Show me your gardening Progress

And @RoadRoach
Are you still around and is all OK?
You've been quiet
 
GFHomebrew said:
here ya go @Roadi out out a video on a cool chicken water feeder.


my stainless steel 2lt ish water feeder had been running out too quick with 8 chooks on the drink.


Here's a feeder short I did as well while I'm at it


just a bit of downpipe with a 45 and a 90 I think it was on the bottom DIY and at same price or cheaper than the store bought less capacity items win win me thinks.


I've been getting stuck into the garden harvesting g pumpkins capsicums vok choi and my mandies are groaning with fruit.

finally dropped that Native bee hive off to Matildas Daycare the littlies got a look inside and watch me put it up on the fence.

Here's the split video for anyone interested

I think this is where my brewing passion went towards cultivating the back yard and the bees.


hope you all been keeping well love to drop back here and read up on the brewing knowledge and look at the beers and remember them days...

cheers
Click to expand...
Thanks for the links. Been outta pocket for a bit because I've been bustin' my hump building new chicken mansions. The neighbor had 11 birds in a little 4 foot by 8 foot tractor, which is OK for about 4-5 birds. They started picking on each other and nearly stripped each other of feathers (cannibalism). It was his first experience with chickens and he had no clue what he was doing to them in that little tractor until I went over there one day to look at them. That was last December, and we had some horribly cold weather coming on (like -20C to you). I built a new (8x16) pen for him to start with and used an old rabbit hutch for a coop. After the weather warmed back up a bit, I built him a new (8x8) coop as well to get them out of the overcrowded tractor. His birds are 6 months older than mine (a year old about now) and mine are twice the size of his because they were too crowded in that little tractor too long and it stunted their growth. He's got plenty room for twice as many now.

Then the missus started doing chicken math. We had 6 birds that we got in August when we returned from NZ and Oz which were already laying. She decided she wanted more, and no amount of me pleading would get her to wait just a little longer. She works in a local Tractor Supply store now (kinda like a feed/farm store), and they sell chickens every year from February until August. Long story longer, she got 6 more in February (which would have been max capacity for our coop), then comes home with 4 more, and another 4 and another 4 all spaced out over a 5 week period. By the time we got the last ones, the ones she got in February were already big enough and old enough they wouldn't tolerate the little fellas. So, three (one of the last ones just never learned to eat/drink) wound up being isolated from the rest. That created had a real headache trying to keep them from getting killed by the older ones, which is what caused THREE different feed/water requirements. I had the 3-gallon waterer for the big girls, which would last the oldest birds (laying now) about 10 days if I kept it high enough to keep them from kicking stuff in it. I suspended it from some paracord with a plastic bowl on it to keep them from climbing on it and pooping in their own water. Did the same for the feeder, but water runs down the paracord and gets the feed wet. They don't mind it being wet, but it won't come down out of the feeder when it's wet. So I have to relocate it inside when it rains. Guess what kinda weather we're gonna have for the next 10 days? I don't have time to build a little feeder shanty to protect the feeders from rain because I'm too busy building a whole new pen. I've already decided that the new pen will have some more convenient features for water/feed that are less susceptible to the weather.

Ennyhoo, her chicken math and the fact I built one for the neighbor dictated that I build a new pen for ours. New coop is a combo storeroom and coop, 8 feet by 24 feet with 8x8 for the store room and 8x16 for the girls. The run is 16 x 24. I used cross ties (sleepers) to go around the bottom for a foundation to help keep bugs away and have built modular fence panels and gates that I can stack up and replace easily if needed. Same goes for the top panels for the run. I can't leave them out in the open because we have a few hawks that are 3x the size of our chickens hanging around. Chooks cost too much to raise to just let the predators have them. I chased off a fox yesterday that was eyeballing my coop. I also killed a 3-foot copperhead (one of the most aggressive venomous snakes on the planet) in my neighbor's back yard. I fear we may have attracted some slightly unwanted wildlife with the birds. We've got quite the flock now with 24 birds. The first 6 we got in August when we got back from Oz last year. The rest are spread out over about 5 weeks this year and are about 10-15 weeks now. I'm in a crunch trying to build our new coop in a BIG hurry before the oldest little ones start laying. Thus, my absence for a while.

