Creating the Oasis We've wanted for Them!

hey everybody Welcome Back To Living Traditions Homestead well we are excited today to show you a brand new part of the homestead that we are currently working on you guys I told you a little bit about my plans for this area I think in the winter sometime we had kind of brought this up I know not everybody watches every video but uh this is an area of the homestead that I've been kind of dreaming about creating really since we moved from Arizona to Missouri this is going to be a place where we can have our ducks and maybe some other animals down the road and we're going to kind of recreate it to be similar to an area that we had in our Urban Homestead in the Phoenix area now Pekin ducks are one of our very first animals that we started raising at our Urban Homestead in the Phoenix area we have just always loved the Pekin ducks all ducks really but the Pekin ducks are very special to us we had I think 18 of them in our small place in the Phoenix area and Kevin made the most fun area for them and that's what he's wanting to recreate here right in fact just recently I found an old video clip of the Ducks playing in the pool that I had built for them in Phoenix and they just always had such a good time in there now in Phoenix we didn't have to lock the Ducks up at night because we really didn't have predators we were in the city right so they would spend the entire night playing in that pool and they just absolutely loved it they had so much fun the thing that made that so nice is that we installed a drain system in that kiddie pool so that we could easily just turn a valve rinse the entire thing out and fill it back up with water and it was really a nice system so that's what we're going to recreate not today but down the road in this new area the other nice thing about the way Kevin made that pool system and that he's going to recreate here is that if you know Ducks they'd like to make a mess in the mud right and the way that he created this pool system didn't allow them to create a lot of water splash outside of it and then make a big muddy mess all around it right it really prevented a lot of mess and so we're excited to be able to bring this project here on our Homestead in Missouri maybe to give you guys some ideas to make managing ducks a little bit easier and make having them a little bit more enjoyable as well right but that project is is going to be put off for a couple more weeks so today we've got some other things to do to start getting this area ready so we're out here now this probably just looks like a big open field on video This is actually a section of our property that used to be part of our hay field we originally had this kind of sectioned off because we were planning on on building more pig pens in this area but as many of you know we decided this last spring that we were going to get out of raising uh breeder pigs and that we were going to just start raising pigs seasonally again like we used to do so we no longer need this big area for pig pens now we're not saying that we're getting out of raising pigs all together in fact next Saturday we have two piglets coming to our Homestead for us to raise up as meat for our family so you you will still be seeing pigs and actually really shortly right but that left this area here kind of with nothing no real purpose for it but we had it kind of set aside as an area for animals that got us thinking that we could really use more space in our chicken moat area to raise more of the breast chickens and right now we have a group of ducks in that area we thought well what if we moved the Ducks to their own area and reserved the chicken moat strictly for chickens so that's what we've decided to do and today we're going to get started on building some of this area now as many of you know also we just recently got some new baby ducks uh they arrived in the mail about four weeks ago in fact I just checked and they are four weeks old tomorrow so by the time you guys see this video they'll be about four and a half weeks old but uh they are growing so fast in fact they're growing so fast we had to get them out of their brooder area where we had them in one of their barns so just the other day I made them a new hoop coop out in this area now we have made several of these hoop Coupes in the past in fact we've done quite a few videos about building these hoop coupes you guys I wanted to walk you through the steps of creating one of these but if you want to learn more you can go back and watch some of our older videos as well when you're making these hoop coops I like to use treated two by fours to build the base of the hoop coop I always make them seven feet wide you can make them any length that you want but I like to make them seven feet wide because then when you use a 16 foot panel like cattle panel the arch will end up being about six feet tall in the center which is tall enough for at least everybody in our family to walk through so we start by creating a wooden base after we've got the wooden base made it's time to start putting the actual Hoops up now this time I was able to get my hands on some different types of panels instead of standard cattle panels these have a much smaller square or much smaller spacing of the pieces of the panel they're actually just a two inch by four inch square or rectangle on the panels which means I didn't feel the need to have to cover these with chicken wire after I put the panels up like I have on other ones so for this project I put the first panel up it ended up being three panels so this hoop is 12 feet long by seven feet wide the first panel went up these are a little bit more unstable than the actual cattle panels so I decided to build the back section after I got that first panel up for that we just used treated two by fours and that back section went up really nicely it added a lot of stability to that back panel when we put that up the other two panels went up pretty smoothly it's a little bit difficult the day that I was building this Sarah was actually in the House recording another video so I was out here building this one by myself it would be a much easier job to do these the arch part of these with two people in the future I'll probably have Sarah come help me again but I was able to get it done for this one after all three of the Arches were up I zip tie them together so that they're nice and snug and then it was time to start building the front of the hoop coop for this again it's made out of treated two by four so we just build a frame for a door I built the door out of treated two by fours as well I actually ripped those into two by twos uh installed the door on the front and then it was time to start putting on all of the hardware cloth for the hardware cloth I'm using half inch hardware cloth so that no