Another good night last night. Everyone was still kicking this morning. My last visit to the tractor before writing this I found one guy that had escaped somehow. They are small enough to squeeze through the 1" chicken mesh, but I've got it covered with tarps and packing blankets. Maybe he squeezed through when a strong breeze lifted the tarp. Who knows.

I found him because I heard him screaming from the the house. I'm surprised the cats didn't notice him first. They go down to the tractor with me in the morning. I have to hiss and swipe at yellow cat to keep her back. She's got the message and generally lays own to watch what I'm doing to her fantasy food. I can't wait until the chicks get bigger and alter the cats' view of their station in life.

Yesterday I moved the tractor about 4'. The little guys are poop machines and are getting good at scratching the ground, so I wanted to get them out of their own waste. I made the tractor using some salvaged 2x2s, salvaged roofing tin, and saplings I had to clear out of a field. It is a little too flexible and heavy to move easily. I finally figured out if I climb in and slide it from the center point, I can move it by myself. Unfortunately, as they grow, I'm not sure I'll want to be inside with the chickens as I move the tractor around.

One more passed today. This one looked to have ben picked open a bit just below the vent. At first I thought it was poo stuck to his down. I cleaned him up a bit and noticed that the mass hanging out went through the skin. I kept an eye on him and since no one was picking at it, I left him in. I checked back often and his energy level went way down. He eventually laid down and didn't get up again.

Last night it got down to 18F, and the little chicks just piled up right outside the focus of the heat lamps and huddled together. I was nervous about their temps, but they kept quiet, so I figure they were happy.

Last night I bumped out the plug to the lamps on my way back to the house. It was snowing and getting dark. I didn't notice for about 40 minutes. Thought I screwed them big time as it was snowing and the temp inside the tractor got down to 60F. They were chirping like crazy. Three chicks were freezing, and not very responsive, so once power was on I popped them under the heat lamps and within an hour the perked back up. I found one more that had a pasty butt,that looked like it was going to blow out. This looks like an early version of the guy with his intestines hanging out. He was also pretty unresponsive. I tried watering the vent and keeping him warm. Switched to using peroxide to loosen the clot. I didn't get it cleared out, but cleaned it several times. On my last check I didn't spot him, so he must be mobile, instead of laying down suffering.

Man, I was nervous about that plug all night... kept running out to check on it every 10 minutes, especially as the temps dropped. Everyone survived the night, but one more died in the middle of the day for no apparent reason. It didn't have a dirty bum, so wasn't the one I was worried about last night.

They got visits today from my sister and her kiddos and the woman I'm dating. She stood out there in the freezing cold in a skirt and funky heels, and waited patiently while I cleaned off a few chicky bums. What a trooper.

new chicks in my life

Just arriving this morning at 7am were 50 new Barred Plymouth Rock chicks. This is a straight run, so I'm not sure how many pullets vs. cockerels there are.

I lost two of them. One just wasn't spunky. He wasn't eating or drinking, or moving around. I kept checking on him and he eventually just petered out on his own. The second I had to put down. His intestine has hanging out of the vent, and other chicks were picking at it. I had to remove him.

Temperature control is my biggest worry. With outside temperatures below freezing, I've covered the chicken tractor and lowered the three heat lamps in side to get at least a few 90F spots for them to warm up in. They squeak in distress when too cold, and it took me all day to figure out the level of noise they make when they are just right temperature wise.


For anyone curious about the brooding conditions; they are being raised in the field in a 4'x12' tractor I made. There are three heat lamps in a 4'x4' section of it, and the whole thing is covered to keep drafts way down. They only use up 1/4 of the tractor at the moment, but I expect as they grow, they will need a second tractor ready in about a month or two.

Outside temps this morning when I put them in the tractor were around 30F, and only getting up to 70F inside. Now, we're running at around 42F outside the tractor and 80F just outside the heat lamp area. Tonight should get down to 20F, so I'm a little concerned about keeping them warm enough, but will be keeping a close watch on them to adjust temps as needed. I've been passing around sugar water to help keep their energy up.

Down with Vegetables

I'm down with vegetables. We get along pretty swell. Though late, yesterday I finally got a hold on a tiller and spent around 9 hours tilling a 40'x100' plot. Today I finished up, and planted about 35 feet of:

* red onions
* yellow onions
* carrots
* cabbage
* 3 types of lettuce
* 2 types of turnips
* radishes
* brussels sprouts
* 3 types of squash
* 2 types of peas

I've left enough room to plant some each week for the next few weeks. I'm late enough that I think I may hit frost. Most of that stuff should be ok up to a certain point with some frosts, and may do just fine if I bury them in straw on the cold snaps. In any case... now it is just time, some watering, and hoeing to see how it turns out.


It has been a few weeks since the last post, and the high spots are:

Spent 2 weeks clearing a box wood grove. It has been invading a hay field for around 5 years and was conveniently located next to a collapsed beaver den on the river side. Plus I needed more wood to finish the chicken coop. I killed 3 birds with one chain saw and time. Cut and cleared a couple hundred fairly straight trunks (about 3 inches diameter average) and stuffed the branches in the collapsed den to help prevent the river and hillside runoff from eroding the area any more. The trunks will help in the coop and some other projects coming up.

Moved a bunch of rock from the fields and hill sides to help prevent some wash out spots on a couple dirt roads through the farm. Some of the rocks around here have some interesting fossils. I'm not sure what they are beyond some kind of shelled creatures.

