First project

The missus wanted to turn the whole of the existing shed into a chicken coop. So my first project for the mill was to modify a poplar the neighbor wanted gone into floor boards and a bunch of 2x4's to frame the walls with. After I sorted out the guide roller issue, the thing now cuts straight as an arrow.

Awsome!

That's going to be wonderful.

Only thing I ask, after years of enjoying chooks, is that you put some double pane slider windows set a few inches from the floor, so they can enjoy looking out at the views when they're inside. Mine LOVED standing side by side along the windows, peeking out at the views in winter. All warm inside. And I got such enjoyment and fun looking out at them , looking back at me.

So many windows are set insanely too high and the wee ones can't enjoy looking out. They all love doing that.

In summer I had custom hardware cloth wire for screens that popped into the windows , for nice breeze and strong protection over the normal screen material.

It's pure pleasure to look in on the kiddos and see them looking back at you. It's also a great way to see a temp thermometer, and the overall wellness of everyone .

My custom coop had it all and people , as well as all my chooks, loved its comfort and practicality.

Chick days are coming don’t delay. LOL

All of my coops have a low window in them. The addition is going to be just shed and the admiral will vacate her hat of the coop / shed , giving the birds all 8 by 10 and the admiral gets her own 8 by 12 with the poplar floor and no windows but plenty of lights, shelves and a work bench inside for her

Ok that sounds perfect ! Storage area to work clean and organized makes chores smooth and well arranged when you're done.

Does this mean you are increasing the number of chickens?

Apparently there is such a thing as chicken math. You start of with 6 as that is a good number for 2 people as far as eggs go and it makes sense. After that, logic goes out the window and chicken math takes over. Because you think .... well they only lay eggs for a fixed amount of time. so we need to have a replacement number of chickens for when the first batch stops making eggs. So you get another 6 in the second year. Then get a rooster .Then a hen goes broody and you don't want to take all the eggs away from her and she hatches a hen and 2 roosters. Now you need to keep the ratio of hens to roosters right ....so you get another 4 chickens. Then the missus thinks that Geese would be a fun thing. So you get 4 of them and find out that you only have one goose and 3 ganders. So now you have to get more geese and she finds a breed of chickens that are ever so pretty. So you get another 4 of them. And so it goes on.
Its chicken math and like a law of physics, there is nothing you can do about it. It is an inevitable progression that has a logic of its own in a parallel universe and makes no sense in this one. Yet we all have to abide by it.

So if you better half wants to get a couple of chickens. Prepare yourself ... You will need some woodland to cut trees out of , a chainsaw, a mill of some sort and it goes on down the rabbit hole from there on
But you will never have to buy eggs from a grocery store again.

Looks good!

Soo here is something I did not think about when I built the mill.
I went around and gave the harvestable trees on my property a good dose of looking at. And with that picture in my mind I dimensioned the mill.
Today I maxed out the tractor ....... Not even close to the capacity of the mill.
Thats a 15' log and the butt diameter is 39"
To lift that puppy I had to put the forks on the back of the tractor and put some weight in the bucket to keep the front wheels on the ground.

Where is the like button! LOL. Exact same way at my house, and chicken math was taught in school while in home economics!

That's kinda like the common core math I used to fight with the kids about, lol.

On a more serious note. The whole Idea with the mill and things is that I like to be self sufficient and have my mind sent on building our forever home here on this patch in the hills of east Tennessee. But I am going to build it from scratch by myself, The admiral can lend a helping hand if she wants to but thats it. I built the sawmill myself to cut the trees that I put on the ground on my property into lumber from which I'll build our home. Doing that while still putting in a garden and growing a good bit of our food etc. And still work to pay the bills. At times it gets a little much to get it all under one hat but to me its worth it.

When you outgrow the first Tractor
Tractor math takes over

I downsized to this one. Had a 85Hp Massey for a little while that I got in a straight swap for my little MF I had first on this place. That big one pulled a lot of logs out of the woods for me in the short while that I had it. This one is just about right for me.
For the rare occasion that I need the lifting power a bigger tractor would be nice but for everything else this one fits the bill and sometimes a smaller one would be nice to get into the spots with the bush hog I cant get in with this one. Overall I am rally happy with this little guy and it punches way above its weight for just 35 hp.

And with this little tractor .... if you press the red button ... amazing things happen ... It was an optional extra

I think that mathematical equation is the same one I use for gun purchasing.

Don't I mean DON"T start going down the rabbit hole that is hand loading your ammunition. It is a surefire way to spend a lot of cash trying to save money. Its the single most expensive way to make holes in paper.

I have been sliding down that rabbit hole for years. Wouldn't be able to afford to shoot all the stuff I have if I didn't.

When I started tat game I was planning to fill brass with bang powder and cork them with a bullet ..... how difficult can it be ..right. No one then warned me about collet dies, neck turning brass weird cartridges and a bunch of other stuff. Wild cats were furry things of the feline genome to me then. Now I am getting the things together to build a 6.5 - 06 AI ...... Yup, its almost like chicken math.
I could buy a lot of corn if I sold the implements I have for my tractor that I use to grow corn ..... just sayin