Driving 300 Miles for NEW Homestead Builds + Gifting One to Grandma

We are up dark and early on our way all the way to Kentucky to pick up the Chickshaw, the Chickshaw Mini-Me, and the raised beds. My chauffeur and filmmaker Austin. How you feeling this morning? Feeling good. He's a young hard-working guy. You've probably been up all night anyway. Yeah. 5:30 AM start, no big deal for you.

Nope, not at all. Hold your breath.

What'd you wish for? Is that a thing? I wish for a million dollars. That building is literally right in the middle of the street. There's no yard on either side of the building. It's a cool little town. We're almost there, 13 minutes. Look at this, Kentucky. Definitely one of the most underrated homestead states. Look at this, rolling hills, grass everywhere, nice and rural. I mean, look at that, look at that grazing land. Yeah, we are pulling in now. Look at them, look at them out on display. Chris, my partner in this, co-author, is the engineer, the carpenter expertise. Chris, you've done a really good job on these. And look, you have them out on display, brand new. I feel like I'm at a homestead store, homestead show. Like, look at this. Did you really? I did. Yeah, he washed them down. People are familiar with my— with— this is the Chickshaw Mini-Me. Look, I'm going to show where Chris where you've come in clutch because you're an expert carpenter. That's like what you do for a living, isn't it? And then I've been calling you an engineer. Is that fair too? I'm an engineer. There you go. He's an engineer coming up with the plans, reinforced things like this brace here. I had the concept for shaws but no carpentry experience. My first one was awful. I mean, you'd probably just laugh. Oh, but you have Overall, it's kind of staying the same, but then you get neat little features like that brace. The Chickshaw 5.0. 5.0 because we're skipping the 4.0 and went right to the 5 because this is 5 foot by 5 foot. He's like, if we make this 6 foot by 6 foot and you, and you put 60 birds in, which you can do, it's too heavy on these.

Yeah, we simulated the weight of all the birds.

See, that's the engineering part, right?

And ran it around. We have some pretty rough terrain on this farm, so we put it through its paces and, uh, the bent. They actually broke under load.

I'm wondering now, could we have done a dually?

I think you're going to need to go back to your original design and have additional wooden support on the outside of the axle.

Okay.

Because you're also limited by the strength of that threaded bolt.

So that wasn't the worst idea in the world, the wooden frame on the outside.

Okay.

Show us how this works. I'm excited about this.

Really excited about this.

My Chickshaw 3.0, this is always on there, but you incorporated and said, hey, let's make it removable.

Sticking a pin right through, pick it up, hook it up to your UTV. Look at that. Drive off with it when you don't need it. It's not extra weight.

Wow. Pull this pin out and you could— you could leave it on there if you're gonna always pull it. You could, but you could also just store it when you're not. Yeah, for the most part I don't use that, only on big hauls. So I would maybe store that.

Store it or throw it on your mini-me.

My original design, we had these handles closer in, but I thought, why don't the handles just be further out? Actually, Chris, 2 or 3 people can pull this too, like if you're like me and farming with a family. The Chickshaw is now rated— what'd we say, 40 birds?

36.

36. So 3 dozen. We go by dozens when you're counting chickens. Joel Salatin would say 10 birds per nest box. So maybe in the spring, if, if people get laying really crazy, you could put another nest box down in there in the floor or something. That'd be the only caveat to a smaller coop. But when he said it won't hold 60 birds, I said— what'd I say? Well, how much weight can those wheels hold and let's make the size accordingly. So that's why it became a 5x5, because why have— we're all about efficiency and minimalism. Don't you see those like crazy chicken coops that are just so big? We got a 2-foot box here, it's just fine.

Come around back, Justin. Yeah, this is another, uh, thing I know you wanted me to work on. We went ahead and upgraded. Yes, this is full 3/4-inch cedar stair struts here. Can walk up and it's prettier. You get this rough sawn cedar.

Well, here's one thing that we added that had you add. We actually have the axle going through through the wood now. A little more sturdy, wouldn't you say?

Something you wanted me to address was these nuts coming undone.

Yeah.

So what we did, we experimented with some different locking— thread locking compounds. Yeah, actually we're putting a Loctite on the inner nuts and cinching them tight.

Yes.

And then we use what's called a nylock, nylon locking nut on the outside. Yeah, harder to put on, but it will never roll off.

This— oh my word, this is where we've leveled up with some of your ideas.

Justin kind of gave me free range on this one. He said, I think it was your wife who wanted a pergola. You asked me about sides. I said, sure, I'll build you some sides.

These sides would certainly keep a dog out. I don't know if they'd keep a cat out.

Experimented with a bunch of different ways of latching and kind of resorted to simpler is better. We just use little barrel bolts.

Nice.

