newbie here with three chicks and a duckling. two Comets, a Delaware and a runner duck. I am petrified of predators and am researching everything. :( I am so sorry for all of your losses. I cannot stand the thought and before they go out I am going to focus on the most secure barriers I can come up with. We live on 32 acres in Western NY and have it all out here. we have 5 dogs, horses, cats and a 5 year old son. I am a SAHM so will be around a lot. We have approximately 1/4 of an acre with a falling down 6 ft. stockade fence around it that we are going to gradually replace. There is a large area within that fence next to the house where we will put the coop ( the rambler from www.chickensaloon.com and then secure a pen area. Part will be the house, two sides the re-enforced fence and a new part will have to be put up to make the rectangle. We want to put the black plastic shrubbery barrier down ( 6") and then pour cement around the fence. I will get the night time predator lights to move around and do whatever else I can do. If anyone is still reading this thread I am open to suggestions. we also will put bird netting along the top of the run. The problem is that there are no trees in the back. I need to get some put in and also find some things for them to hide under for when they spend time free ranging. In the winter I plan on letting them have a stall with a dutch door and making an enclosure for them but that is a ways away.

It's true Jean - your husband's reality. As a business you can make money but for 10 hens at home each dozen eggs would be about $300 a pop until you paid off the coop at $899 and the freight to a home at $365, not to mention buying the chickens. Started 17 week old laying poulets are about $12 each but the shipping on them is $49 (they do come with their shots however). Then there is the feed and having to work it each day to keep everything extremely clean and fresh. You have to keep chickens away from wild birds and their droppings, not to mention the predators, but oh the romance of having a barnyard and a self sustaining life (without the hard work of course because you are rich enough to hire a few people to actually run the place). He he he... My co-worker had chickens and their chickens lived outside during the day and sometimes at night, but had a shed they could go into if they wanted. They lost some to predators and sometimes the eggs were just laying around on the ground and other times the hens would lay in thick shrubby growth at the edge of their woodlot (in the brambles). Betcha egg gathering was the pits there! She said they shot a opposum one time that was raiding a favorite hen's nest - the hen woke them up screaming her bloody head off and running to beat the band (they are fast she said) and with the flashlight they saw the possum on the nest eating the eggs. Boom - bye bye possie. Awww...... poor possie - he only wanted some fresh eggs too!

To quote Steve...However, the government created a tremendous loophole in classifying minivans, pickups, and SUVs as trucks exempt from those regulations even if people use them as cars (the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law). And everyone pays pretty much the same in road taxes whether they're pounding the roads with a three-ton-plus Lincoln Navigator or a one-ton Nissan Sentra. Everyone's insurance has gone up because of increased damage claims made by people in cars who've been hit by a truck or people who don't know how to drive trucks to begin with. There's nothing proportional about that................... Our government has really fumbled the ball here, and after so many years has yet to rectify this situation. I suspect they are trying to protect the remnants of the American auto industry.. I believe we should be far more united with Europe in protecting the environment - that their approach is more balanced and fair.. We have a government that responds too easily to the pressure groups rather than the people in general. The environmentalists and their supporters are probably the single strongest pressure group in Washington and many state capitols as well. I feel that national interests are more important; that we must no longer continue to be dependent on Islamic oil.. One of the solutions to this problem is the Diesel and a much higher standard for fuel economy...

