Life has kept me from blogging lately. A relative had some emergency orthopedic surgery that kept me away from home. I’m headed back there on Wednesday, but meanwhile I’m desperately trying to get caught up on planting. Mr. Homesteader has been keeping himself busy too. Take a look. Can you guess who’s coming to breakfast soon?
Our dear friend RD helped:
How about another view?
Have you guessed who’s coming to breakfast?
Copyright 2011 Ozarkhomesteader, including photographs.
I bet you’re getting some hens. Am I right? So jealous. If I ever get to a more stable time period I would love to do the same.
You are right, Tammy. I feel the same way about getting a cow. (Hence my poorly suppressed envy of “She” in the blog Whatdidshedotoday, where She now has a cow.) We can easily get neighbors to care for chickens. Our cat sitter has already expressed interest. I don’t think I could get anyone to milk a cow twice a day, though.
That’s my guess, too…unless it’s rabbits! Either one sounds exciting.
Chickens! for eggs, not roasting. :-)
You might want to use hardware cloth, instead of chicken wire. Too many predators can get through if you don’t use hardware cloth. Here’s a good link with some more info:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=300125
Thank you, Sheri. I thought someone might notice that chicken wire. We’ve only got chicken wire on the bottom. The sides and top are 20-gauge 1/2-inch hardware cloth. :-) That’ll work, won’t it?
1/2 inch is great. I would leave the bottom open – no wire – so they can scratch. If your coop is not going to move, a lot of people bury about 12 inches of hardware cloth around the outside to stop predators from digging in. The backyard chicken forums have some great coop ideas with lots of pictures. Enjoy your chickens. We love ours and the eggs are great.
Sheri, can’t they scratch with the wire? Or am I showing my ignorance?
We’ll move the tractor daily, so an imbedded wire isn’t an option.
Chicks are coming!
Pullets: no longer chicks but not ready to lay yet. It’ll be well into fall, I think, before we get eggs.
Chickens! I miss having the ladies and their silly antics around! Enjoy your hens!
Thank you, Oregon Sunshine. We are looking forward to them, but I’m also a bit concerned. I’ve read everything that I can, but it doesn’t seem like enough. (See my question above about scratching).
I am not an expert, but I do feel that the chickens might catch their feet in wire netting, I have six hens and a cockeral and they really do scratch the ground very vigoriously and even dig holes to make dust baths. Enjoy your chickens they really are great fun. Wendy.
I can take all the words of wisdom people have to offer, Wendy. We learned a lot about pasture-raising in tractors before Mr. Homesteader built this one, but this is his first time in many, many years to be involved in raising chickens and my first time.
Mr. Homesteader and I discussed the wire last night and are prepared to remove it if necessary. I’ve read elsewhere that 2X4 welded wire works well.