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  1. OurSufficientLife

    Rendered lard for first time - it separated?

    Thank you! It looks fabulous now. Going to try making oatmeal and honey bar soap tonight. Crossing my fingers :)
  2. OurSufficientLife

    Rendered lard for first time - it separated?

    Thank you! It appears there are two densities. Both layers hardened in the fridge. I didn't realize it could do that!
  3. OurSufficientLife

    Rendered lard for first time - it separated?

    I put it in the fridge and it all became solid. So I guess it was some kind of oily fat at the top? Seems to be fine now. I pulled them back out of the fridge. Maybe I was too impatient and just didn't wait long enough. No idea. Haha Thank you for the reply 🥰
  4. OurSufficientLife

    Rendered lard for first time - it separated?

    Does anyone have experience with this? I was trying to make a shelf stable lard. I used 7.5 lbs of pork fat run through the meat grinder. Rendered for 10 hours on low setting on slow cooker. Did not add water. This was from a pasture raised hog. Strained it through cheesecloth into jars then...
  5. OurSufficientLife

    We got our first egg!! :D

    Great idea! I wonder if I could blow it out and then coat with acrylic. 🤔
  6. OurSufficientLife

    We got our first egg!! :D

    I went out to close down the coop for the evening and I am so glad we got our nest boxes done (about a week and a half ago). We had our first egg! So excited! It's small, but I know that's usually the case for the first ones. Nice to know it was laid in the nest boxes we had made. Just had to...
  7. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    I wish our windows were up higher, like yours. I did not know there was such a thing as "stall dry" .. now I need to go looking for it. Thank you! 😀
  8. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    Thank you SO MUCH! This is kind of the way we were thinking of going - something to close it off if it gets bad. And it looks like leaving it open might even block some of the snow that might swirl in from getting on the chickens. Love your dry happy chicken. 🥰 Very cute coop!
  9. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    Sweet! I am going to look into the ventilation strips and see what Dan thinks. Thank you!
  10. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    I see what you mean. Great idea with the awning. We are not opposed to "redneck" if it gets the job done! 🥰 If we open up the back of the coop at the top, we are going to need to add an overhang.
  11. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    Would you happen to have a pic of the baffle? I will remember to slip my hands under the wings. Haha Love it.
  12. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    I love the furnace filter idea! If we open up the west side for a vent, we will definitely need something like that - that side gets hit with wind/snow blowing from an open field next to our property. And thank you for showing me where to change the geographical location. I am going to do it...
  13. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    Wow.. this is great info. The temps I mentioned were F, so it does get pretty cold. I looked up the remay - that is an excellent idea. Let it breathe but keep the snow out. We will most likely use that idea - when a winter storm hits there is a lot of swirling snow and high winds can be 30mph or...
  14. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    Yes! That is a great idea. I worry about snow blowing in, but I think we are just going to have to go for it and see what happens. The back of the coop faces west, and that is where the snow blows across the field beside us into our property. So we'll probably have to leave that side as is, at...
  15. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    We are in northwest Iowa. I'm so glad you linked that article - it's hard to think about trying to keep them warm and also putting holes in the coop at the same time. From what I gather then, the vents at the top above the chickens will not increase "drafts", and as long as the rest of the coop...
  16. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    Wow.. one square foot per chicken! And we have 26 chickens 😳 We need to put this at the top of our project list while the weather is still nice. Thanks, wamtazlady!
  17. OurSufficientLife

    Winter ventilation concerns

    This is our first year raising chickens. Now that we've gotten to fall and I've been reading articles on this, we are getting a little concerned about ventilation over the winter. Our coop is 8'x20'. On either end we have vents above the roosts (see pic). Total vent space on each side is 20"...
  18. OurSufficientLife

    Show me your nest boxes! + some questions

    Thank you aart! There are 16" in between the lids when they are open so I think it will be okay? Good to know about the hay - I will probably go in and squish it down a bit and bowl it out as you were talking about. After shooting the video, we opened them all up and one jumped up on top of...
  19. OurSufficientLife

    Nest boxes: open or close? Feedback/ pros & cons appreciated!

    I hadn't thought about the weight of the roosts. Glad you mentioned! Great tips for when we tackle this. Thank you!
  20. OurSufficientLife

    Nest boxes: open or close? Feedback/ pros & cons appreciated!

    I don't have enough experience to offer advice. I just wanted to say I really like this design - especially serving so many for the amount of space. And being able to lift up the roosts is awesome. We were thinking about a tractor design at some point so saving this post for future. 🥰
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