The top one looks a lot like my gerber including the case. The handle is way different though and lack of a saw teeth. I didn't find the gerber too functional though maybe I'm not using it right.
This weeks preps check-in
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The top one looks a lot like my gerber including the case. The handle is way different though and lack of a saw teeth. I didn't find the gerber too functional though maybe I'm not using it right.
Actually I just have a machete fetish. I've got about 10 different ones now.
My kid says i'm ready for the zombie attacks. HAHAHHA
I used the Cane knife to cut some buffle grass amd it works good, mostly because of the forward blade weight.
The other will probably just commute with me in my truck, biding its time till it is usefull. LOL
I will admit it to all. I felt like garbage today and did diddly squat other than go see a movie. Had to just take a break from life for a little minute to regain sanity and not go climbing water towers.
If I lived in a place where I had to worry about all that I'd carry a gun everywhere I went, even without a permit, no government will take away my God given right to defend myself.
Heck, I carry the .243 when I go out to feed the critters. We've got coyotes, wild cats, coons, otters, and minks that all cause problems. When we go out to bbq we take the .22 for snakes. I ain't getting bit again.
Well today has been a better day, at least mental health wise, so I managed to get a few things done. Ordered a new batch of meat chicks, worked on a new rabbit cage, baked a lot of bread and other goodies for the farmers market which helps to fund what I need to buy, and right now, I've got the last 3 loaves of bread in the oven and then I'm going to start cooking our evening meal.
Just another day on the farm, I suppose.
Just another day on the farm, I suppose.
Well that sounds a lot more productive than my preps this week, which was nothing haha. But in my own defense I was at a conference most of the week for work. However I fully intend to up the canned goods early this week. Glad you're feeling better and I loooove farmer's market bread!
This week I'm going to can butter...our local grocer has butter on sale for .98 per pound. I want to use 1/2 pints since hubby and I will take a while to use it....I'll try to take pics & post notes from the experience.
if anyone has a recipe for canning/making sweetened condensed milk I'd love to give it a try.
if anyone has a recipe for canning/making sweetened condensed milk I'd love to give it a try.
I've been wanting to try that, let us know how it goes.
Will do and hope to post pics also.
I worked on the chicken coop, got it framed and almost sided, hopefully I'll be able to put the roof on next weekend
this is the front the opeaning on the bottom is where I'm going to build the laying boxes
this is the back where the windows will be
this is the front the opeaning on the bottom is where I'm going to build the laying boxes
this is the back where the windows will be
I store butter in the freezer. It would be great to can it and free up freezer space.
I would love to find butter on sale that cheap. I'd be canning the crap out of it! I know I've come across a recipe for sweetened condensed milk, but I've not tried it. I'll see if I can scare it up for you.
That's a nice looking coop Wildman. Are you going to enclose the open area under it with hardware mesh?
I have to do a little creative shopping...limit is ONE with a $15 purchase so I have to shop in chunks this week. Thats fine. for that price I can be a little creative. Otherwise they occassionally have it 2 for $3....that isn't too bad
Can you divide up your shopping on one trip and have them run $15 worth through at a time?
I've never asked them that question. I just buy a little, check out and bring to my car. Then I come back in and do a little more shopping. It takes a little longer. Some of the cashiers might do it but some are a bit on the crabby side. Plus I wouldn't want to do that when it was BUSY!
True. I've seen them do that on the Extreme Couponing show. I'm more like you, get a little and go back in or have Hubs and Fries go with me so that they can go through the line as well.
We do that with ammo when they are limiting. He and I will both buy what the limit is and pay seperately.
That's the plan I'm going enclose the front and the side with the laying boxes the other two sides will be open to the pen I'm going to fence off as much area as I can afford. How much trouble is it to let them free range will they come back to the coop at night?
The only problem I have with FREE range is the predators that could find them. Hawk, eagles, cats, coons, neighbor dogs, wolves, coyotes and all manner of other fun stuff. The chickens will come back to the coop but then you have to remember to close the door at night so they are safe. You only forget ONCE!
Our coop had a fenced yard and that was great until an owl found its way into the yard...then we had to cover the yard with wire mesh. That was a big job. At the same time we buried the fence to keep the digging predators out. But we never lost a chicken after that. We've trapped cats, skunks, possums, and coons trying to get at our chickens. Chicken is a popular dinner item
We don't let ours free range because of predators. We do have some hens that are clingy and we'll let them out when we're piddling around the yard and they stay around our feet. My grandmother would just put grain out for them in the evening when she wanted to shut them up in the coop, she would always have a few who would rather roost in the trees though. We do have enclosed runs for them so they aren't cooped up all day.
