Upgrading the Nesting Boxes

Hello and happy Monday everyone, or happy whatever day it is you happen to be reading this!

I’m back in the chicken run, pushing myself to get this darn project done before I’m forced to work on it while slogging through the snow.

Watch the video on my YouTube

 

The project of the day is to start replacing the old coop.

As you can see, it’s a mess. I’m actually pretty embarrassed to show you all the state it’s in now.

The story behind this poor beaten up box is this: A close family friend had been planning on raising chickens for years, but it never ended up working out, and the coop sat in their backyard during that time.

When she found out I was incubating eggs to hatch my own birds, she offered us the coop.

Of course, I accepted! One less thing I had to build to house my birds? Heck yeah!

It worked wonderfully, for a while.

• My birds never quite figured out how to roost inside. They preferred sitting on the roof.
• It was difficult to clean the poop tray and close the doors fully. The settling over the years had caused it to warp, which meant nothing fit quite right anymore.
• Cleaning out the nest boxes was a dreaded exercise. There’s no easy way to clean them without the risk of getting chicken poop all over you.

These factors and the combination of time it had already spent sitting exposed, the growing size of my flock, and the difficulty in moving the coop alone, it became apparent it was time to retire the old coop.

I’d originally wanted to use this shed-stable as my coop. I had grand plans.

But the chicks hatched and time to transition them outside came way too quickly, and I wasn’t able to get everything set up in time.

Thus, the gifted coop was a welcomed relief.

 

Now that it’s been in use for a year and a half, I’m ready to retire it and move the birds into the mansion I’d been planning from the beginning.

The first thing I needed to tackle was a design for the nest boxes. I wanted something easy to clean. I wanted something accessible. I wanted something sturdy. And I didn’t want to break the bank in the process.

Almost all the materials I used for this build were scrap I already had lying around. Thank goodness too, with the price of lumber at the moment. The only things I had to purchase were the bins I used for the nests. So I already had a checkmark in the win column.

The only thing I really had to contribute was some elbow grease.

If you’re interested in building this design as well, I’ve already done all the measuring and designing so you don’t have to!

You will need

• Four 1x4 pieces of lumber, cut to 39.5 inches long
• Four 2x4 pieces of lumber, cut to 13 inches long
• A box of 2 & 1/2 inch wood screws
• Three 8-qrt Sterilite Dishpans 
• Two – four 90-degree brackets OPTIONAL 
• Power drill of your choosing
• Measuring tape
• Anything to mark measurements on your wood
• Pre-cut lumber to the above listed measurements, or a drop saw to cut them to size

I started by mocking up the frame to hold the bins. I didn’t want them to sit up too high over the lip of the wood I had, which might run the risk of the birds catching the edge of the bin and knocking it out of the frame. And I wanted them to sit snug enough that they wouldn’t shift too much when the hens were in them.

When I’d decided on a design, I cut all my lumber to length. This kept me from running back and forth between the saw and where I was building the frame.

Starting at either end, I used two screws to hold the outer frame pieces together on either side. You could probably get away one on each side since there are braces along the bottom as well that will keep the separators from swiveling. But I did what I did. Better to be overbuilt than underbuilt, right??

Once you have the two outermost short pieces attached to one long piece, measure 9 & 3/4 inches from the inside of the short pieces on either end and mark this measurement on the long piece of wood. This will be where you line up the inner separators.

Line up those inner pieces and screw them into place.

I screwed the other outer side of frame on now, making sure that the space between the nest box separators measured at 9 & 3/4 inches consistently.

I didn’t measure where to line up the two long pieces to brace under the frame, just eye-balled what looked good, and screwed them into place as well.

To make sure everything was measured correctly, and it would all fit together, I popped the bins into place. (It all fit, thankfully!)

Here’s where those brackets would come in handy. They’ll add extra support to the bottom of the frame and the wall you connect it to. I didn’t end up using any brackets, since I was able to secure the frame directly to two structure beams in the shed. With only three nest boxes, I’m not concerned with the weight of the nesting hens being too much for the screws to handle, and I can always add additional supports later if I need to.

I was hoping to get the perches built for the birds and the old coop torn apart as well, but again, I underestimated the time it would take to get this project done. There’s always next time.

 

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it! If you follow this guide, I’d love to see how it turned out for you.

Have a freaking awesome rest of your week, and I’ll see you next time!

 

-Alyx

Garden Gold: Making Compost

Happy Monday, or happy whatever day you happen to be reading this! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to a fantastic week.

It’s October, which means that we are thoroughly nestled into fall in Washington state. And fall means we have more leaves than we can possibly do anything with. So, I’m going to be making a compost pile! A couple of them, probably, considering how many trees we have around the property.

