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Post by Joey on Mar 11, 2024 17:44:40 GMT 10
Meanwhile our gumbyments are slashing the defence procurement plans and ordering naval fleets that won't start to be built for another decade
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Post by Joey on Mar 10, 2024 16:27:13 GMT 10
My sister sent me photos of her coop today for ideas. Hers is a simple wood frame about the size of those typical garden tin sheds and covered on the walls/roof in poly roofing sheets. She has a few roost bras in it and 2 laying boxes screwed to the wall on the inside with a ramp to them. There is no front wall to the shed part and opens to a run area that is about the same size as the shed part. With an open front like this is that viable for regards to the weather? Sorry with the stupid questions but I've been doing a lot of research for this project lol With regards to treated wood for the build, everybody says to avoid using it for the chemical leeching etc, but what other options do we have for wood as pretty much all Bunnings sells is variations of treated wood. I was thinking of using the black form ply for the box parts as its got the smooth sealed coat to reduce the mites issue compared to using regular ply or slats. With regards to weather protecting the wood, so many people on youtube are painting their coops, would non-toxic paint be a viable option? just to cover the weatherproofing side of things for the outside of the coop. I looked at the option of building the frame structure with steel box to reduce the amount of wood/termite proofing but it quickly came up to 3 times the price compared to building out of wood I used the old green treated pine for all the posts in the fences and as the main uprights for the night house/laying shelter. 18 years ... never a problem. The birds don't touch it. The only time the green CCA becomes a problem is when it's reduced to ash. The ash is full of nasty forms of arsenic and chromium.
If heat is an issue where you are I'd think twice about using polycarb on the structure. It makes a great greenhouse for plants so it will possibly overheat your chooks. My chooks used to love getting in under shade trees during the summer and scratching around in damp earth.
Yeah I was thinking of putting a whirlie bird on top of it to help with the heat, otherwise I can do a couple of inch air gap between the top of the walls and the roof sheet and fill with the mesh
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Post by Joey on Mar 10, 2024 11:16:48 GMT 10
Sadly for me the "local" saw mills are a 3hr drive away, Bunnings is a 2hr drive away as well. I have a mitre10 here in town buit they only stock very limited stuff and are traditionally super expensive top buy stuff from.
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Post by Joey on Mar 9, 2024 20:45:54 GMT 10
My sister sent me photos of her coop today for ideas. Hers is a simple wood frame about the size of those typical garden tin sheds and covered on the walls/roof in poly roofing sheets. She has a few roost bras in it and 2 laying boxes screwed to the wall on the inside with a ramp to them. There is no front wall to the shed part and opens to a run area that is about the same size as the shed part. With an open front like this is that viable for regards to the weather?
Sorry with the stupid questions but I've been doing a lot of research for this project lol
With regards to treated wood for the build, everybody says to avoid using it for the chemical leeching etc, but what other options do we have for wood as pretty much all Bunnings sells is variations of treated wood. I was thinking of using the black form ply for the box parts as its got the smooth sealed coat to reduce the mites issue compared to using regular ply or slats. With regards to weather protecting the wood, so many people on youtube are painting their coops, would non-toxic paint be a viable option? just to cover the weatherproofing side of things for the outside of the coop. I looked at the option of building the frame structure with steel box to reduce the amount of wood/termite proofing but it quickly came up to 3 times the price compared to building out of wood
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Post by Joey on Mar 9, 2024 9:05:39 GMT 10
This is my messy yard. My best plan is to tear out the watermelon when the current crop is finished and put the coop here. The total footprint will have to fit within 3x1.4m including the run area. I could extend the 2.4m side out to maybe 3m if I take it out to the bamboo garden, and if I want to make it turn at a right angle to give a more sheltered run area I can turn it along the pathway there.
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Post by Joey on Mar 9, 2024 8:11:36 GMT 10
You've posted a picture of them before somewhere, but it was a distance shot so not really showing details on it.
This morning I measured up the spot where I plan to put the coop, the max width I can go is 135cm between the fence garden and the raised beds, but I have the full width of the yard to make a super long run if I want to spend that much on mesh and roofing sheets.
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Post by Joey on Mar 8, 2024 21:10:16 GMT 10
There are no breeders around my area that I know of so I'll have to drive 200km to the big town to buy them probably. I'm thinking of getting younger hens so they grow up used to being around people from something I read. I don't plan on getting a rooster so will just stick to collecting eggs. You reckon the sawdust over straw? Shell flakes and stones to suppliment the feed? It’s harder to do good Sulfur treatment with straw so red mite will become a problem eventually. other options that I have used and work well are dry sand and wheat husk from the local silos. consider using metal to make the laying shed/night house. Timber with cracks is a great harbour for red mite. id recommend next time you pass through a town where commercial horticulture happens for vegetables or grapes that you drop into rural supplies and buy a big bag of wettable sulfur. You can apply this stuff in a spray pack onto all timber work and nesting boxes for mite control. It is non toxic to everything except mites and fungi like powdery mildew. That won't be an option u here where a typical summer day is around 43deg so the I'll come home to BBQ chooks. I see a few builds on youtube line the roost/laying box with vinyl flooring to make a sealed layer on the floor to help with easy cleanout and to avoid having to treat the floor, is this a viable option?
