We added Chicks to the Chickens, and No One Died ;

Happy day! These big birds have got to go to the compost pile. Top of the morning to you too. I saw how well they grazed this underbrush, and we have all this here. We don't really have enough land for the amount of animals we have, so let's hit this. That's nook and cranny farming, y'all. And these chicks have outgrown their brooder. We'll get chickens on this compost pile to help us Break it down. The name of this year, the word for this year: recovery. Chickens on compost will definitely help us do that. And we've got to do all this before our 10:30 chiropractor appointment. After all, we are more than homesteaders, just like you. We have other things going on in our life, believe it or not. This time, a chiropractor appointment at 10:30. So we gotta get hustled, we gotta balance life and try to get all this done before we go. Concrete saw guy came yesterday. This is one of our last hurricane projects. Helene washed out all this. Actually, we built this all the way back up. I wonder why they didn't solve this one though. I was unfortunately not here. I guess we could shove material under and it's strong enough to last. And use. We don't use it much, it's outside. We've sawn these concrete blocks. We'll have to get these out of here with the machine. I have to break this one, this will be too heavy even for the Mini X. And now that this overhang is gone, we can put in material and eventually rebuild the concrete. These guys up, they are down in our bottom helping us. They're going after the pigs and leveling out the land. We're planting seed behind it. Look at that, and it's coming in. I just let those guys out. I was gonna grab the fattest of these hens, take them up behind the cows to help spread the cow manure, spread, you know, eat the fly larvae. The fattest ones because because maybe they would stay inside that sheep net. But I decided let's just— let's go on back to our word recovery. It's a lot of work. I mean, it's not a whole lot of work, but it's one more thing to move chickens behind the cows. And given all we've got going on, it wouldn't be a whole lot of work if they would stay in a sheep net. And years past they haven't, but I don't know if I've tried old fat lady hens. And the oldest of our fat lady hens, which are not that old, they're only like 2 years old. But I did have this idea. Let's put them in there and mark the last ones to get out, and those are the ones we breed. Because next year, hopefully our word is not recovery and it's growth or rediscovery or experiment, whatever, and we're hatching all our own chicks potentially from stock that would be more likely to stay in a sheep net so we could run them behind the cows. That would work well in our operation. The chicks then have got to go into this front yard. Possibly. We've got a nice guard goose up here. It's the front yard, so we're gonna have the least amount of predator pressure. The fence is chick-proof. We've got this poultry wire on it, and so, I mean, it's predator-proof too. Goose will help with aerial predators. We'll also get the two men out here for just extra security. Um, we'll need to leave a couple of mamas in there, just the big ladies, just to show these chicks the ropes, you know. Hey, we go up at night, we go out in the morning. We— when we have this urge to lay this egg, we go up into this nest box. I hope the mini me isn't up on the top shelf. Boys are having a hard time getting up this morning. And I'm gonna need them if those mini-me's are on the top shelf. Okay, there's a regular-sized Chickshaw, and there's a mini-me on the ground. Hot dog! Hey, just in time! Boy, am I excited to see you in a sharp-looking haircut. I need you to help me Get chicks from the pretty Shawl to the, uh, the mini me. By the way, plans for these in my book Homestead Builds at homesteadbuilds.com. But I'm giving a book away along with $500 May 23rd. Check that out, abundantpermaculture.com/design. Hey, we gotta go, guys. You're in the bed. Come on, it's, it's past 7:30. I got my rucksack built-in talk show. First thing we got to do, get those— the pretty shawl over here towards the door. This might need to sit on the ground for the chicks. We might have to put the feed on the ground too, bro. I was thinking about getting a rucksack for my walks in the evening. They're kind of expensive. Would you just go with us on our walk? Can you be the doorman? Gosh, we gotta get all but a few of these out of here. They all went towards the milk crates. Do I wait and put the chicks in at night so they know? What? No, put them in now and let the adults train them. If you didn't have adults, you'd want to certainly put the chicks in at night so they start the coop, orient themselves to it, and then come out, and then they know to go back. Whoa, we scared the poop out of them! Oh gross, evil chicken poo when it's on your sidewalk. Holy chicken squat if we put it on wood chips because we're turning it into compost. We're gonna go get those chicks because it'll be easy to liberate them. These guys are going to be a little harder to liberate. We've got to put up their net first. All right, shut the— shut the gate, bro. Shall we take this on our way to the chicks? I think so. Plus there's 30 chicks, maybe 20 of those, 15, 20. So there's double the lives. So let's— let's free them up first. Hey, did they not do this? They did. Where you are standing, they They did. We just have to break it. How do you know they did it? It's such a massive crack. Hey guys, milk and then move the nets. Okay, who wants to turn this? I'm curious to see if it got up to temp. We really needed all that rain for it. We needed to be 120 plus degrees. All right, we got the chickens in the place. We've done something