Buy these great books! Published by me at Norton Creek Press.


Fresh-Air Poultry Houses

by Prince T. Woods
More Information

Success With Baby Chicks

by Robert Plamondon
More Information

One Survivor

by Robert Plamondon
More Information

Ten Acres Enough

by Edmund Morris
More Information

Tom Slade, Boy Scout

by Percy K. Fitzhugh
More Information

Mother Earth Loves Me

by Robert

Mother Earth News has picked up another of my blog postings to carry on their site: Brooding Chicks in Winter. I must say that I admire their taste!

Everyone knows that the brooding period is by far the most critical time of a chicken's life. And it's important that they do more than stay alive -- they have to thrive, or they'll have problems later in life.

Imagine how heartbreaking it is to not only have baby chicks die during the brooding period, but for the survivors to do poorly later on. Or, even worse, for children to have this experience. I wrote my book, Success With Baby Chicks, so that imagining this heartbreak is as close as you'll ever get. What you'll experience is success, with frisky chickens living the happy chicken life and all the good feelings and enjoyment that this will bring.

I do this in a clear, easy-to-follow, unpadded 150-page book. Major publishers think that consumers want bulk, and pad out their books with filler, but I respect your time and stick to the point -- ensuring your success and enjoyment. Because you're sitting at your computer right now and reading my chicken-oriented blog, you know that the book is a good match for you -- and you want to read it before you get your first chicks of the season, so you'll be ready.

You want it on your reference shelf, too. I reread the book from time to time myself, since I sometimes forget the fine points and need to refresh my memory.

And then that faint feeling of dread that some people feel when they order baby chicks -- will they be all right? -- will be replaced with well-founded confidence. Or so my fan mail claims. So order your copy today -- it can't help you until you read it.


1 comment

Comment from: Joan Smye [Visitor]
*****
Your book success with baby chicks is wonderful,i am new to keeping chickens,so far the ten day old chicks i bought a month ago are doing very well,one of them even pulled herself up as if to attack me when i put the food in the cage.I am so glad i found your website
01/31/10 @ 13:13

Got Windows 7 Installed, Finally

by Robert

I upgraded my desktop PC to Windows 7, which I'm very happy with, but it gave me more grief than it should have. I've owned computers since 1980, when I got my first Apple II, and I'm a bona fide computer wizard, so it should have been easy, right?

Well, not quite. The first hurdle was dealing with Windows 7's insistence on wiping out your "Documents and Settings" -- the only indispensable things on most PCs! Do you have any idea how much data I've accumulated over the years? Messing around with backing it up and restoring it was Not Fun. It was just as hard as if I were transferring my stuff to a brand-new computer, which I wasn't.

The other hurdle was with mirrored drives. The more spendy versions of Windows 7 allow you to do disk mirroring, so all your data lives on two drives simultaneously. If one dies, the other keeps going, and you can slap in a replacement drive and get back to mirroring. No prob. And it doubles the speed of disk reads, which is nothing to sneeze at. (Disk mirroring is also called "RAID 1." Don't ask.)

But it's amazingly difficult to figure out how to set it up. Why, Microsoft, didn't you provide step-by-step instructions?

Some motherboards have the same capability in hardware, but they, too are always incredibly ill-documented.

But I'm up and running again, and Windows 7 seems quite a bit snappier than XP, though it seems to have some teething troubles, with the occasional odd bit of behavior.

A while back I bought a bargain-basement computer for under $300 at Staples to use as a secondary computer, and even el cheapo machines are pretty usable these days. So you might want to do it the easy way and get a new computer when you decide to switch to Windows 7. That's called a "forklift upgrade" in the biz.

No feedback yet

Video: Old-Time Poultry Raising

by Robert

These two videos document the "Chicken of the Future" contest from 1948, showing what, for the time, were the best chickens and the best practices for raising them (some of which most of us would envy, even today!)

They're worth watching just for the glimpses they give of good chicken-raising technique, but be careful to take a good hard look at the butchered carcasses! They look just like rubber chickens. And the chickens of 60 years ago grew more slowly, had higher mortality, and were less productive than modern hybrids.

This contest was very well run. Earlier egg-laying contests were easy to game, and the results of the contests had nothing in common with what you'd get if you bought baby chicks from the contestants. They were basically an accidental scam.

