"The American Cemani Breeders Club"...The Closed Article
Dedicated to open knowledge for people living in America who wish to breed these birds for BOTH fun and profit!
This group is to be filled up with only fun people...
mean people need not apply...
mean people will be banned...
Just sayin
As in all my passed writings here in BYC, There WILL be lots of chronological pictures posted here,
as myself, blackbirds13, and many new American breeders of these fantastic birds:
1. set up their farms
2. receive their breeding stock
3. raise them to breeding age
4. candle and incubate their 1st eggs
and
5. bring their "babies" to market
Join members like Blackbirds13 and myself on our live Journey of fun and profit...
Experienced breeders like wolfwhyte are invited to write in this article, advice and to post farm pictures here as well...
Wooohoooo!
Those wanting to become contributors of this Club (Article),
Simply PM me your request... and I will add you...
unless you are mean.. he he he...
--------------------------------------------
03/12/2014
Hello folks!
My name is Jerry, aka: Steadfast,
I am the proud owner of 21 chickens of various breeds and sizes.
Here is the link to my BYC award winning, step by step build, of their most excellent home:
(tons of photos and videos too see)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/steadfasts-chicken-coop
sample photo:
I currently have purchased five 3 month old birds, waiting to be integrated into my big flock by early April.
They are currently living in this my latest Side Coop design which will need some renovation to be made ready for my new cemanis.
So, because of my chicken back log...and my imminant (soon to be documented) renovations,
I have requested and will be recieving my black birds in late April 2014...
---------------------------------------------
Date: 03/17/2014
Jerry here,
Update:
This week end I NEED to get my seedlings started for my Garden this year.
But, Next weekend, I plan to do all the renovations on the Cemani's coop to divide it in half,
making it into a 2 lane coop for BOTH roosters to be dominant and freely breed with all 4 hens ....
See the above picture?
I have to:
1. rip off that stupid door,
2. raise the wire covered run up to a 7 foot hight, (I'm Sick to death stooping over whenever I have to enter it)
--add an roof, and install various roosts,
3. divide the coop and covered run in half with chicken wire,
4. build 6 doors for access to both sides,
and
5. build an additional feeding station and waterer for both sides.
Hopefully it will take only 2 days
(I promise to take and post tons of pictures)
----------------------------------------------
Date: 03/21/2014
Jerry here,
Update:
Yeah Gotta Have a Plan... This one showing the revisions is mine...
( i whipped this up at lunch)
The Black is what already exsists
The Red is what I have to change
The blue are doors I need to make
I will be knocking this out this weekend.
----------------------------------------------
Date: 03/24/2014
This is Jerry
(Im the younger better looking guy)
Update:
The coop renovations are 1/2 finished...
and I sit here, posting this, in muscular agony from the work...
Looking at the coop on the ground, my father in law (FIL) said "why build up that run when you can just lift up the WHOLE coop?"
So that is what we did, and it was far more of a miserable experience than we could imagine...
That little coop was so heavy we could not budge it by hand...
First, We built a frame to put under the coop ...
Then we lifted the coop with rocks and levers..
The heavier end was so heavy we had to use a truck jack to lift it...
We built 3 towers to lift it. Each time we shoved in another rock on each side until it was up.
Now the hard part...
How the heck do we get the frame in place past the rock towers Safely?
(a Great picture here)
So, clueless, we put it under the coop as much as possible in order to "Get a Better Look"
in hope for inspiration...
(check this out in close up to see the old chicken wire ground skirt in all directions)
(Random Chicken supervising our progress...)
Next... how do we get the frame under past those load barring rock towers without dyeing???
Easy, jack up the coop and Build more load barring towers footed inside the frame.
Then knock out the older load barring tower blocking the frame... and try not to die...
(This was a hair rising moment)
Now for the fine tuning....
build a single "T shaped" tower at the center balancing point to lift the weight just 1 inch above all 3 load barring towers so that if it falls it will still land safely on the towers.
