore bathing in rainwater is bad for you.”


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You know, being in a western culture it is hard to wrap your head around those old, archaic beliefs. 

But they exist here. I couldn't believe the nuttiness involving chicken beliefs and how you care for them when I got into raising them.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Robin makes an excellent point! I'm sure a lot of Western beliefs and rituals must appear pretty nutty!


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