A Health Issue Has Caused Me To Make This Decision...

hey everybody welcome back to living traditions homestead today i'm going to be working with my quail i'm actually going to be moving the quail today and this is something that i never really thought i would do because i really like the setup that i have for them in the new workshop building that i have but this is a decision that's kind of out of my hands at the moment and i want to talk to you a little bit about why that is many of you know that back in june sarah and i both had kovid it wasn't bad in fact for the first few days we didn't even know we had it it was i believe probably the omicron variant nothing it wasn't severe at all but since that time i've developed kind of lingering symptoms that have gone on and on now i'll go back in time and tell you that as a as a kid and even as a young adult i had asthma and a lot of times that would be aggravated by allergies but it's been probably 20 years since i've had any asthma that has been from allergies well ever since we had kovid that has come back and in fact a couple weeks ago or maybe three or four weeks ago now it got so bad that i finally had to break down and go to the doctor and they had to give me steroid injection and start me on a prescription medication that's something that i don't like to do but it was to the point where i was having to use a nebulizer every four hours because the asthma was getting so bad now since that time i've been taking a lot of steps to not only control the allergies because it really seems to me like allergies are what is triggering it i'm not sure why since the covid it has gotten worse uh but it definitely has and so it's something i need to deal with hopefully over time it will go back to normal and i won't need to be on medication forever but for now that's just the way things are now one thing that i've noticed that's really been setting it off um is my quail in the summer because it's been so hot outside i need to run fans in the workshop building to keep the quail cool because of that there's a ton of dander and dust that just flies around everywhere and even though when i work in there i try to keep the doors open and everything else i've noticed that for sure after i work in the in the workshop with the buy the quail or just working on other things that that has definitely made my asthma pretty bad so what i've decided to do is to move my two big grow out cages outside into the rabbit area i'll still have my breeding quail in in the workshop but i don't think that just those three cages worth will cause much of a problem so i've got some things to do with the second grow out cage before i can move it out to the to the barn here i've already fixed the first one and i want to bring you guys along as i make some improvements or some changes to the second cage so let's go in the barn i want to show you what i've already done to the first cage and then we'll go up to the barn we'll grab the quail that are going to live in this cage bring them out here then we're going to bring the cage out and actually pressure wash it this is something i like to do twice a year with all of our cages is bring them outside pressure wash it we'll pressure wash it let it dry overnight and then first thing tomorrow morning we'll get started on making some changes to that cage as well so let's go look in the barn first so i can show you what i've done to this cage and what we're going to be doing to that second cage so here is my first grow up cage that i moved out here uh this cage is uh eight feet long and about two feet deep uh this cage uh you guys actually i did a video when i built this cage so you guys watched me build this cage but i have done some things to it since that time well specifically for moving it out here that i wanted to show you the first thing is that i added a solid back this is for two reasons one it's to help protect the barn behind it but i also did that because over winter what i plan on doing is completely enclosing one half of this cage to get the quail out of the wind i figured i might as well do that backside now not only does it protect the barn but it will you know make it easier to when i decide to do the rest i won't need to move the cage out to do that so that's the first thing is i put a solid back on i've attached the cage to the barn so that it's good and sturdy and then the second thing is i've built pans for these cages uh in the barn i had linoleum down on the floor and i just allowed the droppings from the quail to end up on the floor i didn't really want that out here because this is a dirt floor out here and i don't want over time to basically be digging a hole in the floor so i decided to go to pans now because this cage you know is a custom size i didn't find any pans that were this size so i've decided to just make my own and that's one of the things we're going to be doing tomorrow but i want to show you these pans so the pans are uh two feet by about four feet and you can see them here and what this is is made out of wood but then i used a truck bed spray liner spray which kind of makes this almost like plasticky and i sprayed this whole thing with that um and i think that's going to make a really nice pan it gives it kind of a plastic feel it should protect it from the poop and everything else that's going to land on here now we will put shavings in here as well so i really think