Then one by one, change the shape of the bases of load barring towers into bridges that span over the frame's bottom rail
So that the frame can be moved just enough to get it into place, and then lower the coop down onto the frame.
This took all of the first day and we where so exhausted from flinging 30 pound stones around
that we quit as soon as it was safely nailed into place....
Sunday - Work Day 2:
Exhausted from all the rock juggling the day before...
My dear FIL and I started early and it was cold outside.
I put up an "easy up" do to forecast Rain.
Then we built a door frame and installed the first of 6 doors demanded by this renovation.
We also built a longer chicken ramp so the birds could climb up into the coop.
My wife came out to announce that we were going to have 4 consecutive below freezing nights in a row...
so, because of this, and the fact that this coop still needed to house our five baby copper marans,
I had to stop building doors and spend the rest of the day getting the coop secure and ready for use again.
This news sucked, because it meant I had to re run all the chicken wire.... RIGHT NOW!
---Then it began to rain---
Using "Pig ear clips" I re-connected the chicken wire and cut fresh wire to add the 2 foot wire skirt which had to be buried underground to keep out digging predators like dogs. At least the soaking wet ground made the skirt easier to bury.
It was a long day of miserable ground crawling, Cutting chicken wire, stapling, and using "Pig ear clips" to re-connect (sew) the chicken wire from the coop back to the open run. Re-securing the coop to preditor proof usefulness took all day...
Here are some finished pictures:
My FIL with ingratiated Chicken:
There is MUCH more to do...
I still have to:
1. rip off that stupid back door,
2. add a roof to replace that ugly blue tarp, and install various roosts,
3. divide the coop and covered run in half with chicken wire,
4. build 5 more doors for access to both sides,
and
5. build an additional feeding station and waterer for both sides.
----------------------------------------------
Date: 04/07/2014
This is Jerry
I am sadly ignorant about egg incubation!
My past "goofing off" hatching success rate was sadly around 40%...
and at EBAY's average of $150 each cemani egg, this is a very bad thing!
So, on the 11th I will be picking up 24 "random hatching eggs" from Sumner Byrd Farm here in NC
so that I can practice my incubation skills over and over again...
(yes they already agreed to buy back all the chicks I produce in this way over the next few months.)
I figuire, this way, I can work out all my home brewed "Cooler-bator" kinks using "random Chicks"
until I can get a consistant 90% plus, hatch rate... before I my cemanis start producing their own hatching eggs.
Incubator Made!
Ok, so, I followed Sally Sunshine's directions found here at BYC under the article "Incubator Incubator"
and knocked out my first cooler-Incubator last weekend. yeah!
First I located and dragged out a forgotton 50 gallon incubator from under my house.
cleaned it up.
Roughly following this scematic, which I found under the same article,
I tossed in some water bottles for heat banks and meassuered out the screen to fit on top of them.
The tray is tossed in for spacing and will act as a humidity tray.
(I used a flat tray because Humidity comes from the amount of space the water is spread across not the depth of the water)
I then rigged up a tube and surrenge to fill and empty this tray without needing to open the cooler.
next I had to cut the egg turner to fit into the cooler.
Notice that I have the room to fit in 2 of these turners!
(which I will do as soon as I can spare the $50.)
for now I centered the one I have.
Marking with tape how high up the inside of the cooler all this stuff is,
I emptied it, and started making the cuts and vent holes.
Here is my window cut.
A big veiwing window is a beautiful thing...
Next, I added in the fan!
I used an un-used extra pancake fan I had laying around from my wind turbine project.
notice it is stood off with long screws from the wall and the two vent holes on both sides of the fan.
I also used an old inverter plug I found in a box of plugs I have saved for over 15 years
as all my electronics broke...
I also found some old Thermometers...
one of them has a probe I can stick inside a "water worm "to measure the heat inside my eggs.
Finally, it took 10 hours, but here it is done!
(Im still waiting on my digital thermostat to arrive from Amazon)
but my circuit is already set up to just plug it into the system and I will be up and running!
