DIY Wine Barrel Nesting Box

Sometimes it's nice to have a portable nesting box.  

If you free range, you can put it out in the yard where your flock has decided they are going to lay their eggs to try to encourage them to lay in the box instead of under a bush or on the ground.

In the summer our coop is sometimes just too hot inside for our hens to want to lay their eggs, so I have some baskets and wooden boxes out in our run where its cooler.

Maybe you have an injured hen or one who needs to be separated for some reason, so she doesn't have access to the coop nesting boxes. 

A broody hen needs a safe nest away from the general population where she can hatch her chicks and raise them. 

In all of these cases, it's nice to have a nesting box that you can move to where you need it.  You can make this cute 'box' in about ten minutes out of a wooden half wine barrel.

The only materials you will need is a wooden half wine barrel (the large size for standard chicken breeds and ducks, the smaller size works for bantams, other smaller breeds and call ducks), a 1x6 board that is two inches longer than the width of the barrel, and a piece of wire.  For tools, all you need is a cordless drill, a pencil and wire snips.

To make your wine barrel nesting box, turn the barrel on its side and position the board where it will ultimately need to be wired. Mark on both sides of the barrel as well as both sides on the front of the board where holes should be drilled for the wire.  

Drill the holes in both the barrel and  board where you marked.

Snip two short pieces of wire and thread it through each set of holes and twist to secure.  Be sure the ends of the wire are on the outside of the barrel so the hens won't get cut on them.

Fill the barrel with some nice clean straw and it's ready for business.  Some fake eggs will help encourage your hens to start using the box.

I decided to dress my barrel nesting box up just a little bit more and paint 'Eggs' on the board. I printed out the word from my computer and then transferred it to the board with carbon paper and used outdoor acrylic paint to paint it on.

I'm really pleased with how this nesting box project came out.  I am going to keep my eye out for more wine barrels and make a few more.

I put it on the floor of our new coop. Some of our heavier breeds don't like climbing the ladder to the nesting boxes so they will like this barrel on the floor.  I even caught one of our new layers checking it out this morning!

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This DIY project is featured here: Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Crafty Moms Share, Repurpose my Life, Skip to my Lou , Cowgirl Up!, Our Little Coop, Metamorphosis Monday, Little House in the Suburbs, Lavender Garden Cottage

French Copper Marans

Did you know that the French breed of chicken called the Marans (named after the French town Marans where they  originated) lays some of the darkest brown eggs of any breed?

Bruleed Vanilla Bean Custard in Eggshell Cups

For a fancy dessert that looks difficult to make but really isn't hard at all, try this homemade vanilla custard with a brulee topping served in eggshell cups.  If you have never made custard using your own fresh eggs, you are really missing out on something truly inspiring.

Cold Season Crops - Planting a Garden in your Run

Born and bred in New England, since moving to Virginia it's been hard for me to get used to Southern planting schedules, but this year I am determined to plant a fall garden - one that we can share with the chickens, of course!  

Our vegetable garden this spring didn't fare well due to an overzealous rabbit who munched on pretty much everything we planted and the blazing summer heat.

Last winter we never even had a hard frost, so those in the 'know' here in Virginia kept planting kale and Swiss chard all winter long.  I am thinking that cold weather crops might work a bit better here in the South AND I have a plan to thwart the rabbit, so I'm ready to try again.  

My first stop was to the feed store to buy some cold season crop seeds. I  'cheated' and did buy some seedlings - broccoli, kale and beets - but everything else I will grow from seed.

So these are the seed packages I ended up coming home with:

• beets
• carrots
• caesar lettuce
• cucumbers
• kale
• mesclun mix
• peas
• Swiss chard
• cover crop mix of rye and winter peas

They also had cauliflower and Brussell sprout seedlings but I passed on those, neither being a big favorite of anyone in our family.

So this was my plan.  I would section off a part of our chicken run and plant our fall garden right inside the run.  That would keep it safe from the rabbit as well as deer and raccoons we have prowling our property at night. 

But of course I would need to protect the plants from our chickens and ducks until we had harvested everything we would be eating ourselves and then let them have the rest to pick through.

I pulled out a roll of plastic deer netting that I usually use to section off the garden in the spring when I plant grass seed for the chickens to eat.  Of course everyone was interested in what  I was up to!

Since our run is covered, and only about four feet high in one area, it was easy to just attach the poultry netting to the sides and top of the run with clips. 

I made the garden area about 8x10, which would be plenty big enough and still leave enough run space for the chickens.

I was ready to start planting.  We have been tossing the horse manure over the fence into the run all summer. The chickens love scratching through it looking for undigested seeds and corn and they are wonderful roto-tillers, so the dirt in the run is very rich and dark.  

No need for any additional fertilizer! 

I carefully dug trenches for the peas and other seeds, scattered them in straight rows and then carefully covered them with the soft soil, giving each row a nice drink of water as I went.  

The peas and cucumbers were planted along the edges so they can climb the run fencing.

