bonbean01
Herd Master
Welcome from Mississippi!
Greetings from Alabama!
- Thread starter HomesteaderWife
- Start date
Welcome from Mississippi!
Tater Bug Farms
Exploring the pasture
Hi ..we are new here as well . We are in Alabama also!!
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Welcom Tater Bug
Ridgetop
Herd Master
I'm fairly new to this site too. We're in southern California foothills. we have lots ofcoyotes and cougar, but the WORST predator to worry about with your rabbits and small stock is neighborhood dogs. We have hanging cages with manure pits, shavings and earthworm beds under our cages. The dogs get under the cages, rip open the cage wire and will chew off the feet and legs of your rabbits forcing you to put them down. Fence in the area around or at least underneath the cages with heavy wire. Portable kennel fencing works nicely if you want to fence but haven't decided on a permanent location. Since your husband welds, he can make the frames and then you can stretch chain link on them, or for livestock heavy gauge welded wire can be spot welded on. Use corral clamps to put the panels together and they can be rearranged for different purposes as you grow your homestead and add other animals. If all the panels are the same size, and you make them 6' tall you can build 6' wide roofed enclosures if you have trouble with opossums or racoons. Or predators that can jump the fences.
If you are starting a family (you didn't say if you are retired which will make a difference in your homesteading plans) I suggest you start with dairy goats for milk. They are easy to handle and 2 of them can easily give 2 gallons per day. You don't have the problems with diseases in unpasteurized milk that you do with a cow, they require less feed, are easier to work with when kidding. Since you don't have any dairy animals now, dairy goats are lovable, and their poop is dry raisin size stuff which isn't as stinky as cow poop. Cow poop is liquidy. Learning to milk and care for the milk will be easier with goats, cost less to get started, and then you can move into larger dairying operations with cows if you want.
Can't wait to see your future posts about what all you and your husband are doing with your homestead. One thing, going back to Grandma's day is cool, but there were reasons why Grandma jumped at the chance to have modern conveniences! Don't rule them out! If you have them, you can opt not to use them, but if you don't have them and need them it can be a pain, especially as I get older! LOL
If you are starting a family (you didn't say if you are retired which will make a difference in your homesteading plans) I suggest you start with dairy goats for milk. They are easy to handle and 2 of them can easily give 2 gallons per day. You don't have the problems with diseases in unpasteurized milk that you do with a cow, they require less feed, are easier to work with when kidding. Since you don't have any dairy animals now, dairy goats are lovable, and their poop is dry raisin size stuff which isn't as stinky as cow poop. Cow poop is liquidy. Learning to milk and care for the milk will be easier with goats, cost less to get started, and then you can move into larger dairying operations with cows if you want.
Can't wait to see your future posts about what all you and your husband are doing with your homestead. One thing, going back to Grandma's day is cool, but there were reasons why Grandma jumped at the chance to have modern conveniences! Don't rule them out! If you have them, you can opt not to use them, but if you don't have them and need them it can be a pain, especially as I get older! LOL
- Thread starter
- #15
HomesteaderWife
True BYH Addict
Hey there everyone, and thank you again for the warm welcomes! Lots of things have been going on during the time I have been away-
We finally have our chicken pen built, with 5 little bitties running around happily. It's been such fun already- we have a log cabin chicken coop, and I have made all of their perches from scrap logs. The fence posts were hand made by us, and all we had to really buy for it was a bit of wire (had half of our wire donated by our preacher, actually).
As for what Ridgetop mentioned- we are not retired. My husband and I are in our mid-20s.
While there is going to be some struggle in disconnecting and doing things for our own, there still will be modern conveniences. Power, going to the store, and driving around. We have well water running. And actually, I am in the process of finishing up a career diploma for Web Design, so I can hopefully soon get a small job helping local businesses reach out to more folks.
But, while we do maintain some of that connection to modern day, we do hold on to some of the old ways as well. I do alot of things the way my Grandmother did as far as taking care of our chickens. and even have an egg basket that looks just like the one she had me take out to collect eggs in when I was little. My husband is a trapper, so we are always in the learning process with that (the trapping is aimed mainly at coyotes, who have been almost wiping out our turkey and deer populations because the predators are 100% unmanaged around here). We also trap raccoons and possums to help protect the chickens, and to prevent them from coming up near the dogs. The furs are saved for selling.
I will say this- from what we have already started, it is physically exhausting work that takes time to accomplish. Like the chicken pen- it took a month or two, but when I stand back and look at it now....I am sincerely proud that we made it ourselves. The hard work was WORTH IT.
It may not be the easy road, but it is the chosen one. Like my husband has said before- if you don't like it, you can always go back. (To working full time, being apart from eachother for hours, and having more bills to pay.) But if we never tried to be self-sufficient, we would never know what it was like or how rewarding it can be. And so far, it's wonderful- there's nothing like taking the dogs out for a squirrel hunt, or watching my husband take down a tall pine tree that's going to be milled up into lumber for us to use (without having to go buy the boards at some store!)