---------------------------------
Date: 00/00/2014
Author?
Dedicated to open knowledge for people living in America who wish to breed these birds for BOTH fun and profit!
This group is to be filled up with only fun people...
mean people need not apply...
mean people will be banned...
Just sayin
As in all my passed writings here in BYC, There WILL be lots of chronological pictures posted here,
as myself, blackbirds13, and many new American breeders of these fantastic birds:
1. set up their farms
2. receive their breeding stock
3. raise them to breeding age
4. candle and incubate their 1st eggs
and
5. bring their "babies" to market
Join members like Blackbirds13 and myself on our live Journey of fun and profit...
Experienced breeders like wolfwhyte are invited to write in this article, advice and to post farm pictures here as well...
Wooohoooo!
Those wanting to become contributors of this Club (Article),
Simply PM me your request... and I will add you...
unless you are mean.. he he he...
--------------------------------------------
03/12/2014
Hello folks!
My name is Jerry, aka: Steadfast,
I am the proud owner of 21 chickens of various breeds and sizes.
Here is the link to my BYC award winning, step by step build, of their most excellent home:
(tons of photos and videos too see)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/steadfasts-chicken-coop
sample photo:
I currently have purchased five 3 month old birds, waiting to be integrated into my big flock by early April.
They are currently living in this my latest Side Coop design which will need some renovation to be made ready for my new cemanis.
So, because of my chicken back log...and my imminant (soon to be documented) renovations,
I have requested and will be recieving my black birds in late April 2014...
---------------------------------------------
Date: 03/17/2014
Jerry here,
Update:
This week end I NEED to get my seedlings started for my Garden this year.
But, Next weekend, I plan to do all the renovations on the Cemani's coop to divide it in half,
making it into a 2 lane coop for BOTH roosters to be dominant and freely breed with all 4 hens ....
See the above picture?
I have to:
1. rip off that stupid door,
2. raise the wire covered run up to a 7 foot hight, (I'm Sick to death stooping over whenever I have to enter it)
--add an roof, and install various roosts,
3. divide the coop and covered run in half with chicken wire,
4. build 6 doors for access to both sides,
and
5. build an additional feeding station and waterer for both sides.
Hopefully it will take only 2 days
(I promise to take and post tons of pictures)
----------------------------------------------
Date: 03/21/2014
Jerry here,
Update:
Yeah Gotta Have a Plan... This one showing the revisions is mine...
( i whipped this up at lunch)
The Black is what already exsists
The Red is what I have to change
The blue are doors I need to make
I will be knocking this out this weekend.
----------------------------------------------
Date: 03/24/2014
This is Jerry
(Im the younger better looking guy)
Update:
The coop renovations are 1/2 finished...
and I sit here, posting this, in muscular agony from the work...
Looking at the coop on the ground, my father in law (FIL) said "why build up that run when you can just lift up the WHOLE coop?"
So that is what we did, and it was far more of a miserable experience than we could imagine...
That little coop was so heavy we could not budge it by hand...
First, We built a frame to put under the coop ...
Then we lifted the coop with rocks and levers..
The heavier end was so heavy we had to use a truck jack to lift it...
We built 3 towers to lift it. Each time we shoved in another rock on each side until it was up.
Now the hard part...
How the heck do we get the frame in place past the rock towers Safely?
(a Great picture here)
So, clueless, we put it under the coop as much as possible in order to "Get a Better Look"
in hope for inspiration...
(check this out in close up to see the old chicken wire ground skirt in all directions)
(Random Chicken supervising our progress...)
Next... how do we get the frame under past those load barring rock towers without dyeing???
Easy, jack up the coop and Build more load barring towers footed inside the frame.
Then knock out the older load barring tower blocking the frame... and try not to die...
(This was a hair rising moment)
Now for the fine tuning....
build a single "T shaped" tower at the center balancing point to lift the weight just 1 inch above all 3 load barring towers so that if it falls it will still land safely on the towers.