Check out the whole process on my YouTube 

 

The first step to composting is to pick a spot and build/buy your bin.

I like to have my pile in the garden, because it’s closest to where I’m going to spread it when it’s done. There are bins available to buy that can be started on a porch or deck, and there are even bins that can be kept in your kitchen if you’ve got limited space.

There are all sorts of methods that people will suggest, and none of them are wrong, it all depends on what ends up working best for you. If there is a garden center close to where you live, they will be able to answer questions about composting and different types of bins you can purchase to build your compost heap.

I just use four pallets stacked up in a square shape. You can get pallets for free from a lot of stores. Just call and ask. I had these ones lying around, but in the past, I’ve gotten them from a local building supply store. They don’t need to be pretty; they just need to stand and be solid enough to not collapse immediately.

 

The next step is to fill it up.

A successful compost heap has three main ingredients: carbon, nitrogen, and moisture. The terms carbon and nitrogen can be used interchangeably with brown and green materials, respectively.

There are several common options for both carbon and nitrogen materials that break down well into beautiful compost:

Carbon/brown materials

• Wood chips or clean wood ash
• Straw
• Dry leaves
• Shrub prunings
• Pine needles
• Newspaper, shredded paper or cardboard
• Corn cobs and stalks
• Coffee grounds
• Dryer lint.

Nitrogen/green materials

• Manure from chickens/cows/horses/pigs
• Flowers or flower cuttings
• Fruit and vegetable food scraps
• Grass clippings and green yard waste
• Seaweed and kelp
• Used tea bags and leaves.

You’re going to want to disperse the brown and green materials evenly throughout your pile to ensure that there is a good mixture to keep the pile active and breaking down into dirt. You can layer your materials; brown, then green, then brown, and so on. Another method you can use is to mix your brown and green materials together in the heap. One way to do this is to mow your yard without raking up the dead leaves. This mixes the brown and green together in the bag and all you have to do is dump it into the heap.

There are also ways to build a compost heap that don’t require turning of the material to aerate the pile, but it requires adding in layers of straw to allow airflow in the heap.

Sawdust, ash, and wood chips are high in carbon, so you don’t need a lot of any of these items. And you want to make sure there isn’t anything mixed in with them, like oil from a chainsaw.

There are a couple things that are recommended that you don’t use in compost heaps.

Meat and bones are generally on that list. They can compost, but they take a bit longer than other organic materials, and can attract pests. Most people don’t compost these because of those reasons. That said, there are composting bins specifically designed to handle these items. They will compost eventually in a traditional heap as well. You just have to be more patient with that heap.

It’s best to stay away from pet manure, especially if you’re going to be using the compost on food crops. It’s just not safe, because of the parasites and bacteria that can live in the poop. Livestock manure, like cow manure, is safe for composting because it doesn’t carry the same bacteria as dog or cat poop, and the parasites are generally non-transferable to humans.

It’s also good to avoid adding perennial weeds or diseased plants to the compost, because this can spread seeds or diseases to the areas you plan to spread your compost.

 

 

You’ve got a pile made, all that’s left is to wet the it.

Wetting your pile is as simple as turning on a hose and letting it run until you see water dripping out from under the lowest part of the pile. That indicates that it’s been wetted thoroughly.

 

Fun Facts!

Beer is a great ingredient to add to your compost if your heap is lacking in nitrogen (green materials) and moisture. Beer contains both nitrogen and yeast in it, which will help the other materials in your heap break down faster.

Urine is also high in nitrogen and can be added to a nitrogen-deficient compost heap. And since urine is sterile, it won’t add any unsavory parasites or bacteria to your compost.

You’ll just want to be careful not to over-saturate your heap with liquid, since this can kill the bacteria that breaks down the materials into dirt.

 

 

Now you can set it and forget it…for a while.

Most composting bins and piles need to be turned. There are a couple methods to build a heap that doesn’t require turning, but in general you’re going to need to get into your heap and turn it.

What type of bin you’re using, and how hot the pile gets, will determine how often you need to turn it. On average, you can expect to turn a traditional heap every two to four weeks, and with a composting bin every four to five weeks between turning.

So how do you know when your heap is ready to turn?

When the center of your compost pile reaches 160F, it’s time to turn it. When it gets to this temperature, the oxygen is getting used up faster than it can replenish. The purpose of turning the pile is to replenish that used oxygen and continue breaking the materials down into dirt. Just use a shovel or a pitchfork and dig the pile out so the stuff that was on the top is now at the bottom and vice versa.

A great tool to test the temperature is a compost thermometer.

 

Your compost is finished when it looks and smells like earth or dirt and the pile has cooled.

Simple as that. If it looks like dirt, it’s cooled off, and you can’t find any recognizable food, leaf, or plant chunks, then it’s ready to use.

