Sdwd

[rancher hicks]

Tim, I had a couple of thoughts on your bird of prey problem. I simply forgot to post it earlier. It could be that what you have hanging around your place is either a Cooper or a Sharp Shinned hawk. Cooper's are less than half the size of a mature red tail, and Sharp Shinned's are roughly half the size of a Cooper. You mentioned that you weren't sure if it was a small hawk or a falcon. My money would go on the Sharp Shinned. They do look strikingly like a small falcon through the face, but their wings and tail are not as narrow and pointed as, say, a Peregrine. That being said, they are every bit as fast, sneaky, and devastating to young chickens as any full sized bird of prey. As to what to do about it.......well......you can always follow the three S's. That being: Shoot. Shovel. And, Shut up! But, ya didn't hear that from ME!

Seriously though, while I do admire and respect the raptors of the world, that doesn't mean I'll sit iddly by and allow one to treat my flock as a wandering buffet table!

Good luck in scaring it away. That's always my first preference, but sadly, sometimes you have to resort to more drastic measures.

I haven't heard much about them lately but we had a pair of Peregrines living on one of the buildings in the city. George and Gracie. Each year we'd get an update on their hatch. Where the young -uns go I don't know.
I don't have a pair of Binoculars, so I didn't get a good look at it. I just know it was smaller than the Red Tails. We also have Bald Eagles in the area too. At least near the Onondaga Lake area.

Which ever it is, I will try to scare it away first. I've plans to make a couple of scare crows to put out there and some shelters for the chicken to run under. I can not afford to have something steal my dinner that is for sure.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Tim, I love your hoop coops!

Question: What is the row of white jugs for in the second picture?

 

[Serrin]

Tim, I love your hoop coops!

Question: What is the row of white jugs for in the second picture?

Ooo! Oooo! I know the answer to that one! You'll notice that Tim has placed those jugs on the South [sunny] side of the structure. They likely contain water, which would be heated by the sun's rays. After the sun goes down, those jugs would release their stored heat back into the hoop coop, thereby keeping the structure a bit warmer during the overnight hours.

I've used a similar method in my small green house, but I painted my containers black to further facilitate the absorption of heat from the sun. It works on the same principle of a black car on a summer day, versus a white car. The black car will always get hotter faster than the white one.

Tim, your idea is a good one, but Denny and I have always built with durability and low maintenance in mind. For our money, it just makes sense to do so.

A hoop coop or green house type of structure wouldn't last long in our climate. It's not the winters that pose the risk to the structure, but rather the extreme UV exposure of the spring and summer months. Anything less than about 30 mil plastic is wiped out in less than two years. Which is why, around these parts, even the nurseries rely on either glass or polycarbonate panels for their structures.

We have a big old stack of polycarbonate panels that were salvaged from a number of commercial structures in the area a few years ago. They've been protected from UV exposure due to a vinyl coating, much like contact paper that you'd use to protect your cabinet shelves. Beneath that vinyl coating is a material identical in composition and design as that of the ridiculously expensive green house panels that you see in high end green house kits. We'll be using those for the roof of the green house portion of the coop and green house combo when the time comes. For the green house walls, I have a considerable number of thermal pane [double glazing] windows, also salvage, waiting in the wings at my mother's home. Just gotta drive the 300 miles to get them.

For the walls of the coop portion of the whole affair, we'll be using the cord wood method of construction. If you're not familiar with cord wood construction, visualize the use of fire wood like building bricks. You can check out the details of this method here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwood_construction

It's actually a very old method of construction and VERY energy efficient. My uncle in Pennsylvania had built his entire home using this method. He typically lit off just one fire every three to four days in his Earth Stove in the winter time, and the home rarely dropped below 70F even on the coldest nights. In the summer months, such structures stay relatively cool, even on the hottest days.

So, when it's all said and done, between the solar aspect of the structure and the wood stove that we have set aside for it, the chickens should stay nice and toasty warm in the winter. And, since the windows for the green house wall are an opening type, their summers should stay nice and cool in the coop portion, provided the prevailing winds blow even a nice gentle breeze during the day.

OK....I've rambled on enough for today. Time to get my butt moving on the last of the kitchen cabinets! We're ALMOST done!

 

[rancher hicks]

Tim, I love your hoop coops!

Question: What is the row of white jugs for in the second picture?

Because I have a bad back and can't lift 50# bags, I transfer the feed to empty cat littler jugs. In this case it's grower feed. Others have layer pellets. It's stored in the run off the floor. I did have a mouse chew through one but I took care of him pronto.

DD has a cat and saves me the litter jugs which I wash and air out. I use a canning jar funnel to fill them and then drag them out with a wagon.

I suppose I could use a metal trash can but they are $30 each and that's two bags of feed. Plus I like to recycle when I can.

 

[Serrin]

Quote: Oh well, fardles! See what I get for being such a know it all!?!

But hey! That's also a good use for them as well. I love to re-purpose just about anything. If it keeps it out of the landfill, it's all good!

