Farm Friday: Chicken Tunnels

Chicken tunnels.

Surely you've heard of them?

Surely you have some?

No?  Then you must build yourself some.  They are the perfect way to get your chickens from point A to point B without either making a huge coop or letting your chickens free-range, which means they will never even make it to point B.

In my case, I wanted to funnel my chooks from their run behind their coop over to our old vegetable garden, which I converted into my compost bin (which isn't really a "bin" per se).

My idea was to build an enclosed space to throw kitchen scraps and yard/garden waste that the chickens could have access to, so they could scratch and poop and do all things chicken-y to turn the scraps into Gardener's Gold.  I decided the raised bed that came with my house was too small to use for my garden, but was a good size for a compost area, and situated close-but-not-too-close to the house, so it would be ideal.  But it was about 45' or so from the chicken coop.  

Enter chicken tunnels. 

Since I already had nice sturdy livestock paneling as my existing fence, I had a great base from which to build.  I don't have a "how-to" picture tutorial, but it was pretty simple.  If you plan to build a free-standing tunnel, your design will need to be different, so off you go, look elsewhere.

Anyway, here's how I made them...

What I did was to take shorter hog panels, as opposed to the taller cattle panels, and laid them on the ground.  I placed a 2x4 lengthwise on the panel where I wanted it to bend.  Then I just planted my feet on the 2x4, grabbed the upper end of the panel, and pulled so that it bent.  I just moved the board down and pulled up on the far end and kept going back and forth till I had the curve the way I wanted it. 

I only needed the tunnel to be "dig-proof" on one side.  On the inside of my fence (the backyard side), I was making a long row of raised beds for my vegetable garden, which you can kind of see in some of the pictures, but not all.  So since that side had a 20" buffer with the raised beds, I didn't need an "apron" of wire.  I did, however, need that on the other side in order to keep any predators from digging into the tunnel.  Sort of hard to explain, but I attached chicken wire to the existing fence with zip ties, then attached the new tunnel panels to the fence with zip ties, then wrapped the chicken wire over the tunnel, attaching here and there with - you guessed it - zip ties.  Where the tunnel met the ground, I ran the wire out about 12", and secured the chicken wire to the ground with garden staples, the kind you tack landscaping cloth down with.  The grass just grows right up through it, so it is not a problem mowing over it, and you'd never know it was there to look at it.  In fact, you don't even need to weed wack up against the tunnel because the chickens just stick their little beaks through and weed wack for you, considerate little creatures that they are.

So I just kept repeating this down the length of the fence till I got it to where it needed to be.  I overlapped the panels a bit.  You know what I used to secure one panel to the next?  I'm not even gonna say it.  It's good to have a little mystery in our lives here and there. 

Again, apologies for not taking pictures as I went along to make this a tutorial.  It just wasn't in my mind at the time.  But hopefully it makes sense.  If not, head over to Pinterest where I'm sure you can find some legit tutorials with pictures and everything.  I think that's where I got my idea, and then just tweaked it to work for my particular situation.

By the way, my chickens just love it, and it's been working beautifully.  I've had zero problems with it.  And I could do worse for entertainment than to sit with a cold one at the end of the day and watch them darting back and forth like hamsters in a Habitrail.

Beatrice, ever the pack leader.

Veggie garden-turned compost bin.

                                             

                                         Scraps turned into gold, right before my eyes.

Farm Friday: Growing Pumpkins

I wanted to try growing pumpkins and gourds this year, but didn't want to take up too much ground space with their rambliness.

I saw an idea on Pinterest of growing pumpkins in raised beds with livestock panel trellises, and I thought I'd give it a try.  It's too early to tell if I'm going to get a successful yield, but so far I'm very happy with them!  They were super easy to build, and don't take up too much real estate.

I used 8' cedar planks, and 4"x4" posts cut into 1' chunks for the raised beds.

I drove U-posts into the ground, then bent two 16' panels into place, overlapping slightly in the middle.  I secured the panels to the posts with zip ties, then just set the raised beds in place.  I laid cardboard in the bottoms of the beds, then filled with soil and compost.

We go out every few days just to help train the vines up the trellis.

