Building a Chicken Playpen

Since the weather is getting nicer and the temperatures are warming up, it's time to start getting my newest chicks outside for a few daylight hours each day.  They need to start getting the hang of sunlight and the fluctuating temperatures in order to be ready for when the big day comes that they'll be outside permanently.

So in honor of spring arriving tomorrow, Tim and I spent a few hours this weekend making a chicken playpen.  It's a portable fencing unit that's lightweight enough for two people to move from one spot to another.  Not only will it be useful in getting the chicks out in the fresh air, but I'll also use it to direct my older chickens in their natural garden tilling duties without me having to be right there watching them the entire time.

Since other people might like to know more about this project, I took a few pictures for you.

First off, here is the list of supplies:

10 -- 2X2s, 8' long
1 -- roll of plastic poultry netting, 36" wide, 25' long
8 -- 2" inches
2 -- 2" hook & eye closures

All of this was under $60, and we only used a staple gun, hammer, and nails to put it all together.  This is also one of those project that can be expanded to as big as you want just by adding another panel.

First, we used five of the 2X2s to make ten 4' boards.  Then the other five boards were cut to make ten 3' boards.  Once nailed together, this gave us five panels at 3' wide and 4' tall.

Next up, we added the plastic poultry netting to one side of each frame using the staple gun.

After that, we put all the panels together on the long sides with two hinges each.  And then the last panel will receive the two hook and eye closures.

Lastly, we stood it up and had a pentagon-shaped portable chicken play pen.  Yay!  It's tall enough that the outside cats can't get in, and big enough to give the chickens an area to run, play, and scratch in the sunshine. 

Later today, I'll be putting the same netting over the top that I used last year on the chicken coop's run to keep any hawks from swooping down and swiping my babies when I'm not looking.

The seeds have arrived. It's garden time!

This year I'm going with organic and heirloom vegetables for our family garden.  I'm hoping for a healthier and more bountiful crop, but we'll have to just wait and see on that.

My mother suggested a company that she orders from yearly called Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and a high school friend suggested Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  So I checked them out and ordered.  I placed a hefty order with SESE, but they had run out of pinto beans.  That's when I popped over to Baker Creek and ordered from them.

In just a few days I had received my beans from Baker Creek, and yesterday (a few more days later) my order from SESE arrived.  Woohoo!  Everything arrived safe and sound.

Now, if only my garden area was ready for planting. Eek!  It's okay though since there are still a few weeks left before it's planting time here in North Georgia.  That gives me more time to put the chickens back to work and then pull out the heavy-duty garden tiller.  Then it's on!

Come on Mother Nature!  Be kind to this country girl.  I would truly appreciate your assistance in growing enough vegetables for us to enjoy fresh out of the garden AND can/freeze for the future.  *Fingers Crossed*

Pictured above are my seeds of:

Bolita Beans  --  From Baker Creek
Green Beans
Beets
Carrots
Sweet Corn
Bell Peppers
Banana Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers  -- we're going to try our hand at salsa making
Glacier Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Pickling Cucumbers
2 types of Lettuce
Onions

All of these are veggies that I know will get eaten.  I may also get some sunflower seeds, but haven't decided on that yet.  Oh, and I'll be getting some potato clippings.

Above all this, I typed up all the details of the seeds from the companies, including growing times and company item numbers so I can keep up with what grows well for us and what may not.  This will make it easier to reference back to next year.  I'll be keeping growing notes and actual sprouting times.  Maybe, just maybe, all of this will help ensure some good crops.  :)

Natural Garden Tillers

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in North Georgia. We had sunshine, a light breeze, and temperatures up in the 60's. It was exquisite!  I took this opportunity to spend some time out in all the natural glory.

Since we still have some work to do in order to clear off our new garden location I had the girls outside with me to move wood from the trees Tim cut for me.  We had moved about 6 wheelbarrow loads of firewood when I decided to take a break. We brought out chairs and loosed the natural garden tillers...

Chickens!

Our girls have their coop with a permanent run, but they have pretty much cleared out their run over the last year, so we extricated them and relocated the ladies to the garden area.  Since we have cats running about and didn't want the hens to roam away from home, as well as no fencing around the garden, we sat out in the sunshine and supervised the small workforce.

They scratched and dug for an hour, coming up with bugs, worms, weeds, and even one nasty large grub. (YUCK!)  All gobbled down with gusto.  In the meantime, the dirt was being loosened, leaves and twigs kicked to the side, and some very happy chickens had a new area to explore.  Oh, and let's not forget the deposits of garden-friendly fertilizer, a.k.a. chicken poop!

