Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[Cpolanco3]

Oz,

Have you considered growing sweet potatoes? If you're already growing yucca (tarro root?) you should be able to grow sweet potatoes.

Claudia

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quail two weeks, heck they are young adults now! What are you plans with them oz? you have a rotation schedule and all that?

 

[ozexpat]

to Oz!!

Question; (a thought pops up every now and then) Being that you are so close to the beach and all, I am guessing sand is a major soil component there. What are you doing for soil amendments for all of your deliciously big gardens? I know when I lived in Cuba, and the Gulf Coast, i had to contend with sandy soils and soil composed mainly of ancient coral. Not much to work with. And that was years before I even dipped my toe into growing my own compost.

I didn't start making compost till 93, and it turned out to be more successful than the little garden we had. (More fun too)

Our soil is black volcanic sand rather than coral so we are two steps up from the worst soil. We have had a couple of trucks of sugarcane mud press delivered over the years. Also composted saw dust grom the local mills. We also compost up all the coconut trees waste.,,,,, and now we have chicken poop.

Oz....on another note. How is the water treated for drinking after being caught and stored in the concrete tanks? Is it filtered first? Or just boiled? We are looking to build some sort of water storage here on our 1 acre, however, that project is still in the "research & design" stage. Not enough information gathered yet.
I like the idea of the culverts used for water storage.

water treatment:
Small scale, (survival mode) treat only drinking water, filtering or boiling is way too expensive to do otherwise, the easiest is a gravity powered filter, the filter canister is below the water storage bag that holds about a gallon, I have backpacked and you will not drink enough if the system is difficult, keep it simple. Oz will have other great ideas on systems that are not survival mode so I now retire again into the lurking group.

The water we catch will be mostly for the garden. I dont plan water filtration sysyems . I would just use a small filter for drinking water

Oz,

Have you considered growing sweet potatoes? If you're already growing yucca (tarro root?) you should be able to grow sweet potatoes.

Claudia

Yes. We have a seperate area near the highway that has a tarro patch. Sweet potatao is on the agenda along with regular potatoes and peanuts,

Quail two weeks, heck they are young adults now! What are you plans with them oz? you have a rotation schedule and all that?

The plans are to sell eggs and quail as meat. I have learnt not to make anything comcrete until the birds reach the age you want them.

 

[Tomtommom]

I need a gang. I've got SO many seeds ordered and I fear I went a little overboard. I have a lot of 'lawn' (grass mixed with random things like violets and plantain) and only one real raised bed. The rest is just de-grassed area that looks like the Sahara desert. I need some guys to come dig up my yard for me

And compost. Lots of compost.

 

[ozexpat]

I need a gang. I've got SO many seeds ordered and I fear I went a little overboard. I have a lot of 'lawn' (grass mixed with random things like violets and plantain) and only one real raised bed. The rest is just de-grassed area that looks like the Sahara desert. I need some guys to come dig up my yard for me

And compost. Lots of compost.

even in los angeles, I learnt to outsource my non core items such as house cleaning and such. A couple of keen 16 year olds could dig in a day what it would take you a month.

 

[maryhysong]

Oz, since you have beach front, do you get much seaweed washed up? you probably know that is a great source of minerals and also plant growth hormones? In many places they have made soil mostly by piling up the seaweed to rot....

 

[ozexpat]

Oz, since you have beach front, do you get much seaweed washed up? you probably know that is a great source of minerals and also plant growth hormones? In many places they have made soil mostly by piling up the seaweed to rot....

actually we dont have any seaweed and even when SCUBA diving I have not seen any in the tropics that I can recall. Most kelp grows in cool water like off the pacific in Cali. I know there are seaweed farms in the Philippines but I have yet to see it in the wild.

Next time I am home I will ask a few local saw mils - resawhans (places that re-saw lumber) for a few trailer loads of sawdust to compost. I have seen it just piled up in mountains so they may give it away - as the rice mills do with rice husks. Rce husks take years to break down but make the best litter for chicken coops.

Now I am going to have to look into it......

 

[Bulldogma]

actually we dont have any seaweed and even when SCUBA diving I have not seen any in the tropics that I can recall. Most kelp grows in cool water like off the pacific in Cali. I know there are seaweed farms in the Philippines but I have yet to see it in the wild.

Next time I am home I will ask a few local saw mils - resawhans (places that re-saw lumber) for a few trailer loads of sawdust to compost. I have seen it just piled up in mountains so they may give it away - as the rice mills do with rice husks. Rce husks take years to break down but make the best litter for chicken coops.

Now I am going to have to look into it......

I'm glad to hear the rice hulls are working out so well! I thought they might.

 

[Tomtommom]

even in los angeles, I learnt to outsource my non core items such as house cleaning and such. A couple of keen 16 year olds could dig in a day what it would take you a month.

I invested in raising my own keen 16 year olds

Ofcourse.... I still have 10+ years to go. And it somehow isn't very cost effective either.

I don't think I thought this plan through very well.

 

[ozexpat]

I invested in raising my own keen 16 year olds

Ofcourse.... I still have 10+ years to go. And it somehow isn't very cost effective either.

I don't think I thought this plan through very well.

in the mean time, find a couple of boy scouts that want to earn a few bucks