New Person to the Forums

[ozzymanii]

At the advice of some of the people on here I'm posting this bit about me. I tend to ramble a bit so bear with me.

I live in Stanly county about 6 miles from Albemarle. I just moved out here about 6 months ago. Since then I have been working on getting my shop established and working on a few projects.

While I've been woodworking a long time, I'm not much into the "craft" woodworking. I've got the skills (I think) but not the patience. Most of my projects are more practical. In the last year I have built two high chairs (as shower presents) a cradle (ditto) Two chicken houses, a vermiculture cabinet (look that one up I dare you), two quail boxes, and am in the process of building a chicken tractor.

I love to work with wood, and my wife says I'm the king of the 2x4 that isn't . That's because I build most of my projects out of 6/4 x 3/4 stock that I cut out of cheap 2x4s.

I'll try and get some pictures up when time permits.

James.

 

[sapwood]

Welcome James!

I think you'll fit in nicely :-D

And I certainly appreciate folks that know their craft . . . like Norm Peterson :mrgreen:

Sapwood

 

[Canuck]

Welcome James!

Would love to see some pictures! I have to admit that you definitely have my attention with the mention of chicken tractor. You have to tell me what the heck that is??????

I do have an idea what a vermiculture cabinet is/looks like......I won't give it away here.:lol:

I am sure that you will get plenty of ideas and inspirations from these fine folks here at NCWW!

Take Care and post often!

Wayne

 

[DaveO]

Welcome James, well you have perked my interest. I have several questions. Are you practicing vermiculture to feed the chickens, quail or fish :lol: :lol: Where does your user name come from, and what the heck is a chicken tractor...you don't want to hear about the visual I am having of it in my head. I look forward to your input in the forum especially if it continues along the :icon_scra :dontknow: nature of your introduction:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dave

 

[ozzymanii]

The vermiculture was to produce high grade compost before we got the chickens. Now that we have the chicks, well, chicken manure is pretty good fertilizer by itself and so I'm not using it right now.

My name is a LONG story. I picked up the nickname Ozymandias in high school (don't ask, that is a really long story). When I started using computers a lot, there was an 8 character maximum on names, and so I became Ozzyman on line (many years ago).

Fast forward to today and seems that Ozymandias and Ozzyman are fairly common in large online communities, yahoo, google, etc. So started using ozzymanii. Clear as mud?

In a nutshell, a chicken tractor is a small chicken house (say big enough for 6-10 chickens) and a completely enclosed "exercise yard" about 3 - 4 feet wide and 8-12 feet long.

The kicker is, the whole thing is on wheels. So let's say you want to build a new planting bed to plant beans, or corn, or whatever. You park the "tractor" on the piece of ground you want to "till".

On day one you feed the chickens scratch feed just by tossing it on the ground inside the enclosure.

On day two you do the same thing but you only give them about 1/2 the feed you normaly would.

On day three you don't give them more than a couple of handfulls of feed.

If they are not fed well, they will peck and scratch. They will eat grass and weeds, and scratch up bugs and grubs and of course they will crap all over everything.

After about a week of this (feeding them just enough to keep them interested) they will completely break the sod and till / fertilize the soil ready for planting.

The chickens never go hungry 'cause they can eat the grass and grubs, but won't do it if you are feeding them.

Hence the name "chicken tractor".

Make sense?

James

 

[clowman]

Welcome to the site. We all look forward to getting to know you. i'd also love to see some pictures of your work.

 

[DaveO]

I have seen things that you are calling "chicken tractors" but have never heard them called that. So you ain't growing fishin' worms, just compost/worm casing.:eusa_thin Your nickname in highschool didn't have anything to do with biting the heads off of any chickens, did it?:lol: :lol:

Thanks for the explaination:icon_thum
Dave

 

[skeeter]

Hello ozzymanii and welcome to the site. Hope to see some of your work posted soon. I've got to admit that, even with me growing up on a farm, you had me going. Thanks for the definitions!

 

[RandyJ]

I'm glad you cleared that up for me....I was going to ask how their little legs reached the pedals:lol: ????
Anyway, welcome to the best WWing site on the WWW. Looking forward to your participation.
Take care,

 

[ozzymanii]

Re: Chicken tractor

I first heard the term in a back issue of Mother Earth News. Had an article on building them. A web search for "chicken tractor" turns up lots of designs and working models.

James

 

[Ray Martin]

James,

Welcome to the NCWW site. I just can't wait till yo post pictures of some of your work... particularly the chicken tractor.

I know you'll fit right in here. I do understand the Norm and Norm signature all too well.

Welcome

Ray

 

[NCPete]

Can't forget the episode where Norm Peterson took a job at the brewery as a tester!

 

[McRabbet]

Welcome to the site -- 2 x material is very practical stuff. Keep going and you'll soon graduate to projects for 4-legged or bipedal creatures, too. But worms? great for composte, tho!

Rob