Drill a hole into the side. For the bottom, two peg holes.

What?

Locating holes.

And just screws.

Another thing you can do—

oh, there you go, now you might— you're getting closer.

Let's say you have a couple cats and you have a couple sets of these. Makeshift trellis. Do these all the way around and keep your kids out, other animals, maybe your cat.

I like this too. This is— this I didn't even know about. You've added a hook here. If somebody only had 4 by 8 foot space, they're particularly going to want to do this. I like that you have— you have hooks here to hang this cattle panel for optional trellis. Exactly.

There's multiple configurations. You can even string this up, hang it at an angle. Yeah, and swing it to the outside.

You've got what, 5 sets of hooks? The outside too, couldn't you? Yep.

You can put it in the middle.

You could do multiple ones.

Yep, you can do 2 or 3 in the middle. I'm a big fan of trellising my indeterminate tomatoes. This tomato twine, so easy.

And then this is just on here with a rebar post cross so it can be removable. Pick that up at Lowe's. You've taken my original raised bed and, and taken it to the next level with options. Now it's going to be interesting getting all this in the truck and trailer, but that's a worry for another—

got an idea—

for a few hours. All right, let's get in here and let's do this carpentry video. We're getting a carpentry class now. Chris is killing it. We've already just begun. B-roll camera, Austin's main camera here. I'm learning some stuff. You learning some stuff, Austin? Oh yeah, I'm learning that those are legacy bits right there. $190 bits, worth it, worth the investment versus these cheap $30 bits.

Various screws will vary in diameter, so what I try to do is match— puts less stress on the fibers of the wood and ultimately creates a longer lasting joint.

Weird for you, Chris, to look at a camera with nobody behind it in that moment? Yeah, you know, you're nailing it, buddy. For somebody who's not around a camera much, you're, you're nailing it. Oh my word, 140, Chris. You're just— this is a master class. Whether people are, uh, I think experienced or not experienced, they're going to benefit from this, and it's going to apply to all kinds of things, not necessarily specific to the— sure, you're going to learn how to cut a rail, but that would be good to know because now you know how to cut metal.

Absolutely. And for those of you guys who've never had any experience in your lives with power tools and everything Yeah, between the Lego-like simplicity of this book layout that we're doing and then all these step-by-steps, like, we really think you're going to be armed with the knowledge. Yeah, rock and roll on these things.

That's our goal. That's why we're being so intensive on every step being so easy, because a lot of us— I mean, when I started, I had no carpentry experience, and a lot of everybody watching, zero. Well, even for the master, it's just going to make things quicker. They're going to have all the lists to go and buy. They're gonna have the cut list, this and that, so it's even gonna help the master. That's gonna be great.

We're excited for you guys to get these in your hands.

Let's eat. We have to do a quick lunch. We were supposed to be done with this an hour and 10 minutes ago, Chris.

There's too much information.

We ain't even done. What'd you cook us, my man?

Pork, apples, 3 different types of apples, and sweet potatoes.

3 different types of apples.

Everything except the apples is locally grown, either here or on a neighbor's farm.

I wish we had smell-o-vision right now. I know, right? Don't you, Austin? Does that smell good or what? Smells delicious. You hungry or what? I hope we made a couple more pots of that, cuz it's going to be tender. Oh gosh, it's been cooking for I don't even know how long.

You think that's tender?

It's very tender. You're just touching it with the fork. It was a good meal. We're going to have to hit and run. 2:20 here, it's 3:20 at home, and it's a 5-hour drive. Look how easy that is to move. All right, final shot.

Woo!

3:20. It's 4:20 at home. It's 9:20. We're gonna be— because we got up super early, 4:30. We still got to put these units in the truck and trailer. Chris says he has some ideas.

It's all theoretical, should work. We're gonna take that guy.

Yep, 5.0, and we're gonna stick it inside of this guy. Okay, in theory, I'll back up to it.

We're gonna get the excavator out and strap it.

Heck, that's even better.

And we're gonna lift it up.

Excavator. Okay, a little more this way. Austin goes right for it. Somebody's got to hold the camera. The tripod hold it. He caught me. That's the Mini-Me. 5.0 won't quite do that. The only difference between the Mini-Me and the 5.0 is one foot. It's one foot wider and longer. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot. It's actually this much more. Floor space, 12, 4 cubic feet. Yep. Look how light this is.

Dang.

Hey, we're gonna be a sight going down the highway. We are. Too bad we don't have a drone. Too bad that we don't have one of those fast— too bad we don't have one of those fast— what are they called? FPV drone. FPV drones that could follow us 60 miles an hour down the highway. It'd be really cool. Too bad we, we have it at the Farmhouse the Holler. And it'll be dark by the time we get home. He's editor. He's probably gonna cut this part. Because I do the second edit, I'm gonna sneak it back in. Too bad we don't have a drone. Then I go back in and post it. Oh, that's right. You go back in and post it.

