October 2010 Archives

Today marks the end of the the first week in our chicken co-op experiment, and it was a bit rocky for our chickens.

They are a beautiful group of birds; composed of Black Stars, Rhode Island Reds, and Americaunas. Click the image below for a short video clip getting acquainted with their bucket feeder and the water dispenser (diy coming soon).

With the birds in, the co-op members are very motivated to work together and care for the flock. We divvied up the daily chores for weeks and months to come. We're using a shared Google calendar to manage our time, share egg counts, and record daily reports.

We'd been told to expect the birds to enter a state of relocation shock which would stall egg production for a week or two. To our happy surprise, the hens seemed to have settled in fairly quickly and the eggs are trickling in. Here is an image of the first egg, produced sometime on day 2.

The past two weeks have been filled with a combination of advances and set backs. But, at long last, the chickens will have their day in the sun. The group has decided to purchase grown hens from a local farm and they arrive tomorrow.

I'd promised to post updates on this experiment come success or failure. Thus far, we've had a bit of both.
Motivating the group has been the big challenge. In principle everyone is stoked to raise chicks, control the supply of their eggs and enjoy eating the spoils of their labor. In practice, it's that last word, labor, that has been holding the group up.

We've had two members drop off since we concocted the idea, and two other step in to take their places. And it's been a bit like pulling teeth to bring everyone together and get the work done. Truth be told each of us did some share of the work needed to get the coop ready for tomorrow's arrivals, but it was far from equal. I'm hoping time will make up for this early failure of the shared-work principle. The next test will be the feeding and care schedule.

I've devised what appears to be an equitable method for splitting duties and rewards. Each member is required to pay a predetermined number of trips to the coop per month based on the number of chickens that member owns. When the scheduled member visits the coop to clean and feed, they collect the days eggs. More chickens = more visits = more eggs.  If the scheduled person flakes out on their day, someone else will take over the chores and reap the reward of the day's eggs as payment for their time. Feed cost will be shared by each member based on the percentage owned of total hens in the hen house.

Will this theoretically reasonable model for maintenance and care pan out? Only time will tell. I will say this for certain: expect an update later this week while I'm eating my first RECESS omelet.

I used to build this type PVC cannon when I was a kid. Back then I used a tire valve and an electric air compressor to pressurize the chamber and propel the golf ball. These days, my PVC Cannon is adapted for internal combustion (a la potato gun).



You can use just about any aerosol or liquids that out-gas a substantial amount of volatile fumes. I prefer to use starer fluid, whenever it's available.

The combustion chamber has one weak side; a break away diaphragm that opens to the barrel. The thickness of the material used to create the diaphragm controls the strength of the discharge. A  few sheets of aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a scrap of tarp works quite well.

This design was conceived of as as a "golf-ball propaganda cannon." It's not fast enough to serve as a weapon, but the cannon has great range and uses minimum fuel - perfect for short-medium distance communication.

In a RECESS situation, long after the courses have dried up and the sport has withered alongside the ill-considered Kentucky bluegrass, golf balls will serve as my carrier pigeons. If I aim my cannon downhill, the projectiles have the ability to quickly travel what may prove to be an impossible distance on foot. Short messages written on the golf balls can be used to call meetings, warn allies, send for help, elicit paranoia, or to build solidarity.

I'll produce a proper DIY (with parts list) for an upcoming post.

The big salmonella egg scare a few weeks back led me to think it was high time to start exercising a few of my unused rights. To its credit, our city allows its citizens to raise up to 15 chickens per household (with a one rooster limit). This was a bit surprising when I'd first learned about it a few years ago. Lately, it feels like an opportunity I've been letting go.

Albuquerque isn't a podunk town in the sticks, and my property wouldn't pass as agriculturally-relevant in a pair of worn boots and a John Deere cap. We have half a million people living in neighborhoods packed as dense as any modern subdivision. What's more, I have friends living in the the northern Midwest in a town of 5,000 who have had to lobby their town council to allow backyard chickens - and lost! With this in mind, my wife and I considered the pros and cons and decided to give it a shot.

According to thousands of would-be urban farmers (on the internet), we've entered some type of golden age of backyard chicken rearing. Acquiring the means to production of eggs (and a healthy helping of chicken meat) is a fairly attainable goal. In a RECESS situation, these skills may become essential. However, long before we find ourselves in a RECESS situation we might want to consider that this approach to agriculture - or micro-agriculture - might help to right the ship.

The upfront cost and responsibility may be a deterrent. It's certainly easier to grab a dozen eggs at the market than it is to build a coop and start raising chickens- but is it less risky? I'm also inclined to challenge the notion that producing my own eggs has to be more difficult than throwing down my $3.50 per week for a carton of Iowa's finest.

Rather than to go it alone, I've started what equates to a loosely formed co-op of friends at my place of employment. A handful of us are coming together to rehab an old coop on one member's property (walking distance to the office), brood the chicks, and share the work of tending to the flock. Our hope is that we'll get the maximum amount of return with the minimum amount of investment of time/equipment.

It's the poultry equivalent of a community garden. With any luck, we'll each spend 30 min or less per week tending to a flock of chickens large enough to give us all the eggs we'll need. Perhaps most importantly, we're building a community to grow and share resources, reduce our dependence on outside production, and learn essential skills. 

This co-op is an experiment, and I'll post updates as progress or failure ensues. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Merlin the camel helping me stabilize a beam.

If you are interested in starting your own chicken co-op, you are welcome to download and use our chicken co-op agreement form. An editable .DOC version can be found here.

I'll detail equipment, techniques, and costs as the experiment continues. If you're worried about the legal risks in raising backyard chickens, check local chicken law before you get started.

This DIY double barrel shot gun is a variant of the improvised shot gun that I've detailed in previous posts.

The original design is based on a classic (1969) method from the US Dept. of the Army Improvised Munitions Handbook (TM 31-210). This drawing is a simplified adaptation of those plans.




Here are a few variations that didn't make it into the sketch:

1. A reader suggested using springs to replace the rubber bands. I haven't tried it, but that sounds like a mechanical improvement.

2. The firing mechanism works much better if you bend the strap into a "U" shape instead of an "L", anchoring the device on both sides of the stock. The double barrel version requires two "L" shaped straps if you'd like to discharge each barrel independently. A larger  "U" shaped strap/trigger will fire both barrels at once.

3. Another reader suggested that I use pipe clamps or bailing wire to hold the barrels to the stock. Great suggestion - if you have those materials readily available. In a RECESS situation, you may or may not. I chose to go with twine for the simple fact that I am surrounded by plants that could be worked into a crude twine.

*a step-by-step video can be seen here, and you can see this model fire here