First little pumpkin!

Having So. Much. Fun.

Maybe it's because I've recently become addicted to Flea Market Flip.

Or maybe it's because I'm sick and tired of constantly working on home improvement stuff, but yet still want to do something. Something artistic or creative or funky.

Or cash?
Could be the cash.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I've recently started making some crafty things. And selling them.

Much of it is horsey stuff, cuz, you know, Funny Farm.

For instance, I took an old stirrup and turned it into a Christmas door hanging.

I turned some snaffle bits into doorknob hangers.

And another bit into a toilet paper holder.

Spruced up a few old jars.

And a few other projects, some already sold, some still looking for buyers, some still classified as Work In Progress.

Is it wrong to enjoy myself so much when engaged in elementary school work playing with scissors and glue? Because I truly am enjoying myself. I want to do it all the time. Like quit my day job and ditch the dining room table for a proper workshop, and start an Etsy shop and become the most profitable seller Etsy's ever seen, and have Martha call me for advice and....

Huh.

Maybe I've been using a bit too much glue.

Farm Friday: From Farm to School, a Guest Post

I have a guest post for you today from Julie Ellis.  Julie has written a post on the advantages of being a farm kid when it comes time to fly off to college.  Take it away, Julie!

From Farm to School 

Going to college is a big step for anyone. But if, like me, you grew up on a farm in a rural area, you may have worries about “fitting in” with lots of kids from urban and suburban neighborhoods – after all, their lifestyles have been way different from yours. What could you possibly have in common? These were my worries too, but I’m here to say that what I learned on the farm was the perfect prep for living and studying with others:

1. Everyone has to do his/her part for the “family” to be successful. Dormitory living is a bit cramped, to say the least. No one is going to pick up after you, and no one is going to like it if you don’t do your share to keep the bathrooms clean. This I learned from the age of 5, while some dorm residents are just now learning! 
2. You have to be independent and able to learn things on your own. Nothing promotes these skills more than being a part of a farm family and totally relying on yourselves for your entire livelihood. In college, the expectation is that you are completely self-reliant in your learning and your living, and I have been able to teach some peers a thing or two about that!
3. You have to be a problem-solver. Crises on farms, big and small, occur all the time. When a car breaks down, you can’t call a cab; when you have a late spring freeze, you don’t just lose your garden bedding plants – your entire crop is at risk! In college, crises occur too – big and small. You don’t always get the classes you want; you forgot a paper that is due; you’re out of money and still have a week left to go. If you’ve learned to “roll with the punches” of farm life, you get through these crises easily.
4. You know how to be by yourself. Lots of kids with urban backgrounds live hectic busy lives with people around all of the time. College life is a lot like that, and it’s fun, but there are also times when you need to be by yourself to reflect and to deal with you own issues. My life on the farm prepared me well for these times, and I am grateful.

Do I absolutely love college? Yes. Have I made friends from all sorts of backgrounds? Yes. Was I prepared academically and socially? Yes, and Yes!

Author’s bio:  Julie Ellis believes that, only through experiential knowledge does one become an engaging and creative writer. Her degree in Journalism and a host of real-world study and experience has made her a permanent and popular blogger for PremierEssay.net.

Farm Friday: Mystery Tracks

Mystery tracks in the snow.

What could they be?

Mystery solved.

Sure.  Roost on my porch.  Poop on my rocker.

Farm Girl Problems

Quick quiz for all you farm-girl wannabes...


Which is worse?

a) Having sh** to shovel

  

b) Having a broken pitchfork to shovel it with, or

c) A broken wheelbarrow to shovel it into?

Which would you rather have....



a) Hay all over your jeans, or

b) hay all over the back seat of your car?

Hint: There is no right answer.  Because it's all wrong.  Very very wrong.



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Farm Friday: Traffic Jam

Took my meat birds in for processing last weekend. They were inconsistent in size since I had ordered straight-run instead of pullets only like last time. Still, they ended up getting to a nice size for the most part.





They had NO idea what they were in for. But I maintain that raising my own birds for meat is not cruel, because they had a MUCH better life (and death, for that matter) than their factory-farm cousins.