that this is going to work out well you can see that i've already got food and water out here for the quail now the quail that we're going to be moving into this cage today right now we're living in the other grower cage and it's just some of ones that i'm raising up right now for meat it's a group of all males so they'll be the first ones to be moving out here let's finish getting this cage ready by putting some wood chips in here and then we'll go grab those quail bring them out here so we can move on with fixing the second cage now one thing that i did also on this is i put a little string here so that i can hook this up top it will hold the cage while i put shavings in or while i clean it these did turn out pretty heavy so instead of dumping it what i plan on doing is hooking it like this and then i'll be able to use like a dust pan to scoop out the bedding when i need to do that [Music] we're gonna have to count these as we put them in because i'm not even sure how many are here to be honest [Music] [Music] [Music] all right it looks like 11 is how many we're gonna be moving to the uh cage outside then we'll come back we'll get this cage and we'll start cleaning it up i think they're going to like it out here it's actually quite a bit cooler out under this lean too than it is in the workshop all right they have everything they need out here let's go get that other cage and start cleaning it up so we can start fixing it and get that moved out here as well [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] it's the next morning we're back in the workshop it's time to get started on this second cage i brought the cage in overnight so that it could dry uh finish drying from washing it it looks like it turned out really well as far as how it cleaned up so i'm glad about that it's good to do that to the cages a couple times a year just to you know get all the excess stuff off that you don't get on daily cleaning so the first thing that we're going to do today is we're going to add some center legs to this because we need that in order for our trays to be able to slide in and out if it's the same as our other cage it's going to be about 46 inches but because you know when i build things not everything turns out exactly the same every time i'm going to re-measure each piece as we go so i think this is going to be 46. yes 46 inches and we want this to go to the outside here because that's the way that the legs on the ends are and that way we'll have everything uniform so we're going to cut two pieces of 2x2 into 46 inch lengths and then we're going to attach those i've already gone ahead and ripped some two by fours into two by twos so you guys didn't have to watch me do that so we're just gonna get started right away on fixing this cage up thank you [Applause] so we'll go ahead and we'll mark our center point on this top board and on the bottom board and then we'll attach our new leg here in the middle and when working with two by twos i like to pre-drill everything with a pilot hole so that they don't split two by twos do have a tendency to want to split now that we have those center legs attached the next thing we're going to do is we're going to add a piece of 2x2 that runs from the front to the back this is the back of the cage by the way i have it turned around right now so it's going to run from the front to the back we're going to do one on each side of these and then one on each end that's that will be where the trays slide in and out [Music] [Music] i'm gonna put a mark at about five inches below the floor uh on each of these cages below this two by two that runs here on the last cage i did about seven inches and i wish the trays were up a little bit higher so i'm gonna do five inches on these cages and i think this will be better so i'm gonna just mark on each side of all of these boards so i know where those cross boards go and then we'll just attach those on [Music] all right those are attached the last thing that we're going to do before we start actually building the trays is we're going to put a solid back on this cage again i'm doing that so that in the winter when i want to enclose half of this i don't have to pull the cages out of the barn to work on the back this will already be enclosed or this will already be solid and it will help protect the barn from any waste that might hit up against the barn so let's cut a piece of plywood i'm doing this all with scrap materials that we've had around the farm so it's by no means a new piece of plywood but let's go ahead and attach a piece of plywood to the back [Music] [Music] [Music] it's time to start building the trays for the cage i've turned the cage around so you can see this cage is just a little bit different than the other one that i that i have dimensions are the same but this one when i originally built it i just had these two doors uh toward the ends and ever had a door in the middle i didn't think it would be a big deal but over time i realized it would have been really nice to have one in the middle so i did go back and i added a door here in the middle that folds down like this so it looks a little different but essentially it's the same cage i've done a little bit of measuring on these before i started filming and the trays for this cage are going to be 45 and a half inches wide by 24 inches deep so again we're gonna build this out of plywood and two by twos and then we're going to