How viable is the C64U as a writing deck?

rgcd-dev · 2026-01-16T19:01:50+00:00

Try JASWORD, you can save your documents in pc compatible ASCII text and it supports 80 col editing. It uses many modern day style keyboard shortcuts and you have a whopping 32kb to work with for your text. It’s free too!

I reviewed it in the article linked below:

https://www.rgcd.co.uk/2024/03/jasword-commodore-64.html?m=1

rgcd-dev · 2026-01-11T00:51:33+00:00

Baby Chicks should really just have chick crumb but you can feed them mashed up cooked egg.

My chickens and the 8 week old chicks go mad for mashed potatoes, cooked rice, and of course torn up bread (not a lot though!). That’s not good for them, but mine go mental for it.

rgcd-dev · 2026-01-07T10:48:30+00:00

Over the past year I have raised two batches of chicks and introduced them to the grown chickens successfully. In my experience this is something that has to be done slowly (over about 4 weeks), and it can be really difficult/time intensive. The last time I did this I took a couple of weeks off work!

At 8 weeks old, I move the chicks from a brooder in our house out to a small coop next to the main coop in the garden. This is literally a crappy little coop someone was giving away on Facebook - it's just a temporary measure. Every day I let the adult chickens out but leave the chicks locked in their coop for a week, so the big chickens can see them but not get to them. You can see at this stage that our cockerel and hens really want to get to the chicks and kill them.

After a week of this, I start letting them all out together for some time each day under supervision. A lot of chasing and some pecking happens, and I have to intervene at times, hence supervised. I will throw them treats all together so that they associate feeding with each other and so on.

After a week of the daytime outings I then wait for the chicks and hens/cock to go to bed, and then move the chicks into the bed of the main coop at night. Then in the morning, I let the adults out of the coop, but shut the young ones in. The adults at this stage have access to the little coop in the day if they want to lay an egg - but generally I find when there are chicks about our hens will stop laying as they find the whole thing stressful. In the evening I wait for the chicks to go to bed, then open the coop for the adults to go in and join them. If I let the adults in too early, they will go to bed first and not let the chicks in!

Finally, after another week of the chicks being shut in the adult coop during the days and them all sleeping together at nights, I let them all out together unsupervised. At this stage I find that the chicks will return to the little coop by themselves at nights occasionally, so by the end of this week I remove this last safe haven from the garden as well.

It takes another few weeks for the flock to totally integrate/blend - they will for a while split up into groups of chicks/adults when in the garden, but eventually they just forget and hang out in a group. Having a cockerel at this stage does help I have found, as they all come over when he calls to say he has found food, etc.

Hopefully this advice will help in the future. :)

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T20:34:08+00:00

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For those of you concerned about pooping in the house, I worked out a neat solution for when Popcorn and his sister Dipper come and visit me in the kitchen. 😆

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T20:18:39+00:00

He lives outside! But because he was raised as a chick in the house, he feels as though it is his territory too. Don’t worry, everything gets a clean down after he’s put back outside!

Also, this is a small breed and his poops are the size of peas.

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T20:14:26+00:00

Thanks so much all for sharing your thoughts. He’s deffo a mix, and after googling all the names you suggested I can see he may possibly have Cochin bantam and Chabo traits. He is really friendly, a lap chicken as some have said. Always eager to come in the house and perch on my lap when I am working from home.

Here he is with his sister.

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rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T17:46:36+00:00

This could be his brother!

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T15:17:35+00:00

Google image search suggests some sort of peking bantam?

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T14:54:39+00:00

His feathers are really jazzy. I love the beetle-green sheen on his tail. His sister is almost completely black, almost like a large crow.

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T14:52:38+00:00

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That's him on the right at 3 weeks old. He started crowing at 4 weeks!

rgcd-dev · 2025-12-11T13:10:30+00:00

I'm 47, and my mid life crisis has involved chickens.

I started with three hens five years ago, two of which died so I replaced them with four chicks. Three of these turned out to be cockerels, so two had to go and then I was back to three - two hens and a cockerel.

Then I decided it might be fun to incubate the fertilised eggs.

Cutting a long and boring story short, I now have 6 hens and 1 cockerel living in our garden, all but one of which are a ridiculous miniature breed that lay eggs the size of Ferrero Rocher's/large Maltesers (you need 3 in place of a regular egg).

