Have you tried the aqua miser with chicks at 2 to 3 days old, and if so, how good did it work? I don't know how low it will regulate the temperature, but have you tried a digital thermostat for an incubator to turn the crock pot warmers on & off.

I like your thermostat idea! We haven't tried the avian aqua miser on chicks that young, but one of our customers used it with 3 week old chicks and said that he should have tried it much younger.

I really want to do this as well. We are trying to become just like you guys. My chickens come in the mail next week! 25 and we are building a coop this weekend. I also bought some bee hives at an auction last weekend but am not sure I can use the frames or if I need to by new ones. Trying to clean them today but it is not going so well! But worms!!! If i could afford them I would buy some. Money is tight here as well with three kids and trying to become more self sustaining. Our seedlings are getting spindly as well this year. Hey have you guys ever used a soil blocker? I think this would be an awesome way to get seeds started. I am excited to have found your site. I look forward to learning more from you and becoming friends. Thanks and have a blessed day! Oh, so they worms? Then need to live in the house with us? hehe I guess I could live with that.

We got our worms for free from a friend. Once they get going, you tend to have enough to give a start to someone --- you might ask your friends with worm boxes if anyone has a start for you. (Ours haven't gotten that numerous yet, unfortunately.)

You will need to keep it in a place above 50 degrees F, but in the summer that can be outside in the shade. (Not in the sun!)

I am new to your blog thing (I can't even tell you how I stumbled across it!) and I have to tell you that it's wonderful! I haven't gotten far enough to find out where you are for sure, but someday I'll get there. It's so interesting to hear about all those things that I sometimes see and sometimes miss. I do have a one year old son, you know! Anyhow, thanks and I hope that I can get signed up for getting this sent to my email.

Sarah Stieren aryyana@hotmail.com

I'm glad to meet you, Sarah! You'll need to click on the RSS button at the top of our main page to subscribe to our blog. I'm not sure if there's a way to get it through email, but you will be able to see it in your RSS reader.

hey anna, where are your post planning a forest garden 1, 2 and 3. i can only read 4 and 5. i am doing a design for school...

If you type in "forest garden" in the search box, they'll all come up. I'd love to hear more about your project!

I am just starting to garden in a new area and the soil is drying out way to fast, 12 hours. I have killed more than 1/2 of what I have planted. Some things are doing good in this but others just die, some in less than a day. I do have a compost pile and it is cooking down but is'nt ready yet, is there something else cheep (we live on a fixed income) I can do to help hold the moistor in the soil? I am in zone 8b in southern alabama, it is in the high 80s low 90s daily now.

I hope I can find my way back to get your responce,

This is such a good question, I'm going to turn it into a post. Stay tuned for tomorrow morning's answer!

Do you know what the breed of those brown hens in the Fowl Visions Automatic Feeder part are?

My guess would be old Golden Comets.

Appears to be New Hampshire Reds.

Sorry about that, Fowl Visions

That looks pretty good too. If you haven't seen it, you might check out http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/chickens/, which has photos of a lot of different chicken breeds.

enjoyed reading about your bees my husband really wants them but i'm hesitant because i have small kids and don't want bites its sounds pretty uncomplicated thanks again j

Our honeybees are surprisingly tame --- as long as your kids don't open up the hives, you'd probably be fine. You should figure on about an hour of work a week to keep them happy. I highly recommend them!

I am just getting started with chickens. I found your site and love it. I got the aqua miser, and love it, too! I just finished a chicken tractor, and they seem content in it. My chickens are 5-6 weeks old. I have 4 barred plymouth rock (purchased as hens), 2 ameracaunas (ap?), 1 new hampshire red (I think), and 1 non-identified (probably ameracauna). I heard a faint cock-a-doodle-do this morning, and was fortunate enough to be able to watch and find out which one was making that noise. Would hens ever make that noise? I cannot have a rooster in my area. I have to get rid of any roosters before they let out a loud cock-a-doodle-do, or my neighbors will freak! Is there a better way to tell which is a rooster before they let out a loud crow?

I'm so glad the Avian Aqua Miser is working out for you! I had an accidental rooster last year in some chicks I bought as all female. I didn't realize it until he crowed, just like you said. But once I knew he was a rooster, it was so obvious. He was considerably bigger than his sisters and had a bigger comb. Check out the photo at http://waldeneffect.org/blog/Rooster_in_Disguise/ --- it makes it pretty clear what to look for in a young rooster. Hope that helps!

Just saw your watering system today. Two weeks ago when I bought baby chicks I got a pet rodent watering hanging bottle. The chicks don't even know how to drink out of a dish(which was always a catastrophy of spilled water and wet bedding. Will really consider this for our layers.

Chickens seem to need the smaller nipples to really be able to drink. It took Mark a lot of experimentation to get it right! We're still thrilled by the waterers sitting in our tractors.

It's a way of life here. I don't get the part about lifting 50 pounds over your shoulder hell here you better be able to lift 100 pounds over your shoulder or you might be considered a sissy. We chop wood by hand...not a cord or two try 10 a year. Who rents anything we do "all" of our work by hand. Where do you live? Florida? Ca? Boston? You don't know "hard work" until you have been lobstering for a couple of seasons, this includes WINTER. I am a female at age 50 that puts the younger ladies to shame. And a few men too. I think your article is all wrong. I really don't think you would do so well here in Maine. We are getting on in age and granted I cannot lift more than 100 pounds anymore but be damned if 50 pounds is anything. It's nothing.

I guess we're all sissies down here in southwest Virginia, then. Oh well --- as long as we're having fun!