cover it with that acrylic coating it's the truck bed coating i'll show you that it's just something that i picked up at walmart but it seems to be working really well so uh let's go ahead and start building these we'll try them in here and then if they fit correctly uh we'll go ahead and spray them and then move this out to the barn [Music] all right for putting these together we're not really gonna do anything uh extraordinary uh we're just gonna screw these together and then the plywood on the bottom i'll put a lot of screws in that and that will really hold everything together [Music] so all right i've got both of those frames screwed together they both fit perfectly on either side which is good now we'll go ahead and we'll add the plywood to the bottom of those and then we can get ready to paint them [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] all right i've got our two trays set up here outside now this is what i'm going to be using to paint these it's called krylon truck bed coating again this is just something i picked up at walmart i was in the paint department looking at all the different options i thought maybe some of that like rubberized like flex seal type stuff might work but when i saw this and i think it's a harder more plasticky type feel this is what i decided to get and it worked really well on those first two that i did now i'm only going to be spraying the inside of the pan and this and these ridges on top i'm not spraying the bottom and everything because this stuff is about but i was like almost eleven dollars a can like 10.50 a can and it takes almost an entire can to do one tray so at that price i'm not going to do more than i have to so it'll be the inside of the pan that gets the most wear and tear so that's what i'm going to be doing with this stuff all right i'm going to go ahead and get these painted and then they'll have to sit for about an hour and then we'll be able to take them over [Music] [Music] it's been about an hour for these trays drying outside they are dry to the touch so that is fine for uh moving them we're going to go ahead and put them back into the cage i'm gonna go grab the tractor we're gonna take this over to the barn we're gonna get this cage set up next to the other and now i don't have any quail to put in this cage right away today i'll be doing another big hatch soon but typically i fit about 35 to 40 birds in each one of these grow out cages so by having these in the barn instead of here in the workshop i'll be down to having just my cages of breeders here in the workshop which is three cages six birds in each cage so about 18 birds that should be a manageable amount of dust and things i think here in the workshop but i'll be getting these out which saves me at times close to 100 quail that i would have in here otherwise so it's going to make a big difference i can tell that already just by moving the ones out yesterday and and doing some cleaning in here it's going to do it's going to make a big difference in the air quality here in the workshop all right i'm gonna grab the tractor get this moved and i'll see you guys over in the barn i got the new cage moved in it fits perfectly where i want it uh right next to the cage that we brought out yesterday looks like the pans turned out perfectly they're going to work great in here the quail that we brought out yesterday are doing great uh they had a good first day in here you guys it's actually so much cooler in here than it is in the workshop building so i think the quail are going to be very happy and healthy in this environment there's a real nice natural breeze that goes through here because the two ends are fairly open but they are completely protected from the weather again in the winter if i have quail out here in the winter because these cages won't be used 100 of the time this is for only when i'm raising up batches of them to either sell or to raise for meat so there will be times when these cages are completely empty but over winter i plan on completely enclosing one half of each of these cages so that the quail have a way to get out of the wind the cold really won't affect the quail a quail can take some pretty cold temperatures before it affects them but as long as you can keep them you know so they're not getting wet and they're out of the wind they'll be just fine so you guys i'm excited to have this project i hope this helps some of the breathing problems that i've been having um seems like the medication's helping for now but i don't want that to be the long-term fix i want just a healthier environment in general so i think this is going to be a good solution to this problem and i'm glad that you guys came along today while we fixed these cages and got them moved out here to the barn hey if you're enjoying our videos and you're enjoying the type of lifestyle that we live i hope that you'll hit that subscribe button before you leave and don't forget as always the absolute best way that you can help our channel is just by sharing our videos on all of your social media until next time thank you so much for stopping by our homestead take care and god bless

Channel: Living Traditions Homestead

Views: 201,480

Keywords: Living Traditions Homestead, Missouri, Ozark's, homesteading, Ozarks, self-sufficient, homesteaders, unjobbing

Id: 1n3sUikGWok

Length: 24min 17sec (1457 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 03 2022