We're gonna have to take this off. We can take this open end, snake it in, and then set it down.

We are at site.

I wonder what people are going to think. I would have never guessed we could have put that in there. Is this a certain method? Is this how you use it? You could. Chickens, uh, deep bedding underneath, catching their manure. Optional, put the 5.0 on the raised bed. Okay, my confidence level just went through the roof because Chris has been driving since he was 4. We're in good hands. My confidence is going back and forth in this. Now, this being the strangest thing he's ever picked up, I'm not surprised. Where's your pallet forks, Chris? Good question. On another job.

Be a lot easier, wouldn't it?

Okay, that is a sight. If you see us coming down the road, honk for sure. Who else with a raised bed and two Chick Shaws? You think of anybody else? Some other crazy chicken lady. That's a new one for my crazy chicken lady contest. Have you— if you've ever rode down the road with 2 coops and a raised bed, you might be a crazy chicken lady. All right, Austin, can we time travel? I don't know, let's try it. We did not imagine it was gonna take this long. No way. It's 5:20 our time, 10:20. We're freaking out because we got a big shoot tomorrow, 2 days in a row. Yeah, it's gonna be a long weekend. Look at his daily grazing. He's got about 30 head of cow, fat and happy. How's it holding up? Still good so far. Oh, this is the best I got for a drone, guys. Sorry, man. That would have been epic through these cornfields. So we're gonna let Austin live it down. I'm having to hang out the window here. I'm gonna throw you guys up. Pit stop, and the Mini-Me has already come loose. This is definitely the coolest thing I've ever had in the back of this truck. This might be a once-in-a-lifetime cool haul.

It's been 3 hours.

In the, the builds are holding up nicely. You getting tired yet? No, I'm doing pretty good. Your Monster, your Monster cold? I don't know if we should plug that. Yeah, we don't want to show that to everybody. Hide that next to my water. I guess that's why you're driving. I'm not drinking the Monster coffee. You'll be able to go sleep tonight? Oh yeah, I'll be fine. Hey, pick this thing up with the track loader. Chris would have done this with his track loader had he had it, so I'm gonna bet that the track loader is the best choice. The plan is to lift this whole thing out and then get the Chickshaw out of there. Film guy turned farm sitter. Gonna have to learn how to drive this in case we get a delivery, or if you get bored and just grade. There's never-ending grading jobs around the farm. Press the park button. Nice way to learn is to teach. Oh, this is a real video game right here.

You ever drove one of these? No.

Push that to the side. Andrew makes this look easy. So does you. Yeah, a little bit of damage to the 4x4. Plan is to get it back in the trailer to haul it up there. Can Sama pull this up that crazy hill? Yeah, put in low. We are about to surprise Grandma with a brand new raised bed pergola edition. You guys can build this yourself. This is now an option. I mean, you could do just the raised bed, our classic. Guys, you can build this yourself. This is DIY now, and we are finally coming up with legit plans. And our Kickstarter for our next book, which is plans on how to build these things, it's out now, and you want to get on it now before it ends on the 30th. But I want you guys to be able to build these yourselves, and you're going to have step-by-step plans. And all the Kickstarter backers are going to get these plans as we finish them. The chicken tractor will be ready, the chickshaw will be ready by the time the Kickstarter is done and we deliver assets. Let's go surprise Grandma. I'll leave the link for that Kickstarter in the description, or you could go to homesteadbuilds.com and we'll have a link there to it. Austin, which of these builds are you going to build? I'm building the, uh, chickshaw. The chickshaw 5.0 or the chickshaw mini-me? How many chickens are you gonna run? Right now we got about 35.0, bro.

5.0, 36.

It's for Grandma.

Yeah, I think she said, why are you giving me that? I said because, because we don't need this. We thought about you so much. We built it just for you.

Mom, you want to put it back here or you want to put it down there?

Right here would be good because there's your south. Okay, come on, come on in. Slow, nice and easy. You're too— hey, hey, slow down! We need to be over more, so back it down slow. I wish you guys could see him. Actually, you did it pretty good. She thinks it's perfect. Let's get it. Can you grab that rebar? Let's show her. Just try to go that way again.

No, Justin will do it.

I know, right?

Let's just hang yours, then you can put your tomatoes and do your twine, and so you can move it wherever you want. Oh wow, should we put some wood in it? Yeah, we could grab some wood right there.

Yeah, I think Leah's stronger than I am.

I lift weights. I lift weights. Leah lifts weights.

Grandma, if you need to keep You're like the— you don't know how much rodents out. You can put these in. Okay, they just adjust.

Perfect.

I guess I'm putting it in backwards.

And then we have these two.