For the Chicken of the Future test, they started with a large number of hatching eggs -- too many to cherry-pick the ones from the best hens -- which were all incubated together. The day-old chicks were brooded in identical pens, then moved into different identical pens after the brooding period. When the cockerels were 12 weeks old, they were all butchered at the same time (with winning pens giving a dressed carcass weighing probably a little more than two pounds!) subjected to USDA inspection and grading, and generally compared with one another.

Feed consumption and overall profitability were kept track of. Profitability was affected by chick mortality, carcass value of the cockerels, rate of lay and size of eggs of the pullets, mortality among the pullets, and feed consumption. Careful records were kept. In the Forties, dual-purpose breeds like New Hampshire Reds usually won in total profitability -- so much so that no one seems to have bothered entering any White Leghorns!

Another interesting point was that the contest flocks had outbreaks of disease, which was considered routine at the time. Up until the Twenties, when small farm flocks were the rule, sickness in poultry flocks was uncommon, but it got worse and worse as flock sizes increased, reaching its peak in the Forties and Fifties, in spite of the introduction of antibiotics. Gradually, better biosecurity methods were introduces and the amount of disease plummeted. An outbreak of disease in a contest flock would not be considered routine today.

3 comments

Comment from: erik [Visitor]
*****
that was real good and yes they did look like rubber chickens thanks for the show
01/20/10 @ 06:33
Comment from: Patrick [Visitor]
*****
Not sure biosecurity was the big factor in the 40s, but the development of anticoccidial drugs.
01/22/10 @ 16:27
Comment from: Robert [Member] · http://www.plamondon.com
Coccidiostats were nice, but the problems they had with the contest flock -- Newcastle disease and infectious bronchitis in addition to coccidiosis -- were typical for the era.
01/23/10 @ 08:36

The Secret of Success

by Robert

When the economy started nose-diving, I told myself, "During bad times, you want more irons in the fire. This is a great time to expand my publishing business." So I went from four titles to thirteen in about eight months.

I had it all planned out. During bad times, people start yearning for simplicity and more control over their lives, and there's always a back-to-the-land movement. So I published three classic back-to-the-land books: Gold in the Grass, Ten Acres Enough, and We Wanted a Farm. These, I figured, would do very well. I also republished a motley collection of books just because I loved them, though in many cases I felt that maybe no one else would.

So what happened? A couple of my labor-of-love books became mainstays of my publishing business, while the back-to-the-land books have been relatively disappointing. Only Ten Acres Enough was anything to write home about, but even its modest success was eclipsed by Fresh-Air Poultry Houses, which instantly became my #1 seller, and A Thousand Miles up the Nile, which has nothing whatever to do with any of my other books!

So it just goes to show, you never can tell. You have to swing at the ball a lot more times than you hit it, so you should give yourself a lot of at-bats, rather than counting on a home run on the first swing. Heck, I almost didn't publish Fresh-Air Poultry Houses because it's sort of eccentric, but I told myself that it's eccentric in a good way -- charming and thought-provoking, and in touch with natural thinking -- and it's a good thing I did.

Seth Godin has an interesting blog post where he shows a chart by Tim Burton of all his failed projects -- lots and lots and LOTS of them. Even now, only a fraction of his projects actually get released.

So keep swinging, and don't bet the farm on any one venture. Most of 'em won't get very far, but some will.

3 comments

Comment from: EJ [Visitor]
and what works one year or season may not work the next!
01/18/10 @ 19:40
Comment from: John inWesternNC [Visitor]
*****
It's always the same and yet we are always surprised at this truth!
In pro sports only a percentage of pitches are hit or passes completed and a mere fraction of those actually score points....as a lifelong sales professional the old saw is "ya gotta get 100 'No's' for every 'Yes'...the biggest rookie mistake that is made in business is, "This is the idea that will change the world!" and you bet the whole farm on it....or dare I say it?
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket!" ( Sorry, I couldn't pass up the opportunity!)
01/19/10 @ 04:57
*****
This makes me think my out-of-the-box-thinking hubby might be on the right track!!! Heaven knows the hen sales in the last couple years have often come just in time to put some much-needed fuel in the truck. And since I wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting the first 100 (a dozen diff purebreds), I must give him all the credit for getting them when we did!! Now we've gotten 500 day-old hens to start a grass-fed egg business this spring..... Wish us luck!
01/19/10 @ 07:48

Join Us at the Corvallis Indoor Winter Market

by Robert

The Corvallis Indoor Winter Market starts today, and runs every Saturday from 9 AM - 1 PM at the Benton County Fairgrounds. It's in a heated building and everything!