We re-homed both of the Rhode Island Red roosters, too. They had already gotten too old to use for meat birds, and I didn't have the heart to just kill them because they had become pets, like it or not. They were named Butter and Lemon (as in Asian chicken dishes), but we changed Lemon's name to Mr. Magoo when we put him back in with the girls. He started losing weight and was stressing very badly while we had him isolated. The largest one (Butter) was nearly 10 pounds (about 4.5Kg), and the other was probably all of 4Kg. Both were big, gorgeous birds, but after we re-homed the first one, the second started getting very aggressive with the hens and even attacked Makaila. Strangely enough, she was the only one of us that he would let touch him. We had to separate them from the girls because they were being way too rough on them and harming them. One moved to Selma, Alabama, and the other a little more local to Calera. Both buyers ($20 for Butter and $10 for Mr. Magoo) wanted them to raise chicks, which I have ZERO interest in doing.

I like those watering cups better than the ones that are widely available around here. The weight of the water in them shuts them off, not a spring, I like that a lot. I tried a 5 gallon bucket version of what you did with different cups. I could probably just replace the cups. The girls couldn't seem to figure out they had to peck the little valve stem to get more water, so I'm stuck with the gravity feed ones with a trough around the bottom. At least until I have time to come up for air and do the little improvement projects that I LIKE to do. Those cups would do the same thing as the bell waterers by exposing the water for them to find it and they don't have to peck it to get water. I have THREE waterers now, two 1-gallon, and the 3-gallon because we now have three different age groups of birds. The 3-gallon is far better than the two bell type because it uses a smaller port to allow water to drain into the trough and also can be capped off to make carrying it without getting soaked a lot easier. We're currently trying to get the youngest three birds to assimilate with the middle group, and will move all of those into the new coop as soon as I get it closed in enough.

Next time you want to install the cups, try drilling the hole a size smaller, and then thread the hole for 1/8" NPT pipe threads. (Yours may be metric pipe threads, though, dunno). I happened to have a pipe tap the right size, so I tried and it fit beautifully. Pipe threads are normally tapered so that they seal better. That let me replace the little wing nuts on the inside with an aluminum plate that would let me tighten the cup on so the o-ring would seal better.

I'll try to get some photos of the new coop and the flock later and post them. The oldest girls got BIG. 2 Australorps, 3 Barred Rock, and 1 Ameraucana (funny looking bird with no wattles and a fluffy beard).

The younger ones, let's see, ummm,

2 Black Sex Link
1 Amberlink (hatchmate died)
1 Chocolate Orpington (to replace the Amberlink that died)
1 Sapphire Gem (hatchmate died)
1 Starlight
2 Cream Legbar
2 California White
2 Isa Brown
3 Blue Leg Beauty
1 - Zombie (what I call it because of black skin/beak but white feathers)
2 Pearl Onyx

I think that adds up to the 18 that triggered spending nearly $3500 to build a new coop. Told the missus they owe me 1750 dozen eggs to pay for it. I'm still curious what she thinks she's gonna do with 2 dozen eggs per day when they all start laying .......


Hopefully this time we have no roosters in the bunch. The two Rhode Island Reds disguised themselves for a long time, though. They didn't present until nearly 16 weeks, then suddenly hit another growth spurt and doubled the size of the girls, their combs got huge and red, and their feet got ENORMOUS. They were 4 inches taller than all the hens, very suddenly, and two big roosters in a pen with only 6 hens was not working out well for the hens at all. They never started fighting because they grew up together, but it was just a matter of time. I didn't want them around after they grew their spurs.

