The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[2Jedismom]

A chicken tractor is a portable pen that can be moved from spot to spot...it's ideal for a few birds in a backyard setting. Here are some tractor examples.

I'll post some pics of our tractor here in a sec...

The birds have just their wing feathers...still a lot of fluff on the rest of their bodies. I may have to put a screen top on their box!

The boys have them outside playing with them. I suppose I should read up and find out when you clip the wing...

[2Jedismom]

Here is our chicken tractor. It's relatively light, but it's too bulky for me to pick up on my own. If Steve puts wheels on it, I'll be able to move it by myself.

It's not done yet, though.

Note the nest box? It'll have a side on it. There will be a place for a heat lamp in the winter. It will have a tin roof over a third of it and shade cloth over the rest. The whole thing is 4'x6'.

[HairOfTheDog]

Cool! I would tip the rain roof back just enough that rain drips out instead of into the space.

[RosieCotton]

Any comments on this idea?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

WOW, looks like the Camalot Inn of chicken coops:) Heat lamp in the winter!!!! Don't tell these babies that you are hatching about that.

OH, I thought your chickens had all their feathers. Yeah they probably do still need to be under light. I thinks by 4 wks they don't need outside heat source. I am going to go buy chick starter to send with you to Lisa's I'll ask Stan. He seems to know alot about them. I think he has told me once they are feathered out they don't need a lamp. He also told me, and you may know this, that if you keep the chicks in a confined area, before you start them on regular feed you need to give them a pan of like sand or small small rock screenings to scratch in. They eat them to fill their gizzard, and that is how they digest regular feed.

Well I'm off, I have a few stops to make before I meet you. See you then.

[RosieCotton]

The idea in the post I replied to, that is - 40994.

[2Jedismom]

Yes...but I'm still thinking about it! LOL I have the music and a midi for Mist Covered Mountain...that will be my first contribution...

[2Jedismom]

Yes, it's angled back. Hard to tell in the pictures, but the tin roof is angled back slightly. Snow isn't really a problem, because it doesn't snow all that much and I'm thinking of putting guttering on the back to catch rainwater!

[2Jedismom]

Also, if you look closely, you can see a square drawn on the outside of the box, where the nest box is...that's going to be a little hinged door where I can just slip my hand into the nest box for the eggs.

[RosieCotton]

I suppose we should also decide at some point if sets are considered one pick or more than one. I have a set of three jigs that I really like...but if we count it as three pieces, there go all my votes! On the other hand, if we have too many tunes to learn, I'm afraid we won't learn any!

[HairOfTheDog]

I like it.... it is better than the prototype on that page that you used for the idea.... because they will have that whole end to get out of wind. Is that nest box for both of them together, or will there be two boxes like that?

Do you just put nest material in the tractor and let them build it? - Or do you line the box with straw or something?

Do chickens poop where they nest? - Will you have to clean it or are they smart enough to not soil it?

[HairOfTheDog]

I think y'all should learn various parts in Concerning Hobbits to play for the group!

[2Jedismom]

They poop where they nest, but mostly where they roost. The shade cloth will come off and make it where I can get in there with a hose. And the nest box is removable, I can clean it periodically.

Also, the nest box faces in, not out...see the lip on the front of the nest box? That's the actual front, there will be side on it, eventually. That way they can get out of the wind...

Chickens only need one nest box for like 5 birds. They sleep on a roost and that's where I will be putting the heat lamp near.

[Overtaxed]

Let me think about it. Mostly I've been trying Lunasa stuff lately. I can do Inisheer.

[RosieCotton]

I think y'all should learn various parts in Concerning Hobbits to play for the group!

Oh, I think it's a given that we're gonna play some LOTR music!

Speaking of which, though, my friend who's getting married wants to find the sheet music to "Concerning Hobbits"...she's thinking of having it played as a sort of interlude before her wedding ceremony. Not during the ceremony itself - just while people are coming in and alll that. Probably the first time that music's been used for something like that!

In any case, we've been unable to find the music so far. Other stuff from FOTR, yeah...but not "Concerning Hobbits". I've checked my usual sources (Amazon and sheetmusicplus.com), but didn't find anything. Any ideas for places to look? Does it even exist?

[RosieCotton]

I can do Inisheer.

I like that one. It's not toooo complicated either, is it?

[HairOfTheDog]

Ahhh.... facing in is a very good idea!

[HairOfTheDog]

If Steve can put it on wheels, it will also keep the base slightly up off the dirt and it won't rot (as quickly anyhow).

[Pippin]

Hi, RMD!

[RosieCotton]

I like this tune. We play it quite a bit slower than the midi at that site. It's very pretty, but tricky because of the key.