Karen will be there with grass-fed chicken and eggs. Plenty of other farms will be there too, along with farm-themed crafts. You'll be amazed at the variety of produce grown in the off-season in our part of Oregon.

If you've got a stack of empty egg cartons that's getting in your way, bring 'em in. We'll reuse them.

With plenty of smiling vendors and swarms of cheerful customers, stopping in at the indoor winter market sets the tone for your laid-back Saturday.

We'll see you there!

No feedback yet

My First Book is Alive and Well

by Robert

Last year, in a fit of self-indulgence, I reprinted my first book, Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers' Handbook, which I wrote in college and was published by Reston Publishing in 1982.

Rather to my surprise, it has been selling briskly, and in spite of being a straight reprint, without a single word having been changed in 28 years, I'm getting testimonials like this one:

Robert,

Just a note to wish you and yours a happy holiday, and to tell you how much I enjoy "Through Dungeons Deep" (the reprinted edition). Although I'm a DM with many years of experience, I still find new and insightful ideas in every chapter. The bits about your personal gaming group and characters are especially fun to read as well. I look forward to recommending it to my friends, who will undoubtedly enjoy it every bit as much as I have.

Best wishes,

Todd Rooks
Barberton, OH

I'm grateful to be living in the Internet age, where self-publishing allows works that have long been out of print to find new audiences. I hope to bring many more books to light, delighting people with both their nostalgia value and their timelessness.

2 comments

****-
Your books are great and hope to purchase a couple to add more information. Hope u write more books soon.
01/15/10 @ 17:56
Comment from: Paul [Visitor] Email · http://dungeonbriefs.com
*****
I actually first saw this book in its original timeframe, flipped through a friends copy, but never got one of my own. Stumbled upon it and ordered one last year, and am finally getting around to reading it. While some portions of the book lean heavily on the hobby (or perhaps just the Dungeons and Dragons game) as it was then, much of the book is general advice that still applies today.

Thanks both for writing it, and for republishing it.

I was curious whether you might still be involved in the game any more?
01/31/10 @ 18:57

Easy Way To Improve Rural Cell Phone Reception

by Robert

The only cell phone tower near my farm is slowly getting masked by trees as the forest next door grows up, and the cell phone reception in my house is dreadful.

I just bought a Verizon Network Extender and couldn't be happier. This is a device that looks like a wireless access point but acts like a miniature cell phone tower, using your DSL or cable modem to reach the cellular network. Our phones went from zero bars to four! Woo-hoo!

This is a zero-config device: I plugged it in and it self-configured within about 20 minutes. I didn't have to set a single parameter.

And it not only covers the whole house, but extends quite a way beyond it, even to the mailbox on the other side of the road. Generally speaking, reception in the house is worse than anywhere else, so it completely covers the problem area.

The retail price of this technological wonder (called a "femtocell" in the biz) is a wince-inducing $250, but I found a "$50 off All Accessories" coupon online, and, much to my surprise, found a $50 rebate form inside the box that's good through most of January, so it really cost me only $150. There is no monthly fee.

It doesn't handle 3G traffic (though your 3G devices will fall back to the "1X" standard, which it does handle, though slowly). and I don't know if non-Verizon subscribers can roam through it or not. But sure solved my problem!

There are similar devices out there that work with other carriers, plus a wide variety of cellular signal boosters that use an outdoor antenna to talk to the cell phone tower, and an amplifier and an indoor antenna to talk to your cell phones. The main difference is that boosters don't work in areas where you have no signal at all, while network extenders that use your cable or DSL links do.

These devices will probably turn out to be a must-have for rural residents everywhere.