 

 

I hope this guide helps in your composting conquests. I’d love to hear from you, so don’t be afraid to comment or email me.

Have a freaking awesome rest of your week, and I’ll catch you all next time!

-Alyx

The Trouble with Bird Netting

This past Monday, I tackled a project I’d been putting off for a while. And by a while, I mean several months.

Check out my struggle on my YouTube 

I had the day off. It was sunny out. And I knew I’d regret not doing the project now while the weather was nice. Because even though I knew I’d hate almost every moment of it, I’d hate it a whole lot more if I had to do it in the snow.

What could possibly be so awful that I would put it off for so long?? That I even tried to talk myself out of doing it, because I reasoned ‘it’s not so bad right now’?

My chicken run desperately needed new bird netting over the top. 

I’d previously slapped up four mismatching pieces after a hawk attack killed two of my birds, and due to the time constraints, I was forced to use any piece I was able to get my hands on. This meant that there was a wide gap in the middle of the run that was still exposed to predators. But the majority of the run was protected.

It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. For a while.

Each day that I would go out and spend time feeding and watering the birds, and collecting eggs, I resented the job I’d done more and more. There was hangover where the nets overlapped that I got caught on every time I went into the run. I was constantly fighting to keep the nets up when we got any sort of wind. The gap in the middle also meant that my one Houdini hen I’ve never been able to contain had a clear escape route.

Finally, I’d decided enough was enough, and it was time to retire the old netting and hang up all new.

The problem is, I still remembered what a complete pain in the ass it was to put up the original netting. And this time, I wanted to install a giant 50 foot by 50 foot square of the stuff.

It wasn’t hard to find the material I wanted. And it was surprisingly inexpensive (less than $15). But I knew that the hard part was on its way.

The biggest annoyance with bird netting, is that it tangles on everything and anything you could possibly imagine, always and immediately. I spent more time detangling little bits of wood, branches, dirt, feathers, you name it, out of the net than I actually spent hanging it up.

If you ever have the absolute displeasure of working with bird netting, I’ll offer a few tips that might lessen your headache.

Don’t install it by yourself. I had close to two hours of footage I sifted through to make a semi decent video of my struggle, and after all that, the battery on my camera ended up dying and I still wasn’t done. Even having one other person assisting would have cut down on the amount of time I spent untangling everything out of the net, since I’d been stuck with having to let it drag or lay on the ground while I worked on a section.

Pick a side and work outward. I, thankfully, started the project with this idea. It made it so much easier to stretch the net taunt when I had one side fully secured in place. I no longer have any sagging sections, there is no hang down, and I’m not brushing my head on the net every time I go in anymore. Working from one side to the next also cut down on the amount of detangling I had to do the further into the project I got. So, it ended up going a lot faster closer to the end, and the hardest part was at the beginning when it was all dragging on the ground.

Give yourself a lot of time. It’ll be easier on you and your birds to get the job done in one shot. Like I mentioned earlier, I had two hours of footage of me fighting with my netting, and after the camera died, there was still work to do. If you think it’ll take two hours, double it, just to be safe. If you end of up having time left over, rejoice, for the suffering is over!

Avoid putting up your netting in the wind. You’ll already be struggling enough, don’t make it harder for yourself.

Measure your space. Nothing sucks quite as bad as not having enough. Especially when it’s almost enough. I’ve found this goes for anything, sugar, jars, bird netting, compost, toothpaste, etc. Give yourself the best chance you can at doing the project well by measuring everything. You’ll thank yourself in the end.

That’s really all I can think of. Hanging netting is a pain. It’s frustrating and tedious and will have you questioning your life choices more than once.

But the results are worth it in the end. I’m so incredibly pleased at how the netting looks compared to how it had been before.

Would I ever choose to do it again in the future? Only if it was the only option available and nothing else worked.

 

Thank you so much for checking out my blog. Be sure to hop over to my Instagram LINK and YouTube LINK for more. Have a freaking awesome rest of your week, and I’ll see you next time!

 

-Alyx

Canning Basics

Hello and happy Monday (or happy whatever day it is you happen to be reading this)!

I probably should have started with this blog before the others, but better late than never, right?

Today we’re going to explore some canning basics – including different canning methods, jar sizes and their uses, tools you’ll need to get started canning, and more.

Check out the video I made on canning basics 

 

We’ll start with some common tools you’ll need. 

• A pressure canner or large pot – to actually process the jars to create the vacuum seal.
• A jar lifter – for putting jars into and taking them from hot water.
• A jar wrench – for tightening the rim on your jars when needed.
• Canning funnel – this is a funnel specifically designed with a wider mouth for pouring food into canning jars.
• A sieve or cheesecloth – for straining food.
• And lots of jars

 

Other tools you might need are:

• A lid lifter – this is a magnet on the end of a long plastic handle to aid in taking your lids out of the boiling water used to sterilize them.
• A thin plastic spatula or non-metal chopstick – for helping to remove bubbles from your filled jars.
• A mill – this is a tool used for processing your food into a smooth consistency.

