Kevin Hedrick

I built my coop with our extreme weather in mind... Winters here are sometimes -50.. That just about requires I hang a heat lamp for them, but they still need ventalation so thats the reason for the "upper story windows, they have shutters so I can prop one open slightly on the opposite side of wind direction. The lower windows for summer time keep a nice breeze through so it doesnt get too funky.. The whole thing is insulated and vapor wrapped so any moisture really gets the litter smelling funky as it tends to wick there.. Big overhangs keep it fairly sheltered from the rain (I say fairly because sometimes we have "sideways" rain in tornado season) and snow doesnt pile up so bad that we cant feed and open the egg boxes. It gets a good southern exposure during winter, but in summer the mulberry tree shades it perfectly, and the chicks all get stained red when it drops mulberry's (they love that time of year).. Natural earth floor with deep litter. I used old timbers for the foundation and once I set the coop on them I skirted with trim boards to prevent any draft. Inside I dug about 1 foot down and placed hardware cloth to prevent any unauthorized predators from having chicken.. In summer I run about 6" of litter and add from there till its full around winter, then I clean it all out in spring and throw the mulch in the compost..




Works pretty well, and doesnt look too terrible i guess..

I love the idea behind the perone, I just wish it was more practical in addressing these issues, the theory is sound, and I agree.. American foul brood is detected by looking at the comb face, watching for concave capped brood and by a distinct "foul" odor, and pupa that have died with their "tongue" sticking out and upward towards the eyes. Its a spore based disease, and probably the worst disease out there.. The only treatment is to kill the bees and burn the hive components. It spreads like wildfire from other robbing colonies.. If this wasn't a serious issue that I worried greatly about, I would be making perone hives and large skep hives to forget about and put in my grove somewhere. I'm interested in the inspect able warre hives as well.. Wondering if anyone has had success in the northern states with these. We get awful cold up here (it's minus 4*), and in a wrapped lang hive, we do OK. We have been having a really cold winter this year, and the biggest killer we face in winter is having a warm day where they take cleansing flights, then a really cold snap. The bees often time dont have time to make it back to cluster and as a result we get about 30% death rates..

Updated, thought I had done that already but I guess I forgot to hit save..

Mites aren't a big issue here, so I wouldn't be disinclined to the Perone for this reason. I do however know the pesticide use in my area is HEAVY, and its been proven that the bees are bringing it into the hives, and it is stored in the wax in the comb (and it is measurable).. For this reason it is recommended to swap out 20% of each brood boxes comb every couple of years. I'm not sure the Perone lends itself to this.. Although I have yet to be inspected, I don't like the idea that I may have my hive removed or destroyed. I pay 10 dollars a year for this service, per apiary location. As much as I like the idea of leaving my brood box alone, I also want to be able to detect any problems before any inspector does, and treat naturally by my own means rather than on the inspectors terms. AFB is one that comes to mind when I think of things that can go wrong with perone, and effect other beekeepers hives in my area.

Walter Jeffries wrote:I have both. Kencove is less expensive, slightly less quality, I buy Kencove mostly.

Awesome, that's what I was hoping for! I have a 1 joule charger for the 3 fences I used last year and although it worked well, it seemed a bit under powered. I just upgraded to a 3 joule box, and I'm hoping that doesn't get too hot for the 7 I plan to attach to it. My plan is to keep making permanent net paddocks, meaning they wont move, I think I have enough to keep rotation up until about mid summer and hopefully by then I will have the funding to make 2 additional paddocks. Thanks for the replies!

Yeah, like I said I have some of the premier stuff, use it and understand its shortfalls, I was just wondering how the Kencove brand stuff compared, as it is about $30 cheaper. I wondered if it is lower quality or if I just found a better deal. I just ordered 5- 164' lengths so I guess I will see..

I wondered if anyone has any experience with using the kencove poultry netting for hogs? I have used the premier stuff, I like it and understand its downfalls (Which aren't substantial IMHO), I found Kencoves stuff to be about $30 cheaper, and a penny saved is a penny earned, and when looking at buying 5 sections at a time this really adds up..

I would be all over this if I lived near you.. Given your situation and skill level, I might remove the trees needed, stockpile the logs (paint the ends though) and acquire the skills to use them for your own needs.. They are easier to use while dry for buildings anyways. I would personally love to have a log structure for, well anything really.

I have a cnc, I could probably make 50 signs out of wood in about 2 days, and I have the wood. You could paint them and finish them however you see fit. I would be willing to barter a work trade deal or? I need organic seeds, heritage turkeys, a dairy cow, chicken butchering help in late summer, hardwood logs ( I dont know where you live or if it would be a feasable option), construction/building help.. Not sure if that would be something you would be interested in, but thought I would offer..

ben harpo wrote:Kevin, at what volume would you consider upgrading to a bigger mill?

Hey if I could afford it and only had to rip one log down a year, i would own a wood mizer already lol. I think for it to be justifiable to me, I would need to be able to make it pay for itself within 2 years. If I was milling Maple that would be very very easy to do (not sure if you have seen the price of hard maple lately, but man.. ouch..). In my case the most expensive woods I am cutting up are red oak and red cedar.. Which isnt exactly cheap wood either, but where I live in the mid-west, they are few and far between. I bought the Alaskan mill when I lived in Nor Cal, and we had as many pine logs as we wanted. With an occasional maple, walnut etc. If I would have stayed there I would have likely purchased a woodmizer, top of the line, and it would have been worth it.. I have 6 cedar logs around 22-33 inches in diameter outside right now. When it warms up a bit I will make a short video of my partner and I milling up a few boards, and maybe a short clip on how we solar kiln it to dry in a reasonable amount of time. The milling is only really half of the battle. Getting it stacked properly for ventilation, banding our stacks to discourage warping, painting the ends to discourage checking and encourage moisture loss from the face grain rather than the end grain.. There is a little more to it than meets the eye if you want good sound lumber.. Quarter sawing, flat sawing, rift cut, pith removal.. Tangential shinking versus radial shrinking.. This is stuff worth looking into a bit. You can learn it as you go, its not really all that involved..