my very own micro farm

attimus · Mar 5, 2015

Chicks look happy and healthy. Got one perch built for em, they aren't really using it yet but running and jumping around. Kinda taking it easy right now. Probably really just gearing up for the next project im unaware of. Lol. Moved my basils to my mini plant starter green house. And just been kinda straightening up around the place. A lot of wood scrap among other things here and there since the projects. Trying to think of little things to use em for. More boss and mealworms for all the chickens. Even a few worms for the chicks. Sorted a few more pupae out of the bin this morning as well. Definitely time to order another 1000.

attimus · Mar 7, 2015

Chickies!

They are super active. Rosco likes to get up on their run and crow which subsequently rushes them back into the coop.

The Sweds.

They seem to be working out whatever space issues they've had. And they seem to be super curious of the mallards courtship so we'll see how that goes.

Mealworms.

Pulled 30 pupae out this morning. The number is increasing daily. I really need to get on top of ordering the next batch and picking up the new containers.

Kelsos

Medusa is laying every few days. Hopefully Athena catches up soon. Its still nice having an extra egg in the count here and there. I'm sure with enough treats they will feel right at home.

Hands ons.

Here's both the stands, I'm happy with them andi havent seen the chicks use one but the lady did.

And I built this as an earthworm box. Figured why not since I'm doing all this other stuff any ways and I had the scrap around along with a massive compost pile to feed them.

Onward and upward

birdman55 · Mar 7, 2015

all i gotta say is flip flops....lol

come over here with some flip flops.....lol...your toes might get some frostbite....lol

attimus · Mar 7, 2015

birdman55 said:
all i gotta say is flip flops..lol

come over here with some flip flops.....lol...your toes might get some frostbite....lol

We are already talking about going to the local river lol. I hear its still pretty cold but just planning for it this early is crazy.

Massey · Mar 8, 2015

Loving this thread, you get so much work done its amazing,

going to subscribe now so I can follow your progress,

you really put me to shame with the about you pack in, you've similar life set up to as in wife (in my case 2be very soon) and a daughter and a full time job yet I don't get half as much done in the garden,

Don't worry birdman, i'll definitely be following yours too, love some of your more colourful pheasants,

attimus · Mar 9, 2015

Massey said:
Loving this thread, you get so much work done its amazing,

going to subscribe now so I can follow your progress,

you really put me to shame with the about you pack in, you've similar life set up to as in wife (in my case 2be very soon) and a daughter and a full time job yet I don't get half as much done in the garden,

Don't worry birdman, i'll definitely be following yours too, love some of your more colourful pheasants,

I appreciate that a lot. It seems we share similar paths. I'm always open to new ideas and builds please feel free to post your work it's great for motivation. I usually just make it up as I go along, no dead set plan for exactly how things will be here and there. My main goal is to at least get something done every day.

Got my first beetle from the worms yesterday . Pretty
Jazzed about that.

Thats him on the left. Got a new tub set up for the beetles already too

and my pupae container is filling up. I'm pretty sure I can see which ones are starting to turn to beetles too so I can sort them a little better when I'm not around.

Here's the other worm box. Finished lined and filled.

And I cleaned out my main coop and run of its deep litter and I feel like my compost pile needs a new compost pile. Lol.

A few more pics from the day

Massey · Mar 9, 2015

I'll put up my photos later, right now i have 8 ducks, well 7 ducks and a drake, and 12 chickens. The ducks are 1 aylisbury, 1 khaki Campbell, (use to have 2 of each until a fox visited), 1 pekin, 1 chiltren, 2 Indian runners and 1 indian runner drake, the chickens are 8 hybrids, 2 pure breeds and 2 rescues, can remember what the pure breeds are, the hybrids are 2 amber stars, 2 bluebelles, 2 midsummers, and can't think of the other 2, I also have 3 dogs, all rescues, 2 mixed collies and a jack russel mixed with a shih tzu, so i have 2 coops i've made for my ducks and chickens, and i have a bought kennel for the dogs, but my better half thinks its a little small for the 3 of them so my next project is to build a new kennel (will do that today) and then i'm going to make a big run for them too as we have one that likes to wander when we arent at home.

After that i've loads of plans;

- Make a new pond for ducks with a pump going into a home made filter which will be a barrel full of gravel, hopefully will grow some chick weed in the barrel that the ducks can eat too, kinda bit of duckponics - thats the idea anyway,
- Then i need to make a brooder for some ducklings i plan to get and i'll use the old dog kennel as a coop for them and build a new run on to it.
- Then i need to finish my polytunnel and put in a few raised beds,
- Then i'll move my bees to my house, they are still in my mams i've moved into my current house which i built in 2013 but still doing stuff to the house so the bees are here yet as i think builders and the likes might refuse to work here if they were about,

So thats where i'm at, as i said in my previous post doing a lot of similar stuff to yourself but way behind, and then well in the future i hope to get a second poly tunnel and add an aquaponics system with some brown trout in it and a wormery to feed the fish.

I'll add some photos later or in a few days,

attimus · Mar 9, 2015

@Massey Sounds like a wonderful flock you have there. barrel full of gravel seems like a great idea, I'd love to see how that all works out. I'm always having issues with my pumps. Thinking windmill or something would be fun to figure out too. Once I plan out how to refinish the pond I want to incorporate tilapia some how. I'm also looking forward to baby ducklings this spring. Check out my chicky condo. It splits in half to function as a brooder, the lid comes off and can be covered with a screen for lighting. Although I hear brooder plates are much better and safer than lights.
You definitely got me on the building a house, we did
add an enclosed deck recently and plan on remodeling the kitchen but still, a whole house is a grand task. And bees, had a chance at a hive from my boss but wasn't ready yet. He is looking into getting them again so I might consider it shortly.

If anyone ever wants their dogs to get used to chicks, throw them in the back of a car for a 45 min ride once in a while. Lol.

Seriously tho he loves all the girls as much as we do, just thought it was a funny pic.

Got some more work done on the boxes yesterday. One more line and filled in. A lot of work to get them all functioning again.
And heres some of the product of this great California weather