Homestead News, Volume 10

Life on the farm, or homestead, is trucking right along. The one man 'crew' we hired to help with some of our projects is back from an extended vacation, so he and Frank are back at it.

They started Monday morning by doing some of the finish work on the greenhouse. Now the vents are all in, the outside and top corners are closed in and the flashing has been added where the roof meets the side of the house. The doors will be installed later.

Yes, that's a radio antenna in the background on the other end of the house.

 






This is used to block rain from blowing in under the edges.

 

8:30 am in the greenhouse

This morning before it got hot, I went out and swept out the greenhouse in preparation for placing the water barrels. On one of the trips to the barn to bring down supplies for their work, Frank loaded up some of the barrels that have been stored there. As he took them out of their cardboard containers he found the invoice. We ordered these barrels from Emergency Essentials in 2009. They had a great sale with free shipping, so we ordered ten 55 gallon barrels. We couldn't believe we would get free shipping for these in our rural location, but we did. That is how long we have had this plan for a greenhouse. We already mentioned that we had the slab poured in 2008 when we first moved here and had the porches added to the house. This project is definitely a long term dream come true.

 







The reason for ten 55 gallon barrels of water is multifaceted. Initially, it was a place to store water in case of emergencies. It will still be good for that, but the reason these barrels are being placed in the greenhouse is for temperature regulation. It probably won't make much difference in the summer. The shear impact of hot air temperatures, will create a very hot environment in there. We plan to use the greenhouse in the summer to dehydrate, or dry many plant materials. Right now it easily gets 105+ degrees by noon each day. But in the winter, as the sun heats the greenhouse, and thus the water in the barrels, it will help raise the temperature not only during the day, but all night long. Our hope is that the heat absorbed by the barrels during the day and radiated overnight will help keep any plants that are growing in there from freezing. Will it work? We will find out over the coming months. We will place a 3/4" sheet of plywood over two barrels, one barrel at each end of the plywood, then will have a working area. This should give us about five areas to pot, store, dry and grow plants or food.

 







The placement of the barrels has to take into account the vents, and shelving against the wall of the house.

This window will be removed and a door installed in it's place before long. We don't know if there will be room for another set of barrels in the middle of the floor, it depends on how the stairs work coming out of the house. We'll figure that out when we get that far along.

These two concrete block were left over from when we had the house leveled. They'll make nice steps coming into the greenhouse.

The grass and weeds are already trying to grow up inside the sheathing on the greenhouse. After I finished sweeping, I trimmed the grass and pulled everything out of the way. We will spray some of the foam stuff around the bottom of the siding to prevent plants and bugs from finding their way in so easily. Speaking of tools (in the last article), this is one tool that I haven't taken very good care of. It lives outside under a roof, but the blades were starting to rust. After I finished trimming, I got out the wire brush, gave them a good cleaning, then sprayed them with WD-40. Maintenance of tools is essential if we expect them to last.

 








The projects the men worked on yesterday included replacing the rotting trim around this window and door. The materials that were used to construct the building were of very poor quality and didn't last very long. Frank chose to replace them with some of the cedar we had left from trimming the windows in the house. While they are at it, they are going to replace the trim on the other window and the other building as well, instead of waiting for the same thing to happen to them. They also chose to put an angled board above the window for rain runoff. Not only is it functional, it looks very nice.

Remember that big patch of zinnias we had in the garden earlier in the year? They're coming back up everywhere! That's okay. I hope they bloom enough to make more seeds. They look great, attract pollinators and are supposed to deter some bugs. Besides all that, we really like them.

This old shed was here when we moved here. It has seen better days and needed some roof repairs. We had covered the old aluminum vent system that went down the middle of the ceiling with a tarp a while back because the roof decking was starting to rot.

Well, yesterday off came the tarp and rotted boards, replacement boards were installed and a roll of shingle material was applied the length of the roof ridge. That should hold it for a while. We also put vents in both ends of the building.

New light on top, old light on bottom

Today Frank installed a new light fixture up at the ceiling level. This is a great improvement. The old light was down at head level on the bottom of the rafter. These rafters are not even six feet tall. The man that built this shed was short and he only built it tall enough for him to walk under. I can walk under it, but Frank has to duck between each truss or bang his head. Anyway, the lighting up at ceiling level instead of truss level is a vast improvement. Maybe we won't need to use the flashlight all the time to see.