There's something about planting and growing, kneeling in the warm earthy soil, that brings me back to my literal 'roots'.  I remember planting vegetables with my mother when I was little and walking across the street to pick flowers from my grandmother's flower garden.   My grandmother, a chicken keeper herself, died last year at the age of 99, so having my chickens there watching and being part of my afternoon just made it even more special.

Everyone watched with great interest as I kept digging holes and tossing seeds in.  They were hoping against hope they would be let inside the garden area to eat some of the seeds. But no luck!

Charlotte, our Australorp, seems to be saying, 'But I eat seeds! Don't bury them and tease me like that....hmmm, maybe I can somehow get over this thing!'

Eve and Praline are assessing their chances at getting through (or over) the netting also!

As long as the weather cooperates and the chickens don't figure out a way to get into the garden, in a few days the seeds should start sprouting and by late fall, we should have a nice crop of vegetables and salad greens.

I decided to plant the carrot seeds inside the 'salad bar' that I built in the spring. Charlotte eagerly watched for any stray seeds to fall in her direction!

For instructions on building your own salad bar click HERE.

Planting a small garden inside the run is something I have been meaning to do for some time now so I'll be interested to see just how it ends up working out.  I'm excited to see how my first foray into fall gardening here in Virginia goes and am so looking forward to a bumper crop of fresh beets, carrots, broccoli and all the various greens.  

Did you know that the very top of a silo is called a 'bumper'?  One theory as to the origin of the term 'bumper crop' is that it was originally used to describe the results of a harvest that would fill a silo all the way to the top - literally to the bumper.

~photo of PJ the bunny courtesy of www.louisescountrycloset.com~

So now I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some nice cool weather and a bit of rain to help my garden along - and maybe I'll even feel generous and share a little with the rabbit!

9/17/2012 Update: The ducks figured out how to sneak under the fencing and get into the garden....

so I opened it up to them all. The chickens and ducks had a wonderful time, ate every bit of the greens and vegetables AND then tilled the soft earth so it's perfectly smooth and ready to be planted again!

By early afternoon, you would never have known there was ever a garden here! Every bit of green gone and the earth perfectly flat and tilled.

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Shop Gardener's Supply Company for these adorable yellow Chicken Wellies!

Get your fall seeds from Burpee Gardening!

This post is featured here: Country Garden Showcase and Frugally Sustainable

Grass - A FREE Nutritious Food Source

Several years ago, Mother Earth News published an article with the results of nutritional analysis done on the eggs from true grass-fed, pasture-raised chickens compared to store bought eggs.  Read the whole article HERE.

The results showed that chickens allowed to roam freely and eat grass and bugs lay more nutritious eggs that contain 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat, 2/3 more Vitamin A, two times the omega-3s, three times the Vitamin E and a whopping SEVEN times the beta carotene of store bought eggs!

While I would love to let my chickens roam our six acres foraging for food all day, if I did soon we wouldn't have any chickens left. There are just too many predators to allow that, so they are confined to a large run all day with plenty of feed, clean water, sun, shade and spots to take dust baths. However, there hasn't been a single blade of grass in the run since the week after the chickens were introduced to it.

 I give our chickens healthy treats, mostly kitchen leftovers or garden trimmings, and cut herbs.  But with food prices rising and a flock of 33 hens and eight ducks, its just not economical to purchase commercial treats or produce at the grocery store for them very often.

With the cost of chicken feed going up also, I started wondering if there were any way I could simulate a little free ranging for our chickens inside the run, while saving some money and also resulting in more nutritious output from them (eggs!).

So I did a bit more reading.  Eggs laid by chickens who consume grass have a better hatch rate.  The eggs have darker yolks and literally taste better.

Grass can actually provide one-quarter of a hen's overall daily nutritional requirements and fulfill ALL of her protein needs in the form of amino acids that are converted to protein in the body as well as nitrogen molecules from the soil. Ryegrass, for example, has a 12-16% protein content.

 Grass also provides Vitamins C and E, magnesium, iron and phosphorus.

Typically, grass has 33 calories per 100 grams (roughly 4 calories per ounce) and 3.3 grams of carbs, 2.2 grams of protein and a whopping 4.6 grams of fiber.  And therein lies the one downside to grass - the fibrous consistency.  The long fibrous strands can get stuck in chickens' crops and lead to sour crop or impacted crop. Read more about both potentially fatal conditions HERE.

But I was sold on the benefits of grass-fed chickens.  So I started cutting grass every day to feed to our flock.  The keys to hand-feeding grass are:

- Never feed grass that has been treated with fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides

- Cut grass strands into very small pieces shorter than 1"

- Try to cut very young tender blades instead of thicker, rougher blades of grass

Did you know that free ranging chickens rarely suffer impacted crops? That's because they nibble a tiny bit of the grass off the end of each blade.  So grass needs to be fed straight from the ground, or cut into short pieces. Never grab a handful of grass and toss it into the run. You are just asking for trouble.

I have been cutting and feeding the grass to our flock for a few weeks now, bucketfuls at a time. I toss it on the ground for the chickens and into a tub of water for the ducks.