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Post by Joey on Mar 7, 2024 17:30:06 GMT 10
Well, with an SHTF event, there won't be any ACMA inspectors around (or what left of them) so why stop at 1Kw power lol
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Post by Joey on Mar 6, 2024 20:21:18 GMT 10
There are no breeders around my area that I know of so I'll have to drive 200km to the big town to buy them probably. I'm thinking of getting younger hens so they grow up used to being around people from something I read. I don't plan on getting a rooster so will just stick to collecting eggs.
You reckon the sawdust over straw?
Shell flakes and stones to suppliment the feed?
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Post by Joey on Mar 6, 2024 17:36:02 GMT 10
Nothing I can find in my local town laws regarding chickens or poultry. Our friends who own the house had a coop before we moved in in the same spot I want to build it. What do you guys reckon is a good number of chickens for 4 of us in regards to eggs? I was thinking maybe 4 chooks should do the job. I was thinking maybe the Australorp breed would be the hardiest variety for up my way.
Is it worth letting them roam the whole backyard to eat a few of the bugs on my veggies gardens every couple of arvos? or just keep them confined to the coop? I'll build a dual-level setup with a bit of a run area in front of it which will have a similar footprint in Size as the actual coop similar to the one in the video above.
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Post by Joey on Mar 3, 2024 21:04:39 GMT 10
My ideas for improving the design: Use the coles trollies that have the partition section at the front to divide up your load Weld a mesh tray to the underframe so you can load gear down there as well Weld on a flat bar between the rear wheels so you can stand on it and skate along Maybe a couple of brackets with wingnuts or something so you can secure the rear panel closed to still give you the option of being able to open it up to carry larger items, otherwise, weld it shut. If you want to make a deluxe model, you could rig up some sort of sun shade to give you a little coverage while pushing it
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Post by Joey on Mar 3, 2024 18:35:02 GMT 10
We are ramping up our home food sources, mostly to help cut down on the uber expensive shopping trips to coles each week, so the missus has finally agreed that we will get a few chickens.
We don't have the space to allow for a chicken tractor, so a fixed coop will be the project.
Does anyone have suggestions for designs and or building materials suitable for something long term? It'll be in the back corner of the yard that has a 3ft raised garden bed along the fence that can act as a sort of support base for the back of the coop and set the level for the raised nesting boxes allowing for a 2 level design. We are thinking of maybe 3-4 hens so we are not overrun with eggs that we can't keep up with eating lol
Also what would be a suitable breed of chicken that is tolerant to hot summers and slightly cooler winters that produce tasty eggs?
Most of the DIY designs I've found on the internet are US based and I'm too lazy to sit down and convert imperial measurements to metric and most are also chicken mansions. Bunnings has a decent looking one on their website in the DIY section, but it is a fairly involved build.
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Post by Joey on Feb 29, 2024 18:56:47 GMT 10
My money is on China
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Post by Joey on Feb 25, 2024 20:55:04 GMT 10
Just waiting on SA Hunter to figure out how to create a new user group For some reason I can't get this to work - the new thread is there, but I'm having trouble making it a closed group. I'll try proboards. Prom what I dug into it, you need to create a new user group like we have for admins or donating members etc which can only be created by the head admin and not at our admin level
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Post by Joey on Feb 24, 2024 20:58:25 GMT 10
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Post by Joey on Feb 24, 2024 19:38:36 GMT 10
Maybe we should start a net, a closed board open to those with confirmed valid call signs only. Scotty HURRY ! Beam me ud?d#((*...&NO CARRIER. Just waiting on SA Hunter to figure out how to create a new user group
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Post by Joey on Feb 24, 2024 10:15:16 GMT 10
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Post by Joey on Feb 24, 2024 7:18:50 GMT 10
NSW to make you need a planning approval to keep a caravan on your property for more than 6mths
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Post by Joey on Feb 24, 2024 7:18:12 GMT 10
With the US commercial properties at an all-time vacancy rate because no businesses can afford to rent office space anymore for those that are still open when "working remotely" is the way to cut costs for office-based businesses these days. I heard the other day that there was a Westfield shopping centre in one of the democrat cities that is now refusing to pay its loans back because all the big ticket brand shops packed up and left the shopping centre.
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Post by Joey on Feb 23, 2024 18:48:51 GMT 10
Yayyy I got my 7300 radio, now to play around with it and figure things out
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