Hello poultry people.
I'm Brandon, from a little town named Ashland, in central Virginia. It's nicknamed "The Center of the Universe" because way back when, it was (and still is) a tiny little train town, right on the tracks, and basically, all roads (tracks) led to Ashland.
My wife and I have been here for almost 3 years. I had a list of things that I wanted when I moved in: a big garden, compost, rain barrels, and chickens. Well, just last weekend we checked off the final item of that list.
I have been working on our coop for a few months now. It's taken a little while because I am using ALL repurposed material. I was in the driveway for a couple of weekends with my reciprocating saw and hammer, busting up shipping pallets to use for the build. It's now totally done except for some landscaping around the edges. The only things that I needed to buy we're the hinges and latch hardware and poultry wire. Total, it has cost me less than $100.
I have read a few threads looking for advice, and then figured, what the heck, I'll join! So here I am.
So now a little about me......I'm a carpenter, cyclist, father of an awesome little dude named Oliver, and husband to my wife, Kristy. I am into gardening, permaculture, living off the land, self-sufficiency, preparedness, and trying to make my little half acre work for me, producing food and medicinal herbs. I am very mechanically adept, and can build, repair and engineer just about everything. One of my favorite toys on the homestead is my watering system. It's a reclaimed pressure booster from an old soda fountain that I fitted with the correct size bibs to attach to standard garden hose. I just plug it in, and it draws water from my barrels and can pump it anywhere. I water my garden, wash the cars, and do just about everything with it. I will one day plumb it into the downstairs toilet, too. The coolest thing about it is that once it reaches a certain pressure, it satisfies the system, and it cuts off automatically. When I use some water and the pressure drops in the tank, it fires up and pumps water into the reservoir. Awesome system.
I'm hoping to learn lots about chickens and lots of other homesteading questions that I may have. And I hope that I can help others with areas that I'm knowledgeable in. I look forward to reading the threads!
I'm Brandon, from a little town named Ashland, in central Virginia. It's nicknamed "The Center of the Universe" because way back when, it was (and still is) a tiny little train town, right on the tracks, and basically, all roads (tracks) led to Ashland.
My wife and I have been here for almost 3 years. I had a list of things that I wanted when I moved in: a big garden, compost, rain barrels, and chickens. Well, just last weekend we checked off the final item of that list.
I have been working on our coop for a few months now. It's taken a little while because I am using ALL repurposed material. I was in the driveway for a couple of weekends with my reciprocating saw and hammer, busting up shipping pallets to use for the build. It's now totally done except for some landscaping around the edges. The only things that I needed to buy we're the hinges and latch hardware and poultry wire. Total, it has cost me less than $100.
I have read a few threads looking for advice, and then figured, what the heck, I'll join! So here I am.
So now a little about me......I'm a carpenter, cyclist, father of an awesome little dude named Oliver, and husband to my wife, Kristy. I am into gardening, permaculture, living off the land, self-sufficiency, preparedness, and trying to make my little half acre work for me, producing food and medicinal herbs. I am very mechanically adept, and can build, repair and engineer just about everything. One of my favorite toys on the homestead is my watering system. It's a reclaimed pressure booster from an old soda fountain that I fitted with the correct size bibs to attach to standard garden hose. I just plug it in, and it draws water from my barrels and can pump it anywhere. I water my garden, wash the cars, and do just about everything with it. I will one day plumb it into the downstairs toilet, too. The coolest thing about it is that once it reaches a certain pressure, it satisfies the system, and it cuts off automatically. When I use some water and the pressure drops in the tank, it fires up and pumps water into the reservoir. Awesome system.
I'm hoping to learn lots about chickens and lots of other homesteading questions that I may have. And I hope that I can help others with areas that I'm knowledgeable in. I look forward to reading the threads!
