3R Home and Barn Project

[radioman]

So, I have to tell a little story on Rob.....

I've been wanting chickens forever, and I've been poring over the catalogs and online. But we just really didn't need one more project. So I've tried very hard to keep my mouth shut.

Then one day, Rob forwarded a TSC email ad to me, it said they had chicks... I playfully asked "can I get some?", but I got no answer... which I figured was an answer in itself. But when we went to TSC to look at irrigation stuff, I figured this was my chance, and I got the 4 chicks.

Rob, of course, made fun of me, and the chicks, and tried very hard to ignore them.

Well, until I caught him sitting next to the box calling softly "chick ,chick, chick-a-dee".

He finally has admitted that he likes the little boogers

While we were building the chicken coop, I brought their box outside and cut a door in it so they could forage around. They had never been able to do that, and it took a while for them to be interested in coming out.. but soon they were roaming around, and even coming into the barn to see what Rob was doing. Soon, they were checking him out while he was welding, and walking under his feet while he was trying to work on the coop...... By the time I got out there after work, they all thought he was their 'dad', and they barely gave me the time of day

I have too wanted chickens for a long time as well, was waiting for the right moment to get one as well. Well, the local TSC about 15 mins from here had em and I went to check them out. I ended up getting 6 (min legal amount in NY) and went home with them and the kids were excited too. My wife have been hovering over the box everyday after work to see how they were doing and commented on the feathers that were growing. AHHH, so she IS interested too !!

 

[Spiveyman]

Rob,
I don't mean this lightly, but you are my hero man. There's more creativity in your pinky toe than in my whole body, and that doesn't even say anything about actual ability to creat what you envision. Wow.

First of all, thanks for everything, you're a real pal. Second, I've missed a years worth of your development, and it's been great to catch up. The house looks amazing, but that chicken coop, that's the impressive part!

That's it, I don't have anything to actually add of substance to your thread, just catching up and trying to get back into TBN.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Rob & Loretta,
That was a beautiful job on the chicken coop ! Very innovative as usual !

I like how you allways find a use for that Bridgeport !

 

[3RRL]

Tim and Scott,
Thank you for the kind words! You know I try to keep busy.
After the chicken coop, it was time to mow the fields with the rotary cutter where I could.
Since I didn't mow around South Camp, there were only 2 places I could use it around the home. They are in front of the house where I'd made the terraces. The rest I had to weed eat by hand. All around the rocks and completely down the back hillside. Including using the rotary cutter, it took me almost 30 hours to weed eat everything.



And like every year, I had to watch out for rattlesnakes, especially around the rock piles.
I got 3 rattlesnakes which I almost stepped on while weed eating. One got away and I saw several other snakes including a striped racer and several Pacific gopher snakes which look exactly like Diamondbacks at first glance. There are a couple of big ones around the house. But those are "good" snakes and I don't bother them. It's the ones below that are dangerous.
They lost their heads.
Rob-

 

[tommu56]

Rob do you have an interrupter on your weed eater so you can shoot through the weedeater head and not hit the lineand still hit the snake?

tom

 

[3RRL]

Rob do you have an interrupter on your weed eater so you can shoot through the weedeater head and not hit the lineand still hit the snake?

tom

Ha! I wish...

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Rob,
Man those are some pretty significant lookin snakes!

Im thinkin that full leather chaps are the requirement of the day, and not because your afraid of hitting your leg with the weedwacker line !

Hey Rob, maybe the snow and cold weather up here isnt so bad !

 

[3RRL]

Good Afternoon Rob,
Man those are some pretty significant lookin snakes!

Im thinkin that full leather chaps are the requirement of the day, and not because your afraid of hitting your leg with the weedwacker line !

Hey Rob, maybe the snow and cold weather up here isnt so bad !

Yeah, I know what you mean Scotty.
Seems like every year we find some really good sized ones. These came right out of those rocks behind my home. I thought I'd pretty well cleaned them out but there are lots of them around. What's scary is with the weed eater you cut down the tall grass starting up high and work your way down. That's when you see them right in front of you. It's like the weed eater doesn't bother the rattlesnakes until they are exposed...weird. The racers and gopher snakes take off right away. Saw a big, beautiful California King snake this morning. Wish we had more of those around.
I always wear tall leather boots and also have snake proof boots too. But I wouldn't want to try them out to see if they really work or not.
LOL, know what I mean?

 

[jinman]

They say a rattler will warn you with its rattle before striking. What they forgot to tell you is that you'll have an ice cube's chance in Heck of hearing him rattle when you have a screamin' weedeater runnin'.

Rob, I know you probably want the grass cut down so you can see your rocks and terrain, but it seems that some of those areas would do just fine by killing grass with herbicides. 30 hours of work just seems excessive. Whew!

 

[scott_vt]

Rob, I know you probably want the grass cut down so you can see your rocks and terrain, but it seems that some of those areas would do just fine by killing grass with herbicides. 30 hours of work just seems excessive. Whew!

Good Mornin Jim,
Excellent idea, maybe a 3 pt sprayer setup on the tractor, with an optional long hose for those hard to get to areas ?