Minnesota!

[Rhetts]

Holm your pictures are great! And she lets you just lay with her? That is fantastic!! Best behaved for sure!! I had a pig once growing up that would let me lean on her and we would nap. She was so great. I don't think she realized she was a pig. More like our dog. She would walk us to the bus in the morning and then walk back home alone. She would be waiting for us when we got off the bus too. I ain't fooling you either. I had hand raised her with bottles so she was very good with us. Your picture Holm makes me think of her. Thank you.

 

[holm25]

Holm your pictures are great!  And she lets you just lay with her?  That is fantastic!!  Best behaved for sure!!  I had a pig once growing up that would let me lean on her and we would nap.  She was so great.  I don't think she realized she was a pig.  More like our dog.  She would walk us to the bus in the morning and then walk back home alone.  She would be waiting for us when we got off the bus too.  I ain't fooling you either.  I had hand raised her with bottles so she was very good with us.  Your picture Holm makes me think of her.  Thank you.  

Yep she is like a dog too. When I sit next to her she likes to wrap her head around me and scratch her cheeks and by her eyes. I believe u about your pig. They r just like dogs but I have never had one as nice as yours!!

 

[NikonD2xer]

So I have been rolling around the idea of decommissioning my coop that is built in one side of my old corn crib or at least building another coop before winter because while there is plenty of roost space for 33 chickens, there just isnt enough floor space in there for the days when they wont want to leave the protection of the coop. I know this will happen because they are already hiding out in there on really hot days as that is the shadiest and coolest place. This is resulting in them roosting on the nest boxes and pooping on the eggs.

All this talk about cattle panel hoop houses has been inspiring and I do plan to use some slightly smaller 'hog panels' to make a turkey hut for next year, i think i may try an build a hoop house out of a larger gauge EMT conduit similar to my hoop tractors, but larger. My train of thought is that EMT is cheaper than cattle panels, both of which I would need to cover in welded wire/Hardware cloth anyways.

My other thoughts revolve around Geodesic Domes, but that would be a little bit bigger ordeal.

@KlopKlop Unless you have an electrician in the family or know someone with an EMT pipe bender, I would steer clear of EMT. Anything over 3/4 inch starts getting tough to bend without the proper tools. Emt conduit kinks fairly easy when using a generic "pipe bender". Anytime you drill or screw into emt, you are creating a weak point or a kink point.

Emt is not cheaper than cattle panels, harder to connect together and will be weaker at the connection points.

For a temporary enclosure using pipe i would go with Electrical PVC conduit as it is sunlight resistant. Downfall is it gets brittle in freezing temps


I was an electrician and my father is a Master elctrician. I have either handled or installed hundreds of miles of conduit.

I didn't use conduit because in my opinion it would not hold up or time.

 

[KlopKlop]

@KlopKlop
   Unless you have an electrician in the family or know someone with an EMT pipe bender, I would steer clear of EMT.  Anything over 3/4 inch starts getting tough to bend without the proper tools.  Emt  conduit kinks fairly easy when using a generic "pipe bender".  Anytime you drill or screw into emt, you are creating a weak point or a kink point.  

Emt is not cheaper than cattle panels, harder to connect together and will be weaker at the connection points.  

For a temporary enclosure using pipe i would go with Electrical PVC conduit as it is sunlight resistant.   Downfall is it gets brittle in freezing temps


I was an electrician and my father is a Master elctrician.  I have either handled or installed hundreds of miles of conduit.

I didn't use conduit because in my opinion it would not hold up or time.

Check out my redneck emt hoop bender! It was a snap to bend 1/2" and with some work I think I could attempt 3/4"
I'm thinking I would use 10' 3/4" emt to make quarter arcs and support it with a center beam like your hoop house. I built my tractor hoops using 1/2" emt and so far so good! It doesn't have a center beam so I wouldn't trust it with a snow load, but I plan on storing them indoors this winter.

I figure I can try bending the 3/4" and see how it goes. I can get a 10' length for $3 and panels are $25 here. I was thinking of going 4' OC and seeing how it goes. At that rate it's cheaper than panels.

 

[NikonD2xer]

Check out my redneck emt hoop bender! It was a snap to bend 1/2" and with some work I think I could attempt 3/4"
I'm thinking I would use 10' 3/4" emt to make quarter arcs and support it with a center beam like your hoop house. I built my tractor hoops using 1/2" emt and so far so good! It doesn't have a center beam so I wouldn't trust it with a snow load, but I plan on storing them indoors this winter.

I figure I can try bending the 3/4" and see how it goes. I can get a 10' length for $3 and panels are $25 here. I was thinking of going 4' OC and seeing how it goes. At that rate it's cheaper than panels.

Nicely done with the bending arc. Personally i would never use 1/2 or even 3/4 for building anything. I have seen them fail way too often and that is being used for the intended purpose.

 

[holm25]

Ralph u won't believe what we almost hit on the road the other day. GUINEAS!!!! They must all love the road.

 

[KlopKlop]

Nicely done with the bending arc.  Personally i would never use 1/2 or even 3/4 for building anything.  I have seen them fail way too often and that is being used for the intended purpose.

Just to get a better understanding, how have you seen them fail? Splitting? Folding?

My goal would be for them to bear as little load as possible (snow load being the key issue) if you talk me out of EMT I may just go to a wood framed coop but we will see

 

[Minniechickmama]

Minnie-what is a LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog)?

There are other breeds too that can be used as LGD. Maremma is another, but they aren't great people dogs is my understanding. Antolians aren't terribly common. The most common for that purpose is the Great Pyrennes. They are meant to be raise with and live with the animals they guard. However, I know the GPs are prone to wandering, which probably why your puppies daddy did so. If you have a fenced in area for them all to cohabit is best with them. Some might think that if you are going to fence in, why have the dog too, but it depends on the fencing.

 

[holm25]

Anyone interested in some free young Pekin duck hens???

 

[Cluckies]

I don't want to jinx it, but in the last 7 days, I've gotten 5 eggs out of my 5 girls, an un heard of feat in my yard.