If you'd like to read about my thoughts and experiences raising birds for meat the first time around, you can check these out:

Meat-n-Greet
Time To Say Goodbye.
I Lost It. Yes, IT.
The Cost of Sustainability



On the drive out to the farm, I hit a bit of a traffic jam.



Those Amish think that just because they're harvesting corn they OWN the road. Sheesh.




Happy weekend, my people!



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Farm Friday: Musical Chickens

Musical Chairs Chickens


Last week I played musical chickens.

I had moved the meat birds in with the layer hens, but they didn't really grasp the concept of roosting at night.

Not known for their smarts, those meat birds.

As a result, a few of them fell victim to the night life.

Meaning they got eaten by someone thing other than our family members.

By the time I had lost three of my dozen birds, I wised up
I'm not known for my smarts, either
and penned them up in the rabbit run.

Then I decided it was high time my new layers, five sweet little Buff Orpingtons, be released into the gen. pop.

So it all went something like this:

Meat birds in with the layers.

Meat birds in with the rabbits.

New layers in with the old layers.

Ducks still penned in the nursery.

And later this morning:

Meat birds taken in to be "processed".

Ducks in with the layers.

Repeat next summer.







Clear as mud....







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Farm Friday. In a Wordless Wednesday Kind of Way.

One of my iddy bitty widdle biddle ducklings.





















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Farm Friday on a Sunday: Chicken Surgery

I was doing some barn chores yesterday.

In the course of events, I saw one of our little hens settin' off by herself, real quiet like.

So I picked her up, and noticed something looked off with her foot.

At first glance, I thought she had a bit of a manure ball stuck to her claw (it happens).

But, horror of horrors, I realized it was not a manure ball, but rather some baling twine that had gotten wrapped around her feet. And the baling twine had gotten all frayed and tight and tangled, and

HER TALON OR CLAW OR TOE OR WHATEVER WAS NEARLY AMPUTATED!!

I brought her in the house and called Daniel over. Nugget is, after all, his chicken.

I sent one of the kids to the pantry to get the surgery bin.

Doesn't everyone have a surgery bin in their closet?

I put a surgical drape in Daniel's lap and set Nugget down on it.

I cut the twine off from around her feet with some bandage scissors and reassessed her talon. It was dead, but still attached to her foot by a bit of live flesh.
I don't know, is that what you're supposed to call it, or did I just coin a new phrase?

So I got a scalpel out of a wrapper, had Daniel hold on to her pretty tight, and cut the talon off.

I. Cut. The. Talon. Off.

Where else can you read stuff like this?











Look at all that stinkin' blood. Is that not disgusting?







That is a TALON.

In my HAND.





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Farm Friday: I'm a Baby Killer!

Ohhhh, what has become of me? **gnashes teeth**

Who am I? **drops to knees and pulls hair**

I killed babies today.

They were baby rats, but nevertheless, they were babies, and I killed them!

Well, truth be told, I didn't actually do the killing. I had my hit man, girl, rat terrier do it.

See, Julie and I were doing some work in the barn, and we moved this big honkin' metal thing that weighed a ton if it weighed an ounce, and out scurried this big ol' (ewwww) rat. Cindy (the rat terrier) gave chase and, well, I'd rather not say how it ended for said rat.

Then she ran back over to the big honkin' metal thing and quick as a jack rabbit, out she came with this tiny little thing in her jaws. It was a baby rat, probably not more than a few days old. Dead, of course. And I actually felt sad. These barn rats are the scourge of my existence, but I'm so screwed up I felt SAD that this widdle biddy baby was killed.

But before I could generate any tears, off Cindy ran back behind The Thing again, and I went over and looked and there was a whole nest of them. Probably close to a dozen. Did I call her off and place them all in a shoebox with some cotton wadding?



Image source

(I didn't take this picture, but this is pretty much what they looked like)



I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind.

But for once in my life I did the smart, responsible thing when it came to animals.

I sicced my dog on them.

I figured, one crunch to the head and they're gone, pretty quick.

I didn't know what else to do.

I mean, I certainly couldn't facilitate baby rats growing up into adult rats to be killed by me or one of my kids another day.