6 comments

Comment from: Eileen [Visitor]
***--
Ah, but that assumes that I have high-speed internet access! I'm pretty sure that femtocells won't work over dial-up or the super-high-latency (not to mention general crappiness) of satellite connections.
01/08/10 @ 14:08
Comment from: John inWesternNC [Visitor] Email
*****
Wow Robert...I gotta tell ya, between the excellent research (and re-published books) on traditional successful ag practices, small scale marketing and your advise on 21st century technology; well,"you da man!"
Tell the folks at citrix that 'GoToMyPC' is a flat out lifesaver...I use it daily, as I own a Private, members-only fitness Club one hour (via interstate) from my farm with 24 hour access and frequently get my members in when there is a computer glitch, from my computer at home...I am online to my business, remotely, 24/7/365! As a result I now work part-time at my business and am at home on the farm (but still at work!) 3-4 days a week. Way Cool!
This current advise solves one huge problem I've had with very poor signal on my cell (don't want to give out my private home number).
Question_Would it work as well with satellite high speed internet?
As an aside, I also want to compliment you on your recent advise regarding free choice feed with grains and high protein feeds...with the recent frigid conditions I was losing my butt on feed costs (feeding premium blended feed pellet exclusively). Currently it's 6 degrees F (at 8:30 AM) and hasn't been over 32 degrees in a week here in my neighborhood in North Carolina and that particular little piece of advise has reduced my feed costs by 46%! Forty Six Percent!
I am STILL getting 75% egg production from my free range hens, in this terrible weather, and making a profit...AMAZING!
You are blending the best of two worlds-19th century wisdom and 21st century cutting edge technology.
I guess the only fly in the ointment is I don't tell ANY of my competitors about this blog-I don't want them to know my 'secret weapon'-Robert Plamandon!
I am a little ashamed (D*mn little), but solidly in the black.
Thanks in great part to your work we are achieving our dream-5 acres and independence...
Go Free Enterprise!
Go Local Food!

John


01/09/10 @ 05:55
Comment from: Robert [Member] · http://www.plamondon.com
I used to have satellite Internet (back when DirectWay was called DirecPC), and I'd think that the extra delay would make it troublesome with the Verizon Network Extender. If you have no high-speed DSL or cable, but you have SOME cell phone reception, then a repeater is probably what you want. This consists of an external antenna, possibly a highly directional one, that you put someplace where the signal is as good as it gets for your, a long length of coax into your house, an amplifier, and an indoor antenna.

I've never tried this, but I looked at sites like http://cellphoneboosterstore.com and there are plenty of products out there.

Back when the kids were small and preferred PBS, which I couldn't get via satellite, we did something like this to get a TV signal. Gene from Gene's Antenna service walked all over the property looking for a halfway decent signal from Portland, planted an antenna there, ran a long cable over to the house, and we had a good picture when I could have sworn it was impossible. Turning a weak signal in one place into a strong one where you need it can be done. Probably if you can get just one bar anywhere near your house, you can turn it into a clear signal throughout your house and yard. My experience with Gene indicates that it would be better to bring in an expert than to do this yourself. Faster and more certain.
01/09/10 @ 06:50
Comment from: David Liddle [Visitor] Email · http://davidthesilverfox.blogspot.com
*****
I am getting an education today! Have been reading and enjoying your e-mails for some time (years?) but will now be following your blog and checking out those books. Thank you Robert.
01/16/10 @ 04:55
Comment from: Tim Kerr [Visitor]
*****
Rokbert, My comment is in regards to my laying hens. I have 3-Rhode Island Reds that are about 3-years old and have quit laying. They quit about late July of last year and haven't produced an egg since. They are too young to stop aren't they? Is it time to stew? Shed some light on this if you would please. Thank you, Tim Kerr
01/16/10 @ 10:09
Comment from: Robert [Member] · http://www.plamondon.com
Well, the question about laying hens doesn't have much to do with the Verizon Wireless Extender, but I'll answer it anyway: As hens get older, they laying season shortens, and after a while they start laying only in the spring. So, traditionally, they become stew meat in the summer or fall, after they stop laying. You'll get some eggs out of them starting in February or March, so you may not want to swing the ax just yet.
01/18/10 @ 10:20

Brooding Baby Chicks in Winter

by Robert

Brooding baby chicks in cold weather -- how low can you go?

As it turns out, cold-weather brooding can go very low indeed. Back in the Fifties, when the electric companies were promoting electric brooding as safer, more reliable, and more convenient that the coal and kerosene brooders that folks used to use, one group did a demonstration:

They suspended four heat lamps in a walk-in freezer at a constant -20 F, and brooded a dozen or so chicks there. It was so cold that ice formed on the waterers on the sides away from the heat lamps, but within the circle of light the chicks were snug and comfy and did just fine.

