Asshat Foler
2024 FoH Asshat
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- 43,397
You are aware milkweed is essential to the survival of monarch butterflies, right?
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Homesteading and Hobby Farm/Ranch
- Thread starter Kiroy
- Start date
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Sludig
Potato del Grande
- 10,040
- 10,709
Fuck them butterflies.
Don't think this is considered the same as normal milkweed. It's known as dog or houndsbane. Can kill horses and stuff if they eat it.
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Asshat Foler
2024 FoH Asshat
- 48,194
- 43,397
Not sure where to put this so I guess here. Looking to get two car ports. One will go on a concrete slab and be for tractor and implements. The other on dirt (hurricane anchored) and will be for truck/utv.
Anything I should be looking for in particular when shopping? I’m thinking of doing no siding on all of them to make parking a little more forgiving and ability to drive through.
Anything I should be looking for in particular when shopping? I’m thinking of doing no siding on all of them to make parking a little more forgiving and ability to drive through.
Flobee
Vyemm Raider
- 2,686
- 3,092
I'm no expert, but I would second the idea of not putting sides on them. My property has a number of 3 sided carports for various purposes and I just recently had one take flight in a storm. The insurance payout was cool and all, but I personally prefer my buildings not become kites. YMMV
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BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
- 14,726
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Kiroy
Marine Biologist
- 35,443
- 102,560
Kiroy did you stop homesteading? Thought I saw something about you moving. Was wondering why'd you give it up.
Few reasons. Wanted to get our kid closer to family and our ranch worth increased so much that we had about 800k equity in it, so we sold and paid cash for a downgraded home/property back where we grew up in WA. Living completely debt free and just focusing on early retirement. Also was about time to start something new with our lives, we tend to move around every 3-5 years so it was about time. Miss the ranch and lifestyle though.
On the plus side we’re in an unincorporated area, on a half acre, so we’re able to do a little “farming” and keep chickens. Our biggest at home hobby the last few years has been gardening/growing anyways so we’ve still got that.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Reporter. Stock Pals CEO. Head of AI.
- 81,093
- 162,274
Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Reporter. Stock Pals CEO. Head of AI.
- 81,093
- 162,274
I have this 2 volume homesteading book and it's been a great resource for everything to do with homesteading and just doing stuff around the house. 800+ pages of how-to's, no filler.
Amazon product ASIN B093F177F5
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/Escape-City-How-Homesteading-Guide-ebook/dp/B093F177F5Amazon product ASIN B093F177F5
Kiroy
Marine Biologist
- 35,443
- 102,560
ya its like 50/50 for me - really enjoying the financial freedom and proximity to friends/family, really missing the place/lifestyle we had
Lots of big time pros and cons on either side
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Sludig
Potato del Grande
- 10,040
- 10,709
Never using straw again for bedding except for maybe still during a harsh winter. Though I'd like to see if wood shavings still keep things warm enough.
Spent 6 or so hours today in the 90 plus humid heat trying to muck out my maternity pen ahead of a new batch of babies. Straw mixed with wasted hay, holds water like crazy, plus piss, and random crud that makes a binding paste. Basically below the loose straw/hay it's an inch of utter ick before I hit mud. So issue is trying to shovel it, resists just picking up because it's interlaced with everything else and can't really get the shovel to drive through. Using a fork or hoe to break it up a bit worked best but still very heavy pulling it apart in chunks the size of a 5 gallon bucket.
Too small to get the tractor in to just scoop it. Wasn't even all that old, but just rainy rainy spring and probably wasn't as throurough last time as I should, but I'll stick with goats just nasty.
Spent 6 or so hours today in the 90 plus humid heat trying to muck out my maternity pen ahead of a new batch of babies. Straw mixed with wasted hay, holds water like crazy, plus piss, and random crud that makes a binding paste. Basically below the loose straw/hay it's an inch of utter ick before I hit mud. So issue is trying to shovel it, resists just picking up because it's interlaced with everything else and can't really get the shovel to drive through. Using a fork or hoe to break it up a bit worked best but still very heavy pulling it apart in chunks the size of a 5 gallon bucket.
Too small to get the tractor in to just scoop it. Wasn't even all that old, but just rainy rainy spring and probably wasn't as throurough last time as I should, but I'll stick with goats just nasty.
