Learning to live well on a budget
Follow along while I learn new skills and get creative raising my kids on a limited budget.
Buckets make quick and easy brooding boxes, and you can remove them for washing. My husband built a simple frame to hold them in place and stop them from rolling. Three on the bottom, two up top. Hoping they lay their eggs there so they are easy to find!
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I think you have seen pictures of my dog before. She is a cockapoo and when she was born her front teeth came in opposing each other so she couldn't chew like a normal dog. In order to remedy this the vet had to remove her upper front teeth making it harder for her to chew sticks, bones and toys.
I was working with some driftwood this afternoon and a piece of it dropped. Mable started happily chewing on it and I thought about this for a second- what a great idea! Drift wood is softer than regular wood, maybe this would be a good alternative for her because hey- what dog doesn't like to chew on sticks? One thing I might be concerned with would be wet driftwood, especially if a dog swallows pieces (just in case there is bacteria growing in the water it was soaking in) but this wood was perfectly dry and sun baked, I felt safe letting her gnaw on it. Keep in mind I am not a vet, just a pet owner sharing her dogs joyful moment, and maybe someone else out there with a geriatric dog or a dog with bad teeth might benefit from this idea? Try it at your own risk or ask a professional first. My cucumbers have turned an odd color and have formed into strange shapes this year. Not quite sure what it means? (Although the colors are fantastic!) I will be pickling them into slices tomorrow since they are too portly to fit into jars in a manner that would be efficient!
Look at what we found today- the first eggs! The white is a regular store bought egg, and the brown are from our chickens. Not sure which girls laid them, but excited. Perhaps one by an Orpington and one by a Barred Rock as they appear different? And it begins to pay off...
The girls are about full grown now, but still haven't seen any eggs. They will be 22 weeks old on Sept. 2nd, so soon if all goes as planned. They are so lovely and majestic, and a real treat to watch. They give us so much joy! They do get into trouble though, like eating mom's garden and flowers, and finding their way to the coop roof! But they have been so helpful as well. They have caught both a vole and a mouse. So surprised they are fast enough! They eat bugs and fertilize the lawn. Soon there will be eggs, and our partnership will be complete. Both parties give and take. It's beautiful. We got some free shingles from a company that was moving and used it to side the art studio. We have it nearly finished and haven't spent any money on it in months. If you are patient, the materials will come! Here is the little wood stove we got to warm it in the winter. It's in need of a good clean.
The inside isn't finished yet, I will post more updates when we get more done. We have has some issues with voles, but thought we had it under control. Not even sure that is what is causing this problem. If anyone knows, I would be grateful for your comments! In the mean time I soaked all the pumpkins and squash in cayenne pepper!A few healthier specimens, but still, nothing is quite right.. The cucumbers are round, and turning orange? What does this mean? This one looks like a pear. This is a pumpkin with previous vole damage, but it healed over. One good looking butternut squash. Praying it stays that way!
The coop is progressing and the chickens seem to like it. We finally collected enough tin cans to finish the "siding" (it's harder than you think! Most tin cans have a rounded bottom these days, but you need the kind with a bottom ring so you can remove both ends.) This is the view from inside the run. The walls are constructed but not sided yet. Here is the bottom floor. We used poultry feed bags as flooring to keep the wood dry. We are trying to make almost everything from recycled materials. The bottom floor looking to the left. Upper floor. View of second story when looking to the right. Chicken "staircase." Brooding box I made. Bedding is in, looks cozy! Clean and ready to go, now just waiting for night to fall. I snuck a picture of the upstairs patrons.. And our ladies who prefer the downstairs!
Get a good night sleep ladies. In a few weeks you will be producing eggs! |
-About Luna-
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