The rule of thumb for overhead heat-lamp brooders is that one 250-watt heat lamp can handle 75 chicks at 50 F. If temperatures are lower than that, subtract one chick for every degree below 50 F. For example, -20 F is 70 degrees lower than 50 F, so you would be able to brood five chicks (75-70=5) per heat lamp. With four lamps, the freezer demonstration could handle 20 chicks!

Stop for a second and realize how much more confidence you have in all-weather chick brooding, now that you've grasped this little-known fact. And that's just a tiny fraction of the chick-raising lore I've collected in my book, Success With Baby Chicks. Don't forget that we all brood chicks in the late winter or early spring, when it's still cold! Baby chick season is upon us, so you need to buy the book now, before the chicks arrive.

2 comments

Comment from: Karen B [Visitor]
*****
It's a great book and will be permanently on my shelf (as opposed to: read once and then donate). I changed a few of the things I was doing due to reading it and as a result only lost 4 chicks out of the 100 I'd ordered (in batches) in 2009. Any tips on turkeys though? The dang things seem born to die. They were raised with the chicks and I lost 4 out of 6 and then 3 more out of 5 more.
01/08/10 @ 14:41
Comment from: Robert [Member] · http://www.plamondon.com
Salting the flock of baby turkeys with a few baby chicks helps a lot, since the turkeys want to be shown how to eat and drink. (Preferably broiler chicks, because they're calmer. With other breeds, be prepared to remove them if they start beating up the turkeys after a while Probably any breed is okay for the all-important first few days.) Glass-jar waterers help attract them through the glint of the glass, and pecking the feed with your fingers helps attract them.

Turkeys chill easily during the first few days, so using a draft excluder and providing more heat than usual helps.

Other than that, you just do the same things you do for baby chicks, only more so. And use a high-quality turkey starter. They'll die if you feed them cheap chick starter, and won't do so great on a quality chick starter.
01/18/10 @ 10:26

The "Youngest-First" Trick

by Robert

I always check my youngest chickens first, then work my way up to the oldest ones.

One reason is that baby chicks are more fragile than older birds, so they need to be watched and cared for without fail. As the chickens get older, they need less and less attention, since they're sturdier and know the ropes. By checking the youngest chickens first, you ensure that they'll be taken care of before you discover any crises or distractions with the more rugged birds. This helps make sure the youngest chickens don't get lost in the shuffle.

Then there's the issue of disease. If you buy only from reputable hatcheries (which I recommend), then the odds of your youngest chickens arriving on the farm with any new diseases are small. This means that it's not a disaster if you carry material from the brooder house into the henhouse on your boots or gloves. But your older chickens have had the chance to be exposed to various diseases and parasites from wild birds, to the reverse isn't true. Baby chicks start out with a weak immune system, which gets stronger day by day, so keeping them separated from the older birds really helps. For a while, anyway.

So remember: always take care of your youngest chickens first, and then move on up in reverse order of age.

1 comment

Comment from: brian g [Visitor] · http://castlemainefarm.blogspot.com
*****
This is what I do too, but mainly because it's more of a pain in the ass to move the big waterers and the big feedbags, and I'm procrastinating. I never really thought about the disease thing. I like that I accidentally do something right every once in a while!
01/05/10 @ 11:39

I'll be at Mewcon over New Year's

by Robert

I'll be attending the M.E.W. multi-genre science fiction/fantasy/anime/role-playing/whatever convention at the Red Lion in Vancouver, Washington this weekend.

I'm sharing a table in Artist's Alley with Beth McBeth -- I'll be pitching my Heinlein-esque SF novel One Survivor and my role-playing handbook Through Dungeons Deep, and Beth will be displaying her artwork. I'll also be offering free writing and publishing advice to anyone who's interested.

I'm also giving three panel/workshop sessions:

  1. Self-Publishing for Fun and Profit (12/31, 5 PM)
  2. Turn Your Hobbies Into a Career (1/1, 11:00 PM)
  3. Role-Playing Without Rules (1/2, 1 PM)

M.E.W. con is only in its second year, with a projected attendance of just 500 people, so it should be pretty intimate. Anime fandom appears to be the dominant theme, and plenty of people will be attending in costume.

Hope to see you there!

Admission is $40 at the door for all three days (12/31 - 1/2) or $15-$20 for a single day. For more information see the Mewcon Web site.

No feedback yet

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ... 21 >>