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FCL :: Day in the Life :: Sunday Sep 1, 2019 (Chickshaw 2.0 Project Completed; Geo-domes De-weeded)

Welp … it took me two [FULL] days to get the chickshaw built. What is a chickshaw you might ask? It is a chicken-rickshaw. Or, more specifically, a mobile/portable chicken coop. The design and plans (free!) are from Justin Rhodes at AbundantPermaculture.com.

The chickshaw is just one component of a larger permaculture system that involves using the chickens as one step in a multi-step process for preparing a plot for gardening. For example, for a given plot (say, a couple hundred square feet), first you might pasture your grazing animals on it (e.g. cows, horses or donkeys in my case). Then, you move the grazers out and put the chickens (in their chickshaw) in, and let them ‘scratch’ all the grazer’s manure into the soil. Tiller? We don’t need no stinkin’ tiller … just about 40 hungry hens that naturally shred EVERYTHING and eat most of it.

Then, you move the chickens off the plot, and maybe broadfork it a bit and add a few soil amendments (if needed) and prepare the soil into raised beds (or whatever). Plant. Grow. Harvest. EAT. Then, REPEAT (forever …). That’s what you call a sustainable food system.

Next, the dogs and I took some time today to mow and chop down all the weeds around and in our two geodesic domes. The domes have not been in use this year, so I let them get a bit over-grown. Yeah, probably shouldn’t have done that. Because of all the residual rabbit mature left in both domes, their soil is actually REALLY healthy, so the weeds grew much taller and denser than … say … my bucket gardening veggies. Something wrong with this picture. Anyway, we got the Vietnam-like forest of dense weeds knocked down, and mulched. Now I need to figure out WHO is going to live in them. I have a couple of options. I may create a nice herb garden in one of them, and prep the other to be a chicken coop for next Spring. Will likely over-winter the current flock in their existing barn stall coop. Might put the ducks in one dome during the Fall, so I can drain their pond and excavate it out some more (e.g. DEEPER!!!). We’ll see.

I was going to put some sheep in a dome, but I’ve recently learned how aggressive sheep can be in terms of going THROUGH their pens, rather than OVER them. I don’t think the dome walls are strong enough to keep a young ram from plowing through the existing wire mesh … but … I’ll continue researching the viability.

Happy Labor Day!

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 18-27 Aug 2019 (BCS Tractor, Chickshaw 2.0, IBC Tote Fish Tanks)

First, the PTO control lever on my BCS 853 diesel “walk behind” tractor got corroded and seized (remember that word), and I couldn’t break it free following the numerous YouTube suggestions re: deep penetrating oil, torque and even a propane torch. So, I took it to my “local” BCS service department, about 35 miles south of here in Pittsboro, NC.

It took them about a week to get it fixed, and do a full service tune-up. When the dogs and I drove down the other day to pick it up, upon arrival I noticed a plume of smoke billowing out of the left-rear brakes on my truck. Looked to me like my brake caliper had seized (yes, that word again) and grossly overheated the whole brake assembly. It was SO bad, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make the drive home.

I asked the BCS mechanic if he could recommend someone in town to take a look at my brake. He gave me two names and numbers. Thankfully, the first (Doug’s Automotive & Tire, Pittsboro, NC) was just down the street. So, we limped the truck over to Dougs.

To make a rather LONG (but boring) story short … Deuce, Hooey and I had to sit under a tree for between 4 and 5 hours while they ordered the parts, then completed a brake job on all four corners (might as well update ALL of them). Doug and his “team” of two mechanics bent over backwards to help us and make us comfortable during the protracted wait.

A couple of days ago I started building my first Justin Rhodes Chickshaw v2.0 mobile chicken coop. Today, I start the assembly process. Should take a day or two. The “Chickshaw” is a really cool concept. It provides up to 40 chickens with … essentially … a mobile home. The Chichshaw gets surrounded by an electric poultry fence to keep the birds contained, and predators out. After awhile (maybe a few weeks), the fence and chickshaw get relocated to a new plot, so the chickens get a new source of food (pasture grass) and the prior plot is ready to be planted with new garden crops.

Lastly, while waiting for the Chickshaw lumber waterproofing treatment to dry and cure, I converted the first two of eight 250-gallon IBC totes into aquaponic gardening fish tanks. Each tank will hold about 80 pounds of fish (e.g. Nile Tilapia). I’ll go into aquaponic gardening in more detail later in the year. For now, let’s just say the method allows fish to be raised, and plants to be grown, without any soil, using only about 10% of the water normally needed. Why? Because the water recirculates between the fish tank and the growing beds. Fish waste fertilizes the plants, and the plants clean and filter the water, which then returns to the fish tank. The only “input” to the system is daily fish food.

We had our first few cooler days this past week. Saturday’s high was only 70F. LOVE IT!!!!