Thanks again for the mention. I gotta go get to work and use every second of fair weather I have. Won't be any for 10 days after tonight.
 
Zambi said:
And @RoadRoach
Are you still around and is all OK?
You've been quiet
Click to expand...
Yeah, still around. Just renewed membership (new credit card) and wrote the big diatribe above. Lots to catch up on, but unfortunately no time to do the catching. Just don't have much internet time at all for the past 5 months.
 
RoadRoach said:
Thanks for the links. Been outta pocket for a bit because I've been bustin' my hump building new chicken mansions. The neighbor had 11 birds in a little 4 foot by 8 foot tractor, which is OK for about 4-5 birds. They started picking on each other and nearly stripped each other of feathers (cannibalism). It was his first experience with chickens and he had no clue what he was doing to them in that little tractor until I went over there one day to look at them. That was last December, and we had some horribly cold weather coming on (like -20C to you). I built a new (8x16) pen for him to start with and used an old rabbit hutch for a coop. After the weather warmed back up a bit, I built him a new (8x8) coop as well to get them out of the overcrowded tractor. His birds are 6 months older than mine (a year old about now) and mine are twice the size of his because they were too crowded in that little tractor too long and it stunted their growth. He's got plenty room for twice as many now.

Then the missus started doing chicken math. We had 6 birds that we got in August when we returned from NZ and Oz which were already laying. She decided she wanted more, and no amount of me pleading would get her to wait just a little longer. She works in a local Tractor Supply store now (kinda like a feed/farm store), and they sell chickens every year from February until August. Long story longer, she got 6 more in February (which would have been max capacity for our coop), then comes home with 4 more, and another 4 and another 4 all spaced out over a 5 week period. By the time we got the last ones, the ones she got in February were already big enough and old enough they wouldn't tolerate the little fellas. So, three (one of the last ones just never learned to eat/drink) wound up being isolated from the rest. That created had a real headache trying to keep them from getting killed by the older ones, which is what caused THREE different feed/water requirements. I had the 3-gallon waterer for the big girls, which would last the oldest birds (laying now) about 10 days if I kept it high enough to keep them from kicking stuff in it. I suspended it from some paracord with a plastic bowl on it to keep them from climbing on it and pooping in their own water. Did the same for the feeder, but water runs down the paracord and gets the feed wet. They don't mind it being wet, but it won't come down out of the feeder when it's wet. So I have to relocate it inside when it rains. Guess what kinda weather we're gonna have for the next 10 days? I don't have time to build a little feeder shanty to protect the feeders from rain because I'm too busy building a whole new pen. I've already decided that the new pen will have some more convenient features for water/feed that are less susceptible to the weather.

Ennyhoo, her chicken math and the fact I built one for the neighbor dictated that I build a new pen for ours. New coop is a combo storeroom and coop, 8 feet by 24 feet with 8x8 for the store room and 8x16 for the girls. The run is 16 x 24. I used cross ties (sleepers) to go around the bottom for a foundation to help keep bugs away and have built modular fence panels and gates that I can stack up and replace easily if needed. Same goes for the top panels for the run. I can't leave them out in the open because we have a few hawks that are 3x the size of our chickens hanging around. Chooks cost too much to raise to just let the predators have them. I chased off a fox yesterday that was eyeballing my coop. I also killed a 3-foot copperhead (one of the most aggressive venomous snakes on the planet) in my neighbor's back yard. I fear we may have attracted some slightly unwanted wildlife with the birds. We've got quite the flock now with 24 birds. The first 6 we got in August when we got back from Oz last year. The rest are spread out over about 5 weeks this year and are about 10-15 weeks now. I'm in a crunch trying to build our new coop in a BIG hurry before the oldest little ones start laying. Thus, my absence for a while.

