How to get baby chicks outside ~ the “Porta - Brooder”

That's what's going on out here. Big rainy day.

Look at our fish.

You caught some brim?

I ate a brim.

Put it back in. What is it then?

I have no idea, but is it a brim?

Yes, it's a brim.

Really?

Yeah. Oh, what did you think it was?

Just some kind of fish.

It does a fish. Let's grab our porta brooder. You think we can get this done? How about in an hour?

Yeah, let's take it downstairs and build it.

Can you pick it up?

Uh, it reels.

Is it light enough for you to pick up? It's got wheels. Huge mess, huge mess. Let's clean this up before we get started. We got it cleaned up. You ready to do this, Jonah? You driving, bud? Ready? Yeah, we're gonna be right here if you need anything.

I was just checking my seeds in the greenhouse and something ate the zucchini on one of my trays.

How'd it get up there?

So I wonder if it came from above. I don't know.

So what are you gonna do?

I'm just gonna replant it. I don't know how, when it happened.

All my other seeds are doing the same thing. They're all over and over again and expecting different results. The definition of insanity. So what are you gonna do a little different? I'm not saying I have the answer.

I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe I have a bunch of other zucchini plants. It's not the end of the world.

Well, that's one solution, just planting. I got off— I might just wait.

I just might wait and direct seed this zucchini.

Okay, 4.5 across. Aha! Let's say 4.5 high. See where I'm going with that? Trying to hurry. It's like 4 4:25. I want to take— Jonah's been begging me all day to take him fishing. I'm like, well, I gotta edit, then we gotta do this project, and then if there's time, we'll go fishing. We'll have to quit by 5 to eat. I need to drill through this wood a hole this big. So how many did you— how many did you find there?

6, 7, 8.

That would only do 4 slats across the walkway. I know that's not enough. We need to do like 10, so you need to find 20 nails. You can do it, buddy. Go do it. You can do it.

Oh, oh, can they be like this small?

Maybe like that?

Probably small, thin, but it's smaller, smaller than these.

Okay, so yeah, just go find them.

8, 9, We need 20.

You can do it.

Can I do it in there?

Sure. Be careful though, that's that drill. Okay, hop in. Oh wait, be careful here, Mr. Brown. You want help?

Yeah.

Okay, hey, no, stay in there. I need you on that side. Screw that on there. See how that twists? Can you twist it in there, buddy?

Yeah.

We've got the top one. Let's do our other 3. That is looking legit, Jonah. Yeah, I think we have a problem here though. Our hinge is resting on top of those screws. So I think actually we should pull one of those bolts out and see if it'll go through this hinge and we'll just mount it like that. That's right. Haha, we should put our door in and then screw it to it. How's that? Look at that, Jonah. That's a little too tight. Okay, I'm gonna hold it. Oh man, you're gonna screw it up. Yeah.

Okay.

Hang on. Something's not right. Let go. Oh. There's a piece of plastic there. Uh-oh. Is it working?

It's fine.

Is it hanging on something?

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

Ah, I knew it! We should have had it a little more up.

Where's your wood saw?

Oh, here it is.

I got it. Yeah, but we don't want it to be Jerry. You got your wood saw?

Sure, but it's gonna be a big pain in the butt to cut off. Why don't you own a jigsaw?

Try the Leatherman.

This thing cut like crazy.

All right, bring it, because this thing is not cutting it. Let me get our L-braces. Let's see if that does it, Jenna.

What?

All right, I give up on that. Let's just pull this out, Jonah. Trim it.

Are these your L pieces?

Those are not L brackets.

Oh, L brackets!

I've trimmed this. Let's see if that works. What are you doing, Jonah? Did you find your L brackets? L-brackets? Yeah, L. Let's see them. There's your L-brackets. Not yet, let's put the lock on this.

Ooh, that's cute.

It's like a dog. We put it on there. Check it out, Jonah. See if it works. Nice. Now that's legit, wouldn't you say?

I want to touch him, I want to get in.

We've got 5 minutes. Really, we've only got 4 minutes. No, don't be too discouraged.

Because I want to go fishing.

I know, let's hustle then.

Okay, what do I do next?

Let's do our ramp.

Okay, we gotta go cut the piece.

Yeah, how long? See what 18 inches looks like. Let's do 18 inches. Cut. I've cut with my skill saw, but you can only go so far without cutting into it. There we go, we have a notched— we have a notched ramp. Shoot, our screws are too long, Jonah. They're gonna go through. There's a short one, but we need like— we need— we just need 4 We need 3 more short ones. Can you go find us 3 more short screws?

Will you come help me?

We sure will. It's cutting into our time.

What are you gonna do?

I'm gonna start. Okay, I got other stuff I can do while he's gone. I can work on these—

the—

what do you want to call these? Cleats for steps. I ended up going 6 inches, so I got a bunch. I went to nail these in. These finishing nails are just too brutal. They're too long, they're hitting the concrete underneath, and they're splitting the shims.

I worked so hard to get those.

Well, you know, I could slap something together. You know, I could maybe use these shims. I want to be able to teach this though, so I want to have the right nails so that I can have all those resources for you guys. Um, Jonah, we don't necessarily have the need to have the ramp to get these chicks in this by tonight. It is 4:11, so we're gonna have to— why don't we do this? We'll go fishing.

Yeah.

And then for the evening chores, we'll need to put shavings in and get the chicken to feed in the waterer. You think we can do it?

Yeah.

Uh, you picked a good spot, buddy. Oh good, good shot. The infamous "they" say that it's great to spend time with your kids, but the insightful thing is that as far as their emotional health is concerned, it doesn't actually matter what you're doing. Why'd you bring it in? Just because the wind was about to take it.

Yeah, just to hold it down.

Oh, okay. It just matters that you're spending time together. So whether you're building a chick brooder together or fishing, it counts. That's pretty good considering the wind. I was sitting here while he's fishing, just watching, enjoying the rest, and he looked back and he said, "Papa, I love you." There you go. Makes it all worth it. Now we're one with the sun over our heads. All right, we're out of worms, we're out of time. Good job, buddy. Evening chore time. Let's check on the Cornish crows.

I want to make sure they're all alive.

There are some more dead. We're having a problem in here. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5. I've never had this bad of a mortality rate. I'm just gonna add some shavings. I don't know, maybe there's something going around. I have no idea. I've never lost so many. Pour some more magic water in there. Back to my project. Doing a really deep bedding. I've allowed for 8 inches here. It's time. It's day 5. Day 5, you got to stop feeding the Cornish Cross 24/7. They're like, uh, I like to call them sea monsters. 'Cause they're so viciously hungry.

Papa, can I— oh, but the mice.

Yeah, put it on top of your blue bin so the mice can't get it. Okay. Blue bin? Yeah, the blue feed bin.

The blue feed bin. Watch their trash cans.

Yeah, you could do that. Can you just walk in there and stay in one spot to grab them all? That's good.

So warm, Papa.

That's not our problem. I don't think they're getting too cold because they would just be huddling. Like crazy on top of each other, like, and they wouldn't be so interested in eating and drinking. The point of this is it's portable. Take them in inside and out easy. We have it set up, folks. Fermented feed, litter trap, magic water, natural sunlight.