 






We also had vents installed in the garage today, as well as some electrical repair. These vents had been stored in the barn for a while and had been blown around by a few storms. This one had the screen backing torn, so I did a little repair job before it was installed. Bellen, you're right about having sewing supplies on hand and knowing how to use them, even if it is in unconventional way.

 

This morning after I finished sweeping the greenhouse, I swept out the old shed as well. Small price to pay for such great improvements.

The goats were waiting impatiently for their breakfast and milking when I arrived this morning. They are always ready to eat.

The pigs continue to do well. Liberty, our gilt, will let me pet her all over while she is eating, even under her stomach, which is very good. I will be monitoring her closely over the next few months trying to figure out if she is pregnant. We haven't seen any signs of breeding or a heat cycle, but since we aren't familiar with raising and breeding pigs, I don't know if we would recognize it anyway. We will see. There is one barrow I don't particularly care for. He is always jumping up at the bucket or at my hand with his mouth open for a taste or bite or something. I just don't trust him. He will be the first one on the dinner table when the time comes.
 

10:45 am in the greenhouse

 











This is where the water barrels have been stored for the last six years. These two still need to be taken down to the greenhouse, then the mess cleaned up.

We have been using some of our lumber store while working on our many projects. It won't be long before we will need to restock this supply. This is one way we are investing our money in tangible assets, and is something we think is very valuable. Let's face it, when the SHTF, we are not going to be 'making' 2x4's or plywood, fence staples or barbed wire.

Here are some more supplies we will be using in some upcoming projects. You can tell by the layer of dust that they have been here for a while, kind of like the water barrels, just not as long. 

 






This is an area that will soon be involved in a project, along with these water barrels. We are really looking forward to this one as well.

The porch is full of tools that are used daily in our projects. The weather isn't as hot as it was a month ago, but the humidity sure makes it feel that way. The men start early in the morning and stop in the early afternoon. It makes for a shorter day, and keeps them out of the hottest part of the day.





I want to thank everyone for their well wishes on my sinus dilation. I went back for a checkup on Monday and found out that I was already growing scar tissue back over an area the doctor had worked over pretty good initially. He was surprised at the rate I was healing. I told him it was because I don't eat chemicals. I don't think he believed me or paid much attention to that statement. I do think that is the case, though. But because of the scar tissue trying to close off the left maxillary sinus, he had to cut it out. Suffice it to say that it was gruesomely painful and extremely difficult for Frank to see me hurt that bad. It took a while to quit shaking, and I was exhausted. 
 

Noon in the greenhouse

Yesterday I made some mozzarella and waxed two wheels of cheddar which filled up the small cheese frig. Now I need to try making cottage cheese again. There has to be a recipe somewhere that will work with our goat milk. 

Thanks for the flower seed, Grace.

Today I was glad I felt up to sweeping and helping Frank install the light in the shed. Tomorrow I plan to butcher a few roosters, maybe only two for fresh eating, but it will be a start. I already feel better each day and can only pray there will be no more cutting when I go for my next checkup.

As you are aware, the stock markets of the world have been, and continue to be, on a major roller coaster ride. The politicians continue their playground antics pointing fingers at each other and exposing themselves for the weak, ineffective people they are. The world leaders continue their saber rattling and posturing. And most people continue to stare mindlessly into screens small and large for the diversion of the day that is meant to distract them from the fact that the temperature of the pot is fast approaching the boiling point. Folks, you need to work hard and fast to get as many things in order as you possibly can. Many, many indicators are getting closer and closer to that red line, and when they cross it there will be no turning back. 

Until next time - Fern

Baby Chicks Cometh

Hello, Frank here.

Hi Everybody. Okay, we have talked about housing, chicken breeds and along with housing we talked about how many chickens per square foot. Now we're going to talk about what to do the day the stork brings your baby birds. Unless you have a hatchery close by, 50 to 100 miles, then your birds will either be coming, probably that is, from a local feed store or by U.S. mail. Our first batch came from a local hatchery. It was about 140 miles round trip on a nice summer day, pretty drive. I will tell you more about our first day with chickens later on in this post. But either way, whether feed store or U.S. mail, your baby chicks are going to be exactly what I just said, babies. And being babies they will have different needs than adult hens and roosters. 

