We have been doing chicken butchering with our friends for a few years now. While we don’t have any magic formula, I want to share what we do to make it easier.
Homesteading
Farm, garden, livestock and agriculture topics
Making a DIY chicken feeder that is low waste from a five-gallon bucket and pvc pipe takes five minutes and saves you so many poultry related headaches. We tried many different store bought and home made versions over the years but this one is a clear winner. There are plenty of five gallon bucket feeders …
Keeping chickens in Upstate NY in the winter is a struggle. Having a DIY heated chicken waterer makes it much easier.
When we started our garden adventure we knew we needed to make raised beds. After one or two versions, this is how we made our favorite version of a diy raised garden bed out of cedar. The soil everywhere on our property for hundreds of feet down is clay. Just planting in the ground is …
A woven wire fence is only as good as its ability to stand and that means learning to brace a fence corner. When I first put in the sheep pasture fence, I cemeted in my three posts for each H-brace and called it a day. Yeah, that’s wrong. Even though this isn’t a high tension …
Way back when we were first talking about getting sheep we had only a rough idea what what we needed it tooks quite a few revisions to land on a small barn layout. Not everyone will have access to all the software tools I used, so I wanted to share not only where we end …
While we have a wonderful sheep barn we knew that in order to move the sheep around different parts of the pasture or even the yard we were also going to need a mobile sheep shelter. The sheep really appreciate the relief from the sun on the hottest days and it doesn’t hurt to be able to get out of the rain as well.
When we first talked about sheep I had only a vague idea how to build a woven wire fence. I knew the basics clearly of stapling fencing to posts but honestly didn’t understand the difference between welded wire and woven wire or a hundred other things. My boys and I learned a lot through this …
Our shed was muddy indoor sheep pond about halfway through building it. We desperately needed shed drainage, so I stopped building and shifted gears. We have clay. And not just a mix of clay but over 500′ feet straight down there is nothing but miserable blue clay. It means that there is almost 0 natural …
Using cheap sash barn windows is a great inexpensive option for barns or sheds. There are a couple things to think through, or in my case overthink.