animals like raccoons or things can reach through it I just used that I staple it to the wooden sections of the hoop Coupe and then use zip ties to tie it back to the cattle panels so once I have the hardware cloth on the front and the back it's time to start putting the tarp on now in the past we've used billboard material that we've been able to get used this time I wasn't able to get my hands on any of that so I did order some uh extra heavy duty tarps on Amazon they were a little bit pricey but you guys they are so nice and heavy duty I think they're really going to hold up for a long time they end up being about 60 dollars for a tarp but again they're so much stronger than the tarps you would buy in the store so I was able to get the tarp put over the top I just screw that to the baseboards down at the bottom and you guys that was the end of the project it took me I was able to get it all done in one day but it took me about 10 hours of actual working time to get that done by myself in one day but it ended up being a really nice house for the new duckling so that was about three days ago that I finished building this hoop Coupe for the ducklings we moved them out of their brooder that same day and into here so they've been living in here ever since now like I said they're about four weeks old let's go in and take a look at them I'll show you guys how they're doing now I know it looks dark in there but I promise you it's not once you actually get inside it's nice and light in there but I did position the hoop Coupe so that it blocks out the afternoon sun so they do get a lot of nice shade and you give them a little extra water while we're in here so they've been living exclusively in here now for about the last three or four days and today we're gonna actually build them a little run area outside of here so they can start venturing outside they're gonna have that area and the hoop coop until we get the permanent fence done around this whole big area this new area that we're building for them is going to be 128 by 64. so it's a pretty big area so we'll be able to maybe even add some more Ducks down the road maybe some other things like I said earlier uh got a lot of big plans I'm just not ready to share them all with you guys just yet let me grab one of these ducklings though so you guys can see how big they are thank you look how fast they're growing you guys again four weeks old now in the last video that we did where we showed them I think they were about three weeks old and a lot of you guys didn't believe that they were only three weeks old but I promise you they are they're hatched on May 1st now we got them from Hoover's Hatchery now Pekin ducks they just grow super fast they're actually ready to process in about eight weeks which is one of the reasons we really like them so we're gonna get started on today's project the first part of the project like I said is building an outside area for them to be able to start coming out of this Hoop Group I think they're going to really enjoy it now one of the really nice things about the Pekin ducks is that they don't fly at all they they don't even have the ability to fly so when we were thinking about this project and what we wanted to do here we determined that we would be able to use hog panels to create this pen we already have all the hog panels that we need because again Our intention was to fence this area off for the pigs and we brought all of those hog panels with us from our Old Homestead so that's what we're going to use not only to create their temporary pen today but to actually fence off this entire area so for today we're going to build them a a little run off the front of this hoop Coupe it's going to be 16 feet long by eight feet wide or actually seven feet wide because we're going to come straight off of the hoop Coupe and we're just going to build that out of these hog panels again my my intention is that this will be just a temporary setup for about the next two or three weeks maybe before until we get this permanent fencing done um and I think this is going to give them a real nice transition area so that they can come out of the hoop coop start getting used to being outside and then by the time we build this big area it won't be so overwhelming for them so we're going to get started we're just going to drive in some t-posts we're going to connect this all up and then we'll open the door and see if we can actually get them to come out we'll move their food and water outside I think that's the only way we're going to incentivize them to actually come out of the hoop coop all right we're going to get to work we're going to get this set up quickly it shouldn't take long at all [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you thank you [Music] well there we go look at that it just in a matter of minutes we've got a nice temporary pen set up for the ducklings I'm going to go ahead and open their house or open their door like I said move their food and water out here and see if they will come out now remember that these guys have never been outside in their entire life they've never been outside so this is all going to be brand new to them [Applause] oh relax not gonna put it too far from there Coupe for right now so that they can see it and hopefully they'll be motivated to come out when Kevin and I started planning this area I started thinking you know this this is a a pretty big area we have a lot more room here than just for the 14 or 15 ducks that we'll be putting in here and my my mind started going a little bit you guys know that I love silky chickens and we have a small flock of silkies here and their pen area their little Coop is within our Dairy Barn lot where we bring our dairy cows in sometimes our beef cows come in and out and it's really not the safest area for our silkies to be housed so I was thinking well you know we don't really want to have chickens in here that's not our intention for this area but it sure would be a nice area to have our silky chickens and our silky house the other reason why it would be nice to have them in here is because the the fencing the the opening in the in the hog panels is graduated on the bottom and the slots on the very bottom are too small for the silkies to get through in our chicken moat they are small enough that they can walk right through there so the chicken moat really has never been a good option for the silkies so like I said even though this area is not going to be primarily for chickens we are going to be moving our small silky flock and their house to join the Ducks and anything else that we introduce here in the future and they will be staying here so today Kevin and I are going to we're going to catch the silkies put them in a temporary location so that we can move their Hen House into this duck area after we move