So let's start with feed. Most people start their baby birds on some type of chick starter. You might say, "Why wouldn't everybody do this?" Well, because chick starters as general rule are also medicated and some folks just don't like medicating their birds starting from birth. I don't put any chemicals in my garden, but I do start my baby chicks with medicated chick starter. I can't tell you that the birds grow up healthier or stronger, it's just something that I choose to do. Chick starter is what's called crumbles. It's about the consistency, and maybe a little smaller than the breakfast cereal Grape Nuts. It kinda looks like it too. And 

it's probably made from about the same ingredients. We feed our adult birds laying crumbles. But there are also laying pellets. It's hard to describe a pellet, but it's about a quarter of an inch round and extruded. If you've ever been around cattle, they are also fed with pellets except that they are about an inch in diameter. So, if you choose to not feed your baby birds a medicated starter feed, you can start them with regular laying crumbles. It's just one of those choice things, but most folks do start their babies with some type of baby chick feed. You don't need to get the feed wet or make it soft as you do with ducks and geese in many cases. And there is no other feed that you need to give your baby birds at this time besides either laying crumbles or chick starter, which is a crumble.

Water. Water is the first thing that you should provide your baby chicken. This is going to be hard to believe, but a baby chicken knows how to run, play, peck, eat, scratch, but you will have to teach them how to get their

first drink. So, before any feed or anything. Water. And you say well, how do I teach them how to drink? By example? No. Assuming you have a water bottle with a tray on the bottom turned upside down, when you get your chickens home, whether they are in a bag from the feed store, or a box from a hatchery via U.S. mail, they will need that first drink. Take out the first bird individually, hold him in the palm of your hand, put your thumb on the back of his little head and gently poke his little beak into the water, but don't hold it there. Hold him up, let him get a taste, and you can tell when they swallow that first little bit. Then repeat cycle. Now this sounds easy enough, but you've got a two or three day old bird in your hand. It's the first time you've ever done this and that little chicken is not going to cooperate. So, be patient, you're both learning at this time.

A little side note here. If for some reason you have a dead baby chick, do not feed it to your cat or dog. You do not want your pets to develop a taste for chickens. And on rare occasions, you will get a baby bird that is deformed. This is going to sound cruel and gross, but I wrap them in toilet paper and flush them. Proceding right along here, in our last batch of hatchery chicks, we had one with it's head backwards. Since it would never have the ability to eat, it would never, never thrive. This is what I'm talking about. You will someday have to get rid of a baby chicken. If you have children, try not to make a big deal out of this. It just happens.

Now continue taking every bird out of the box or bag and make sure every bird gets a good drink. Then you can introduce the food. 

Okay, we've got food, we've got water. So where are you going to put these little critters? They need to be in a warm, 95 degrees, draft free, well lighted, predator secure environment. You can use about anything you want to use. If you have a chicken house secured with electricity and you have a corner to put them in, some type of heat lamp that they can gather under, a type of floor that is not slippery, this is a pretty good location, because the first week is the most critical time of all. 

Here is the way that we have done it for years, or something close to it. We get a large cardboard box. Refrigerator boxes, paper towel or toilet paper boxes, things like that. By the way, I have raised baby chicks in large ice

chests and Rubbermaid totes, whatever fits for you. A little warning here. If you're going to keep them in your spare bedroom, put a couple of large trash bags underneath the box. Then we take large trash bags, fold them and duct tape them inside to the bottom of the box. Then we use newspaper as flooring. We masking tape it down around the edges. Some folks would disagree with this. They claim it will develop leg problems due to a slippery surface. We have never had this problem. You need a thermometer inside your box. The birds need to be at 95 degrees, and you can lower the temperature five to eight degrees per week. So when you duct tape the thermometer to the inside of the box, don't tape over the numbers you will

need to use. Put it where the thermometer measures it's temperature from at head level for the baby chickens, about 3 inches from the bottom of the box. Heat can be a sensitive issue. Too much heat will kill your baby chickens, not enough heat will also kill your baby chickens. If your heat source comes in contact with your cardboard box, it can cause a fire. I have never used a heat lamp with a cardboard box. Never. Here's how I do it. I take a light weight extension cord. Follow me here now. At the hardware store you will need to buy two inexpensive, small light fixtures. One, the first one,

