Build Site.....Or Swimming Hole?

Great Question?
Sandy the hurricane slowly came in late Friday and the rain started. That gave me enough time to get the Chicken coop addition done (For the most part!). A lite mist to begin with and then a steady rain with winds that is still coming down! And will  last Thu tomorrow.

And this is what the build site for the new shop looks like!!

Like I said..... Build site or Swimming Hole?

With more rain to come, This can only get worse. And no telling how long it will take for this to dry up so that I can get the sand and "Crush and Run" delivered and get the area ready for the building!?

SANDY SUCKS!!!!
The Hurricane season runs from June to November and today is the 28 of October. Only 4 days left in the season and She just had to make a trip up the east coast. She is still off shore about 200 N/M South South East of us and will not make landfall until early Tuesday . They say that will happen some where in"New Jersey".

When I said "Gully Washer" I was not Kidding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there is no more rain after "Sandy" get's out of here! Hopping for sunshine for the next 10 days at least!
Tom

Chicken House Upgrade Part 1

Hey,
With 12 laying Hens the Chicken House was getting a little cramped. When I first built the place, I had only the 6 Hens I got back in April as day old chicks. I raised them in a brooder up stairs in the house and built a Coop for them and moved them in back in late June/ early July.

And this is what I came up with!. I'm no carpenter and I used what I had on hand to put it together.

As you can see, I used all recycled wood. So the only thing I had to buy were the screws to put all together.

I do a lot of projects using recycled wood. When I lived in the city, I had a two car garage, but never parked the cars in it. No room! With all my wood working tools and wood I had stored in there!! My ex-wife use to complain that I had way too much and never did anything with the wood.
I pick up wood I see that has been set out at curb side.
 And I even have a place that imports material for kitchen counter tops from over seas. It comes in big containers and they use wood to secure it so it does not shift in transit. They normally burn it all, But I got permission to pick Thu it and take what I want.

Here is a side view of the inside. As you can see it's 4 ' wide and about 8 ' long. Not big enough for 12 Chickens!

And here is the wood that will be used to build the new frame work. There is a lot of nail pulling to do before I can use it. But what I will end up with is 8 FT 2" X3"s. And it's the right price......FREE!

If you have read some of the more resent posts, you know that I'm having a work shop built and transported to the Homestead soon (keep my fingers crossed!!!). And a lot of this wood will be use to build shelves and storage bins.

So, the frame work is up and I have to close it up and get a roof on. We have a big storm coming and we are suppose to get heavy rain and high winds this week end. So tomorrow the push will be on to finish this.

Two of the girls decided to supervise the work. That's one of the "Comments" looking over the new floor plan (she seemed to approve). And one of the Leg Horns is back in the right hand corner, She laid an Egg right after I took this picture!

The other thing I want to do is get a set of nesting boxes built and installed too. And get the yard fence up a little higher and covered. I'm not to worried about predators (Have not had a problem with any yet!), But 4 or 5 of the Chicken fly over the top of the fence and are laying all over the yard! I don't think I have found all the Eggs out there!! One of the Leg Horne's is laying her Eggs on the front porch (guess what her name is.....FP for short!).

So if I get it all done tomorrow, I will post pictures of the whole thing. But for now, I will close and If you are on the east coast, BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES......There is a GULLY WASHER COMING!
Tom

Happenings 2

I'm Back!
To continue from where I left off.
In the last post I said I was doing some grading work up near the house and breaking new ground for next years garden.
Well here is the area where the new shop will go.

With the help of my friend and his bigger tractor we were able to get it down to the hard pan, about two inches down. I will have 7 tons of sand laid down and compacted and set the shop on 4' cement blocks.

The building that I'm leaning towards will  face this way with a 4' porch on the far end and a 48" door on the near end. Inside dimensions will be 14' X 20' and it will have a metal roof.

The company that will build it is, "Graceland Portable Buildings" and I will be ordering it in December. Why December? If I were to order it today, the down payment would be over $800.00. But if I order it in December, a little under $300.00. It's a special they run in December and I can come up with that easier the the higher amount.
I like the fact that the shop will have a metal roof and the floor skids are 4" X 6", by setting it on the 4" blocks, that will raise it 10" off the ground. This will aid in air circulation under neath and get it up away from ground moister.
I like the idea of the porch, where after a long day of wood working I can set and watch the garden grow and enjoy a few brews.
To the left of this build site, I will have a carport placed by the same company. But that's some way down the road. I will also install a Rainwater collection system on both to store water for the garden. I already have 6 55 gallon barrel's for that and I will post about that at a latter time.
So there are the things that I have been working on along with the new job (witch has given me the added income to do all this!).
So until next time, Have a great week-end!
Tom

Happenings

Hey every one,
I know that the past few posts have been all about Daisy and Luke. But really there are other things going on here at the Homestead! I even took some pictures to prove it!

Eggs have been happening!

The original chicks I got in April will be 31 weeks old on Monday and I got my first egg on July 16. And not another one until August 2.

