Man, there's a lot of work being done here! I love it!!
Sam and I got out this evening for a couple hours and got the chicken run finished up. Staples and staples and staples and staples and staples!
Words cannot express how proud I am of this kid. He's a great helper with projects like this. I need to keep him busy with this kind of thing cause when he's not busy, that energy goes to... unproductive tasks lol
The cicadas already love it. Sam gathered a dozen of em off of it with Babo before he was needed for helping.
What we got done
We got the roof completed and stapled.
We got some corrugated tar board put up on the end of the run where the coop is going to be.
And we finished the wire on the top half of the run.
We're ready for the coop and chickens!!
Its a bit hard to tell from the picture, but it's all ready. The coop is going on the south end of the run. It'll butt up to it and get screwed together. Any gaps will be patched with chicken wire and it'll be good to go!
I think we'll have a big compost bin under the coop so when we clean out, it'll all just go into the compost. Quick and easy.
Theres a big section of 6" pvc that the previous owners used for a feeder. I'll probably rig it up for a similar purpose as well.
The ground inside is mostly sand. I'm not sure if I need to put some mulch or hay or something in there. I'll have to look it up and see. I wonder if they'd do alright with some pine needles. We have plenty of those from the big pines shedding. That reminds me: I probably need to clean off the carport again.
Still work to be done, but we're at a good stopping point here. That's good cause I've got a couple things I can weld up for my parents...
Off to work! Y'all have a good evening :)
Stay relevant
Nate
Well done! And such a cute and enthusiastic little helper. I found you through your comment to @farmer-g and so happy to be meeting other homesteaders. Although we are on the other side of the proverbial "pond" Joel Salatin's books are really helpful. I also find the Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable, by Juliette de Bairacli Levy invaluable! It's old but most of her advice is still applicable. A little chicken tip (which I'm about to post about) I cut wormwood and lavender and put it in the nests, under hay to keep mites away
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Ahh! So much to read, thanks! Sounds like pretty much anything from Joel Salatin will be super relevant, so that's where I'm gonna start. Probably order one on purse.io this week :)
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For coop and run floor you will want to plan to have some sort of carbon to add regularly. Ammonia from chicken manure builds up fast. Hay, leaves, straw, wood shavings, etc are all carbon. Some work a LOT better than others.
The important thing is the carbon: nitrogen ratio. This is what is going to determine the level of ammonia in the coop. Joel Salatin created this list in his book Salad Bar Beef:
“Carbon: Nitrogen
Poultry Manure 7:1
Leaves 50:1
Straw 100:1
Sawdust 500:1
Wood chips 250:1
Grass hay 80:1
Alfalfa hay 20:1
"Enough carbon must be put in contact with the manure to chemically suspend the nutrients. The rule of thumb is, if you can smell ammonia, add carbon."
The items with the highest numbers do the best job of sequestering the nitrogen and stabilizing the nutrients particularly ammonia (nitrogen). The point of sequestering/stabilizing nutrients is to hold them for composting and returning to the soil.
Keeping ammonia sequestered is crucially important for chicken health. They are right down there in it and it affects their lungs quickly. If you can smell it at 5’ up, image what it is at the source.
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Now THAT is some awesome information! Thank you! I think @burntoblog has recommended some material by Joel Salatin as well. I'll have to pick up a book or two of his :)
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Great job and I'm sure a great sense of accomplishment for you both!
The chickens need grit to digest their food and they love a good dust bath in the sand. So having a sand base I think is ideal for them as well as drainage.
I love Joel Salatins books my favorite is You Can Farm.
His chicken business is based on a moving model vs the standing model. There are benefits to both.
Mine is a coop run similar to yours and I use straw and hay on the run floor to keep odor down as well as inside the coup. Ever so often rake it up and compost. You will find that it will compost in place and I have just added layers before to allow that microbiology to get going.... The chickens seem to know when it's ready and go find the bugs. I also like the straw and hay as I find it breaks down quicker than wood chips or that type material and prefer it for garden compost.
The main secret to chickens is a clean dry environment.
I always keep poultry electrolytes on hand and a product called VetRX. The most common illness in chickens is respiratory which usually comes from a damp wet environment
and the VetRX is an all natural solution that WORKS.
I use to work in a farm store and saved a lot of flocks by recommending it. It's under $10 for a bottle that could last year's depending on the size of your flock. You may never need it but when they show illness they've probably been sick for awhile so getting it to them quickly is important and if you have it on hand you'll be glad you do.
I love my chickens and appreciate the contribution they make on my homestead. I look forward to seeing them bring that joy and contribution to your family!
What is your predator pressure like on your farm?
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Thanks, wow! So many people coming out and helping with so much information!
As for predators, the only ones I've seen so far are gray hawks. The run has a wire roof on it to keep em out. I wouldn't doubt there's raccoons too, but I haven't seen em yet.
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The raccoons are super cute but their little hands can rip open chicken wire pretty easily. They are strong and can pull the birds through it to. Happened to a neighbor, it was awful to see.
Just depends on your area.
People that build those chicken tractor style coups with chicken wire also have the electric fence that surrounds it.
Is you box that they will sleep in solid? I couldn't tell in the pic.
Just the chicken wire wouldn't keep mine safe I had to make their night box solid wooden walls with hardware cloth window for ventilation.
Not to worry you, your setup is spacious and the birds will love it!
Just asking as precaution.
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Yes, the actual coop part is solid, not just wire. 3/8 siding framed out with 2x4s and 4x4s.
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You've got it going on!
When do the chickens come?
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Looking like we'll bring them home tomorrow! I'm gonna go tomorrow afternoon to disassemble the coop and bring it home. I hope to get all four birds at the same time.
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Exciting! I'll be watching for that post
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You know, when we were getting you moved in and I saw the top of the carport covered in that debris, I imagined taking an air hose to it. Not sure if that's feasible for you right now, but maybe in the future you can explore the idea for efficiency's sake..
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Leaf blower and a rake worked alright the last time. I think this next time it'll work even better if I toss Sam up there and have him do it.
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Hey brother! Just checking in.. Deej said you left the trollbox in anticipation of shadowbook coming. Hopefully wont be too long before its up and running!
Hope youre all good!
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Oh man, things are going great! Didn't specifically leave the trollbox, but the facebook ecosystem altogether. I got tired of the censorship and had to leave. I've established myself better here and things are moving along at a great pace!
Really looking forward to shadowbook and shadowchat. Any timeline?
How have you been?
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Awesome! Yeh all good here, things have been a bit hectic lately so i havent been posting much on my steemit account as of late - more just lurking about the platform for now!
No idea of timeline, i think Deej is wanting to release Elysian fields over the next few weeks, but im sure you will hear about it anyway. Will be cool another box on shadowchat going.
btw have you signed up a byteball account yet? everyone seems to be frothing about it atm!
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Yeah, I signed up last weekend. Kinda stoked about it, I even got one referral reward!
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intruiging
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Using pallets, nice. Use what you got.
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I actually bought the setup from someone. $100 for the run, coop, and four chickens. Not bad to me. There were folks selling much smaller setups for a lot more, so I jumped on this one.
Same folks have a lot of other materials around their property that I'm gonna try and pick up too. Lumber, tin, and more pallets.
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