Helpful hints for building coops

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Rule of twos....
Make it twice as big as you think you need, walk in....
Put in twice the amount of ventilation you think you need.
It will cost twice as much as you planned.
It will take twice as long to build as you thought it would.

If this is your first flock build coop first, then get chicks.
Since you built it bigger build in a in coop brooder/chicken jail.
Dirt floor for DLM

Gary

That old chicken math thing

 

[jvls1942]

spring must be getting near. the sun is shining through
the patio door.
I am all prepared to start building things in the wood shop
as soon as I do not have to light a fire to heat it. soon, very soon..
I have been designing equipment trolleys. I have two jointers,
two table saws and soon a table saw extension/router table.
the planer has to stay put because of the 220V outlet.
I will take pictures as I go.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I need to make different doors for the goat stalls. The ones i made from goat panels make me crazy. And more hay feeders, trough holders, etc.
Setting batch #5 of hatching eggs tomorrow. Big demand for chickens these days. And i need to replace my hens, as many of them are 3 or older. I have an order of chicks shipping to me this week! Speckled Sussex and Columbian Wyandottes.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have been working on cleaning up dead pine trees on our property. Hubby cuts them down , then chops them into chunks. I have been piling up the logs in a burn pit and adding branches and limbs to get the logs burning. We have 13 acres, mostly treed. Thanks to pine bark beetles, we have loads of dead treees.
Today i worked in the original goat pasture. And we put the raised beds together behind the studio . I am quite tired tonight.

 

[saysfaa]

...And we put the raised beds together behind the studio...

Have you considered burying some of the logs under the filling of the raised beds? Hugelkulture

 

[3KillerBs]

Have you considered burying some of the logs under the filling of the raised beds? Hugelkulture

My SIL was going on about this and I didn't understand how you're supposed to grow anything when you've limited your depth of soil and have big chunks of nitrogen-suck in the form of decaying wood.

She's always enthusing about something she's read on the internet and has very little scientific understanding about how things work.

How *does* this work?

 

[Sally PB]

Hugelkulter

As the logs rot, they slowly release nutrients back into the soil. They also act like a sponge to hold extra moisture. A neighbor of mine has some hugel beds that have transformed her garden soil.

The first year, you might need to use extra nitrogen, as the logs will absorb (if that's the right word) it from the surrounding soil. Think of a "nurse log" out in the forest. Except it's under the soil.

I buried a lot of logs in my gardens last year. One is very sandy soil, the other heavy clay. I'll report on how it goes.

 

[3KillerBs]

Hugelkulter

As the logs rot, they slowly release nutrients back into the soil. They also act like a sponge to hold extra moisture. A neighbor of mine has some hugel beds that have transformed her garden soil.

The first year, you might need to use extra nitrogen, as the logs will absorb (if that's the right word) it from the surrounding soil. Think of a "nurse log" out in the forest. Except it's under the soil.

I buried a lot of logs in my gardens last year. One is very sandy soil, the other heavy clay. I'll report on how it goes.

So very slow soil improvement then?

My SIL was going on about how she wouldn't have to buy so much soil for her new beds if she did that. My thought was how plants roots are often as big below the soil as above and how would they grow if they only have a few inches of soil on top of the logs to grow in.

 

[jvls1942]

I like the idea of using the logs for raised beds.
burying wood is OK. the smaller the pieces the
better. After the first year, the problem of nitrogen
decreases dramatically..
My wood chip pile has dwindled down to about 2 cu yards.
it is over ten years old and looks like good black dirt.
I just acquired another truck load of fresh chips. I will be
turning and mixing them periodically from now on.
I use the tractor and loader for this.
I get them free from the guys who trim the trees around
the telephone and power lines..

 

[CapricornFarm]

Have you considered burying some of the logs under the filling of the raised beds? Hugelkulture

No, not interested in that. I do enough log handling as it is.