A Week in Review

Being it is the New Year, and people usually do the Year in Review, and being that my memory isn't very good, I decided to only write about the last week. And What a week it was. 

Monday: After so many sick days, and then Christmas I was finally able to get out to the chicken houses over the week end and blow out all the dust and spider webs. I assumed I had at least a week before the chickens come so I made a nice plan for the week. Monday I wanted to get a good start on cleaning the fans. They get covered with dust and it makes them less efficient. To clean them I have to take an old broom and brush all the dirt off of each one. It takes forever, and is not my favorite job, but it they really need it. So, I spent all day cleaning them and only got through a couple of houses. (Each house has 5 smaller side fans and 8 giant fans at the back.) Late in the afternoon I decided to call my service man to see what he wanted me to do with my litter. When I finally got a hold of him he tells me they just found out that someone was not able to take their chickens on Friday and wanted to know if I could be ready for delivery Friday to take those chicks. Let's see. I'm broke, and the only money I can get is from selling chickens, and I have no chickens. Do I want some chickens as soon as possible? YES I DO! Can I get the houses ready in three days? Probably not, but there is always the chance that I could get super powers and get it done in time. I figured it was worth the effort. 

Tuesday: I need a lot of supplies in order to be ready, so I spent the morning calling people to set up deliveries. I spent the afternoon starting to set up the houses. So far so good. I got one and a half houses partially ready. 

Wednesday: Two days left to get the houses ready. Part of the process needs the houses to be heated up to 90 degrees, and that part has to be done the day before the chicks come, which means by the end of the day I need to have all the houses set up to the point where I can turn the heat on. Which means I have to set up all the remaining houses before I can quit for the day. I went out early, and worked until 7 PM. Carrying in bins, boards,setting things up, turning hundreds of little feed drop tubes on the feed lines down, flushing out drinker lines until my poor little getting older by the second body was exhausted. I was so glad to be done with that before T went to bed. One Long day down one to go. At home, I got online and read some blogs where I found I had been given the Lemonade Stand Award. Now there is a nice boost to my morale. Just when I was feeling beaten down and wondering if I was going to get everything done someone tells me I have a positive atitude. I guess then I should have a more positive attitude about this and just get it done. 

Thursday: Chicks come tomorrow morning early. That means I can't finish the day until everything is completely ready. I sure wish I had a friend or money to rent one. Alas, I don't, so alone I go into the challenge ahead of me. This was the day I was dreading because it is the most physically demanding, and I was already sore. (2 Excedrine Back and Body tablets and I was ready to go.) All I had to do was place 1500 paper trays underneath the drop spouts of the feed lines without having my back give out, and then load up 120 50 lb bags of litter treatment into the spreader on the tractor and spread that out in the houses, then make any final checks, and I would be done. How hard can that be? Be Positive! So, again I started early, and worked until around 7 PM. I was done. I seriously didn't think I could do it all in those few days, especially working by myself, but I did it! Way to go me. 

Friday: Early in the morning again I was out double checking the temperatures in the houses, running the feed out into the houses, repairing the feed bowls that were broken by the catch crews and making minor adjustments. Finally, after all that work the chicks arrived. My dad came out to help drive the tractor while I helped the delivery guys throw chickens into the houses. By late afternoon I had chickens in the houses, and more chickens than they had ever given me before. That's a good sign, because more chickens in means more chickens to sell at the end and a bigger check. That is definitely helpful at this point when things are so tight. It seems that when things get bad there is always something that happens to let you know everything will work out OK in the end. See, that's why I got the Lemonade Stand Award. =-) 

And that my friends was my crazy week on the chicken farm. I'll post my award very soon and do my best to pass it on to several other sites that inspire me with their positive attitude.