Spent part of a day building and attempting to use a harrow to drag behind the ATV. I thought I might be able to use it instead of renting a tiller. We've been collecting a lot of trashed lumber, and recycle items. I used a 2"x4" box, some rebar, a piece of rope and some concrete blocks. It worked for a bit, then busted ll to heck. Next time, I'll build the frame special instead of adapting to an already build box frame.

There is a McDonald's going up in town, and Dad has been good about asking the construction guys for trash lumber. We've taken about 4 truck loads of stuff from them and another construction dumpster near by. Probably more than enough to finish the coop and get going on the goat shelter.

Watched a meteor shower with the high school sweet heart and my parents on the farm.

Collecting lots of random seeds. Mainly trees, at the moment.

I'm forgetting a ton of things, but that happens when you let a few weeks go by without trying to remember it all.

Spent most of today figuring out how I want the trap door (for cleaning out the chicken coop), to work and putting in most of the work for it. I sure hope it doesn't interfere with the walls when I put them up.

I'm making it a lift out/drop in door, that way I don't have to go buy hinges :) It is positioned as far out into the overhanging portion as possible, so that I can position a wheel barrow or cart under it, lift the hatch, and sweep everything out into the barrow. On the other hand, I'm making it as strong as the rest of the floor, so it can still be walked on without fear of dropping out the bottom with chicken poo following right behind.

farm buildings, reading

Another good read from archive.org concerning farm buildings. Covers topics like safe loads for wooden spans of varying length based on the width and depth, considerations of dairy barn sanitary issues, issues of air flow in the buildings, different roof designs, and good use of carpenters square. http://www.archive.org/stream/farmbuildings00fostrich


Only nailed in one more floor board in the coop. Trying to plan out where I want the shovel-out trap door set before I finish off the floor where it will be located. Need to get more wood for walls and roof. Spent a couple hours cutting box wood trees out of the field by their roots.

more seeds

Didn't do any work on the coop today. Pretty lazy day.

Went picking for red clover seeds today before rain showers. Got maybe 10 pounds of wet weight heads. They'll dry in the sunshine and wind, and I'll sow them back into the fields for goat browse. I'll gather more when it dries up.

For Kentucky reference, a good harvest time is around July 15. Sowing in mid August or mid Feburary to March. See http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/agr/agr33/agr33.htm for more info.

bottom half of the treehouse coop

It has been slow going, but here are some photos of the supports and floor of the soon to be functional tree house chicken coop. The floor boards haven't been nailed in yet,. The platform size is about 8' x 8'.

All of the wood for this part of the structure (except the two really crooked ground posts) has been salvaged for free from a tornado damaged barn. It only took most of a day to harvest the wood from a field, and a partially collapsed barn. I'll need to go back for more before attacking the walls and roof.

[pictures at Treehouse Coop]

Archive is great

You can never have enough reading material. From the not-Oprah's reading list, the new-as-of-the-turn-of-the-20th-century, now "copiously illustrated": Poultry Appliances & Handicraft.

Started building the chicken coop. Boxing a couple tree trunks for one side. One of the trees will pass through the coop. Slow going due to my lack of construction experience. Broke a hammer, right off, trying to pull nails out of the salvaged barn timbers. Most is old growth oak with copious amounts of super rusty nails.

Picked up another crop of healthy chiggers. They like my ankles and bikini line. *scratch*

Spent a few hours cleaning up part of the barn and the field for David; in trade. Kept a truckload of wood and tin roof from the tornado hit barn for the coop.

Finished ripping apart the barn wall this morning. Saw about 10 more snakes. Need to clean up the wood pile left over, and do something with the tin wall panels. Tried to make a helical pump from a 5 gallon bucket, old hose and a rake. It pumped, though, not sure of capacity or head. Will be picking up some pvc pipe connectors to finish it off.

Spent more time clearing the forested gully for the chicken coops. Thought more about positioning and layout of where they should be placed. Took 3 more pickup loads of cleared brush down to the beaver den to fill in the washed out area.

Spent a couple hours breaking apart the wall. Now 2/3s done. Found 6 snakes. Think they were Garter, Rat, and Scarlet snakes.

Went to the bluegrass jamboree in Woodland park, Lexington with some friends and kiddo companions.

Started to break apart the tin wall section that blew into the field a couple years back during a tornado. The snakes won today, but I'll be back to finish.

Started clearing brush and trees from a gully where I'll put a chicken coop or two.

Harvested Wild Peas and Wild Wheat. Hand threshed and winnowed the wheat. Air and sun drying both before sealing them in plastic bags. Will try to germinate a few of each.

Rained on and off this morning.

Tried to weave a fence. Pretty bad results. Used random dead stuff rather than hacking down new trees.

Noticed some CrownVetch starting to seed, pulled a few and a root, and planted all in some soil from the garden. Not sure if any will grow, since the seed pods were either dry, but small (from a damaged plant) or large, but green.

Laid stone and pavers under the new arch/trellis.

Went to visit the feed store on Mill Rd. Was told about folks that have goats. $1 per chick from feed store.

Finished most of the arch out front. Found dead squirrel under the trained bush. White cat was licking it this morning, but I couldn't tell what it was, once we lifted the bush back upright, boom; dead squirrel.

Walked the fence line, noted that much of the fence around the top of the hill is down.

Rained hard for about 5 minutes.

Looked into chicory: for food and browse. may help lessen worm load on the goats. More protein than alfalfa.