Cock-a-doodle-doo
I was a feeling little trepidation when I first started letting the boys out. There's a large fir tree fifty feet away that the eagles and hawks like to perch in. But so far so good, I don't know if a bird of prey, which an eagle isn't, would go after these guys. They are pretty big and mostly stay together in a clump close to the safety of the chicken tractor. I will keep a couple of these guys around as yard guards and the rest will go into the freezer sometime later this spring. I know - but honestly this is spring!
Xena the wonder dog will hang around them if I am in the vicinity, but she keeps a wary eye on them. She just doesn't get that the roosters dont really like having their butts sniffed. Just not rooster etiquette. The new weaners, however are fair game. She's been in the barn with them having all kinds of tail wagging fun.
These weaners are the best we've found, organically grown on a neat farm about a hundred clicks away at the far West end of Francois lake. The lakes eastern edge is due south of us over Josephs mountain. They make big lakes in this country.
Spring is on us. The mountains of snow are starting to melt away and we are starting to put on the mud boots during the day. I've been pouring over Google Earth planning some fencing projects this spring. And getting ready to get the log barn ready for Pigs and lambs. We'll have water and power there once the ground thaws.
We've replanted the Green house and will start the seedlings for this years garden. We bought ( horrors ) some fresh Basil from a local store and were impressed with it's quality. It was packaged with its roots and stayed fresh for a week. I have basil growing but it will be a while before it's edible, but I want to plant a flat of basil to try and see if I can get something like the Basil we purchased.
A so much to do! The trick for me is not to get overwhelmed with it all.
Late spring ( well anytime really) would be a great time for an "on farm working vacation". Good food, interesting animals, a fragrant garden ( well this time of year it would be in the green house where it will be 32C (89.6) today, with the door closed. ) If your in the area! Were only 12 hours from Vancouver.
Xena the wonder dog will hang around them if I am in the vicinity, but she keeps a wary eye on them. She just doesn't get that the roosters dont really like having their butts sniffed. Just not rooster etiquette. The new weaners, however are fair game. She's been in the barn with them having all kinds of tail wagging fun.
These weaners are the best we've found, organically grown on a neat farm about a hundred clicks away at the far West end of Francois lake. The lakes eastern edge is due south of us over Josephs mountain. They make big lakes in this country.
Spring is on us. The mountains of snow are starting to melt away and we are starting to put on the mud boots during the day. I've been pouring over Google Earth planning some fencing projects this spring. And getting ready to get the log barn ready for Pigs and lambs. We'll have water and power there once the ground thaws.
We've replanted the Green house and will start the seedlings for this years garden. We bought ( horrors ) some fresh Basil from a local store and were impressed with it's quality. It was packaged with its roots and stayed fresh for a week. I have basil growing but it will be a while before it's edible, but I want to plant a flat of basil to try and see if I can get something like the Basil we purchased.
A so much to do! The trick for me is not to get overwhelmed with it all.
Late spring ( well anytime really) would be a great time for an "on farm working vacation". Good food, interesting animals, a fragrant garden ( well this time of year it would be in the green house where it will be 32C (89.6) today, with the door closed. ) If your in the area! Were only 12 hours from Vancouver.
Comments
There is a webpage at: http://www.acme.com/planimeter/
It uses Google Maps and lets you draw lines to figure out acreages within the area you outline, etc.
Depending on how far you can zoom in at your location, you can layout fencelines on the aerial photo so it is easier to build around obstacles like low spots, etc.
@Donna: The roosters are nice looking alright, not so the hens which are starting to moult.
@Rich: Great resource! thanks a bunch. Ill add it to a fencing blog. Busy researching cattle guards ets. Want to make my own as commercial ones are going for $3500 !
They are usually about 16' wide, with two 16' long pieces of 6-8" pipe spaced about 4' apart. Usually, three 4' long pieces of 6-8" pipe are welded on top of the two 16" pieces (like a ladder).
Then, 16' pieces of 2 3/8 or 2 7/8 pipe are welded on top of the 4' pieces spaced about the width of your boot apart.
Sometimes, sucker rod is welded across the top of the 2 3/8 pipe (spaced about 4' apart) to help tie it all together a little better.
After it's all welded together, some pieces of sheetmetal are welded on the 16' sides to keep the road fill from spilling into the space under the cattle guard (which would sorta make building the whole cattle guard a waste of time).
If you want to hang a gate or a bar across the cattle guard, just weld a couple of braced upright pieces of pipe on the ends.
I would think that you could buy all the steel for a few hundred dollars at the most.
The trick with a cattle guard is the installation. You have to put the cattleguard down on a flat roadbed and THEN build the road up to the level of the cattle guard instead of digging a hole in the road and putting the cattleguard in the hole.
I hope you can make heads or tails out of some of that explanation.