Thank you again for all your warm wishes-
HomesteaderWife
We finally have our chicken pen built, with 5 little bitties running around happily. It's been such fun already- we have a log cabin chicken coop, and I have made all of their perches from scrap logs. The fence posts were hand made by us, and all we had to really buy for it was a bit of wire (had half of our wire donated by our preacher, actually).
As for what Ridgetop mentioned- we are not retired. My husband and I are in our mid-20s.
While there is going to be some struggle in disconnecting and doing things for our own, there still will be modern conveniences. Power, going to the store, and driving around. We have well water running. And actually, I am in the process of finishing up a career diploma for Web Design, so I can hopefully soon get a small job helping local businesses reach out to more folks.
But, while we do maintain some of that connection to modern day, we do hold on to some of the old ways as well. I do alot of things the way my Grandmother did as far as taking care of our chickens. and even have an egg basket that looks just like the one she had me take out to collect eggs in when I was little. My husband is a trapper, so we are always in the learning process with that (the trapping is aimed mainly at coyotes, who have been almost wiping out our turkey and deer populations because the predators are 100% unmanaged around here). We also trap raccoons and possums to help protect the chickens, and to prevent them from coming up near the dogs. The furs are saved for selling.
I will say this- from what we have already started, it is physically exhausting work that takes time to accomplish. Like the chicken pen- it took a month or two, but when I stand back and look at it now....I am sincerely proud that we made it ourselves. The hard work was WORTH IT.
It may not be the easy road, but it is the chosen one. Like my husband has said before- if you don't like it, you can always go back. (To working full time, being apart from eachother for hours, and having more bills to pay.) But if we never tried to be self-sufficient, we would never know what it was like or how rewarding it can be. And so far, it's wonderful- there's nothing like taking the dogs out for a squirrel hunt, or watching my husband take down a tall pine tree that's going to be milled up into lumber for us to use (without having to go buy the boards at some store!)
Thank you again for all your warm wishes-
HomesteaderWife
Ridgetop
Herd Master
You are just starting out on this wonderful adventure! You are going to have so much fun!
I grew and canned everything we ate, we raised chickens and ducks for eggs, rabbits for meat, dairy goats for milk and meat (buck kids are yummy), 4-H project animals for Fair auction, the kids rode their ponies everywhere in the wash and hills, we built everything ourselves . . . . The list goes on and on and I would not change anything! Our 4 children only saw the mall once a year when we would go on Christmas Eve for our family movie. It was the only time we went to the movie theater. We did have a VCR and would have family movie night in Saturdays. Our family Christmas movie is still a famiy tradition even though the kids are grown and 2 have their own families. Our kids are close and I think it is because they had to do so much work together.
Oh yes, eventually that will be a perk! LOL Child labor is wonderful! Hard work never hurt anyone, only the weak and immature go back. Even us oldies plan to ranch forever. LOL
I grew and canned everything we ate, we raised chickens and ducks for eggs, rabbits for meat, dairy goats for milk and meat (buck kids are yummy), 4-H project animals for Fair auction, the kids rode their ponies everywhere in the wash and hills, we built everything ourselves . . . . The list goes on and on and I would not change anything! Our 4 children only saw the mall once a year when we would go on Christmas Eve for our family movie. It was the only time we went to the movie theater. We did have a VCR and would have family movie night in Saturdays. Our family Christmas movie is still a famiy tradition even though the kids are grown and 2 have their own families. Our kids are close and I think it is because they had to do so much work together.
Oh yes, eventually that will be a perk! LOL Child labor is wonderful! Hard work never hurt anyone, only the weak and immature go back. Even us oldies plan to ranch forever. LOL
OneFineAcre
Herd Master
I'd love to see a picture of the log cabin chicken coop. 
frustratedearthmother
Herd Master
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HomesteaderWife
True BYH Addict
Here are some photos of the critters, though I don't think I have one with a full view of the coop. We have lost one little female hen to a weasel attack, and have since made sure to completely predator-proof everything. The bottom of it has been converted into a double rabbit pen, and we are building a separate area for the ducks to live. The chicks and the ducklings butt heads, so we let them have their privacy at night.
The photos show us constructing the rabbit pen underneath, our Angora male looking out at the chickens, and then the three hens posted atop the homemade perch. The perch is made from two Sweet Gum logs, with a piece of Pine wood on top that was leftover/scrap from my husband using his saw mill. In the background is their little nest box, made from an old book shelf! And the entire coop is made from scrap Pine that my husband could not use!
The photos show us constructing the rabbit pen underneath, our Angora male looking out at the chickens, and then the three hens posted atop the homemade perch. The perch is made from two Sweet Gum logs, with a piece of Pine wood on top that was leftover/scrap from my husband using his saw mill. In the background is their little nest box, made from an old book shelf! And the entire coop is made from scrap Pine that my husband could not use!
Ridgetop
Herd Master
I love that you have repurposed stuff. The use of a bookcase for nest boxes is very clever and saves time and money. I love repurposing stuff instead of buying new! With the surrounding woods I am not surprised you have weasels after the chickens. Good idea to put wire everywhere.
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