Dennis Barrow

Jay Angler wrote:

Dennis Barrow wrote: I am thinking of making a new one with "good" brick, semi-permanent.   I have almost 20 extra chickens to butcher yet, wonder if I built one big enough to hold the scalding pot???   I could put one of my grandkids in charge of it.....  

If I was doing semi-permanent and planning to use it regularly, I would use a "J-tube" pattern that self-feeds so you don't have to be constantly watching that the wood gets pushed in. That is more complicated to build, but the increased usefulness would be worth it. .

I like that idea.  But then my mind says.. "my grandkids are young, 7, 8 ,11 and I think having them be in charge of the fire would help teach responsibility."

Don't know if I will get one built before butcher time tho.  Might have to just use the propane burner.  But then maybe I need to get out of the procrastination club for a bit.  ;-)

Last year one of my grandsons was helping me make a bunch of fire starters, cardboard egg cartons filled with dryer lint and melted candle wax poured over it.
Well, I didn't think a blow torch was really to safe for him to use, (he was six at the time), so decided we would build a brick rocket stove out of a bunch of old bricks I had, (bricks came from a demolition of an old wall and the bricks were made in the 1880's).
We had fun building it and getting it fired up.  An old pan on top to melt the wax and we were in business!
I used the rocket stove a couple times after that and then realized the bricks were failing from the heat.  Turns out 140 year old bricks don't last long with that heat.  I dismantled it a few months ago.  
I am thinking of making a new one with "good" brick, semi-permanent.   I have almost 20 extra chickens to butcher yet, wonder if I built one big enough to hold the scalding pot???   I could put one of my grandkids in charge of it.....  

"If at first you don't succeed, try at least 3 more times so that your ultimate failure is statistically significant..." ..   :-)

URGENT MESSAGE !!!
Aliens are coming to earth tomorrow.
Their mission is to abduct all the good looking, sexy old people.
I'm just sharing this to say goodbye, I've got to pack.

My ducks are absolutely not in a row.
I don't even know where some of them are.......
and I am pretty sure one of them is a pigeon.

My small easy project would be something I look forward to doing each year, usually in the beginning of December when I am stuck indoors because of the weather.

That is clearing off the dining room table and bringing in my seed tote.   Then resorting and making my inventory list and next my need list then wish list.

Then when the catalogs start arriving I am ready !!

A bit of a back story:  We had 4 hens go broody that we didn't know about. Over a 3 week period we had an extra 15 or so extra birds.  (2 more did this since then, 12 more chicks).
Our back yard is fenced to keep the chickens and deer out.  One of this springs chicks found out she could fly over the fence.  The wife had a large bird feeding area and the spilt seed grows wild underneath the feeders.  This chicken is in there everyday eating at the sprouting seeds.
Here is what I am noticing with this chicken, she is visibly larger than the others that are her age.  The only difference between her and the others is all the sprouts.
I will be culling about 20 chickens this next month.  Will be checking her weight against the others then.

I have a screened shelf I made, 2' x 8', that I suspended from the ceiling of my garage to dry various veggies on.  (I am in what is called:  "high desert", so quite dry).
For the last couple years I have taken a dozen or so large sunflower heads and let them dry there and doled them out to the birds over the winter.  I cut the heads off with about a foot of stalk and use that to tie it up and that lets it hang down and the birds do their thing.

I always leave several sunflowers to just do their thing in the garden.  Some do fall over during the winter, so don't.  Vary few have seed in the heads come spring.

A couple of decades ago I picked up a coffee can full of the "hook and eye" latches at a garage sale.  I have used them all.  I have found that several of the latches need to be readjusted almost every year because of the shifting of the gates with the weather.

On my chicken coop door I have a simple 2x4 about 12 inches long with just one screw in it so it swivels shut to keep the door closed.  The "latch" is fairly tight so it doesn't fall closed on its own.  But the coop door swings open on its own when unlatched so not afraid of getting locked in.  

A few years ago I searched for homemade gate latch ideas.  It was a fun rabbit hole to go down.  Must have spent 3 or 4 hours one evening looking at all the various ways to build them.

I have 10 acres that is 2 wide and 5 long.  The 2 wide starts at the road and climbs the mtn.   Just under 250 foot elevation gain.
The only flat areas are what we have created, though the lower couple acres by the road are only 10 to 15 foot elevation gain from the road then it gets a bit steeper.  I have a couple walking trails that zig zag through the woods going up.  (I let one of my sons build an off grid home towards the top of the property, what a view he has).
My Dad was able to visit a few years ago and he told me my land was pretty much flat, just not horizontally flat.  That sounds like that  Terry Pratchett knew what was what.
(Ok, going down the google rabbit hole now, gotta learn about this Terry Pratchett person).