I'll bring them out a few more times before it's time to plant the garden, but really don't think my three girls can completely clear the large garden before planting season.  I'm thinking of installing a temporary plastic fencing so I won't have to watch them so closely, possibly allowing them to "till" longer during the day.

Now next year will be an entirely different story.  We'll have a workforce of nine hens (fingers crossed) and no trees to clear ahead of time.  Woohoo!

My Rhode Island Reds

This time last year Tim & I dove head first into raising chickens.  We had been talking about it for years, but never did it.  One day we were in Tractor Supply picking up a 50lb bag of dogfood when the girls noticed all the adorable, fluffy chickens peeping away in the middle of the store.  Tim looked at me, I back at him.  I gave a shrug; he asked, "Well?"

We left the store with 6 yellow, chirping Rhode Island Reds, chick feed, a starter kit, and three uber excited girls.

We were chick owners for approximately 1 hour before we made a terrible mistake and left the chicks alone for 5 minutes.  That's when one of our outside cats decided they would make a tasty treat.  Oops!  *blush*  I went the very next day and picked up 6 more chicks.

A few days after bringing home the second 6 chicks, I found one croaked over in their water.  I removed it from the brooder and placed it in a box to be disposed of after the children came home.  Tim happened to be home from work that day and texted me later while I was at school pick-up.  The chick was alive!  He heard it cheeping in the box, all alone.  I had him give it feed and water, but to keep it away from the others.

It lived for another 12 hours before it really was croaked over the next morning.  Weird!

At this point we were down to 5 chicks.  Several weeks passed, we built a coop and run, and finally they were big enough (and the weather warm enough) to move into their new home.  Hooray!  And then it happened. . .

One morning I came out and we were missing a chicken.  We found some feathers and possibly blood, so we figured a creature of the night had taken it.  Three nights later it happened again.  :(  That's when we decided to lock them in the coop at night instead of allowing them to roam free.  After that it was all good.

The three hens left started laying, and we've all been happy ever since!

It took a lot of trial and error, but I believe we have finally figured out this chicken stuff.  So much so that we picked up 6 Barred Plymouth Rock chicks just over a week ago.  So far no water croakers.  *Fingers Crossed*

The land I'm working with.

A little about my land to better understand our homesteading attempts.

I live in north Georgia, at the base of Fort Mountain.  We live outside the city limits, though in a neighborhood.  Luckily, neighbors aren't as close here as they are in the local subdivisions where people only get small lots of land around their houses.  I have several acres of mostly wooded land to work with here.

When we first built our house almost 16 years ago, we were young (only 19 at the time) and our only concern was having a home of our own to raise our unborn daughter.  We weren't considering that our future would consist of a desire to raise farm animals and grow vegetable gardens. However, it all worked out in the end.

Our house sits on 2 acres of land, with another 4 acres of family land connected.  That's 6 acres to grow and raise anything we want.  It may not be as big as some people have, but it seems to be suiting our needs quite well.  :)

We have a wood-burning fireplace in the house and feed it regularly through the winter with wood from our land.  Trees need to come down to make room for gardens, the chicken coop, childrens' playsets, and just the routine cleaning up of land.  It has been 16 years and we're still not out of trees.

The ground consists of a layer of beautiful black topsoil, full of organic material, and then the awful layer of slate rock beneath.  Close to the house it's hard to plant things due to the removal of topsoil when they built the house.  Further away from the house, where the bulldozers never went, the land is fertile.  It has taken us  few years of trial and error, but I think we finally found the perfect gardening spot.  I can't wait to see what comes from it this year!

*Pictured above: My oldest daughter lounging in the backyard hammock last summer.*

Welcome to Crazy Homesteading

Welcome to my new blog, My Crazy Journey to Homesteading.  If you read the "About Me" page you already know why I created this blog.  If you haven't read it, now's a good time to do so.  :)

I will be using this blog to document and discuss things like raising chickens, what to do with all those fresh eggs, gardening, hopefully canning fresh vegetables from my garden in the fall, and many other topics revolving around my humble homesteading attempts.

Feel free to comment, converse, tell me about your homesteading actions, or just read and wonder where my sanity went.  I won't mind.  Considering I'm a writer of vampire stories in Small Town, Georgia, it wouldn't be the first time I've been looked at fun.  ;)

At some point, when this blog gets off the ground more, I'll open up for small advertising banner spots.  However, that won't be for a while yet.