Might be a bit overkill for 6 hens, but I'm sure they'll work. Had the buckets. Needed a simple nesting solution. Already had the shelf. I'm thinking it'll do the trick...
Been a very long time since I've posted. Thought I would share my "new" feeder. I bought a bunch of 5 gallon buckets. I had a old plastic tub laying around in shed. Pretty self explanatory. It fit perfectly into an old shelf in coop. It appears to be hen-approved!
So I finished running electric to my coop. It's got a single bulb, and a double outlet. I'm not going to use it much, so I figured this would be enough. The chickens don't seem to mind...
Built this guy today from some cedar boards and 2x6. It turned out great. It can hold something like 50-75lbs. Feels good to be able to feed them without opening door.
So I got my new tiller fixed (welded new brackets). I had to do a lot of fine tuning / adjustments to get it to work. It's a 38" Gravely, modified to work with me BX1860. Great part is that it's offset.
I'm planning to till up some soil for corn, beans (outside fence), and veggies and fruit...
I have been scouring Craigslist for the "right" tiller for a while. I have a 18hp Diesel, and a rather sloped yard. A 4ft tiller works, but it really does stress the tiller at 4ft. So, I have been looking at 42", and smaller tillers. I found the one that will be perfect! It is a older model...
My girls turn 5wks old next week. It's about time they take things seriously. I left their door open, and let them be (they're expectedly skittish). I will check on them from living room to make sure they're safe. I'm not working on coop at all today so they're relaxed.
I found this latch a while ago. I never got around to installing it until today. The bottom of the door has a overhang which "grabs" onto the coop wall. I simply put a couple of spare pieces of wood on wall to screw latch onto (not throwing away stuff REALLY helps). There's really not much...
So, I made some modifications to the coop for feeding and watering. I built a platform for the feeder and waterer. This will keep most of the bedding out of each, and make it last a lot longer.
The platform is 1/4 of a pallet. I just flipped it upside down so the bucket/waterer can't slide...
So, after nearly 1mth of my small dog waterer, I'm over it...lol I've been struggling to come up with a low cost / no cost (using on-hand stuff) solution. So this morning, I came up with this. I know people have made endless variations of this. I had a old plant dish, and a old and nasty milk...
Here are all my gals! They're approaching 4wks old, and are big, strong, healthy girls. They love their bigger brooder. It's incredible how much they've grown.
Yeah, I didn't go fancy, automatically opening for mine. I went, "well, wth am I gonna do with this scrap?" It's not the prettiest, but it works! I didn't finish the "lock," but it'll be a secure wedge to keep door shut at night. And yes, that is a screw holding the equipment hook, attached to...
So, it has been a very fun 2.5wks with my girls. They are all doing fine! It's incredible the rate at which they grow...really is. I moved them to the bigger sized "brooder." Although truthfully, their final coop floorspace won't be much bigger. As soon as I transferred them, they started...
I used the coop itself. I bought a waterer and feeder (couldn't get homemade to work right).
I made the heat lamp from a hanging shop light, and shield of old barn light.
Should I remove some bedding?
I hope at least...lol I am off from work, and have morning / afternoon open. Currently I am finishing up the run on my coop. Aside from that, coop itself needs VERY little. So I was thinking, even if the run isn't done Wednesday, I can keep the chicks inside the coop until Saturday (when I am...
So this has been occupying most of my (very limited) free time. I built my 25mth old girl her own "playground." She's got a very nice Step2 Playhouse. I had a nice area excavated, which I then graded. I bordered it with some natural logs on one side, and a nice retaining wall (doubles as bench)...
I did a quick lay-out of how I want to setup my land. Granted, there is always room for modification and redesign, but for now I am liking what I am seeing.
1) The boxed area at top (right by house) is where I want to plant some fruit trees. I should be able to fit a good amount of apple...
So my wife went to dinner with her best friend. They recently bought a house with some property. He's building a coop right now. You know what this means, right?!?!?