What did you do today 2025

We've started raising chickens. Since I went on a carnivore diet, my veggie garden doesn't have the same appeal as it did in the past. I am converting half of it to an enclosed chicken coop with hen house. Our dogs have passed on, and we are not wanting to commit to another as we do want to be a little more footloose with travel. Chickens are easy to raise, provide meat and eggs, and don't have the same human contact as pets. Starting with 8 chickens, 4 Andalusian and 4 Starlight Green Eggers. They are about 3 weeks old now.
I did some research on my expenses to do this; overhead costs for construction and equipment for the care and feeding of the birds. To buy a coop would be cost prohibitive here in my area, expect to pay minimum $500 to $800 for their house, another $200 for fencing and feeders. After considering the hen house, I thought to myself, what looks like a hen house, but doesn't cost as much? A shed? Then it hit me; a children's plastic play house! I picked one up on Facebook Marketplace for $40, measures 4' x 6', and put it in place.
The chickens will love it. Ha!
chickenCoop1.jpg

ChickenCoop2.jpg

Sources tell me that 8 hens need 2 nesting boxes. The green shutters will access the boxes and that wall of the hen house will be part of their coop/pen area so I don't have to enter to gather the daily eggs. I found plastic nesting boxes, built a small ladder to them from an above-ground swimming pool ladder and learned that 1.5" diameter bamboo makes for great roosting bars. (seems chicken poop doesn't adhere like it does with wood and grippier than PVC pipe.)
Feeders are repurposed 5-gallon plastic buckets with special attachments made specific for feeding and watering chickens. The waterer is tied in to the drip irrigation for the rest of the garden and the feeder has a 4" PVC chute to keep that bucket filled. From my research, the chickens will consume about 2 pounds of food a day. A 5-gallon bucket holds 25 pounds of food, making it about 12 days max between feedings. Plenty of time for us to take trips which rarely last more than 7 days. Local neighbors already are asking about eggs, so I'm sure we'll have no problem with finding someone to gather if we are out of town a couple nights.
 
Closet_Gamer said:
Yesterday we had a once-in-a-lifetime experience:

Swam with wild sea lions. Super curious and gentle animals. When floating on your back, they even came up and give playful nips at our feet. Unreal.
Click to expand...
Way cool but not sure I'd like the nipping part. :blink:
 
skipro33 said:
We've started raising chickens. Since I went on a carnivore diet, my veggie garden doesn't have the same appeal as it did in the past. I am converting half of it to an enclosed chicken coop with hen house. Our dogs have passed on, and we are not wanting to commit to another as we do want to be a little more footloose with travel. Chickens are easy to raise, provide meat and eggs, and don't have the same human contact as pets. Starting with 8 chickens, 4 Andalusian and 4 Starlight Green Eggers. They are about 3 weeks old now.
I did some research on my expenses to do this; overhead costs for construction and equipment for the care and feeding of the birds. To buy a coop would be cost prohibitive here in my area, expect to pay minimum $500 to $800 for their house, another $200 for fencing and feeders. After considering the hen house, I thought to myself, what looks like a hen house, but doesn't cost as much? A shed? Then it hit me; a children's plastic play house! I picked one up on Facebook Marketplace for $40, measures 4' x 6', and put it in place.
The chickens will love it. Ha!
View attachment 54759

View attachment 54760

Sources tell me that 8 hens need 2 nesting boxes. The green shutters will access the boxes and that wall of the hen house will be part of their coop/pen area so I don't have to enter to gather the daily eggs. I found plastic nesting boxes, built a small ladder to them from an above-ground swimming pool ladder and learned that 1.5" diameter bamboo makes for great roosting bars. (seems chicken poop doesn't adhere like it does with wood and grippier than PVC pipe.)
Feeders are repurposed 5-gallon plastic buckets with special attachments made specific for feeding and watering chickens. The waterer is tied in to the drip irrigation for the rest of the garden and the feeder has a 4" PVC chute to keep that bucket filled. From my research, the chickens will consume about 2 pounds of food a day. A 5-gallon bucket holds 25 pounds of food, making it about 12 days max between feedings. Plenty of time for us to take trips which rarely last more than 7 days. Local neighbors already are asking about eggs, so I'm sure we'll have no problem with finding someone to gather if we are out of town a couple nights.
Click to expand...
Nice, Ski! You will have a blast!

