Zoey Andira's 3rd Birthday Party

At the Bentleyville bowling alley.

Love

New Elliptical

Shawn finally found a good elliptical on Craig's list.  Michael came to help him carry it up the steps.  It was a challenge getting it into his office.  The kids thought it was great fun.

Ready to Go

Shawn took the cap off his truck so he could go get his new elliptical.  Cana was content to sit on the tailgate and wait for something exciting to happen.

Pulley

We found a pulley in the machine shed and thought it would make a fun addition to the swing set.

Decorating for Easter

We sure missed Grandma Speer while we were decorating for Easter. I asked Paul several times to help us, but I could not tear him away from helping Shawn fix his tractor. An hour later, when he realized we did the job without him, he pouted and had to move them to different branches:)

The Great Chicken Brooder Mystery

Shawn has been working hard cleaning out the red barn so that we might tear it down in the near future.  The upstairs is very rickety and not safe for the children.  The supports holding the second floor up are badly cracked. 

He brought this poultry brooder down from the top of the red barn.  It has a heating element and fan underneath it for keeping baby chicks warm.  It's been sitting out in the rain for several days since he carried it down.  

We decided we'd try it out to see if it worked.  Neither of us expected it would. I got two light bulbs out of the house and Shawn plugged it in.  Low and behold, the light bulbs lit up, the fan turned and the heating element quickly heated up!!!   We could not believe it!

You can see the light bulb and the heating element.  The fan turns above the heating element.  

We decided to do some research to find out 1.) When and where it was made, and 2.) Why it was in our red barn.  I took pictures of the words and tags on it. It is an Oakes Electric Brooder, made in Tipton Indiana. 

Online, Shawn found this advertisement for one from the Pittsburgh Press in 1946.

This date coincides with the family history we could put together.  Shawn and I hypothesized that there must have been some sort of commercial chicken operation here at one time.

The size of the former chicken house (which Shawn tore down in '06) as well as the size and expense of the brooder suggested that chickens were raised for more than just feeding the family.

However, I knew that my grandmother despised chickens and that although her parents raised them, she never did.  

From my uncle, mom and dad we learned the following:  When my grandparents moved into this farm (ca. 54), my great-grandparents (Alex and Florence) moved out and into a house about a mile away on the church road.  They had two large chicken houses at their new home.  Alex sold milk and eggs around town.  It is said that his dress was always quite dapper as he made his deliveries; he never left home without wearing a suit and tie.  I don't know if he primarily sold milk and eggs from a horse and buggy (in the '30's when my grandpap was little) or a truck.  Obviously Alex housed his chickens here before he moved to the other house on the church road.  

I know that my family did not get electricity at the farm until after WWII.  I've heard it said they distrusted it.  So, this brooder may have been one of their first electric farming appliances.  Both my uncle and mom think that the brooder may have been used at their house on the church road and brought here for storage after my great-grandmother moved back (in a trailer on the property) in the mid-seventies.  Whether it was used here or at their other home, everyone feels quite strongly that it would not have been used since before Alex died, in 1964.

Considering all that, I think that it is quite amazing that it started right up when we plugged it in, with no tinkering, for the first time in 50 years or so!!!  I guess they really don't make things like they used to!!

After it started up, I told Shawn that we had to get some chickens so that we could use it.  About 20 seconds later, I remembered that I am (obsessively?) concerned about fire safety and that this thing would DEFINITELY be a fire hazard.  When I mentioned that to my uncle, he said, "That's why they built cement buildings with metal roofs and dirt floors."  

I don't know if we'll ever use the chicken brooder, but it was sure fun investigating the mystery today!!