Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Just wanted to say that my coop is working great, I have my two d'uccle hens in it. No predator issues, cause its solid! I wrapped it in plastic on 3 sides to block the wind and snow and the girls are enjoying walking around below.

Good to hear the ladies are happy!

Sounds like it works as awesome as it looks! Wait, d'Uccles? I thought you were getting Cochins? Love the coop, you should make some and sell them!

windwalkingwolf wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:29 pm

Sounds like it works as awesome as it looks! Wait, d'Uccles? I thought you were getting Cochins? Love the coop, you should make some and sell them!

I purchased two d'uccle chicks and they live in it by themselves. Two eggs a day now and they seem very happy. I put the standard cochin in my big coop and added three more hens to the mix.

Farrier1987 wrote: ↑

Sat May 11, 2019 11:39 am

Tell us about your goats.

An acre of bush was chainsawed out, I dug out a foundation for a 130 sq ft shed and planted posts to fence that acre with 48 inch woven wire goat fence including a scare wire at the top to make 5 feet of height. The shed went up yesterday and I have to tension the fence this week and finish that shed soon after. Goats are due here in June from a breeder north of Belleville. We bought 4 registered Dwarf Nigerians for making soap, cheese and some dairy for us. Our breeding efforts will start later this year and fingers crossed they are more successful than our chicken incubation attempts have been!

Reboot wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2019 9:31 am

Farrier1987 wrote: ↑

Sat May 11, 2019 11:39 am

Tell us about your goats.

An acre of bush was chainsawed out, I dug out a foundation for a 130 sq ft shed and planted posts to fence that acre with 48 inch woven wire goat fence including a scare wire at the top to make 5 feet of height. The shed went up yesterday and I have to tension the fence this week and finish that shed soon after. Goats are due here in June from a breeder north of Belleville. We bought 4 registered Dwarf Nigerians for making soap, cheese and some dairy for us. Our breeding efforts will start later this year and fingers crossed they are more successful than our chicken incubation attempts have been!

Looks like a very nice set up, you must realize that you are in a minority, actually being ready BEFORE the animals arrive.
The normal procedure is.... you purchase X that you absolutely need to have right now, coz an opportunity like this only happens once in a millennium, and for sure you can find room for X when you get home, and after you land with your new acquisition, the animal version of musical chairs begins
We will need many pictures when the "babies" arrive

Maybe it was my time in Boy Scouts as a kid but preparation is a habit thats definitely been drilled into my brain after a career in disaster management. "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail" I heard many times over the years. Also I'm a reader and I like to research what I want to do if I don't know how to do it. In particular when the project is technical or it will cost a lot of money as this homestead definitely does. In the research I read of and even talked to people who when homesteading "just went and did it" only to have animals die from nutritional issues, disease, predation or the bylaw guy who shows up out of the blue and shuts them down for not complying with zoning. That last one is totally avoidable and would be crushing to have happen specially when the animals are already here and the work was done. The chicken coop I slid under the radar as it wouldn't draw a lot of attention but goats are a different story. Keeping goats is not for the faint of heart. The goat shed was a royal pain as I had to comply with bylaws in order to get our building permit and it cost us extra but this property will now be an official hobby farm with a real barn and a real fence and can be sold as such if and when the time came without fear of failing to conform to zoning. When we do sell and the lawyers start digging after an accepted offer to purchase on this place is signed and a lawyer finds non compliance to zoning there goes the original agreed price and it is usually a change to a lesser amount or the buyer walks away all together. We are a year or two away from being up and running as a functional homestead yet but at least I can move forward without looking over my back! I think the preparation also helped huge with our breeder. We were new to her as goat buyers yet when she saw our commitment we got the pick of her herd from the other buyers she was having in when the goats were being sold. Goats are not easy to raise, these ones (with decent dairy conformation)) are not that easy to find and I am seeing breeders network among themselves when it comes to the sale of good breeding stalk so our set up I hope will get us into that world easier. People really like our poultry operation and our products so we want to extend the same value added aspect to our homestead with the goat milk as we have seen with the chicken eggs.

An old saying from back in the day when I raised goats & imagine still holds true today . “ A GOAT WILL DIE ON GOOD PASTURE “
That’s why used for brush trimming . Luck