needs a two prong plug that goes into the extension cord and opposite the two prong plug is a standard screw in light bulb socket. Okay, that's good for one light bulb. What I do next is buy an adapter that screws into that socket that allows you to use two light bulbs. It looks like a 'Y'. Then I use two light bulbs appropriate for the heat that I desire. Next get a 1 x 4 that will go across the width of your box, wrap your extension cord around it about four times, then you can adjust the heighth of where the lights are hanging by rotating your 1 x 4 up or down. The bulbs should not touch the chickens or any part of the cardboard box. This is one of those things that you will need to experiment with a few days before your chicks arrive. Why two bulbs? Just in case one bulb burns out. Have a good selection of different wattages. As your birds get taller, raise the lights up. You can put in a lower wattage to lower the temperature. If the birds are too hot, they will move away from the light. If they are too cold, they will gather under the light and there is a chance that a weaker bird may suffocate. It seldom happens though. So watch your birds. How do you keep the heat in? Take some cardboard pieces and lay them across parts of the top of the box. Don't cover the whole box though, because if it gets too hot, it will kill your birds.

Another side note. If your thermometer has a red ball on the bottom, your chickens will spend hours pecking that red dot. And also from birth, they will know that things hovering above are dangerous. I don't know how and I don't know why, but they know it. Now you need to have something to go across the top of the box, like rabbit wire, to keep out your friendly cat or dog. And when the chicks get to be about two weeks old they will become escape artists. So have your box set up ahead of time, check out the temperature day and night. When you've given all the babies a drink and put them in their box with their feed, the temperature in the box will start to go up. Pay attention.

Alrighty, next topic. A plugged vent. This is not what you think it is. If the temperature is not just right and the humidity is not just right a small percentage of the baby chicks will develop a crust on their butts or anus. When the birds defecate it will crust over, therefore blocking the chicks ability to vent or poop. And then the little guy will die. This will happen pretty early on in the birds development somewhere around seven days or so. So, what do you do? Get a wide shallow pan, put water in it. Get a handful of paper towels. Hold the little chick with it's crusted area facing toward you, wet the paper towel and get the crusty spot wet. If it's real, real hard, dip the opposite end from the beak into the pan of water. This soaks the crusty area and very gently remove the dried poop with the paper towel. You can't just pull it off because their body is still very fragile. This won't happen every time by any means. But it will happen. And I believe it's caused by a prolonged high temperature which causes dehydration. So, when you see this, you need to remedy it immediately. Now, it's not the same as a bird pooping and having a small amount of wet poop on it's butt. But if you find one bird with it, you'll probably find more. So, scare everybody down to one end of the box and pick up birds and start checking butts. Like I said, this might happen once or twice when the chicks are at a very young age. It's commonly called poopy butt.

Electrolytes. This is a supplement that we put in our baby chick water. Ask around the feed store and see if they have any. If not you can buy these products from Jeffer's or when you order the baby chicks from the hatchery they will tuck a package in with the baby chickens. I would highly recommend this to get your chicks started right. 

Vaccinations. Some hatcheries will offer vaccinations for diseases that could occur locally. So check and see what they have to offer. It normally doesn't cost much. Some people get their birds vaccinated and some don't. Different hatcheries charge substantially different prices for vaccinating birds. Some have big, big differences. This is something that you need to pay attention to in figuring the cost of the bird. We have our birds that come from the hatchery all vaccinated.

About hatchery or feed store baby birds, I would highly recommend hatchery birds. The feed store birds have been handled by numerous people, not always gently and your not always sure about exactly what breed or sex of bird you're getting. If you order birds from a hatchery, barring any unforseen circumstances, when your chicks arrive you will know exactly what you're getting. Sometimes baby birds die. This is life. But the more reputable hatcheries will either refund or replace your birds in your next order.

Just like bringing any baby home, you need to be prepared. Feed store, co-ops, big chain animal supplies will have baby chick feeders, waters and extra gizmo stuff.




Now let me tell you my chicken story. When Fern and I got our first birds, this was pre-internet days, and we had read as much as we could about bringing baby birds home. All the literature said keep your birds at 95 degrees. So, on a nice summer day, in the southern part of our great country, we drove back from the hatchery with the heater on in the vehicle to make sure our baby birds stayed 95 degrees. We've grown a little since then and we laugh about it now. And speaking of laughing, I hope you have practiced your clucking. For your entertainment, I have included a video about how to cluck.

We'll cluck more later. Frank