Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

[Tororider]

Adam23,
I think you are supposed to aclimate them slowly. I would wait until they are closer to full size, but in the meantime when it is warm enough you could put them in that cage in the run or shed. That way they kind of get to know each other. Give them a few couple weeks to get to know each other then let them have at it. They will figure out the new pecking order. You could also cordon off part of the run for them temporarily. Looks nice, good job. There is a chicken thread I started in Rural Living if you are interested.

[tony123]

It's been raining all morning! A nice slow drizzle. So, we spent the morning in the garage building the chicken tractor. Dimensions ended up as 4x4 coop space and 7.5x4' run. All of it 4' tall. I made one goof so far. The width is 48" inside to inside, so I have nothing to attach my 48" chicken wire too! I'll run a shim down each side and attach to that I suppose. Just didn't want to add anymore weight.







This last photo is of the "Baby Crib Brooder". I realize I hadn't posted a photo of that.



I've been working at cutting the PTO shaft to the right length for the cutter. I'm on my Third cut with a hand saw....didn't want to take off too much, so my arms are paying the price. Hope this third cut does it.

[snoiger01]

Tony,
I've been following your post, I haven't said anything till now, but man you make me tired! I lived in North Augusta, SC for a few years but came back home to Alabama about 5 years ago when wife said she was pregnant with twins. I sure do miss SC, but after seeing the red concrete dye (SC mud) on your garage floor, I can say black Alabama dirt ain't so bad LOL I have 5 acres about 20 miles north of Montgomery with a JD 2305, 3 young boys, 2 dogs, 3 baby geese and 300 catfish in the small pond out back. Anyway, apologize for the lengthy introduction. I am FAR from being an expert on tractor related things, but I just went out and took a look at my 5ft finish mower and it appears as though the dealer left about 8" of overlap when the two shafts are at operating position. I remember him cutting it down and saying that you don't want to leave them TOO long because you run the risk of damaging your pto if you were to go down/up a ditch. Not sure if thats helpful, but my 2 cents worth.

[tony123]

Snoiger, thanks for your two cents....you may have saved my behind. I just finished making my THIRD cut on the shaft. This time it went on find with a few inches to spare. I'm sure I've got at least 8" of overlap. But, I need to keep a close eye when I first raise it. If it stops sliding before I get to the top, then I suppose I have a FOURTH cut in my future. Yippie.

Sounds like you have a neat place. Yes, the red clay is a royal pain. If my grass would ever come up I may have less of it to deal with.

tony

[Adam23]

Tony - I found in craigs list just a couple minutes ago a used Howes 4 foot bush hog - It must be fate!! Unbelievable if you ask me. It is used and they are asking $450. I requested a pic and hopefully it will work out. I have been looking for one around that price for a month or 2 so I think it is crazy that this all happened today. I will let you know if it works out. If not I might go by the place you bought yours, but don't worry - I will say nothing of your price or you.

I have only had the mature hens and roosters for one week as of today. My neighbor has a freind who had these chickens but wanted to get rid of them. He had them in a VERY small area and was complaining that they were eating their own eggs and he was frustrated. I gave him $40 for the 4 hens and 2 roosters. My neighbor figured that he was feeding them the wrong food (not enough calcium) and had them in way to small of an area. Anyhow, I got them and put them in my coop with the proper food and a feeder with Oyster shells for calcium supliment. I started getting and average of 2 eggs per day the very first day! Today is the first day we got 3. So everything is good with the new chickens. As far as preditors - I have had no issues at all (knock on wood) to this point. I know for sure that I have skunk, possum, and coon around here but no signs of them trying to get in.

I just got done re-tilling the garden for tomorows prep. The garden area was previously a mobile home site that was used during the construction of my house. This is the first year anything other than weeds will be growing in the area. It was VERY hard ground and took box-blade work before the tiller would even budge the ground. I then added 50 pounds of Lime, 50 pounds of Gypsum, 500 pounds of steer manure, and 50 pounds of fertilizer. I did not get any compost but I am starting to regret that. I am going to go with what I have now and hope for the best. Next year may prove to have compost in the ingredients.

You are absolutly right on the age of my chicks. They are one week younger than yours - great observation!! Your chicken tractor frame looks great. Don't worry about being right at 48" becuase the chicken wire will stretch that little extra you need. Then it will be good and tight too! Do your chicks scurry and freek out when you walk up to the crib? Mine run around like mad when I walk into the garage and it has me worried that they will be like that full grown - and if that is the case I will never want to walk into the coop. I would be afraid that i would get knocked out! They are crazy scared of humans right now. I try to pick one up to hold one and the other 12 are about to kill each other by trampling while my hand is in the cage. I sure hope they get better with age.

[POC]

Originally Posted by tony123

Patrick, welcome to the thread! The main reason I didn't consider raised beds was that it seemed that would make it tough to use the tiller. And let'
s face it...if the job don't need a tractor then it ain't as much fun.

Well, this is true....
But with raised beds you don't need to till them. Use composted material and add each year, You can drive your tractor between the beds!

[POC]

Something else I was gonna tell you, from WAAAY back when you were splitting wood. Take a ATV tire that is old, maybe get that at your local tire shop for free, they have to pay to have them hauled away. Cut the sidewall out of one side. Pull it down, with the good sidewall up, over your "chopping block". Don't pull it all the way down, just enough that you can put a few screws through the tread, into your chopping block. Now when you set your pieces of wood down, they are inside this rubber collar. This helps keep pieces of wood that you chop from falling off.

Just an idea that I've heard about.

[tony123]

Adam, so how did the cutter out of craigslist work out? That is pretty coincidental, isn't it.

Okay, so you're new to the chicken scene as well. Sounds like you're on the right track with improving their diet. I've heard that from many sources.

My chicks aren't the least bit skittish. Seems like they really prefer to be close to us, even with the boys yelling at them and poking sticks, etc. We held them quite a bit in the first week or two. I bet that yours will come around if you spend more time holding and sitting with them. To be honest though, the novelty of holding them wears off quick enough. I wouldn't be heartbroke if they just keep to themselves and produce eggs. Others in the family feel differently I'm sure.

I hope you're right about the chicken wire stretching. That would make things a little easier.

[tony123]

Originally Posted by POC

Well, this is true....
But with raised beds you don't need to till them. Use composted material and add each year, You can drive your tractor between the beds!

MUST TILL... ....MUST TILL...

[tony123]

We got quite a bit of work done on Sunday!

I got the brush hog set up correctly. Here's a photo of the cut off pieces of PTO shaft. I never knew what it looked like before doing this. The smaller section slides in and out of the larger.



I even got a little bit of mowing done. It didn't need it, but I needed some seat time! I was pleased with the quality of cut, and feel it will be fine for our "rural" setting.



We got some weeding done. Here you can see the spinach, onions and beyond that carrots. The second set of rows is in the left side of this photo.



We got the second section formed, planted and ran more soaker hose. We put in watermelon, cantelope, zucchini, yellow squash and corn. Next week will be okra, peppers, tomatoe and eggplant.



We had the chickens outside with us the whole time. They are a blast to watch. One will pick up a bug and run from the others. They will fight for the choicest food thats for sure. The lab is doing better every day with the chicks. He hardly gave them any attention the whole day. I hope that continues, as life will be much easier.



The plan is to have the chicken tractor ready for fulltime residency in two weeks. We need to paint the frame. Build the coop section. Paint the coop. And finally, put on the chicken wire.