If you're not going to get a lot of birds you won't need a huge run for them. If you have hawks, eagles, or owls in your area, I'd put fencing over the top of the run as well. One of our runs is 50' x 12' and the other one is 75'x16', but we run a lot of birds of different varieties. We're going to do some smaller coops and runs for specific breeds and types of birds, but that is strictly for selling them to others who are wanting 'heirloom' birds.
Are you planning to put some type of barrier on the floor before you put your litter down? This is just a suggestion, but with the floor raised like it is, I'd put hardware mesh down on the floor and then cover that with some sort of moisture barrier so your floor doesn't rot out on you as fast. We used concrete for flooring on one coop and that's nice because we can strip it out and bleach the bejeesus out of it when we need to, the other coop has a dirt/sand floor with hardware mesh buried flat coming in from the wall for about a foot to keep critters from digging in.
If you're not going to get a lot of birds you won't need a huge run for them. If you have hawks, eagles, or owls in your area, I'd put fencing over the top of the run as well. One of our runs is 50' x 12' and the other one is 75'x16', but we run a lot of birds of different varieties. We're going to do some smaller coops and runs for specific breeds and types of birds, but that is strictly for selling them to others who are wanting 'heirloom' birds.
Are you planning to put some type of barrier on the floor before you put your litter down? This is just a suggestion, but with the floor raised like it is, I'd put hardware mesh down on the floor and then cover that with some sort of moisture barrier so your floor doesn't rot out on you as fast. We used concrete for flooring on one coop and that's nice because we can strip it out and bleach the bejeesus out of it when we need to, the other coop has a dirt/sand floor with hardware mesh buried flat coming in from the wall for about a foot to keep critters from digging in.
what exactly is required for the coupe. I have my shed.. it has a concrete floor, it has some shelves in there that are about 6 ft up... one on each side wall of the shed, there is power capacity in there. Is there a good source for planning a coupe? I've read about the water feeders etc..
(side note) I broke a little more earth today, enough for a couple plants. Also, a few things arrived today the main one for prepping was a MK IV DMP no. 1 NBC suit, however it appears the trousers were compromised as the package they were in was slashed. The seller seems to be incline to send a replacement set of trousers though, if so that is great as the smock is still vacuum sealed. It will be way cool if they actually let me keep the compromised pair as I'll actually be able to removed the rest of the plastic and check them for sizing. Won't know probably for another few weeks what happens though. BTW it actually makes pretty cheap clothing too if you figure a relative upper and lower BDU for $25 with shipping. Of course i havn't tried them yet. Oh and duct tape is the other item I have earmarked for my hazmat stuff. I have a MK III but it is even older, you want these things new, not 10-20+ years old. The MK III may have been too small though, it is unopened so I don't know...
Also got a keyboard that is sort of latex like, it can be rolled an folded up, for my raspberry pi... as I'd like to be able to take a keyboard hiking, and it can fit in a backpack pouch all rolled up, makes for keeping things easy to pack.
I also got a transmitter that can be used for emergency communications. as a base station or things like updating people in the filed, relaying updated intelligence or situation reports I can't go greatly into details but it will hopefully perform its intended purpose. It can be set up for the commercial FM band but is not restricted to it, meaning it can be set to a channel that car radios and others can use. Note I am in a remotish area, in the city this would not be that usable. It also can go into bands used by the Military and other organizations. Note i am an Advanced Ham, which allows me to modify and build transmitters legally. However, it can also be modified to do yet more things... it will be looked at over the summer. However I only have two or three more major communications devices I am likely to get over the next 12 months or so. I also picked up a cheap tri-mode sat phone, so in generally having some HF, VHF, UHF, cellular, and satalitte communications it gives more or less most communications needs.. 10 or 15 cases of beer may have gotten me more talk though I'd either like to repair or modify the CB radios I have, or get a new CB radio because it is still widely proliferated and this is a major trucking lane, and some truckers still actually might use it. I'd like to get an all purpose linear amplifier though that can be used and from low input to high output but may try to just build some as a roaster.
That's my preps for the day.
(side note) I broke a little more earth today, enough for a couple plants. Also, a few things arrived today the main one for prepping was a MK IV DMP no. 1 NBC suit, however it appears the trousers were compromised as the package they were in was slashed. The seller seems to be incline to send a replacement set of trousers though, if so that is great as the smock is still vacuum sealed. It will be way cool if they actually let me keep the compromised pair as I'll actually be able to removed the rest of the plastic and check them for sizing. Won't know probably for another few weeks what happens though. BTW it actually makes pretty cheap clothing too if you figure a relative upper and lower BDU for $25 with shipping. Of course i havn't tried them yet. Oh and duct tape is the other item I have earmarked for my hazmat stuff. I have a MK III but it is even older, you want these things new, not 10-20+ years old. The MK III may have been too small though, it is unopened so I don't know...
