Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

The sheep are loving all the fresh grass. There is still two more ewes to lamb and my #54 girl is filling her udder so she should lamb any day now. Oshi won't come up for a cracker because I think he's afraid I'll pull him from the girls. Wendy's lambs are the middle two pictures.

 

[Baymule]

The lambs are so cute. The ewes are all looking good. Oshi is King of the flock, not coming to you, even for an animal cracker.

 

[Mike CHS]

We are officially not raising chickens as of this evening. We had 7 chickens and have been getting fewer eggs all of the time. It is getting to the point that we can buy eggs for less than what we are using to feed ours. We have a friend that has a lot of issues that can use the chickens for food so they are now there. Teresa has decided that @Baymule has the build of a chicken tractor that she will use when we go back to chickens.

 

[Baymule]

Are you going to build her a chicken tractor? On wheels with roll out nest box? I know your skill level is in the stratosphere, with your skills, it would be outstanding. I’ve looked at the plans for a lever that raises and lowers the wheels and I still can’t figure it out.

My first chicken tractor was so darn heavy that we literally had to pull it with the tractor. That. Did. Not. Work.
BJ on the tractor, me in the chicken tractor, because the silly chickens ram to the back. So I was inside with a wide plastic rake, pushing them forward, yelling at BJ who was oblivious, not looking back and couldn’t hear me over the noise of the tractor. Let’s just take a moment of silence to reflect and remember those poor unfortunates that got a heavy chicken tractor dragged over them……….

We tried a couple more times before giving up in dismal failure. Not only the body count, but because the back end wasn’t lifted, it dragged all the poop forward. I even put up a temporary pen and herded all the fatties, who would rather not take their exercise, into the pen, drag the chicken tractor forward, then herd them back. Had to pick them up and carry them, they were Cornish Cross, did not herd well at all and could barely lift themselves up, much less walk back home.

We gave up on that, deep bedded them and turned my miserable failure into a chicken coop.

Next attempt, I overbuilt that one too, but could lift up one end and swing it forward-a little. Go to other end, lift and swing forward. Go back to first end, rinse repeat until I was past the poop pad. I had to pick up, swing forward, to sweep Dirty Birdies forward, then back a little so I didn’t set the chicken tractor down on unfortunate Dirty Birdies. I built that one out of ripped 2x4s. Still too heavy but I made it work. When not in use, I set it up on cinder blocks. I left it there when I moved.

Now this one made of PVC. It’s 2” well casing, yeah it’s heavy too, but not like the first two. It was free PVC scraps a neighbor was getting rid of. I figured out that I could build 2 chicken tractors out of it, cut pieces and bought the fittings. I’ve built one.

I still don’t know how to do that which I cannot do, don’t know how I got there or how to do it again. Not that I would want to do it again, maybe a little better. I’m mathematically illiterate, can’t figure angles, degrees, nada, zip. I can read a tape measure, have a cordless skill saw and drill and a 5 pound box of deck screws. Animals are dumber than I am and don’t know they are living in squalor.

 

[Mike CHS]

I think we will just wait and see what she wants to do long term. All of the chickens that we gave away were in their last years anyway.

 

[Ridgetop]

Let’s just take a moment of silence to reflect and remember those poor unfortunates that got a heavy chicken tractor dragged over them……….

We have never built a chicken tractor. Our first chicken coop was made ut of 3/8" plywood on a 2x4 frame. It had a door tht locked at night and a roost inside. Sticking out the back were 2 laying boxes with sloped hinged lids. You just opened the lids and got the eggs out. No need to walk into the coop. Just as well since the coop was only about 42" tall. The floor was hardware cloth so the poop would fall through. The holes were actually a bit small, so I had to scrape the wire every week. The coop sat up off the ground about 18" on concrete blocks. The chickens could go under it for shade. When we moved to this house we brought it with us for the chickens. Eventually the chickens were turned loose and roosted in the barn at night. The children used it as a playhouse and broke the wire off the bottom. If we build another, I will use the same design without the wire bottom. That way it can be set on the floor. I will also attach brackets to thread 2 x 4's through for carrying posts. The coop was light enough to carry on top of 2 poles. DH and I could relocate it easily. It was pretty nifty except for the wire on the bottom which was a real pain since it would not let the poop out. Without a bottom, it could be set on the ground and moved over to a clean spot every week. I might look into getting chicken again if we could do it that way. I don't want to clean any coops since I am allergic to bird dust. When we had chickens later, we moved them into a 8' x 12' construction shed. When I cleaned it I would cough for 3 months like IO was losing a lung. After my mother got bird lung, I realized I probably had the same allergy.

 

[Mike CHS]

We got 4 of the raised garden beds ready to plant and 5 more to go.

Teresa made some flounder in a Puttanesca sauce for supper that was outstanding.

 

[Baymule]

What’s a Puttanesca sauce?

 

[Mike CHS]

What’s a Puttanesca sauce?

Spaghetti alla puttanesca (pronounced [spaˈɡetti alla puttaˈneska]; in Italian) is an Italian pasta dish invented in Naples in the mid-20th century and made typically with tomatoes, olive oil, olives, anchovies, chili peppers, capers, and garlic—with vermicelli or spaghetti pasta.

It is really unique tasting and has been one of Teresa's favorites ever since I first made it for her. I spent so much time in Naples and it was on most every menu that I saw over there.

 

[Baymule]

So you made it for her! Oh you knew how to capture her heart! A man that turn out a meal like that is a keeper!