Blazin
Creative Title
- 7,085
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I have same experience that the straw is a lot hard to muck out the pen BUT i have all the straw I need at no expense. A fork would work best. I always used shovel for chips but I notice the moisture with the straw at the base has been a good bit higher. A thicker bed is needed for straw to work than with chips it seems.
Sludig
Potato del Grande
- 10,040
- 10,709
For me a very thick bed might make a layer I can scoop easy but in a fairly small pen you still end up with a wet piss layer that is foul and fly haven.
Not as much an issue on the donkeys or chickens, but when I have a few mommas and baby goats in a 20x20 pen it's just too much
Blazin
Creative Title
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I have hens that just won't stop malting. Seems just a perpetual cycle and I can 't figure out why. Clean coup, no mite issues that I can find. I've given them Sunflower seeds, Ive given them oyster shells. I have hundreds of pound of feed left but I don't know what to try yet other than find a different mill that it may be something with their feed.
They are otherwise healthy and happy. THey aren't acting sick they are laying normally. Has me stumped. They are a two years old and will probably get the axe this fall but I'd much rather figure out and learn from the issue than just have it go away. Searches are useless so far everything I find is just your standard stuff that I've already eliminated.
I'm currently growing out new pullets and switching to a hybrid Rhode Island red , current flock is Barred Rock which other than this issue have been great. Haven't lost a single bird to illness, and have only ever lost 1 since I've had them which was to a predator.
Only other factor is the one we had just been discussing, which is I switched from shavings to hay. I use the reject hay from goats for their pen. If it was bothering them they have a weird way of showing it they like being in the coop and I don't see any odd behavior that they are trying to avoid it.
They are otherwise healthy and happy. THey aren't acting sick they are laying normally. Has me stumped. They are a two years old and will probably get the axe this fall but I'd much rather figure out and learn from the issue than just have it go away. Searches are useless so far everything I find is just your standard stuff that I've already eliminated.
I'm currently growing out new pullets and switching to a hybrid Rhode Island red , current flock is Barred Rock which other than this issue have been great. Haven't lost a single bird to illness, and have only ever lost 1 since I've had them which was to a predator.
Only other factor is the one we had just been discussing, which is I switched from shavings to hay. I use the reject hay from goats for their pen. If it was bothering them they have a weird way of showing it they like being in the coop and I don't see any odd behavior that they are trying to avoid it.
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Asshat Foler
2024 FoH Asshat
- 48,194
- 43,397
Tough one. I had a mite issue earlier this year that required complete coop cleaning, spraying down the entire thing with permethrin and then coming back and treating the birds with elector psp. Mite symptoms decreased however my Frizzle chicken continued to malt to where she has no feathers. She seems to be in fine health, lays eggs, etc but man did she go from an exotic looking beautiful bird to an ugly featherless chicken..
Do you have any roosters?
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Asshat Foler
2024 FoH Asshat
- 48,194
- 43,397
Have you looked into sweet PDZ? Not sure they sell it in an economical bulk size for your case but I use their coop refresher quite a bit.
Blazin
Creative Title
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I culled my roosters last fall, currently none and don't really want them. Hens seemed more stressed out with them than without.
Before I switch over to the new pullets I'm going to super clean the coop , maybe just replace roosting boards. I coat them in DE though so again seems unlikely they would be the issue.
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BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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In my mind it's normal for some chickens to be missing feathers. The low status birds get picked on by the other hens. Maybe there's something I don't know about but I've been around chickens all of my life and there's always been some with naked spots showing through. We had a rooster for years when I was a kid who was missing 90% of his feathers and had frozen his comb off during the winter. He had bright red skin, 3" long spurs and looked like a fucking demon from hell. He tormented my little 5 year old cousin for a whole summer because the kid would see him and start to run and of course the rooster would chase him as long as he was running away. I thought it was hilarious back then but I would probably feel bad if I saw it now.
Our Guinea Fowl on the other hand, never have a feather out of place. Of course they naturally look like demons from hell just because of the shape of their head.
Our Guinea Fowl on the other hand, never have a feather out of place. Of course they naturally look like demons from hell just because of the shape of their head.