Also got a keyboard that is sort of latex like, it can be rolled an folded up, for my raspberry pi... as I'd like to be able to take a keyboard hiking, and it can fit in a backpack pouch all rolled up, makes for keeping things easy to pack.
I also got a transmitter that can be used for emergency communications. as a base station or things like updating people in the filed, relaying updated intelligence or situation reports I can't go greatly into details but it will hopefully perform its intended purpose. It can be set up for the commercial FM band but is not restricted to it, meaning it can be set to a channel that car radios and others can use. Note I am in a remotish area, in the city this would not be that usable. It also can go into bands used by the Military and other organizations. Note i am an Advanced Ham, which allows me to modify and build transmitters legally. However, it can also be modified to do yet more things... it will be looked at over the summer. However I only have two or three more major communications devices I am likely to get over the next 12 months or so. I also picked up a cheap tri-mode sat phone, so in generally having some HF, VHF, UHF, cellular, and satalitte communications it gives more or less most communications needs.. 10 or 15 cases of beer may have gotten me more talk though
I'd either like to repair or modify the CB radios I have, or get a new CB radio because it is still widely proliferated and this is a major trucking lane, and some truckers still actually might use it. I'd like to get an all purpose linear amplifier though that can be used and from low input to high output but may try to just build some as a roaster.That's my preps for the day.
William, you'd want to put a few roosts in there for the birds and I'd make the nest boxes a few feet off the ground instead of using the high shelving. You don't want the nest boxes to be the only place for the birds to rest because they'll poop them full and foul the eggs and their own feathers. You'll want deep litter, especially in the winter. When it's cold, we don't strip out the litter, just add new on top because the heat generated by the composting droppings and litter material help to keep the coops warm. You want to keep it to where you can close off ventilation in case of really low temperatures and high winds, but you do need ventilation because of ammonia build up which will occur with totally cooped birds. If the shed walls are wood, I would run a layer or so of hard ware mesh along the bottom 12"-18" of the walls to keep things from digging in. Don't rely on plain chicken wire, it won't stop anything determined to make a meal out of your birds. Hard ware mesh isn't infallible, but it does make digging in harder and takes an animal longer so many times they give up. It is also small enough to keep rats out because they'll steal your eggs and kill chicks.
I've seen chicken coops made out of the oddest things; an old van comes to mind. Whatever it is, make sure it's weather tight and will keep the birds dry. Unless it is unbelievably cold, I wouldn't warm a coop artificially with adult birds, I'd invest in birds that are bred to deal with the cold. You'd want chickens with feathered shanks, Standard Cochins would be one I'd look into. We have a few of them and love them. If you are wanting egg production through the winter, you will have to provide artificial light for them to trick their bodies into laying.
I've seen chicken coops made out of the oddest things; an old van comes to mind. Whatever it is, make sure it's weather tight and will keep the birds dry. Unless it is unbelievably cold, I wouldn't warm a coop artificially with adult birds, I'd invest in birds that are bred to deal with the cold. You'd want chickens with feathered shanks, Standard Cochins would be one I'd look into. We have a few of them and love them. If you are wanting egg production through the winter, you will have to provide artificial light for them to trick their bodies into laying.
After 6 months I finally scored on some .223 bullets for reloading. When they were in stock I bought what I needed to last a while. Gett'em when you can!
Finally got the garden prepared to plant. Put down plastic as a weed barrier for the first time. I will do a post as some point sharing how it went.
Finally got the garden prepared to plant. Put down plastic as a weed barrier for the first time. I will do a post as some point sharing how it went.
I really do like your chicken coop Wildman, how many hours work were involved to get it to that stage
That's about two days work for my son and I (we are not and do not claim to be professional carpenters) no doubt it could be done faster by a pro. but it is about two months of collecting materials the only thing I've had to buy is the plywood siding all the other stuff is left overs from other projects or stuff other people were throwing away. I'm lucky where I work they get in materal on huge pallets made of 3"x4"x22' boards and then let the workers take the wood home when they're done with them
Heh woodman... I scored you a pallet of sugar...but everyone is trying to put the bite on me.
Most every outbuilding on our place is built used scrounged, scavenged, and reclaimed materials.
Free is a good word in my vocabulary , ifn its free an it can be used for something, then that's a boost,long may you get stuff for free my friend.
