Greg Coffey

This upcoming weekend is processing time, so if anyone wants an Icelandic, Mixed American Game, or Heritage Red X Ice, speak now

Timothy Norton wrote:I'm currently working on getting local ordinances changed for where I live (No roosters) but I am excited for your project!

I live in NY on the Vermont border, if things change and I have the opportunity to expand my flock I'll be reaching out.

Sounds like you're up by Lake Champlain?
Definitely keep me posted on your quest, and if you want to grab some quality roosters when you succeed.

I take it you are looking at the NY Right to Farm Law, and any angle you might approach from where State Law supersedes County Ordinance?
https://rinckerlaw.com/overview-of-new-york-right-to-farm-law/

There's also this movement:
http://www.liftroosterban.com/

We're fortunate to live in a town that codified chickens (including roosters) as a right of the people

Hey All,

It wasn't that long ago that breeders in RI, NH, and NY produced some of the most successful breed-standard chickens, whose descendants are (to this day) among the most numerous on the planet.
Being permies, though, forces the focus toward a little more sustainability than breed-standard selection will typically produce... which is great because folks here are already interested in landrace flocks!

Before posting, I checked the forum and found the following threads, but there weren't too many New Englanders represented, and the threads are old, so here's to starting a new one!
https://permies.com/t/71257/Landrace-chickens
https://permies.com/t/138215/Landrace-Chicken-project-breeding-thoughts
https://permies.com/t/138104/thoughts-developing-landrace-breed
https://permies.com/t/204746/permaculture/Chicken-breeding


I've got a little of a landrace project going on my acreage in North Western RI, and am wondering if anyone wants to get in on the action with their own farms to share roosters and foster genetic diversity... or at least make sure that inbreeding is kept to a minimum.

All my original birds come from Sand Hill Preservation (who have been wonderful to work with if you're looking for specific breeds and hardy stock) and have been free-ranged (by day) with all the hard knocks that come with that.
I've got Icelandics, Golden Spangled Hamburgs, a [heritage] Rose Comb RI Red, Mixed American Game Foul (raising out this year), and some hybrids from last year's survivors.

If anyone is interested in Cockerels (free to any Permies interested in doing some landrace breeding collaboration), I've got the following (copying from my Craigslist post):

Icelandic (3):
As a medium-sized bird, Icelandics are known for their feed conversion (to eggs) and hardiness in the winter months.
One of these guys would be a perfect genetic specimen to breed into an existing flock to sire out hardier stock.
A super-hybrid adapted to the harsh environment of Iceland, they are the descendants of all the chickens brought by the Viking Settlers (all the chickens that could survive, that is).
Known as a 'landrace,' there is no breed standard, so they naturally express different coloration.


American Game (4):
We got these to breed further hardiness and independence into our flock. They are a genetic collection of various American Game Foul that were allowed to mix together to get back toward a 'wild' chicken. As such, they thrive on free range, will raise out their own young, and make great table birds (which is what will happen to any cockerels remaining).
They also have some of the most beautiful, complex plumage I've seen!
A YouTuber in FL has a playlist on why Games are the best homestead chicken; see:

*Games should not be brought into a flock with another rooster; once they hit sexual maturity, they will fight fierce for dominance. Anecdotally, Game Cocks have been known to kill off predators attacking the flock (like hawks and owls), while maintaining a pleasant temperament toward humans.*


Red-Ice (2):
Cockerels whose father was Icelandic and whose mother was a heritage-breed RI Red (not the modern production red from the farm stores...). All the benefits of the Icelandic Breed, with the ability to pass on genes for a little more laying.
Perfect homestead rooster.



If you're interested in some cockerels, let me know, but more importantly, if you're in the New England region and want to help make an überhuhn for permaculture homesteads, let's get organized in this thread!

Opinion:

It sounds like a great idea to incorporate wool, as long as it's carded and spread evenly throughout the mix.
The idea is not unlike tried and true technology, like horsehair plaster, reinforced concrete, or modern resin composites (laminated carbonfiber/fiberglass in resin).

You create the composite by combining a strong but brittle material (plaster, resin, etc.) with a flexible fiber that can bind across multiple fragments if/when there are microfractures. This holds it all together.

It sounds like your design constraints are pushing you toward a batch-box-style RMH, built with a lot of perlite mixed into whichever medium you choose for your mass (cob / concrete / other masonry).

The trade-off here is that light-weight means, literally, less mass (i.e. less thermal mass to store the heat) in the unit itself.


In light of the above, here are two options to consider, and do further research on:

*Add framing to your floor so it can support more mass above it.

*Construct a light-weight RMH with a large heat exchange that conveys the heat into a large, insulated, open tank of water somewhere to hold all the excess heat you scavenge.
You can then put loops of your domestic potable and/or hydronic water lines through that tank to preheat them and save some energy.

Based on that picture, it looks like a series of old puffball fungi that fruited out a while ago... potentially on some of that disturbed soil.

This may or may not be too helpful in your situation, but one path for more research that may help out is how the mycorrhizal networks are working together in the soils.

Depending on how much soil you've moved with your little guys, you may end up creating miniature subterranean battlefields where the fungi are trying to assert dominance in slightly different soils, only to be starved off of nutrients and water.

Growing up around their parent tree, the wildlings will be 'nursed' a constant supply of what they need to grow, transmitted by the network of roots and fungal strands. Ween them too soon, and they will not do as well.


You could also try potting them and then making a business selling wild-crafted bonsai trees...

You can probably help the apple out by planting some garlic or similar allium family foods with it. The space will be productive, and the shared root space will provide for the exchange of some of the pungent factors of the allium into the apple to dissuade insects and other pathogens from damaging your young trees.

Happy to help

The quick answer is yes, the water should reach your destination, and the pressure you get will depends in large part on the diameter of the pipe/hose/tube you run, and the 'fullness' of the upper tank of water.

Assuming an ideal fluid, you'd use Bernoulli's principle to calculate your downstream pressure:

P1 ​+ 1/2​ρ[(v1)^2]​ + ρgh1 ​= P2​ + 1/2ρ[(v2)^2] ​+ ρgh2
Learn more here:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/fluids/fluid-dynamics/a/what-is-bernoullis-equation

P1 and P2 will be the same, because you've got atmospheric pressure at both ends of this thing, and since we're recklessly simplifying stuff, we should just call the initial velocity (v1) zero as well, because your reservoir is large enough.
That means your pressure in this system is coming from h1, your hydraulic head. More height difference between the sprayer and the top of the water in the big tank = better pressure.

The hose size piece of this puzzle has to do with Poiseuille's Law (pronounced: P-wah-z-eh?). Details spared here; bigger diameter is better, longer run is worse. [don't go there with the joke]

That's the rough fluid dynamics of the situation, but as always, prototype it out at home before you build it on site