I got the big pasture seeded with ~35# of horse pasture mix yesterday, and we have rain forecast for the next two days, so fingers crossed the seeds can be established before the chicken flock eats it all. 😉

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: Aug 11, 2019 (Big Pasture Seed Prep, Caterpillar Tunnels Coming)

Spent some time this week tilling, grading, raking and drag harrowing the big pasture, readying it for seeding in a few weeks.

Second bucket gardening pallet is coming along well. Seedlings in the soil blocks are also doing well, especially the Okra.

Deuce get’s a lot of face time, as usual.

Received and tested our first (of many) Premier 1 electric poultry fence. Works like a charm. Poor Deuce got volunteered to test the fences ability to repel an aggressive predator, and the fence turned his ass around VERY effectively. Thanks Deuce … for taking one for the team.

Caught DJ (male duck) trying to mount the chicken hens again. He damn near drowned one hen. In his defense … I suppose … if you’ve ever seen ducks mate, they often do so floating in a pond, where the drake (male) holds the duck (female) mostly underwater while doing his business. What DJ doesn’t realize is hens are less prone to float. Oh, and that HE’S A DAMN DUCK NOT A CHICKEN!!!

I’ve decided to procure two or three 100′ x 14′ caterpillar tunnels between now and the end of the year. One of them will be used for aquaponic gardening (e.g. eight tilapia fish tanks an twenty-four veggie grow beds). The other tunnels will be used as greenhouses to grow crops year around.

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 28 Jul – 04 Aug 2019 (Soil Blocks, K9 Play Date, Kamikaze Dragonflies)

Another HOT week with limited outside project work. Can’t WAIT for September!

Created 640 soil blocks and planted some broccoli, cauliflower, beets, kale, cabbage and okra … all to be transplanted into garden rows by the end of the month.

Moved bucket-based cucumbers and basil into raised bed frames, and added a set of new cattle panel trellis’ to support cucumbers, beans, peas and other viney plants.

I know … I know … too much footage of Deuce and his damn tractor tire. I think I need to dig a big ass hole with the front loader and just bury the damn thing about 3 feet below grade. The tire, not Deuce!

Picked up a new Glock 19X and TLR-1 LR for evaluation. More to come (review wise) in the future.

My neighbors adopted a 10 year old male GSD/Labrador mix about a week ago, so we scheduled a doggie play date to introduce Miko to Deuce and Hunter. They got along GREAT. Miko and Deuce pretty much ignored each other, which was a pleasant surprise. Never know WHAT Sir Shitzalot (Deuce) will do around others. In this case, he was more interested in playing with the kids.

Just for grins, I do a little frame-by-frame analysis of two dragonflies that dive bombed Deuce while he was in the duck pond. At full speed, you can barely see the dragonflies buzz through. But, in slow motion, you can see how amazingly agile those damn things are. If you watch the second dragonfly that comes in from the lower-left, it executes a “turn on a dime” maneuver that … as a pilot … just freaks me out. I can’t imagine how many G’s that thing pulled in that maneuver. Try doing that in a Cessna 172 and it will shed its wings and become a lawn dart. I doubt even the F-22 Raptor can do that!

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 22-28 July 2019 (Glock 42, Deuce’s Birthday, Bucket Gardening Update)

Seems like we packed quite a bit into the last week.

The ducklings have integrated with the two remaining adults, and Bianca is doing a great job of mothering them. Warms my heart to see her leading them around. She tried SO hard to hatch her own eggs naturally, but predators and a hurricane got in the way. Now, she has 15 ‘babies’ to boss around. Statistically, half of them are her offspring.

Deuce succeeded in reaching his 1st birthday without Hooey ripping his face completely off, getting flattened under the tractor, or choking to death on any of the million objects he has chewed up and destroyed. I love the boy, but Lord he can drive me nuts.

Picked up a new Glock 42 (.380 Auto) and put it through its paces. VERY happy with it. I was going to get a Ruger LCP II (2), but I’m glad I went with the ‘baby Glock’ instead. Could not be happier. I plan to pick up and evaluate a Glock 19X next. Stay tuned.

Got the second bucket gardening pallet built. Will be planting the following today: arugula, snap beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, bush peas. Need to find some heirloom okra seeds. Nevermind … just found them on Amazon, be here in 2 days.

Just threw DJ (our ‘chuck’ … duck that thinks he’s a chicken) into the duck pond with his biological species mates, and he ran out of there (literally!) like I threw him in a hole filled with Pit Vipers. I think he’s afraid of Bianca, and freaked out by all the ducklings. Then again, I see him chasing hens (best he can, they are way faster and more agile) every evening. He just thinks he’s a damn chicken. Freak-o-Nature … that one.

According to historical data, the hottest day of the year is about 10 days away, then temps will start slowly dropping through mid-September. YAY!!!