We re-homed both of the Rhode Island Red roosters, too. They had already gotten too old to use for meat birds, and I didn't have the heart to just kill them because they had become pets, like it or not. They were named Butter and Lemon (as in Asian chicken dishes), but we changed Lemon's name to Mr. Magoo when we put him back in with the girls. He started losing weight and was stressing very badly while we had him isolated. The largest one (Butter) was nearly 10 pounds (about 4.5Kg), and the other was probably all of 4Kg. Both were big, gorgeous birds, but after we re-homed the first one, the second started getting very aggressive with the hens and even attacked Makaila. Strangely enough, she was the only one of us that he would let touch him. We had to separate them from the girls because they were being way too rough on them and harming them. One moved to Selma, Alabama, and the other a little more local to Calera. Both buyers ($20 for Butter and $10 for Mr. Magoo) wanted them to raise chicks, which I have ZERO interest in doing.

I like those watering cups better than the ones that are widely available around here. The weight of the water in them shuts them off, not a spring, I like that a lot. I tried a 5 gallon bucket version of what you did with different cups. I could probably just replace the cups. The girls couldn't seem to figure out they had to peck the little valve stem to get more water, so I'm stuck with the gravity feed ones with a trough around the bottom. At least until I have time to come up for air and do the little improvement projects that I LIKE to do. Those cups would do the same thing as the bell waterers by exposing the water for them to find it and they don't have to peck it to get water. I have THREE waterers now, two 1-gallon, and the 3-gallon because we now have three different age groups of birds. The 3-gallon is far better than the two bell type because it uses a smaller port to allow water to drain into the trough and also can be capped off to make carrying it without getting soaked a lot easier. We're currently trying to get the youngest three birds to assimilate with the middle group, and will move all of those into the new coop as soon as I get it closed in enough.

Next time you want to install the cups, try drilling the hole a size smaller, and then thread the hole for 1/8" NPT pipe threads. (Yours may be metric pipe threads, though, dunno). I happened to have a pipe tap the right size, so I tried and it fit beautifully. Pipe threads are normally tapered so that they seal better. That let me replace the little wing nuts on the inside with an aluminum plate that would let me tighten the cup on so the o-ring would seal better.

I'll try to get some photos of the new coop and the flock later and post them. The oldest girls got BIG. 2 Australorps, 3 Barred Rock, and 1 Ameraucana (funny looking bird with no wattles and a fluffy beard).

The younger ones, let's see, ummm,

2 Black Sex Link
1 Amberlink (hatchmate died)
1 Chocolate Orpington (to replace the Amberlink that died)
1 Sapphire Gem (hatchmate died)
1 Starlight
2 Cream Legbar
2 California White
2 Isa Brown
3 Blue Leg Beauty
1 - Zombie (what I call it because of black skin/beak but white feathers)
2 Pearl Onyx

I think that adds up to the 18 that triggered spending nearly $3500 to build a new coop. Told the missus they owe me 1750 dozen eggs to pay for it. I'm still curious what she thinks she's gonna do with 2 dozen eggs per day when they all start laying .......


Hopefully this time we have no roosters in the bunch. The two Rhode Island Reds disguised themselves for a long time, though. They didn't present until nearly 16 weeks, then suddenly hit another growth spurt and doubled the size of the girls, their combs got huge and red, and their feet got ENORMOUS. They were 4 inches taller than all the hens, very suddenly, and two big roosters in a pen with only 6 hens was not working out well for the hens at all. They never started fighting because they grew up together, but it was just a matter of time. I didn't want them around after they grew their spurs.

Thanks again for the mention. I gotta go get to work and use every second of fair weather I have. Won't be any for 10 days after tonight.
Click to expand...
sounds like you got alot going on there Roadie. it's hard to say NO sometimes but in the long run looking back sometimes it's the best option :p.

hope you dont get no roosters.
we did good only one boy dropped him off to Fay the Chiok lady he's living on a banana farm now with a heap of other roosters.

Matilda is the little Chook Boss now collecting eggs and checking on the seed and water is her specialty lol.

cheers.
 
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