And left to their own devices with no mother they would die anyway, only it would take a lot longer.

But I killed babies, oh my GOD!



Anyway, I will have to find a way to live on. 

One foot in front of the other, as they say.



And I do have some LIVE babies on the farm that I am not killing.

And they are extremely cute.

I will show you a picture when my phone camera and my computer decide they can talk to one another again.


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Farm Friday: Allergic?

The chicks and ducklings continue to grow.

The chicks and ducklings continue to be adorable.

I can't hardly stand it.


Here is a picture of the chicks that I promised you from last week.

The goldish ones are the Buff Orpingtons, the whiter ones are the Cornish Rocks.

Don't get too used to those Rocks, they'll only be with us another six or seven weeks.

Well, they'll still be with us, but in the freezer or on the table, not in the barn.





And here is a picture of the ducklings. See the one on the right with the afro? That's the crested runner I was telling you about that I got by accident.

I love her.




Her days might be numbered, though. This morning I put them in the kiddie pool for the first time.

I no sooner put her in then she started flopping all around, twisting and writing like she was possessed.

I think she confused exercise with exorcise.

So I immediately picked her up, and her head continued to spin around.

I put her back in her hutch and she started flopping and twisting and spinning in her bedding.

But I turned my attention to another duckling that had gotten out of the pool and wedged into a little impossible to reach space, and by the time I got her squared away, the crested was upright and looking pretty OK.

I think maybe she had an anaphylactic reaction to water.

I have a duck that's allergic to water.

Figures.



Here are the other three ducklings acting like normal ducklings do when they are placed in water.





This one saw her sister freaking out and just said,

"Really?"

It came out sounding more like a little quack, but I knew what she meant.













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XOXO!


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Farm Friday: Preparing the Nursery

The feeders and waterers were scrubbed and shiny.





The duckling room was prepared.




The chick room was prepared.







And they're here!!!!

I say ducklings, you say cute.

Ducklings
CUTE!

Ducklings
CUTE!














I got two White Pekins and two Fawn Runners.
Runners are funny things. Bowling pins.
And it looks like they sent me one Crested Runner by accident. She's adorable. She looks like she's sportin' an afro.

These ducklings are just hilarious. Hilarious I tell you.
And cute. SO cute.

Pippin's dubious. He says, "They're no cuter than I am."

Yes, Pippin.
Yes they are....






I have chicks, too, and they are almost as cute as the ducklings, but the pictures didn't come out.
Poop.

Did I hear someone else ask what types of chicks I got?

I got 18 Cornish Rocks (meat birds). 12 for me and 6 for my friend Theresa.
And I got 5 more Buff Orpingtons to supplement my older layers.

Buff Orpingtons are awesome sauce.

They're nice.
They're good layers.
They're hardy.

Did I hear someone ask what possessed me to get ducklings?

Well, I heard it told that ducks will lay all winter, where hens (over the age of about two) will slow down in production significantly. Mine certainly did this past winter. Lazy good-for-nothins.
I also heard it told that while duck eggs may not be as good for eating breakfast-style, they're perfectly fine for using in recipes.



I got the call from the post office that my chicks were in.

This was 7:30 Thursday morning as I was on my way to Lancaster to get my Summer Son Obrin to his bus to take him back to New York.

So I called my friend Theresa and asked her if she would schlepp two towns over at 7:30 in the morning to pick up my poultry (truth be told, some of the order was hers).

And she did.

Everyone should have a Theresa in their lives.




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My blog has been nominated for the Top 25 Moms With Big Families - 2013 list on Circle of Moms!
If you'd like to vote for me, just click on the image below, then scroll down till you see my blog, then click on the vote button. You can vote once a day till the contest ends on 7/24. If I can keep in the top 25 I can get a cool badge to wear proudly on my blog!




XOXO!


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Farm Friday: Kittens at Six Weeks

They are cuddle muffins.







They are capable of inducing diabetic coma with one look.





They are rascals





They are dirty.





They pounce, they hog her food, they nurse from one end while she eats from the other.




They are finally beginning to eat solid food.




But at the end of the day, they're still Mama's babies.









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Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.