Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Need For Room

I don't know if any of y'all have the same problem as I do but I am in the need for more room.
Not necessarily space, but room. This little Mini Farm is just big enough to keep me out of trouble by not letting me get a bunch of unneeded animals.


What I need is more room so I can hatch more eggs. All three of the incubators are full and every shelf available in my dad's incubators are full of our eggs as well. The price of the new cabinet incubators are way out of our price range. I have plans to build one myself but the heating elements are outrageous and add in the controls and now you got about $200 in it. My plans say I can build one for under a hundred but it also says I need all the hardware on hand. With that in mind, the home made incubator is now up to $300. Double that and I can get a new one that I know will work.
If I can hatch them, I know I can sell them all. It's just frustrating. I need to be hatching about 400+ eggs a month. Right now I can only do around 200 and that's pushing it.

I am going to finish the cold smoker this weekend and even though I do not have anything to put in it, I do plan to give it the first burn in. I need to make sure it has the draw it has to have to work effectively. If not I will have to move the fire box around to where it gets a better draft.
I also have to do some more reading on how the curing method is done. I think you have to salt or brine cure the meat before you cold smoke it and if that is the case then it will take several weeks for the curing process to get done before I get a chance to use the smoker.

Another project the wife just added is a little goose house. She wants the geese to roam the whole back yard and by trying to say no without saying no I made the mistake by telling her there is no shelter for them if they stay out. My Bad. The goose house she has in mind is not your normal every day little shelter. It has to be a cute and goofy one.   

I finally got my fire pit ring. My dad brought over an old rusted out tractor rim that is just the right size to use. I plan to bury it 3/4 of the way and use it as the bases of the pit. This is the first phase of the outdoor kitchen complex that will include a bread oven, a grilling area and dutch oven cooking area. Now that I have a concrete mixer this project should be a lot easier. 

The projects are really starting to pile up again and I should have taken advantage of the past two days of being rained out at work and got some more stuff done.
I knew I would regret being lazy.     

4 comments:

  1. Love the idea of using an old tractor wheel for a fire ring. So simple, but I've never even considered it. Thanks for the idea!

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  2. I always regret being lazy :) Good luck with all your projects!

    Red

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  3. I'm on your wifes side about the goose house. That is also our next project as the geese will be looking for nests for there eggs before too long. Also when you have geese as pretty as these you want to enjoy them. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

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  4. Alex, it is a lot cheaper than fire brick.

    Red Woman, I need a team of people for at least three months that love to work for free and then I might be able to breath.

    sista, the wife does not need any encouragement.LOL

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