I really had plans to work on the wood shed at some later date.  It needs a couple of windows, a front door and  a dormer window installed plus some new siding on the South side.  This is hands down a do last kinda project.  Unfortunately, we purchased a new mower on Saturday.  My normal storage spot (anywhere outside in the weather) will not do for the new machine.  I attempted to get into the wood shed with the mower but you must turn 90 degrees once inside and the mower is too long.

If you look closely into the dark hole you will see the wall that was obstructing my mower.  I added a couple of new 2x4s to stiffen the top and ripped out the wall.

So I spent most of today ripping out the boards that were obstructing our straight in entrance.  Wanting to reuse the boards meant being careful while taking them down and removing all nails (which I put in a bucket so they can be disposed of in the metal recycle pile).  So I built another door.  I found some neat old wood when I was removing it off of the wall, someone had carved in their initials and a little house and various other marks.  I put the initials at eye level on the door so you would see it upon entering the wood shed.  I installed another wooden rail slide locking mechanism.  This one was much easier than the one I did on the outhouse.  I knew what I was doing this time.  I am still concerned that the door may shake in the wind and the vibration will open the slider. I think I am going to hang an old hinge behind the lock so gravity keeps it down and when you want to open the door you just lift one side of the hinge.  The only real problem with this is if someone locks you in it will not be possible to get out.

Almost completed door.  It is hung and the latch cutout is made so the door will stay shut.  I just need to install a stop on the non-hinge side, a door handle and the slide locking hinge.

I of course need to still cleanup.  I carried down a few too many 2x4s from the chicken house (wood storage area) (vs the chicken coop which is near the house).

We had one of the ewes we picked up in November give birth.  I only know this because I saw afterbirth hanging out of her this morning.  I went out but could not find the lamb and of course it frosted.  She is only about 10 months old.  Our other pair of young ewes miscarried their first lambs also.  We are not sure if it is a size thing or because they ate some pine needles and blue spruce needles.  It is a consequence of running the sheep with the ram all year around.  So Annmarie was right and I need to lock the sheep up every night, even if it is only in the barn lot.  This will make a whole lot less ground to cover if there are any baby questions.

I had to throw the baby chicks out into their grassy yard today.  They just did not want to leave the coop, but they are getting too big for that space and are starting to peck bald spots on each other.  At first they just hunkered down and did not move around, but after a couple of hours they started roaming the grass and having a good time.  Of course only two of them could figure out how to get back into the coop.  Which meant I had to catch each one and put them back in the coop for tonight.  It froze this morning, so I don’t want to leave them out yet.

Well it is officially May and I can do another chicken report.  I would like to say it is going to be good, but that is not going to happen.  I purchased the Chicken Butler (automatic door) last month and that threw me even more negative.  Since I have been negative for a while it is going to take me a while to dig out.  At this point I am hoping to be positive by July.  That gives me 2-3 months of good egg production before it drops off again.  Hopefully, I can get enough ahead to cover the feed until the end of the year.  On a plus note, I did not lose any customers by raising my prices.  I didn’t really have any choice in raising the prices, but no one likes to do it.  I have been watching the prices in the grocery store and depending upon where you shop $3/dozen for farm fresh, free range, no antibiotic, colored eggs is a great deal.  Walmart had them at $4/dozen and certified organic are pushing $5/dozen.  Feed prices jumped another 5% last month from the beginning of the month.  It is crazy how fast the price of feed is changing.  The screwy weather in the Midwest may make it even worse this year.  I would have to charge $5/dozen to make any money (other than expenses) and I am unwilling to do that.  I would have to start hitting all the local farmers markets and most likely get certified organic to make it work.  I see eggs on Craigslist going for $2.50-3.00/dozen, with an occasional $2/dozen.  I realize those people are probably not tracking their expenses and most likely do not realize how much they are actually spending on their chickens.  


April report:  I lost $115.16 for the month on an average 27 hens laying (Should not lose any more to predators with the automatic door!  Now if I only had a door for the sheep that would lock them in at night…).  My net income total is $177.47 for the year .  I had $50.21 in expenses for feed (200#) this month (the weather is improving and the chickens are actually getting food when they forage now).  For the year, my monthly expenses are $108.54 (an increase of $42.12/month). We collected a total of 414 usable eggs (110 more than last month) averaging 17.8 eggs/day collected (for the year the average is 13.5 eggs/day).  My productivity for the month was 66% (increased 29% from last month) (for the year it is 50%).  The chickens ate 0.38# food/egg (this is a drop of 118% from last month!!  Say hello to better weather and I included the feed for the baby chickies as a feed expense) (for the year are averaging 0.59# food/egg).   It cost $0.9/egg or $1.08/doz for feed (half of what it cost last month) (my yearly average is $0.13/egg or $1.56/dozen).  My monthly net income is a loss of $44.37/month this year.  I have hope if the chickens can keep up production that I may break even this year.  My babies will start producing in late Fall so that should help.  Unfortunately, the Brahmas sometimes take up to 9 months to start laying instead of the average 6 months for most breeds.  

I was taking pictures last night and happened to catch the sunset.  I took some pictures of the machine shop with the sun shining through the holes in the walls and then some more around one of our 100 year old trees.  I just could not decide which ones I liked best.

Machine shop with setting sun #1

Machine shop with setting sun #2

Machine shop with setting sun #3

Setting sun horizon #1

Setting sun horizon #2

Setting sun horizon #3

It is official, I should not have any more chickens die an untimely death.  I installed the chicken butler today and it is a wondrous device.  I had to build a frame for it to fit.  I didn’t realize how much room my chickens really had to sneak outside.  I had made a 12 inch by 12 inch hole for them.  So I had to shrink it to 8 inches wide and add something to screw the butler into other than some flimsy paneling.  It really only took me about an hour to make the modifications and attach the chicken butler.  It goes up and down very slowly and works like a charm.  We installed the light sensor and it was amazing, all the chickens were in the coop and the door shut all by itself.  It was still light enough to move around outside but dark enough that the chickens had all gone inside already.  No more night time predators sneaking in to kill my chickens (especially because I forgot to shut the door).

Chicken Butler installed.  You can see the two new boards I added to the inside of the coop to make the opening narrower.  If you follow the door frame straight up four full boards above the top of the door there is a tiny light sensor hanging outside of the wall just to the right of the nail line.

Inside the coop I had to install a new low perch support.  It used to rest on top of the chicken door opening but is not possible with the butler installed.  So I fixed that at the same time.  We used some wire ties to bundle all the loose wires up and secure them from flapping chickens.  On a side note, I would recommend doing this around noon.  I had some early sleepers hanging out in the coop and two of them shat on my coat!  Luckily, I was wearing a hat.  My new support for the lower perch is nice and sturdy.  I figure even my new nine pound chickens will still be able to get out using an 8×12 inch opening.

I also managed to finish the outhouse/garbage can holder.  I had to install a foot locking mechanism to hold the door open and I had to chisel out the lock hole.  The tolerance was too close and all the rain caused the wood to swell and the locking mechanism would not work.  I found the door flopping in the wind after the garbage guys got done with it.  So I buried a post in the ground just below the bottom of the door and drilled a hole in the top of the post.  The door is opened, directed above the post and a locking mechanism is engaged by stepping on it, therefore locking the door open.  It works pretty slick.  The moon and star add the last little bit to the building.  It ended up turning out pretty good.  Kinda fancy for a trash can holder but it goes well with the surroundings.

Completed trash can (outhouse) holder.