Urban Homesteaders

[Diannastarr]

just a few ideas i made from stuff i found around , 1st. is a door i made from crates i get free from the store,were i sell my free range eggs , this crate i cracked the side by mistake so its was my first choice to experiment on it making a door for my rooster Elwood & 2nd pic is a nesting box i made from an old kitchen draw & some stiff plastic stuff called door skin but Formica may be the same for that use..? and this idea turned out great , i can just pull off the top to clean it and can also vacuum it or carry it around & over to the hose to wash it out..and the hens just love that curved top..! its become the favorite nest box HA

some thing called door skin that was hanging around but maybe Formica would be good to..!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Awesome, Diana!!!!

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Homesteader advice: think about your potential for severe weather/natural disasters and make plans ahead of time for what/where/who/how. What will you do to shelter livestock? How will you feed/water/clean/care for them? All or only some? Any special plants/seeds you need to save? Don't forget your own safety! The flooding in coastal Texas had me thinking about poultry, cattle, horses, goats and pets, but gardens/crops are important too. You want to be able to start over if needed, and hopefully can save your hard work on developing any special strains or varieties and bloodlines.

 

[Diannastarr]

Awesome, Diana!!!!

THANKS so much ..!!! , im pretty much an artist & inventor at heart & i have a lot more ideas that im already using ,some day i will take pics of them all and post them like more of what i make out of stuff i find, stuff like toilet tank covers they make great heavy ceramic feeders for out side for all my free range flock i just turn it up side down & put scratch in it, its like a little feeding station that wont blow away, that's for sure HA, plus if i have a drip in the pvc that feed all the hoses , I dont fix it if its a tiny drip i just put a toilet tank cover turned up side down underneath it on a cement block so it catches the water and water is available all the time , plus i make gallon bottle or covered pail nipple water feeders for just pennies on the dollar by buying just the nipples , i get like 30 nipples for $1.00 or so with free shipping at amazon, all my different breed roos live in large pens & i hang the nipple water drinkers on the fence in there pens and all of them are filled at once from a few hoses i put into the tops of each nipple water feeders ,so every morning when i turn on the faucet in my barn yard all the nipple water drinkers are filled with clean fresh water , my husband passed on a wile back & we had 75 birds & an egg business , so its up to me to keep it going ,and it saves me work,time & money to re-invent things to help me do that, i never buy from the stores if i can help it , unless its things you cant make, i buy used , but a hose, thats the one thing you should not buy used HA so no need to spend money when you are an inventive person and the things you need you make for free..!!! i made up this saying SEEK NOT FROM WITH OUT , BUT FROM THE WISDOM WITHIN"..!

 

[Diannastarr]

Homesteader advice: think about your potential for severe weather/natural disasters and make plans ahead of time for what/where/who/how. What will you do to shelter livestock? How will you feed/water/clean/care for them? All or only some? Any special plants/seeds you need to save? Don't forget your own safety! The flooding in coastal Texas had me thinking about poultry, cattle, horses, goats and pets, but gardens/crops are important too. You want to be able to start over if needed, and hopefully can save your hard work on developing any special strains or varieties and bloodlines.

i got it covered, since we moved to Bisbee AZ , from FLA we never get any kind of dangerous weather here, nothing but some rain that we can really use every day ,i use rain water for all my gardens and a great hair rinse, it rains usually an hour a day, between 1: 00 & 5:00 pm all summer long , and thats about all the weather we get here except for about an inch of snow for the holidays once a year , but nothing else , that's why we planned back 30 years ago to live in this weather danger free zone, coming from FLA, with all the crazy weather down their moving here was a good change, the living here is easy and worry free , all my animals are safe along with my self. and thats my kind of planning ahead. : )

 

[nayeli]

Not to change the topic... but to go back to the original one, and I need to post/share somewhere because I am super excited!!!
I ordered 10 ducks from Metzers that are expected tomorrow morning. I ordered Welsh Harlequins and Silver Appleyards. I'm hoping to keep a WH drake, 2 hens, and a SA hen. I'm thinking mixed SA/WH would be good meaties and layers, and we have had luck with the WH in the past as layers!
Today I got blackberry and blueberry bushes for $2/each at lowes! I got 4 blackberry and 2 blueberry for less than $14 with tax, last month we spent $21 plus tax on 3 berry bushes one of which looks to already be dead... so that is a super amazing deal and means I only still need my raspberry bushes, which unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to find til spring. They are already planted in the ground and should provide both fruit and privacy!
We are having a fence installed in the next two weeks, which when the ducklings are older will provide them a safe area to free range as while as us a private yard.