We had Rhode Island Reds when we lived in California on our small horse ranch. My 14 year old daughter raised them back then! Great stuff!
 
skipro33 said:
.........I did some research on my expenses to do this; overhead costs for construction and equipment for the care and feeding of the birds. To buy a coop would be cost prohibitive here in my area, expect to pay minimum $500 to $800 for their house, another $200 for fencing and feeders. After considering the hen house, I thought to myself, what looks like a hen house, but doesn't cost as much? A shed? Then it hit me; a children's plastic play house! I picked one up on Facebook Marketplace for $40, measures 4' x 6', and put it in place.
The chickens will love it. Ha!
Click to expand...
Great thinking to use the children's playhouse. Saved a bunch of money and the design works great to access the eggs.
 
skipro33 said:
We've started raising chickens. Since I went on a carnivore diet, my veggie garden doesn't have the same appeal as it did in the past. I am converting half of it to an enclosed chicken coop with hen house. Our dogs have passed on, and we are not wanting to commit to another as we do want to be a little more footloose with travel. Chickens are easy to raise, provide meat and eggs, and don't have the same human contact as pets. Starting with 8 chickens, 4 Andalusian and 4 Starlight Green Eggers. They are about 3 weeks old now.
I did some research on my expenses to do this; overhead costs for construction and equipment for the care and feeding of the birds. To buy a coop would be cost prohibitive here in my area, expect to pay minimum $500 to $800 for their house, another $200 for fencing and feeders. After considering the hen house, I thought to myself, what looks like a hen house, but doesn't cost as much? A shed? Then it hit me; a children's plastic play house! I picked one up on Facebook Marketplace for $40, measures 4' x 6', and put it in place.
The chickens will love it. Ha!
View attachment 54759

View attachment 54760

Sources tell me that 8 hens need 2 nesting boxes. The green shutters will access the boxes and that wall of the hen house will be part of their coop/pen area so I don't have to enter to gather the daily eggs. I found plastic nesting boxes, built a small ladder to them from an above-ground swimming pool ladder and learned that 1.5" diameter bamboo makes for great roosting bars. (seems chicken poop doesn't adhere like it does with wood and grippier than PVC pipe.)
Feeders are repurposed 5-gallon plastic buckets with special attachments made specific for feeding and watering chickens. The waterer is tied in to the drip irrigation for the rest of the garden and the feeder has a 4" PVC chute to keep that bucket filled. From my research, the chickens will consume about 2 pounds of food a day. A 5-gallon bucket holds 25 pounds of food, making it about 12 days max between feedings. Plenty of time for us to take trips which rarely last more than 7 days. Local neighbors already are asking about eggs, so I'm sure we'll have no problem with finding someone to gather if we are out of town a couple nights.
Click to expand...
That's an amazing story. Thanks for sharing. Other chickens in your neighborhood will be jealous!

Our whole Island is overrun with feral chickens. From time to time the powers that be "threaten" to deal with the problem. I wonder why they can't figure a way to corral the birds and turn the problem into a solution to the high cost of eggs.

I'm sure there are some local subsistence farmers who harvest eggs and or meat, but, in general, "our" chickens are just a nuisance.
 
Koolau said:
Way cool but not sure I'd like the nipping part. :blink:
Click to expand...
If they hadn’t told us it might happen, I would have been freaked out about it. But expecting it just made it really cool.

This particular sea lion kept coming closer and then backing off. Finally he got up courage and came all the way to my feet. He opened his mouth quite wide and sort of pushed on my foot with his nose and teeth, then jumped away.

So cool. That’s a big animal though. You could feel the weight behind his nudge more than I expected.
 
The other day a box was delivered containing 78 packs of soup mix that we never ordered. There was a shipping notice and the label had a contact and phone, so I called and left a message. They called back the next day, and after some back and forth they figured out they had shipped to the wrong address. They had my address in their system because I bought from them once around 15 years ago and someone messed up incurring a customer number.

I offered to drop the box off at the shipper of their choice if they sent me a new shipping label. They opted for a UPS pickup, which meant the box sat outside my front door for 2 days. It wasn’t hot but it did rain.
 