Ok- This comes from a teacher point of view as well as someone who has a degree in child development. You can take it for what it is worth: In Classrooms (like daycares and preschools and K room) kids are required to pick up at least two sometimes three times a day. The reasoning being that a. other kids play with the toys and the deserve to start fresh too b. kids can't think in clutter very well and neither can teachers. c. safety in that you can't walk without tripping etc. also is part of the reasoning here. I carry this into my house to some degree. I have three kids 5, 3, and 1+. Two boys and a girl. I let them play with what they want and they can play with how they want provided they are not taking away from each other-- playing nice. And now my home and my theory in practice--- We pick up daily - once before nap I expect everything to be picked up and once in the evening before their father gets home. If everything is picked up and if their father is not home yet, they can watch a video. This works great for my son who is a tvholic. The exceptions to picking up completely are this: 1. if they have some creation before nap- a tent house, a train world, polly pocket home whatever they can leave it out until dinner time, as long as it's out of the way. Not on their bed at nap time for example. At dinner time though, things are picked up. 2. If it is on the train table. We bought a big train table with the buckets at the end of the table. I rotate toys including what is in the train table buckets. - blocks, legos, little people, etc at any given time are in the train table buckets. IF they set up this elaborate train set or a great lego building, as long as it is on the train table, they can leave it there. The train table toys are usually building toys that typically get moved and torn down and rebuilt daily so those change pretty quickly and get put up to make room for other buildings. As for sorting out toys into the right bins daily- I don't do that. We have a big toy box in the front room where they play. Some toys are behind the couch in the plastic shoe boxes. Polly Pockets, etc - those things with small pieces. Those are the toys that they typially pull out from behind the couch, open the box and play with them in their room or on their bed- the little pieces typically get put back into the right box. But I don't worry about it. When we pick up, whatever is on the floor get thrown into the toy box. The kids help me pick up and if they want I do let them put the small pieces in the right bin, but if I'm helping I grab and toss. And because I rotate toys- once a week or every two weeks I dump everything out and the kids and put toys up, resort as needed, exchange toys. This is when the polly pocket shoe that got thrown in the toy box gets put back with it's mate in the right bin. Etc. I have also gotten rid of many toys. As I write this however I can think of train things I need to get rid of because my kids have never really played with it. Sigh. I kept it thinking one of the other kids would like it but so far- no luck. It really is that simple and really that complicated. I just make the time to rotate toys. Everything centers around that. When we rotate toys everything gets sorted out perfectly. Because we rotate toys not everything is out at once and that makes it easier to a. clean house b. pick up every day c. control how many toys are out with small pieces d. organize and make sure everything is in the right bin. As for your daughter dragging things out of the house - we take things out to the car but they stay in the car. When we go in the store- the toys stay in the car. As for all of her flat type creations- I also bought an art portfolio. IT's like a big envelope. I let my son keep all of his papers in there. He keeps every paper he touches. They all go in there. It sits at the end of his bed. When it is stuffed I go through it- sometimes alone, sometimes with him. It works for us. Big papers and small papers go in here. But only paper. We have also done some things like I sat down and whipped up some bags for toys. My two older kids love to fill things with things. A small bin may have five cars, three dinosaurs, four crayons and sixteen pieces of paper. They love to just stuff things in things. I made some bags. I whipped up bags and this makes it easy to carry things around. If my boy's snowbear needs crayons for the day (becaue my boy is like your daughter with an animal whose needs change) - then snowbear puts the crayons in the snowbear bag and off we go. I have probably 10 bags designated for things- blocks, small dolls, etc. I have maybe another 10 bags with drawstrings for anything. They just get thrown in their toybox empty at the start of two weeks and stay filled until it's time to rotate toys. So- based on my usual long winded response here are my thoughts for you: 1. Can you designate a place as a compromise- train table creations are ok, otherwise they go down? Can you set a time that they have to pick up? Daily? I do it when their dad comes home so they know exactly what their schedule is. Can you do it on a set day? Every other day everything is totally picked up? I lean to a daily pick up at a set time so it is routine. I agree that it is the process at this age - the process of making the creation is important not the creation itself. 3. Can you provide your daughter some place for her creations? This ties into question one but also for her small books for blueberry? for the small things he has to have? A bag? An oatmeal box with a string tied to it? an art portfolio? 4. Do you have to have all of their toys out all of the time? And after having said all of that- I think what you are really looking for is not the organizing help but more of the parenting help. Do you allow your children to make creations and leave them? And How do you tackle this as a mother? I'm not sure I helped at all. What I would say to you as a teacher if you came to me is Go for it- encourage the creativity. When you see them no longer playing with a toy or creation show them how to take it down and put the components up. Or if they can no longer play wiht a type of toy because all the pieces are spread apart and put in wrong places, help them sort them out. You are the mother and you know best. Ginger