Then one by one, change the shape of the bases of load barring towers into bridges that span over the frame's bottom rail
So that the frame can be moved just enough to get it into place, and then lower the coop down onto the frame.
This took all of the first day and we where so exhausted from flinging 30 pound stones around
that we quit as soon as it was safely nailed into place....
Sunday - Work Day 2:
Exhausted from all the rock juggling the day before...
My dear FIL and I started early and it was cold outside.
I put up an "easy up" do to forecast Rain.
Then we built a door frame and installed the first of 6 doors demanded by this renovation.
We also built a longer chicken ramp so the birds could climb up into the coop.
My wife came out to announce that we were going to have 4 consecutive below freezing nights in a row...
so, because of this, and the fact that this coop still needed to house our five baby copper marans,
I had to stop building doors and spend the rest of the day getting the coop secure and ready for use again.
This news sucked, because it meant I had to re run all the chicken wire.... RIGHT NOW!
---Then it began to rain---
Using "Pig ear clips" I re-connected the chicken wire and cut fresh wire to add the 2 foot wire skirt which had to be buried underground to keep out digging predators like dogs. At least the soaking wet ground made the skirt easier to bury.
It was a long day of miserable ground crawling, Cutting chicken wire, stapling, and using "Pig ear clips" to re-connect (sew) the chicken wire from the coop back to the open run. Re-securing the coop to preditor proof usefulness took all day...
Here are some finished pictures:
My FIL with ingratiated Chicken:
There is MUCH more to do...
I still have to:
1. rip off that stupid back door,
2. add a roof to replace that ugly blue tarp, and install various roosts,
3. divide the coop and covered run in half with chicken wire,
4. build 5 more doors for access to both sides,
and
5. build an additional feeding station and waterer for both sides.
----------------------------------------------
Date: 04/07/2014
This is Jerry
I am sadly ignorant about egg incubation!
My past "goofing off" hatching success rate was sadly around 40%...
and at EBAY's average of $150 each cemani egg, this is a very bad thing!
So, on the 11th I will be picking up 24 "random hatching eggs" from Sumner Byrd Farm here in NC
so that I can practice my incubation skills over and over again...
(yes they already agreed to buy back all the chicks I produce in this way over the next few months.)
I figuire, this way, I can work out all my home brewed "Cooler-bator" kinks using "random Chicks"
until I can get a consistant 90% plus, hatch rate... before I my cemanis start producing their own hatching eggs.
Incubator Made!
Ok, so, I followed Sally Sunshine's directions found here at BYC under the article "Incubator Incubator"
and knocked out my first cooler-Incubator last weekend. yeah!
First I located and dragged out a forgotton 50 gallon incubator from under my house.
cleaned it up.
Roughly following this scematic, which I found under the same article,
I tossed in some water bottles for heat banks and meassuered out the screen to fit on top of them.
The tray is tossed in for spacing and will act as a humidity tray.
(I used a flat tray because Humidity comes from the amount of space the water is spread across not the depth of the water)
I then rigged up a tube and surrenge to fill and empty this tray without needing to open the cooler.
next I had to cut the egg turner to fit into the cooler.
Notice that I have the room to fit in 2 of these turners!
(which I will do as soon as I can spare the $50.)
for now I centered the one I have.
Marking with tape how high up the inside of the cooler all this stuff is,
I emptied it, and started making the cuts and vent holes.
Here is my window cut.
A big veiwing window is a beautiful thing...
Next, I added in the fan!
I used an un-used extra pancake fan I had laying around from my wind turbine project.
notice it is stood off with long screws from the wall and the two vent holes on both sides of the fan.
I also used an old inverter plug I found in a box of plugs I have saved for over 15 years
as all my electronics broke...
I also found some old Thermometers...
one of them has a probe I can stick inside a "water worm "to measure the heat inside my eggs.
Finally, it took 10 hours, but here it is done!
(Im still waiting on my digital thermostat to arrive from Amazon)
but my circuit is already set up to just plug it into the system and I will be up and running!
---------------------------------
Date: 00/00/2014
Author?
