Recent content by Taranakian

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    Need Advice: Charging 12V Batteries with 24V Solar Panels

    Half of my solar panels are 30V, and they're connected to my 12V batteries. Not only is it ideal to have a voltage difference, it's necessary, else there's no way for the energy to flow. Also, generally the higher the voltage rating the earlier in the day/the less direct sunlight is required...
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    What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

    Literally billions of people around the planet eat food that has been fertilised with humanure. Humans have been using our own wastes to fertilise for centuries - probably since near on the dawn of agriculture. I'd much rather use my own, knowing that we don't take antibiotics, eat animals...
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    Anyone else hatching?

    I've got a dozen Indian Game/Dark Cornish in the incubator right now, due in a couple of weeks. I've got some Orpingtons out of the incubator just 14 days ago, and after the current batch I'm due some CornishX eggs arriving once these fellas hit about a week old. I very much look forward to...
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    Hesitating with dispatching them

    The only birds I've despatched so far were our ducks. I would've loved to have kept them, but we had geese we got at the same time (from the same farm) and the geese hatched out some goslings. The drake was always a bully to the geese (who I vastly preferred over the ducks) and started going...
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    Solar for coop

    Two other quick thoughts. If you were to go with lithium batteries, you can discharge them when their internal temperature is below freezing, but you can't charge them when their internal temperature is below freezing without potentially doing significant damage to them that may end with scary...
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    Solar for coop

    Honestly, as someone who designed and installed our own off-grid system, if your coop is on the ground this is your best option: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/alternate-method-to-prevent-water-freezing.73180/ Solar is possible, but heating requires a lot more power than you would...
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    Eggs what do you do if they are dirty and how dirty is acceptable? Maybe you could show me your eggs you collect?

    Every person I know that has chooks here would have that bowl of eggs sitting on their benchtop without thinking twice about it.
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    Roofed roosting bar at night and that's it...anyone with experience?

    Defo! It really warms my heart going out there to let the chicks out from their rat proof sleeping shelter into their enclosure for the day. The more I watch them the more I fall in love (the more jealous my dog seems to act - she'll come right, she did with the here and ducks). They're so...
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    Let’s Talk About Bird Flu

    Honestly, that's part of why I decided to chime in. It really stinks, but in the modern world we've simply been pitted against each other and manipulated to react without assessing each individual situation/comment/intent. All of us do it, and when I see it happening it feels appropriate to...
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    Roofed roosting bar at night and that's it...anyone with experience?

    This makes sense. I've already learned the literal meaning of "don't count your chickens before they hatch". Certainly we've got no real option but to try to plan for perfection at the moment, but tempering that with keeping infrastructure "just enough, just in time" certainly allows more...
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    Roofed roosting bar at night and that's it...anyone with experience?

    Ha! More like a human run, aye?
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    Roofed roosting bar at night and that's it...anyone with experience?

    I'm buying this, for sure. I'll definitely expect broodies to raise the majority of my chicks, but I suspect I'll always want the option to bring in more genes via the incubator, so something that could double as a coop and brooder makes sense. It would also give me a reasonable option for...
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    The New Zealand Thread

    There's the slightest chance it's worth checking out the rare breeds directory (https://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/directorye.html#chooks) and maybe calling or emailing the people listed for leghorns and inquiring with them. Full disclosure: I've reached out to a few people on that list when I was...
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    Roofed roosting bar at night and that's it...anyone with experience?

    Awesome! Thanks for that. I reckon we'll just try it and see. We've always got material on hand, so I can knock up something different pretty quickly if it turns out to be necessary. Yeah, I can imagine. I'm not terribly interested in breaking my back to move the chooks. They're supposed...
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    Anyone trained their dog to stay away from chickens like this?

    Totally understand. Totally agree. For what it's worth - you've been really clear through 5 pages of this thread about how well qualified you are to have this tool in your toolbox and to use it for training your dog. I reckon it's pretty stink that the state of the world is such that a few...
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