Live. Love. Chickens.

I've been asked a few times about the breeds of chickens I've picked out and why I selected them, so I thought I'd do a few posts about the breeds I own and a little about them. The first up is my Barred Plymouth Rock, Dolly. I knew that I wanted larger breeds so that they would be less likely to fly over a fence and they'd be harder to hurt with two rambunctious kids around. The average weight for this breed is around 7 pounds for a hen. They are also known to be docile birds, which was a big plus for having them around my family on a daily basis. Barred Plymouth Rocks are also non-broody, which means they are not likely to try and hatch their eggs (sitting on them for a long period of time). Since we don't own roosters, I don't want my girls getting depressed that they aren't having any babies hatch. I really have no idea if they get depressed, but in my mind it makes sense. :) We also wanted chickens that lay lots of eggs. I've heard mixed reviews ...

  - written by Aaron Note: This project requires a basic level of electrical wiring ability.  Do not let your Ego get the better of you when trying to tackle this or any other project.  If you do not posses the required skill set to safely complete this project seek out the help of someone who does. Shortly after my wife decided that we were going to raise baby chicks the second thing I did after building the chicken coop was to put together a temperature controller for the brooder.  After reading on countless forums and chapters in various books about altering the height or wattage of a light to maintain specific temperatures in the brooder I knew two things 1. There has to be a better way and 2. If left solely up to me to take care of them for a day I would probably change something every five minutes and end up killing them. So calling upon my experience building temperature controllers for my home brewery I made a small controller that I co...