And lo and behold, they are eating less feed.  They still need access to layer feed, as well as a calcium supplement (either crushed oyster- or egg-shell), but they eat noticeably less feed.  In addition to providing a super healthy food source for them, I am cutting back on our feed bills as well.

'Green' treats can be fed in unlimited amounts to your chickens, so go ahead and liberally cut grass and weeds for your chickens, every day if you want to, as much as they will eat.  They won't get fat.  Weeds are also a very nutritious food source. Read more HERE. Here in Virginia, we pretty much have grass year round and also some nice winter weeds.

In the coming weeks and months as food prices are expected to rise, I know I can depend on a FREE nutritious supplemental food source for our chickens.

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This post is featured at Little House in the Suburbs.

Envirocycle Composter Composteamaker Review

We don't compost on our little farm.  Or should I say we don't 'officially' compost, but nothing goes to waste around here.  

Our fruit and veggie scraps go to the chickens and most meat scraps are eaten by our dog, although the chickens get some of them too.  Eggshells are crushed and fed back to the chickens and coffee grinds are scattered in our vegetable garden.

The horse manure and pine shavings from the horse stalls get raked into a wheelbarrow and piled out back under tarps to turn into wonderful soil for the garden. 

The chicken manure gets tossed over the run fence and nourishes the grass in our horse pasture.  We recycle all our newspapers and scrap paper. Not a lot gets put out for the trash man.

But I have always been interested in composting and recycling, so when Envirocycle offered their Mini Composter/Compsteamaker for me to review, I eagerly accepted with one caveat: I would take a look at the composter, its packaging, construction and quality and then offer it to a reader in a giveaway.  So that's what we're going to do.

The composter arrived via FEDEX several days ago.  The very first thing that impressed me was the notice on the outside of the box encouraging customers to  use the box, which is made from recycled cardboard and printed with water-based inks, as their first to 'contribution' to the composter.  How neat is that ?

The composter itself is an attractive, sturdy plastic drum that sits on a base with rolling wheels and comes pre-assembled.

All you have to do is set the drum on the base, decide if you will be collecting liquids or not using the plug system (the base is designed to offer two options - either to collect the liquid "A.K.A." compost tea or have it drain right into the ground - described in more detail in the Operations Guide) and you're ready to get started.

There is a door on the top that flips up for easy access with a latch to provide protection from rodents...

View of the inside...

 and a plugged drain on the bottom to dispense your compost 'tea'.  (The liquid is extremely concentrated, so you need to dilute it with 10 parts water for a 1/10 ratio before 'watering' any gardens or plants.)

There are air vents on either side and the whole thing measures just slightly smaller than a 20" cube.

It is made of recycled BPA-free plastic (and is recyclable) and holds 17 gallons of compost and one liter of tea.  The tea is an added bonus that can be used on indoor and outdoor plants. 

I had been reading up on the basics of composting in the days leading up to receiving the composter and this is what I learned (much of this information is also included on the instruction sheet that comes in the box with each composter).

Composting requires four basic 'ingredients':

1.  Green (wet) ingredients which provide nitrogen and can include-

fruit and veggie peels, leaves, stalks and blossoms

coffee grinds and filters

tea bags

kitchen leftovers - avoiding meat, fish and diary

chicken, turkey, cow or horse manure - avoiding pet cat or dog waste

egg shells

*nothing moldy, diseased or oily

2. Brown (dry) ingredients which provide carbon and can include-

grass clippings

leaves and small twigs

sawdust and shavings - untreated

shredded newspaper

shredded paper boxes

shredded egg cartons

3. Moisture/water-

Add water as needed to keep the composting material moist but not soggy

4. Air which provides oxygen-

Oxygen is needed for the good bacteria to flourish 

A ratio of 50/50 green to brown ingredients should be maintained. If the material is left to get too wet, it will start to smell. To alleviate this problem, add more brown material and rotate the drum. The drum should be rotated at least three times a week regardless to keep the contents mixed and the air circulating.

Remember that smaller pieces compost faster.  Soil added in with the first batch can help to activate the compost.   It should take roughly 4-6 weeks for your first batch to be ready to use and rotating the drum more frequently speeds up the progress.  Finished compost should be uniformly dark brown, crumbly and have an earthy smell.  Retain a handful of your first batch of compost to activate the next batch.

To use the tea, you can merely drain the contents of the base into a bucket, or thread a garden hose from the nozzle to your garden, remembering to dilute it into ten parts of water before watering your plants.

The composter will work through the winter, even in areas that get freezing temperatures and snow.  In the winter, you want to only add organic materials and do not spin the drum. Come spring, the frozen micro-organisms will accelerate the composting cycle.

Visit

 for more information, to watch a video or to purchase the Mini or Original Composter/Composteamaker.
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In summary, I am completely impressed with this nifty composter and enamored with the idea of making my own dirt! So much so that I really don't want to give the composter away after all...but I promised, so....

Congratulations to Chris Mitchell from Eagle Hollow Farm who has won the contest!

Other resources for more information:

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This post is featured at Frugally Sustainable.