So you got a tunnel now, insect net over it.

You could do insect net or Agribon.

We were gonna bury some wood in there, but this may work. That log's too big.

Yeah.

Oh, here he comes. That's perfect, that'll work.

Okay, good.

Even go here more. Hey, uh-oh, hey, she done got enough going for her with that broken arm. You gonna break her leg too? Got big daddy on it. You better, better believe it's gonna be level on all sides. Yeah, there you go, that's good. Look at that. Here, that's okay for the bottom. Here's a pile, everybody grab some, we'll fill it up. You can fill a third of this thing up with wood. Hugiculture effect helps fill this thing up pretty fast. Third of it in wood, and now we're gonna put— we have some silt, so we're gonna do that, and then we're gonna put compost on top. If you don't have silt, you can just buy straight up garden soil. Not compost, garden soil. Sure, first top 4 inches maybe compost, but it's best if you just get garden soil. Wow, wimping out on us. Well, with your load, we don't even have to go up there. Austin, somebody's got to hold the camera.

You're funny.

Somebody's got to direct the cameraman. Wow, that is a lot. Maybe one, maybe two more rocks in there are fine.

Yes, so they'll just bring minerals into the soil.

They also bring mass and it will never shrink. I'm gonna say one more of this, one more, and then at least one more of compost. Look at that fly trap. I almost got 3 inches of dead flies in there. We should put that on the, uh, milk sled. Yes. Yeah, look at these chickens. Look at this chicken back. Free the birds! Yeah, those cleats are nice, right, for getting out. I'm a pig. Okay, it's a foggy one this morning. Get in, let's do the old switcheroo. Let's get the chicks up in the front yard. We need to get the big ladies out on pasture with everybody else in the brand new Chickshaw 5.0. You ready? Wait, honey, let me, let me spot you. Look, we already got somebody jumping out. Wow. Yeah, you kind of heard them over here, bro. Vinnie wanted to carry the goose. That's okay, it won't be cramped in that tiny cage. Before we let them out, we gotta real quick take some detail shots of these shawls. This will be more like the features we would want to capture, that this is no longer a plywood door, this is a heavy-duty board door with really nice cleats. After we get the details, we'll put the big hens in here. We got to move them out pasture posse. We can drive that out into the field. Yeah, and get some shots. And it'll be cool to see some chickens in there too, I think. Once the sun hits this fog, it's gonna look amazing. Okay, you want to grab the small one there? I'll grab the big one. But we're gonna go ahead and take them empty out into the field. Epic shots. We're taking shots for the book. Kickstarter coming— and by the end of the Kickstarter, we gotta get these photos. Gonna get his detail shots. The mini me, the chicks. Can only stay in that chicken tractor so long. There's 27 of them. You can hold 4 adult hens full-time, 12 as overnight. Show you all the foggy morning. Don't blame him for choosing the shield. What do you think, pretty nice? Yeah. And they're all new, never been used. We're putting the little chicks up in the front yard nice and secure, and we're gonna put the big hens out in the pasture posse with everybody else. Even a little girl can move that thing. I was telling Ben, get a picture of this, just this, this brace. I mean, it seems so simple, but Chris added that addition, and he is a graduate of engineering school and a carpenter by trade. Just that little bit represents the level of perfection these have gotten to. The main concept is the same even from the original idea and development I had and been perfecting it myself over the years. And then Chris, just the icing on top. What cake did you bake, chocolate or vanilla? Oh, how about with Chris it's a mixture of both? Oh, how about it's a chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing? It's gonna be the first chickens to grace the Chickshaw 5.0. We're gonna get them from the Pretty Shaw 5.0. Billy, you want to back Selma up? We got a long way to go. We've attached our removable hitch. It'll be a cinch to drag her out there. It won't hold 60 birds, too heavy with the frame and the birds. Well, what's the maximum purpose Perfect select maximum chickens, perfect size, end up being without excess. You don't need such a big coop if you can't even put 60 birds in there. With the Chickshaw 3.0, I rigged up a way to hitch. Chris came along and said, how about we make a removable one? Old plywood door, new more sturdy door. Instead of attaching the axle to the bottom of the frame, which is a little on the janky side. We've run the axle through the frame.

Might as well clip their wings while we're at it.

Okay, let me show you though one more thing. Lily, is Tube Man plugged in? Tube Man, the new scarecrow. Starting them off in the house to orient them.

A little bit of feed here to orient them, water there to orient them.

We wanted to come back in there tonight. Uh-oh, Tube Man's gotten a little wet. He's a little sticky. Play with it, Tube Man. Come on, you can do it. Oh, he keeps flopping and hitting the grass and getting wet, but he still spooks the crows away. Big hug, big hug for that. Thank you, Tube Man. Thank you.