Wow, this is a really nice chicken coop. Now that the garden cleanup is almost done, we can think about where to build one.
I'd close off the area below the house though. And just small trees with the bark on for roosting bars. Doesn't hold any dirt like that wrapped rope and the chickens loved it.
It's very smart!
Although, I didn't like something about his pitch - all the "you don't have make any effort" and "you don't have to check X every day".
If someone doesn't want the effort, should they be keeping livestock?
@suearcher Well, he's selling a $8000 chicken coop, that should give you an idea of the target audience ;-)
But he did obviously spend a lot of time thinking about the design, so we'll try to build something similar mostly from the scrap we got laying around the farm.
You do have to check every day anyways to collect the eggs, spank the fox and see if the chickens are ok, but it's very good if you can leave the farm for a day or two without your chickens needing someone to go feed, water and lock them up.
Also this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003472738318.html?
Oh yeah, I can see the benefits. When we housesit for our friends, their coop has an automatic door so that the hens can get in and out with the daylight, which is handy.
When we move, chickens are high on my list to start keeping. I'm pretty sure we'll have something a bit more homemade though!
@suearcher Yup, just take the ideas, don't import a US chicken coop 😆
I'm ok with locking them up at night but neither of us likes getting up early. Hence no cow! 😆
Yeah, cows are a whole other level of responsibility!
I wake up fairly early generally, and I always get up to make us a cuppa, so I reckon I'll be fine with the early stuff. Although at the moment, I'm aware that this feeling is fuelled by my desire for a new place, with chickens. Maybe after a year or so, the novelty will wear off....
@suearcher Yup, take it slow with the livestock commitments, especially since in a new place there'll be so much else to do initially!
These guys have a good video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUNqRuEeOgA
They totally overdid it with chickens, cows, goats and pigs while having two kids in short succession, which was obviously crazy, so meanwhile they burnt out and now they got rid of all their livestock and moved to a house in town with a little garden.
Better to take it slow - that's one of the many great lessons we learnt on the boat. There's all these keen sailors who buy a boat and feel the need to sail around the world and then they split up or the money doesn't stretch and it ends in tears. The ones just pottering around with no more plan than "maybe Greece?" get more out of it :)
Oh yes, I don't have big plans. Chickens to start with, and a dog. And growing veg. After that, it'll depend on how much land we have and so on. If we get a place with a polytunnel, that's great, if not, it'll go on the list for later.
Not much point in cows, or milk goats, due to Alfred's dairy intolerance. Maybe, maybe, a couple of weaner pigs each year once we're settled.
I think we've benefitted from doing some house and farm sitting for friends. I know how much daily routine there is, whatever the weather. And the sense of responsibility. So we're not going into this as complete townies. Although I know there'll also be tonnes to learn!
Alfred did just show me a video of about a million guinea pigs eating watermelons, so maybe I would also like a million guinea pigs.
@suearcher @yngmar
Also, it will take me a while to set up a workshop, as I will need to decide what and where once we have settled.
The priority will be making sure us and Mum are settled in, and the essentials are there and working.
I am sure we will have a lot to learn about spring water, septic tanks, and solar PV. in the first few weeks or months, while we are seeing what the land is like.
@Maker_of_Things @suearcher Yeah, my "workshop" is a catastrophe still, mostly because it really needs a floor!
Took us a bit over a year to really get to know the place, there's a lot going on and you have to live through a full cycle of the seasons, or two. Then you come out knowing what needs improving.
And the weather varied a lot. Our first winter was mild, which created opportunities but also a lot of mud problems, then a very wet summer, the second winter extreme, which created other problems :)
But now I'm having a better idea of what needs doing in what order, which helps a lot, as time just flies.
@yngmar @suearcher
Yeah, a couple of years of learning the site is fair.
What I'd like to do sooner, though, is to give the impression of some progress so that Mum can see we are doing something. She will be 94 by then, and she has already asked if we can have a dog!
The workshop, even if at a temporary location, will be easiest to start on (for me, at least), and probably needed for doing anything else significant.
Also, basic container (veg) gardening, a dog, and chickens, while we assess what we have.
Of course, that will all be more flexible than a flexible thing as we don't yet know what we'll be moving to.
It might be a retirement bungalow with a bowling green lawn front and back, or a renovation shack in a wooded hillside. 🤷♀️
@Maker_of_Things @suearcher Good luck in the search. You'll know when the right place has found you :)
Hope your mom gets her dog!
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar
Sue Archer
Alfred Chow - Maker of Things