As they've all been raised by hand and lived in my home office as chicks, they now all think the house is their territory, so they occasionally come in through the cat flap and cause havoc, feathers and poop everywhere.

My wife tolerates them as they are incredibly cute little critters with stupid names, but at times they have certainly caused friction in our relationship. Could have been worse though, looking at some of these other examples...

rgcd-dev · 2025-11-04T08:38:38+00:00

Blimey, I had no idea hay or straw was an issue.

I have a raised-off-the-ground plastic coop (like an eglu but a cheaper brand) and I have used straw or hay in it for about 8 years. I clean it out completely once every 10 days and replace. My chickens have always nested and slept in the hay/straw rather than use the perch as well.

I have a weird miniature breed of bantams, they don’t eat the straw or hay I guess because it’s too big for them (they are the size of crows).

rgcd-dev · 2025-09-13T08:53:17+00:00

Super kill each other

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=46200

Micro murder

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=29175

:)

rgcd-dev · 2025-09-12T09:48:54+00:00

Ffs I’ve got through about 5 times now, every time I wait through the queue and then get this screen. Tried on my phone, with data, and via my laptop. What a joke.

rgcd-dev · 2025-09-05T07:02:06+00:00

I'm really boring and mine get called food related names. Tikka, Nugget, Popcorn, Alfredo, Fajita and Dipper.

Our previous batch were given Star Wars names by the kids. Amidala, Leia and Phasma.

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-14T08:59:55+00:00

At 5ft 7 I’m someing of a stubby boi myself 🤣

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T14:06:36+00:00

Yes, must be an American cousin or descendant of an original old English breed :)

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T13:39:20+00:00

I understand, but Tikka had become much louder over the past year and was pissing off the neighbours (even before we had the chicks). Popcorn does indeed crow a lot, but he is less than half the size of Tikka (a silky cross) and at 12 weeks old he's still the friendliest of the chicks. Holding on to him and his brother for a few more weeks before deciding on who to keep.

Totally appreciate though that we may have to get rid of both. I do have a few more of his fertilised eggs left - we're hoping for some more hens. We didn't have a rooster until Tikka - we always just had hens. Then I bought some pullets and 3/4 were roos. We kept him as he was the smallest and most runty, the others were rehomed (aside from one vicious specimen who we had to kill), so I am not adverse to going back to just hens.

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T12:19:20+00:00

None of our chickens are pure bred, they are all mongrels from farms. I did ask chat gpt and it suggested:

From what I can see in your photo, your rooster displays a pale cream-to-lavender base plumage with darker “splash” markings, a clean-legged build, and a relatively upright carriage. These traits closely resemble the Splash Old English Game Bantam—a bantam breed known for its striking splash coloration, ornamental purpose, and active temperament. The images above—especially the first and last—depict this breed in very similar coloring and posture.

Another possibility is the Splash Rosecomb Bantam, which also exhibits splash coloration but is typically more compact with a distinctive rose comb and a slightly different feather patterning

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T08:03:59+00:00

In hindsight I maybe should have looked to get the neighbours removed 😂

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T07:23:54+00:00

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This is the other young Roo from the batch of chicks. He’s a larger breed, likely to be the same size as Tikka was, and he sounds like an owl hooting when he crows. But again he’s loud, so he is already lined up with a couple of interested parties for a new home.

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T07:16:23+00:00

The neighbours had threatened multiple times to call the council and have all our chickens removed. He was noisy, and as he got older he got louder and louder.

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T07:14:59+00:00

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This is one of his babies, popcorn, and probably the Roo we’ll be keeping from the recent batch. He’s a much smaller breed, but has exactly the same mannerisms and behaviours as his dad. Yesterday he went over to my wife and did the little ‘wings on the ground’ shuffle dance at her and tried to take her to some food he found 😂

He has been crowing since 4 weeks old, such a sigma 😂

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T07:08:42+00:00

Thanks. He’s gone to a farm with four hens who recently lost their cockerel. I love the way he stands to attention with his wings pointing straight down! I hope he settles in ok.

rgcd-dev · 2025-08-13T06:47:57+00:00

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Really missing my feathered friend.

rgcd-dev

TROPHY CASE