I'm using top soil in their brooder which we will reuse in the raised garden beds, so its 0 waste!

I'm considering aquaponics. Lettuce is surprisingly expensive here, and there are other more expensive produce options it would be great to be able to grow myself... my daughter loves fish so that part would be more for her, then I was thinking of doing duckweed for the ducks to lower feed... but not sure it would be worth it cost wise....

I'm also considering a mealworm farm. Just a small one... I'm just wondering if that would be worth it and how many mealworms I'd want to feed etc...

I AM fermenting their feed, which should reduce the feed bill as well as make them healthier and cause less stink from poo!

We are figuring out coop design now. I like the garden roof designs but I think there are too many variables/risks with them that make me pause. I'm really wanting a design where I can open a whole wall to clean out the coop, since they are ducks it won't be walk in so I think that would be easiest... just trying to figure it out.

 

[lazy gardener]

Congrats on your ducks. You might consider doing a soil floor coop, with a skirt. Given your climate, you could put up a cattle panel hoop coop that would meet your needs nicely, and provide some awesome duck compoost.

Awesome buy on the berry bushes. I am a bottom feeder. I rarely pay full price for a plant, unless i want it really, really, really bad. You might do some posts on your state thread to see if you can do some bartering to get some blackberry/raspberry canes from someone there.

 

[nayeli]

Congrats on your ducks. You might consider doing a soil floor coop, with a skirt. Given your climate, you could put up a cattle panel hoop coop that would meet your needs nicely, and provide some awesome duck compoost.

Awesome buy on the berry bushes. I am a bottom feeder. I rarely pay full price for a plant, unless i want it really, really, really bad. You might do some posts on your state thread to see if you can do some bartering to get some blackberry/raspberry canes from someone there.

Soil floor with a skirt?

Bottom feeder? Lol. Actually 3/$21 that I paid a month ago was them on sale. $2 is their clearance price which is amazing! I got so many now though (9 bushes) that I have to figure out a spot for the other raspberry bushes I want to get in the spring as the space is taken up, and the other space I wanted to put them has an electric line running under it...

 

[Diannastarr]

I live outside brisbane australia. Just moved here from tucson Arizona. I had a big garden in my urban backyard there and am starting a smaller one at the rental here. I am only here for three years so we have to rent. I just got three teenager chickens, an Orpington, a barred rock and a wyandotte. They're not laying yet, but looking forward to that. I make soap, bread, cheese, and whatever else I can get the supplies to make. I just ventured into meat curing/smoking. Making my first batch of American bacon. It's really expensive to get good smoked bacon here, and I miss it. I do sewing, knitting, spinning, weaving, and all the other crafty things. It's nice to see other people who don't necessarily live out in the country who still like to provide for themselves.

WELCOME TO AZ , IM IN BISBEE AZ just south of tucson az near the Mexican border i can see thousands of miles of the Mexican out back from my house, i wish you all good luck to you & your FAMILY take care : )

 

[Dharmachick]

Wow! I paid 7 dollars on sale for my blueberries. My neighbor gave me raspberry starts, now I give away starts every spring. I am in the Pacific Northwest, Washington state. I can usually grow something all year round. I have lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and swiss chard growing now. I have chickens, 2 mastiffs and 2 cats. One of my small Polish chickens loves the dogs, and chases them around the yard. She will cuddle with them under a bush to have a nap. She weighs about 1.5 kg, the dogs weigh about 70 kg, lol. She can't see up because of her crest, so she follows their feet around.