I went cross country skiing. It's been a full on blizzard with howling winds, so I stuck to the trees, which was lovely. Unfortunately, the first and last 6-8 minutes between the Nordic center parking lot and the woods was brutal.
 
Closet_Gamer said:
If they hadn’t told us it might happen, I would have been freaked out about it. But expecting it just made it really cool.

This particular sea lion kept coming closer and then backing off. Finally he got up courage and came all the way to my feet. He opened his mouth quite wide and sort of pushed on my foot with his nose and teeth, then jumped away.

So cool. That’s a big animal though. You could feel the weight behind his nudge more than I expected.
Click to expand...
He probably didn't like the smell/feel of your foot so he went off to look for other food.
 
Sold my Soul today.

My Kia Soul. Bought a newer Sportage a couple weeks ago, and did an easy private party cash sale today. I got much more than I would have trading it in, and the buyer got a nice deal too.
 
I always love to read how everyone spends their day. Thanks
 
MC Rider said:
Sold my Soul today.

My Kia Soul. Bought a newer Sportage a couple weeks ago, and did an easy private party cash sale today. I got much more than I would have trading it in, and the buyer got a nice deal too.
Click to expand...
Yes. Eliminate the middle man. Good on you!
 
The buyer asked if I had Zelle or some other cash app?
No, I'll take cash. After counting it and recounting it and going to the bank to deposit it, I can see why some folks like those. I'm no Luddite, but I don't know much about those things or trust them. Gimme those good old Benjamins. :)
 
We've been sitting on a bunch of unwanted and scrap gold and silver for quite a while. When I saw the price of gold hit $3,000 the other day, I decided it was time to unload it. I've also been actively trying to rid our home office of clutter and the large envelope with all of the gold was sucking up space in my desk drawer.

We headed over to our trusted local jeweler. He checked everything, gave back the items that were fake/worthless, told me which items I was better off selling on ebay, recommended we keep a couple of diamonds to reset at some point, and bought everything else. We walked out with a check for $3,261. Not a bad day of non-work. Money in our pockets and more space in my drawer. Dollars are fungible but we're considering it part of our new kitchen fund. That should cover the oven and microwave with some left over.
 
Worked my fun retiree job today. Almost done with a task that I’ve been working on for a couple weeks.

Got home and jumped on my gravel bike for daily workout. Gravel race season is coming up fast and getting both bike and body back in shape.
 
My wife had a scheduled day off for an appointment that got cancelled. This fit nicely with getting my truck from a friend's house down on the Columbia river. He had been working on it for a month off and on, replacing worn front end parts and some other odds and ends, and giving it a good servicing.
I had hauled our entire house, piece by piece with it and it needed the love.
This is his view out the front yard. The downstream ship channel is close.

It was a nice day with my wife. We bought the dogs along.
We finished the day meeting friends for dinner at Talking Cedar Restaurant, brewery and distillery.
Talking Cedar | Restaurant, Brewery, Distillery | Grand Mound, WA
 
Errands day--finished the laundry from our trip, got lab work done, heading to Penzey's Spices to get some fun spices, then to a nursery to buy some Daphne bushes, last ones died a few years ago after heavy snow and ice.
 
At the insistence of DW I moved the snow blower out of the garage and partially prepped it for off season storage, by changing the engine oil and draining the fuel system (tank fuel lines, and carburetor bowl). There's still a lot of end-of-season work to be done of oiling and greasing the internals, but those I'll do later in 20-minute increments to minimize the back pain.

Normally I prefer to wait until income tax day (April 15) to put it away to be sure there will be no more snow. I told DW that "If we get two feet of snow in two weeks because of this it is ALL YOUR FAULT!"
 
Put a turn signals and brake light kit on my golf cart today. Already had headlight and taillights, so now it's a little safer with brake lights and turn signals. The turn signal kit also had a horn included, so now have one of those as well.
 
Such a busy day! Took light rail to/from ophthalmologist because of traffic and parking fees, got fresnel lens stick-ons on my glasses, drove to dentist to install the crown on the implant post, then to broker to fill out forms since DM resigned as trustee, and off to Costco in the evening. I got quite the headache since my eyes are not used to the Fresnel lenses!
 
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