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 18-21 July 2019 (Hot, Soil Test Results, Ducklings Released to Big Pond)

I got my soil sample tests back from the County, and the ‘numbers’ were interesting. I sampled my garden (6,000 sq.ft.), big pasture (43,000 sq. ft.) and barn pasture (14,000 sq. ft). The garden plot came back with a significantly higher pH, and phosphorus and potassium indexes well above optimum, likely due to all the compost and manure I’ve tilled into the soil over the last year and a half.

Added 360 pounds of lime and 30 pounds of Group D fertilizer, and that should be enough soil amendments for 2 or 3 years.

Just WAY too hot this weekend to get much else done outside.

When I fed the “puppy ducks” in their small pond enclosure this morning, I noticed the small pond was almost dry again. So, I left the enclosure open to see if they might come out themselves this time. I shoo’d them out the other day, and they didn’t respond well (panic).

Just as I was assembling this video, I looked out and saw all of them playing in the big pond. Before I could get a camera up, our resident deer that seems to be a permanent fixture around the house pretty much every evening, popped her head up from the weeds next to the pond and scared the baby ducks out. But, less than 10 minutes later, they were back in the big pond, so I put the drone up to get some close ups, and more importantly get a good headcount. I’m happy to report that all 15 ducklings are still accounted for.

They have feathered up quite a bit in the last week. I’m surprised by their black and grey coloring. Since Bianca is (statistically) the mother of half the ducklings, I’m guessing that her ‘pure blonde’ coloring is some sort of fluke, a gene expression not exhibited by any of her offspring. I don’t care so much if they get her coloring, but I hope a few of them get her personality, which is just AMAZING for a duck.

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 10-17 July, 2019

Too hot to do much work outside.

Recent up-tic in predator attacks, so I built a new Coyote Interdiction Platform (CIP) and got it ready to go. Daniel Defense DDM4V7, Vortex Razor HD II 1-6×24, Steiner DBAL-D2, Surefire M600DF. I’ve been really impressed with the DBAL. Solid construction, easy to mount, zero the visible laser and the IR laser is automatically zero’d. LOVE IT.

Deuce seems to get a lot of face time. Go figure.

Baby ducks are getting big, but I think I may have lost a few already. Coyotes can’t get in their fenced enclosure, but a fox can, and I saw the fox prowling around at 4A the other day. Took two shots, but missed. The NV gear I was using was in need of an upgrade, thus the DDM4 above. 😉

Bucket gardening project moving along.

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 1-9 July, 2019 (Bucket Gardening; Duckling Release; CO Hazard)

4th of July week started off with a bit of a fiasco. As explained in this video, I put a beef brisket in the wood pellet smoker at 11P, and at 2A I was awakened by alarms blaring all over the house. Apparently, the winds were such that carbon monoxide from the smoker (on the porch) flowed into the house and accumulated to hazardous levels, which triggered the “whole house” alarm system to detect and announce the hazard. So, the dogs and I slept (or, at least tried to) outside on the patio.

Spend the 4th with my neighbors. We hung out in their pool … even as a thunderstorm (lightening & thunder) passed overhead. Mother Nature had her own firework show. Pretty cool.

Migrated the 15 ducklings out of the bard stall and into a fenced in duck habitat around the smaller of our two ponds. They seem REALLY happy to be outside. Eating like little piggies, getting big, just now starting to feather up.

Tilled the ‘park’ to flatten out all the plow furrows and get it ready for seeding next month. Broke the PTO shaft on the tractor the first day and had to replace it. Paid a bit more attention to how “cut down” the length of the shaft to make it about 2 o 3 inches longer than the previous shaft. Works like a charm.

Decided to build a new garden infrastructure to allow for 40 to 50 5-gallon buckets to be distributed in rows of ten buckets, 4 feet between each bucket, with a 3 foot path between each row.

Overall, a pretty productive week … given my general aversion to heat and humidity. Had to take a few days “off” to recover from too much heat exposure, but it all worked out.

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 23-30 Jun 2019 (HOT!, Pallet o’ Bucket-Gardening)

Long, hot week. I took the week off from work, and planned on getting a bunch of outdoor projects done. Yeah, right. End of June? I think NOT!

Anybody with dental implants knows how expensive they are. I had one (only about a year old) break and fall out, the my dentist was kind enough to fix and reinstall the tooth ‘under warranty’ for $39 out of pocket. Things like that don’t happen enough in life! I don’t mean the tooth failure … I mean the cheap-fix.

Looks like I need a few more months still to get my garden plot adequately soil conditioned … waiting on soil test results … so I decided to do some “bucket gardening.” In this heat, WHO wants to be lugging around a bunch of heavy 5-gallon buckets? So, I conceptualized and prototyped a custom pallet designed to carry 9 5-gallon buckets, each in individual recesses, so they won’t slide off the pallet when moved from point A to point B.

So glad June is about over. 2.5 more months of sweating, then on to an oh-so-can’t-wait-for-it Fall and (ahhhhhh) Winter.