very special here. I feel besides a few trees down on pasture, this is the last of the hurricane relief effort on our own farm. And I don't see why we wouldn't be able to get this done this year. Our word for the year is recovery. Grandma's death, the hurricane, the house built. Uh, it's good, it's good. It gives us, it gives us focus. Henceforth, we're gonna have a word for the year. And, uh, This is just, this is just special. It's been 7 months since the hurricane. Can you believe it? The theme that occurred was just one bucket load at a time, one saw cut at a time. It's gonna be one more bucket load at a time filling it back in. Okay, what's the temp at? Oh my God, 120! What? It's reading 120, and I think this could be 20 degrees off. Like, it says it's 40 out here in the air. So that could be 140. You can turn the compost for me. Okay, get in. Let's get these chicks out. The only problem with chickens on this compost pile is they get the compost and other debris on their feet, and it's so dirty they dirty up the eggs. But I think I have an idea. The chickens are— this is amazing. Okay, they got out, but they went right to the compost. Let the chicken show us what they want, right? Given the opportunity to be free birds, they go to the compost pile. We had 3 chickens out. I don't think these guys— I think they're— they got lost in some of the moves. Plus there's a few that just get out. Definitely not marking those for breeding. The chickens are in it, they're loving it. They're getting up on top. Gideon says it's even— what'd you say it was up there, 150? Uh-oh, this will never work. They'll crawl right under that. Maybe we can garden stake that, or we'll have to move our Fence. Okay, well, now that the birds are free, let's tighten up the net. Oh, I love this! This is so nice. Those are some happy birds right there. Next thing we got to do is take our stakes, some garden staples, pin down— Henry! And pin down our fence. Last thing for the fence, let's take one of these plastic posts. See how that fence is draped on the— it's just into— what is it, undulation? I'm speaking about the unevenness of the ground. Drive it in here and we'll hold our net up. We're walking. Oh shoot, let's go move the lambs and let's go check on the boys, and then we'll move the The chicks. It's day 3, the youth away from their moms. It's working, they're, they're whining less and less. Let's go see how the sheep is— sheep move is going. We got ourselves a bat. Yeah, we sure do. I hope they're here because this is a hike. Okay. There's Sally. Oh, they did it! Look, this is just the spot we've never— I mean, why would you graze this when you— I mean, the temptation to graze that, just ease of setting up. But look, the sheep love it, this bramble. Look at that. We're gonna clear this one day anyway and smooth it out and make it usable pasture. I'm not worried about them underbrushing. The cows love it too, and we even put the little heifers in here. They were just not staying in the 2 acres, so So they've got to break out of this fence and then in with He-Man. So they got to go through two fences. Chances of getting out of one fence is very high. Chances of getting them out and into another is low. Boys had me do the milk. We got a gallon and a quarter. That's pretty good since we put the gap up at like 7 in the evening. I think when we start putting it up at about 3 in the afternoon, probably get 2 gallons. 9:10. If I want any margin in my life, I'll quit by 9:30 to leave by 10. I'm trying to create margin in my life, says the guy who has to fill every second with productivity. But maybe sometimes margin is productive. Let's you and I grab these chicks. They haven't sorted too much this morning, but look, Now that they've been active, look how it's just full of shavings. The water and the feeder chickens are too active for this brooder now. We got to get them out. Now the turkeys have more room. I'm just gonna put these chicks out in the coop and they can get oriented there and come out at their own pace. 39. They're just chilling in there. That's what we want. We want them to sit say this is safe, this is safe, let's be in here. And the longer they stay in there, the more likely it is they're going to come back in it tonight. Goose just went in there. Let's make sure she doesn't kill anybody. She shouldn't. Okay, let's hope that Goose lets them settle in. Are you kidding me? How? How? Let's give these chickens a welcome mat. Hopefully get their feet clean before they go into the coop. They're a lot like goats, aren't they? They're hard to keep in. They're clamoring around on this composty compost. I want to call it dirty. It's not mud, but you got to wash it regardless. Helps keep their water and feeds clean. I'm thinking they got to get on that pallet first. Maybe some of the dirt compost soil will fall off their feet before they get up in the nest box and dirty up the eggs. Remember, turn that around, and we got to get some nesting material in there. Hopefully I remember later in this vlog, check these eggs, see if they're clean, and to check the chicks, make sure the goose is not eating them. And we'll get Tube Man set up. How about that? Extra predator protection for them. Chicks are still in. Goose is minding his business. I don't worry about the grown chickens at all. They won't hurt those chicks at all. They might peck a little bit, but those chicks will just run. It's when you introduce chickens of the same size that it can be dangerous. 