Lawson Deal

Surprised that there have not been replies or inquiries to your post yet. Interested in more details but apparently I am not at a level to use the "purple mooseages" thing currently. I have a lifetime(seemingly!)of building, plumbing and electrical knowledge along with serious mechanical repair including heavy equipment for the past 30 years. Did some logging off and on while living in Washington state so not a stranger to that side of things. Also an experienced beekeeper. I am at kilnhucker@zoho.com if there is any interest.

No matter the size, unless we are talking dog house, it takes a Loooong time! I did this five years ago-1,100 square feet and would never mess with cord wood again. Extremely labor intensive, heavy, sloppy, miserable process. They LOOK nice, but there are other approaches to building that do not destroy your back and knees and move along quicker.

I had plenty of dried wood cut to length and ready to go and had planned as much as I thought necessary. Never again. If you have logs available I would seriously suggest a more traditional log home. Daunting at first glance but flies up compared to cordwood. Not trying to rain on your parade but just a voice from someone who has been there and done that. Good luck to you no matter which route you take.

Not familiar with the breed, but a chicken is pretty much the same world wide. They do slow way down in winter and some stop entirely for a time but what you are describing is odd. i will say this-I have kept chickens for years and just like us, they appreciate a variety of things. We tend to forget or choose to not admit that they are a few steps removed from raptors and if you have ever seen them discover a low lying bird nest you well know what I mean. I feed mine a variety of grains but I also give them table scraps as well, including meat scraps which they go bonkers over. i am not too keen on the prepackaged and chemically altered feed that is so common now. Try a butcher shop/slaughter house and ask after liver or other not so popular cuts of meat. Often they will give you the stuff just to get rid of it as people do not buy it any more.

Get a little protein in them and I think you may see a difference all round.