I was up on Crags list one night and saw an add for "Golden Comment" At 10 dollars each, I though it was a steal and I got 6 of them! I love the color of the birds and plan on increasing the flock next year with them!

 The "Comment's" are a Hybrid bird (a cross between a Cornish Rock rooster and a New Hampshire Hen) and they lay Brown Eggs. They were the same age as my other birds and needless to say, Egg production went way up!

Here are the 2 RIR's,  2 Brown Leg Horns and 1 of the Comments. At this point they were "Free Range". But when they started to lay all over the yard, I started to close the gate on the chicken yard. Back on 20 Sept I found a clutch of 18 eggs under a fence panel out back and another clutch behind the Heat pump of 11 eggs.

So the total of eggs so far is 308! That's a lot of eggs!! One of the RLH"S still get out and lay's an egg each day on the front porch. She had been cracking the eggs on the wooden deck, but I out an old rug there and she now lay's on it! SILLY CHICKENS!!

One of the "Comment's". They are very doesel  and like to be picked up. The birds were in a small pen and there was a lot of tail feathers missing. I have named one of the Hens "Little Bit" because she has yet to regrow any feathers back there!

Another shot of a Comment. I really like the tail feathers! White with a light brown stripping!

IN other happening's. Mark had the area back of his house graded and seeded. The tractor and truck belong to the guy that did the work. Mark also got him to grade the ditches along side the road to make it easier to mow that area. He will back on Monday to seed that area.

Another shot of the area. You can just see the grass has started to come up. Mark wants to put a Storage Shed/Shop and a Carport here.

So with all that in mind, I'm also wanting to put a work shop out back of my house. And this is a shot of the area where it will go. I spent half the day tilling closer to the house.

I want it closer so the electric will not be as long of a run. Once the Shop is in, I will get a guy to come out and give me a price on what that will run.

And this is the view from the house. This area will be tilled and leveled back beyond where the truck is and will have the shop and a carport placed here, and beyond will be next years garden. Can you see Daisy to the right?

Here she is making her way across the yard on three legs. It's been a month today that I did my STUPID deed and rolled over her with the truck. Had her at the Vets yesterday and she said that the leg was not healing very well yet. But she was not suprised at that because of Daisy's age and the fact that it was a bad break!

Here you can see how the Vet Has her leg strapped to her side and her paw in a sling. Thuis caused some fluid build up on the other side, But she put a couple drain tubes in last week and that has helped the situation. Daisy is still in some pain and she get pain medication along with Amoxicillin to stave off any infection.

Well I have run at the mouth for quite a bit and I still have a few pictures and up dates to post. But I will call it quits for now and try to pick this back up tomarow. Where I will show you the work I did to get the place where the shop will go.
So for now I'm tired and I want a couple beers! See you tomorrow.
Tom

A SAD day at the Homestead!

I lost one of my best friends last night!
Luke, my Cat that has been the king of the house for over 11 years, Passed late last night.
He got out of the house a while back and came back with a load of fleas that I was never able to completely get rid of. I took him to the Vet and had a blood count done, It was at 23 percent at that point and the Vet said that was very dangerous. She gave him a pill to get rid of the fleas (really did not do the job!) and to see if he would start eating again.
He didn't and he took to laying on the counter near the dish drainer. He continued to loose weight and sleep most of the time.
I called the Vet to set up a Blood Transfusion for him today and was going to take him in first thing this morning!
I came home last night to find him crying and very weak. I picked him up and took him into my room to see if I could make him any more comfortable. We sat in the lounge chair (One of his favorite places!) and as I talked to him, He started to purr and to sleep.
And it was about an hour later that he passed. He never woke up and I could not seem to let him out of my arms for the longest time!
We got Luke at the Animal shelter and he became a inside cat that ruled the house. He was a lover and a lick er. He would hold onto my hand with both front paws and lick my fingers until I made him quit.

He has crossed the "Rainbow Bridge" now and he will be missed!

Luke with his best friend "Bella" who has also crossed over

. They are together again on the other side of the "Bridge"!

I wanted to post other pictures of Luke, But can't find any.

I will be putting him along side his other friends later this morning.
Tom

Dasiy Update

Hello everone,
Just a quick post to update you on Daisy and her leg!
The Vet strapped her leg to her chest and put her paw into a sling so she has very little movement in the leg to give the bones a chance to heal. The problem with that is that is the strapping is causing a build up of fluid on the oppasite side right at the shoulder. T he Vet drained it last Monday and said if it contineued that she would have to put a drain tube in. Well it's now Friday and the fluid pocket is much bigger. So Monday the drain goes in.
Other then that, Daisy is is her old self! Still eating well and getting around on three legs is a lot of work for her, But she navagates stairs and going outside alright.
I pick up a couple new followers from all of this and they made comments on my last post. I have been to their Blog's and will return very soon.
So there it is.
I have a three day week-end this week and will try to write about something beside Daisy and get some pictures up of the things that we have been doing.
Talk to you then,
Tom