2 hours later, we're back from the dentist— not the dentist, chiropractor. Let's see how these chickens are faring. Chicks, how are they doing, Waylon? You see the chick's okay. You're walking full now, your barefoot shoes. I like that jean diaper. They're out and the goose ain't killing them, so that's good. You're behaving yourself. You're in extra protection. Later. This afternoon I've been working on the chicken tender, actually throwing in a chapter on turkey tenders. You're growing chickens, it's not that much harder to grow turkeys as well, but Any excuse for a break. I'm gonna go— let's give you an update on the work that got accomplished yesterday on the cabin and it's getting done today. This is their free time. This is what they're doing with it today, resting it on his head. They're putting a slanted platform up there so they can do the soffits, and they're angling it too, so you know, the, the roof to go along with the roof angle. Look at all these bumblebees looking for their home. We had to soffit up with Hardy board, which is like concrete. This is what we were working on yesterday, and it is done. What's motivated you to come out here and help Jonah? Something to do. Uh-oh, Boss 1 and 2's here. Beautiful one and Big Daddy's here. Quick, guys, look like you're working. Quick, quick, quick, be careful. Don't, don't fall. Well, I'm worried about the ladder falling. You making the boys some sweet tea? I am. That's sweet of you. And the people are gonna come pick up that order that's not ours. Yeah, it's the wrong order. And bring the stuff that didn't get ordered. You ready for our most ambitious freeze-drying project ever yet? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, let's do it. We're making 8 freeze-dried meals for 3 people for our 100-mile bikepacking trip coming up. Liking that freeze dryer, just not just for a preservation, but turning homegrown food into camping backpacking food, which is normally very junk and full of preservatives. Normally I don't do a lot of carbs, but when we're biking 25 miles a day, I'm doing carbs. Fried potatoes, eggs, and bacon every morning, that's easy. A lamb rice pilaf, a pork spaghetti 2 times, Hamburger Helper, roast, and rice. Add bacon to our potatoes. Just did some spices for a lamb pilaf. Rice lamb pilaf. It's a spice explosion. I'm cooking the spaghetti, pork spaghetti, with 4 of our homegrown tomato sauce. That's 2 meals for 3 people. That's plenty. 27 eggs, a pound of bacon, and 9 potatoes. I will say this is— yeah, we could freeze dry all our food. 3 meals, 3 hungry men biking 25 miles a day. So we can put these in the— we're gonna hard freeze these. Somehow we managed a meal during all that too. Got a lot of this stuff done for this trip. Feels really good to have to get that over out of the way. Didn't want to wait till the last minute, so I'm happy that we got that done. My mom's visiting from Tennessee. We're going to show her around. Jonah likes this color. I like the darker one too. So we had that window, there was a chimney there, but this is where it used to be here. Yeah. Uh-oh, somebody came and put the feeders and waters up. I mean, it's prudent. It's prudent. We keep them up to keep them out of the wood chips. The chicks are having a hard time getting to it. Everybody's minding their business. Nobody's getting killed. Let's see if they go up tonight, or are we going to be catching chickens tonight, Henry? I won't be surprised if they don't. Usually first few nights you gotta put them up. Let's go see if this next box is going to be clean. We need to turn this compost pile. I also forgot, uh, Tube Man. Let's get Tube Man out in the morning. Okay, where did they get out? They probably got out right there. You're right, it's got some dirt on it. See there? I mean, they're helping us turn it. Yeah, look. Okay, you see eggs, but are they clean? Watch out, Doug! They're clean. They're not compost dirty. So maybe that little welcome mat is working. We got some work tomorrow. Corn, green beans, more camp food cooking. We've got— look, this is what's happened. That's spaghetti and breakfast. You can only do 6 trays at a time. We're gonna go see if we have any more trays because I still have, uh, lamb pilaf, lamb rice pilaf, and then stew and rice. The beautiful one is gonna make me me a— it's a hamburger helper. By the way, how do you guys like these longer vlogs? You want even longer vlogs? If we ever go over 22 minutes, I mean, YouTube only likes to— I mean, y'all on YouTube only like so much. We're putting it up on Abundance Plus. I think we did our first one, extended version, um, day before yesterday or something. 26 minutes. I think we could freeze them, but without their lid. Speaking of Abundance Plus, I'm going to include it in the giveaway this week. AbundantPermaculture.com/design. You'll get my permaculture design booklet, the ebook, but you'll also get a chance to win all kinds of things. And today's feature is Abundance Plus lifetime value, like $800 value. So one lucky winner will win that. Inspirational content, know-how, and a thriving community. I found 6 trays but no lids. Is that okay? Yes, we'll hard freeze these. Once the other ones get out of the freeze dryer, we'll use those lids. That's my lamb rice pilaf. Let's go at breaking up the stew. Some beef broth. We're gonna be burning the candle at both ends. Neither one of our dishwashers are working right now. Uh, we're hauling dishes downstairs. I'm doing dishes by hand, proving the vlog. Got the red light on. Sorry for the audio issues earlier. Oh my gosh, too many vlogs. We figured it out, but sorry for the night. What we filmed today goes out in a week, so it doesn't get edited right away, and we don't always catch things like that right away. But we do have some checks in place to prevent it next time. Thank you for bearing with us. I'm so sorry. It was like one of my most worst technical mishaps ever, and I'm so sorry. At least I didn't lose the vlog, which has happened before. All right, happy day, y'all. Love ya.