I suggest having both a pressure canner and a large pot, since pressure canners are multi-functional and can be used for both pressure canning and processing your food in a water bath. By having both a pressure canner and regular pot, you can have several batches of canning processing at once.

 

The purpose of canning

Canning is a method of food preservation by sealing food in a glass jar with a vacuum seal.

This can be achieved two ways; by pressure canning the jars, or by processing the jars in a water bath.

A water bath creates the vacuum seal by forcing the food in the jar to expand while the water is boiling, and the seal is completed while the jars are cooling.

Pressure canning works very similarly, by forcing the food to expand while the water is boiling and completing the seal while the jars are cooling, but also uses the additional pressure created by trapping steam inside the pot to create the strong vacuum seal that will protect the food from bacteria.

You can use the pressure canning method for just about any canning recipe you want, just be sure to follow the instructions closely. There are a few things that require pressure canning processing vs processing in a water bath. Anything that has a low acidity level will need to be pressure canned to ensure that they are properly sealed and safe to store in a pantry. This includes many vegetables (unless they are pickled), and any recipes with meats, poultry, or fish in them.

Water bath processing is a perfectly safe method of canning:

• Most tomatoes
• Pickled vegetables
• Jams and jellies
• Most fruits and fruit juices
• Salsas
• As well as a few more things

Whatever recipe you are using should indicate which processing method you will need to safely be able to store your canned food.

 

The parts of the jar and their purpose

Firstly, is the jar itself. This will hold the food you plan to can. You’ll want to inspect your jars for any cracks, internally or externally, and nicks in the rim before use. Cracks are weak points that will be put under stress in the heating and cooling process and will be the first parts to fail and break, making the food unusable.

Nicks in the rims of the jar will not allow a proper vacuum seal and could cause your food to spoil or bacteria to get into the jar and cause illness.

There are two mouth types available for jars; wide mouth and regular mouth. 

Wide mouth jars are great if you want to store your canned food in the freezer, as they are made with thicker glass, and have a straight neck.

Regular mouth jars should not be used for storing food in the freezer, as there will be additional pressure on the neck (the narrower bit at the top of the jar) as the food inside freezes. This pressure can put stress on the jar and cause it to crack and break, making it unsafe to consume the food stored inside.

Both wide mouth and regular mouth jars can be used to canning food to store in the pantry, whichever you use is up to your personal preference. 

Jars also come in a variety of sizes, with some of the most easily found being 4 ounce jars, 8 ounce jars, 12 ounce jars, pint sized, and quart sized. You can also purchase jars in half gallons and full gallons.

Next is the lid. This seals the food inside the jar and protects it from bacteria. Most jars you purchase at the store will come with lids and rims on them already. Lids and rims can also be purchased separately. Generally, these lids will be single-use only. This means that after you have used them to can once, they are no longer safe to use to can something else in the future and should be discarded.

There are multi-use lids that you can purchase, one brand that I have found is Tattler. According to the link, they’re dishwasher safe, and can be used indefinitely in both canning methods.

The final piece of the jar is the rim. The rim’s only purpose is to hold the lid in place while the jar is processing in the pot. Once the seal is complete, the rim can be removed and used on another jar. Unlike the lids, your rims are usable forever, unless they are damaged.

 

Testing your seal is safe

The whole point of canning is to preserve your food to store and eat at a later date, so you want to make sure the vacuum seals on your jars are good and your jars can be stored in the pantry or cupboard.

After you pull your jars out of either the water bath or the pressure canner, you should hear a ‘pop’ sound as they are cooling. This is a sure sign that the seal is good. But for the times you can’t verify that there was a pop, there are a couple other options to check the seal.

If the seal is good, when you press gently in the middle of the lid with a finger, there should be no movement or flex in the lid. If the lid pops up and down in the middle, the seal is bad.

You can also test the seal by lifting the jar by the lid. If it doesn’t move, then the seal is good.

So, what do you do if the jar didn’t seal?

You don’t want to try processing the jar again. Like I mentioned earlier, most lids are single use only, so if they didn’t seal the first time around, it isn’t safe to try to can with that lid again.

A couple options you have to preserve that food is to move it to another container and store it in the freezer, or to store the food in the original jar in the fridge and use the contents as soon as possible.

 

 

 

That’s a good place to start for canning, please let me know if you like this post.

I hope you all have a freaking awesome rest of your week, until next time!

 

-Alyx