 

[rancher hicks]

Ooo! Oooo! I know the answer to that one! You'll notice that Tim has placed those jugs on the South [sunny] side of the structure. They likely contain water, which would be heated by the sun's rays. After the sun goes down, those jugs would release their stored heat back into the hoop coop, thereby keeping the structure a bit warmer during the overnight hours.

I've used a similar method in my small green house, but I painted my containers black to further facilitate the absorption of heat from the sun. It works on the same principle of a black car on a summer day, versus a white car. The black car will always get hotter faster than the white one.

Tim, your idea is a good one, but Denny and I have always built with durability and low maintenance in mind. For our money, it just makes sense to do so.

A hoop coop or green house type of structure wouldn't last long in our climate. It's not the winters that pose the risk to the structure, but rather the extreme UV exposure of the spring and summer months. Anything less than about 30 mil plastic is wiped out in less than two years. Which is why, around these parts, even the nurseries rely on either glass or polycarbonate panels for their structures.

We have a big old stack of polycarbonate panels that were salvaged from a number of commercial structures in the area a few years ago. They've been protected from UV exposure due to a vinyl coating, much like contact paper that you'd use to protect your cabinet shelves. Beneath that vinyl coating is a material identical in composition and design as that of the ridiculously expensive green house panels that you see in high end green house kits. We'll be using those for the roof of the green house portion of the coop and green house combo when the time comes. For the green house walls, I have a considerable number of thermal pane [double glazing] windows, also salvage, waiting in the wings at my mother's home. Just gotta drive the 300 miles to get them.

For the walls of the coop portion of the whole affair, we'll be using the cord wood method of construction. If you're not familiar with cord wood construction, visualize the use of fire wood like building bricks. You can check out the details of this method here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwood_construction

It's actually a very old method of construction and VERY energy efficient. My uncle in Pennsylvania had built his entire home using this method. He typically lit off just one fire every three to four days in his Earth Stove in the winter time, and the home rarely dropped below 70F even on the coldest nights. In the summer months, such structures stay relatively cool, even on the hottest days.

So, when it's all said and done, between the solar aspect of the structure and the wood stove that we have set aside for it, the chickens should stay nice and toasty warm in the winter. And, since the windows for the green house wall are an opening type, their summers should stay nice and cool in the coop portion, provided the prevailing winds blow even a nice gentle breeze during the day.

OK....I've rambled on enough for today. Time to get my butt moving on the last of the kitchen cabinets! We're ALMOST done!

I understand the UV thing and I've had to replace the plastic, but with summer being hot I've also had to cut it shorter to reduce the heat in the coop. It does stay warmer in the winter though than my wood coop.

As for the cord wood structures I'd first read about them in Mother Earth news in the 70's. I've also seen structures using recycled glass bottles. I suppose you might have to work out an arrangement with the local taverns in the area to get bottle now though.

I've no doubt we can build more energy efficient structures if we had enough money and energy.

I like the water jug heat thing though. Surprisingly my Rooster in the hoop coop is the only one without frost bite to the comb. He doesn't roost though so that might be the reason. Either that or the sun warms it up during the day and the heat is retained for the night.

 

[Serrin]

I hear ya Tim. Denny and I are always looking for simple ways to improve the energy efficiency of both our home and that of the birds. Which is probably why we chose to build a log home. It has been a long, arduous, difficult, often painful [two broken vertebra, one semi-serious grinder accident involving stitches, untold number of splinters, etc, etc, etc,.......and that was just on ME!

] but ultimately completely worthwhile journey since we first set out on this path on March 31, 2007.

Friends have often asked if we'd do anything different in building our house. I always answer NOPE! Not one thing! Cuz frankly, we'd never even consider doing this again! Not only no, but, HECK NO!!! Mama didn't raise no dumb childrens! At least, none that lived anyhow!

Anyhow, I'm very happy to report that the kitchen cabinets are now in and we just need to address countertops. We still have the center island to do, but considering that it will be another substantial outlay of cash, we're holding off on that for a few more months. So far, we've built this entire house mortgage free! In our golden years, the last thing we wanted or needed was large debt hanging over our heads. Which is the primary reason that the house has taken nearly 6 years to complete. We bought and paid for everything as finances allowed. Not having a $100K construction loan to work with tends to slow things down a bit.

All in all, definately worth the effort though. Wouldn't y'all agree?

 

[seminolewind]

Serrin, you built THat??? It's beautiful! And debt free. That is a lovely house.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well that is the way to do it. I know there are plenty of folks, including us, who would be better off in retirement with no mortgage. Our biggest outlay of cash.

That's a very nice cabin. DW would love the porch though she never spends as much time outside as I do. If only it were warmer here. I've often said porch sitting has become a lost art.

I'd often envisioned being a homesteader but DW would never have gone for it.

 

[wekiva bird]

Serrin, you built THat??? It's beautiful! And debt free. That is a lovely house.

x2