The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[pigeonguy]

LED lights is the most efficient and safest lighting you can get. Yes they cost more at first but in the long run you will get it back. On the low side say you save 25 dollars a month that times 12 months is 300 dollars. The long gevity is great also have you ever had a bulb go bad in an LED flashlight I haven't and I have some that are 5 years old and used a lot almost every day. The technology on there brightness has came a long way also.
Please talk to your contractor about them and do some on line research. I think you will be surprised as to what you find. They are the way of the future and this barn is your future.
Just a suggestion.

 

[JeffOeuf]

...- beans & peas are also the botanical fruit of those vines, but we also consider them veggies too. squash too. ..

No, the beans and peas are not the "fruit", they're the seed. The pods are the fruit.

 

[delisha]

LED lights is the most efficient and safest lighting you can get. Yes they cost more at first but in the long run you will get it back. On the low side say you save 25 dollars a month that times 12 months is 300 dollars. The long gevity is great also have you ever had a bulb go bad in an LED flashlight I haven't and I have some that are 5 years old and used a lot almost every day. The technology on there brightness has came a long way also.
Please talk to your contractor about them and do some on line research. I think you will be surprised as to what you find. They are the way of the future and this barn is your future.
Just a suggestion.

LED lights have some problems yet to work out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

LED lights is the most efficient and safest lighting you can get. Yes they cost more at first but in the long run you will get it back. On the low side say you save 25 dollars a month that times 12 months is 300 dollars. The long gevity is great also have you ever had a bulb go bad in an LED flashlight I haven't and I have some that are 5 years old and used a lot almost every day. The technology on there brightness has came a long way also.
Please talk to your contractor about them and do some on line research. I think you will be surprised as to what you find. They are the way of the future and this barn is your future.
Just a suggestion.

I'd like to see when those "bugs" get worked out. I was looking for a motion detector light. They have them in solar recharge but they were so dim when I looked at them and there were a lot of complaints about the dimness. My husband says they've improved them but the last time I was looking online there were still lots of complaints regarding the lack of brightness.

I'm hoping to see the solar motion detector type improve in brightness soon! I thought I'd put them out on the hen house to hopefully scare an animal - or 2 leg predator - if something was lurking around outside!

 

[aoxa]

Not sure I would store a tractor with electrical equipment. Just my feeling. Looks like everything is starting to come together for your family. Congrats

I was wondering about that. Maybe we'll move the fuses to the other side where the heated room is then. I'm not exactly sure. This is just my rough plans. I'm sure things will be switched up. I hope not too much though. I'm quite happy with the flow.

How would you keep rodents and whatever from digging into the barn?

Our soil in the area we want to build is terrible. An inch down there is gravel... heavy gravel. You can't even put fence posts in without a machine. So I'm not sure if that will stop digging predators or not, but Clem was a digger, and could never dig her way out - so there's that. She loved to dig and cool off in the dirt ground last summer. She didn't dig far because of that ground.

We had mice before. The chickens had a lot of extra protein.

Aoxa -
Where do the goats and sheep go?

Ah...I was wondering it it was circumference or diameter. I was going to ask but that cleared it up. I was looking more at your hand and how it spanned so that visual was extremely helpful to see. Took out the guesswork.


Thanks for the photos! And I see that you use stumps too. They are so handy if you have them!

The area to the left top where it says "Large Livestock Area" It's quite large. I'm thinking of two goats instead of sheep - as sheep are more expensive to get right away (in my area anyway) and there is the wool that you have to deal with too. Of course I could get a different breed of sheep not meant for wool, but I'd rather just get goats. 'Someone who is not named' said that sheep are less a pain than goats. I beg to differ. I'd say they are about the same from the experience between the two I had. Sheep are more skittish. Both like to climb and do back kicks off of things. Yeah goats will eat your flowers, but I was planning on a fenced pasture away from that anyway.

 

[lalaland]

Justine,
something to think about that may work for you is sliding doors - pocket doors - they can save quite a bit of room. Can be interior or exterior. Also, they can't be blown off the way a normal door can.
I know you said you had dutch doors planned, and i can certainly see how wonderful they might be!

love the layout. Like that as time goes, you can add storage to the walls - and love that it looks like you might be able to get breezes through the whole danged barn, depending on your interior walls.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Pocket doors and room saving...that's a very interesting idea!

Sorry...I didn't see the large livestock marked on there.

The sheep are the "hair sheep". Specifically mentioned were KATAHDIN sheep but there are several breeds. I'm wondering how the meat tastes in comparison since I'd be keeping them for meat.

Our plan was to get a couple Boer kids this spring to help clear the underbrush in an overgrown wooded area and butcher for meat. But it was mentioned that the hair sheep also browse. I was looking for a browser rather than a grazer as I'd like to save the pasture for a small beef.

 

[aoxa]

Justine,
something to think about that may work for you is sliding doors - pocket doors - they can save quite a bit of room. Can be interior or exterior. Also, they can't be blown off the way a normal door can.
I know you said you had dutch doors planned, and i can certainly see how wonderful they might be!

love the layout. Like that as time goes, you can add storage to the walls - and love that it looks like you might be able to get breezes through the whole danged barn, depending on your interior walls.

We had sliding doors last time. Oh how I hated them... They would freeze in and you could not move them. Lots and lots of swearing going on.

We did think of them though. We are not windy here at all, but I will be putting hooks to hold them open in the day time.

 

[aoxa]

Pocket doors and room saving...that's a very interesting idea!

Sorry...I didn't see the large livestock marked on there.

The sheep are the "hair sheep". Specifically mentioned were KATAHDIN sheep but there are several breeds. I'm wondering how the meat tastes in comparison since I'd be keeping them for meat.

Our plan was to get a couple Boer kids this spring to help clear the underbrush in an overgrown wooded area and butcher for meat. But it was mentioned that the hair sheep also browse. I was looking for a browser rather than a grazer as I'd like to save the pasture for a small beef.

Here is the image again. Top right corner.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Got it on the livestock area. Just missed that somehow.

Too bad the pockets don't work. But I DO like your dutch door idea. I love being able to have some barrier but also see inside..also the ventilation if you don't want the whole door open.