their house we're also going to be setting up a temporary run area for them in here too so they can still get out into the the grass until we make the permanent fencing around this area so that is the next thing we're going to be doing so here is the silky hoop Coupe now I do agree with Sarah that all around this is going to be a much better situation for the silkies again we have them over here right now in what we call our barn lot you can see how tall the grass is around here that's because I've had electric fencing around here to keep the cattle away from it when they're up here but that also means I can't really get in there to mow so it's not really been an ideal situation for them so I think this new area is going to work out really well so I've got some cages loaded in the back of the UTV we're going to put the silkies in the cages and then we're going to go park them in the shade because they're going to stay in there while we move this over to the new area they're just loud it's a little bit loud yeah look at you you puny little thing that's it [Laughter] all right we're ready to start moving the hoop coop now these hoop Coupes really are not designed to be portable they're not a chicken tractor a lot of people confuse the Hoops with chicken tractors these are heavy they are not something you could just pick up and move even one this size which is quite a bit smaller than like the new one we just built so I am going to need to use the tractor to move this we're moving this thing pretty far this is by far the furthest we've ever had to move one of these so I'm really hoping that it will hold up and I'm hoping that my plan for keeping it on the tractor is going to be okay because I can use the bail spikes on the front of my tractor but they're not long enough to go all the way under so we're going to try to use some ratchet straps to kind of give it some leverage so we'll see what happens as long as it gets to the place that we needed to get that's all I care about all right we're gonna see what happens when we wake [Music] [Music] um we know what we have let's Hold On Tight found what we're looking for in life [Music] we got it we don't need no more [Music] [Music] what we can do [Music] we know what we have let's Hold On Tight found what we're looking for in life the buzz crazy but things are finally right you and I the future is bright [Music] and I can wear them with them is gone [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] well that actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would I wasn't quite sure how that whole ratchet strap situation was going to work on the tractor but it went really smoothly so everything got over here uh door still opens and it sits pretty flat on the ground so I'm happy with that I'll call that a success so the next thing we're going to do is we're going to really quickly just set up a temporary little run area for the silkies just like we did for the ducklings we're gonna use hog panels for them as well now the silkies really don't fly either just like the Ducks don't their little wings just don't work very well so I think these hog panels will be plenty to contain them if these were other more standard chickens hog panels probably wouldn't be tall enough but for the silkies they'll be just fine all right we're gonna get this all set up and then we're gonna move their water bowl and their nest box and everything and then we'll bring the silkies over and this project will be complete [Music] oh foreign guys [Laughter] here's your new home [Laughter] no it looks just like your old home huh [Laughter] what the [Laughter] [Music] well that is a good project wrapped up for today the ducks have come out of their house they are getting used to being outside I actually shut their door for a little while while we're working out here just to kind of force them to get used to being out here the silkies are all set in their area exploring their run area now just keep in mind that these little run areas are just temporary until we get the 128 by 64 foot pen done you guys that is about a fifth of an acre that these birds are gonna share they're gonna have a great time right yeah it's going to be a nice big pen for them I'm going to build that it's a swimming pool area for them in here now you guys this is where we need some help from you guys you did such a good job for us a few years ago when we wanted to name the Sprout house which is where we start all of our seeds in the summer or in the spring you guys did a great job coming up with the name Sprout house in fact we liked it so much we actually call that part of our business now the Sprout house Nursery when we're at the farmers market it's called the Sprout house nursery and you guys so we want a name for this new area that we're going to be building here it's mostly going to have to do with ducks we're gonna have these ducks maybe some other Ducks maybe some other foul we'll talk about that more down the road but you guys we want a name for this area that we're building here and we want your help coming up with that name so leave your suggestions in the comment section below and then we'll review them and come up with our like top three or something and then we'll have you guys vote on it right so it's going to be fun we're gonna we're gonna have a lot of fun coming up with what to put in this area all the different things really what we want this area to be is not only a space to raise the animals here on the homestead you know some of the animals that live here will be temp temporary and be for meat and things like that there'll be a lot of long-term residents but we also just want this to be a fun spot for these animals to live we just so much enjoy watching Ducks we think they're just characters Kevin and I have talked about bringing a you know a set of chairs and a little table out here so maybe we can bring our coffee or just relax out here in the evening and watch them because they're just characters ducks are awesome if you can find a way to contain their messiness they are just really awesome and actually when we were planning this area one thing we took into consideration is that we can see this area from the back porch of our house yes and out our kitchen window out our sliding glass doors we can see this area so if the Ducks are playing in the pool we'll be able to see them actually out here having fun so that's going to be exciting we hope you guys are going to enjoy this as much as we are and we plan to bring you along so you guys can see as it develops and as it evolves so you guys don't forget leave your suggestions for names for this area in the comments uh we'll let it go for a week maybe 10 days or so and then we'll come up with our top three that we see popping up and we'll ask you guys to vote on those down the road you guys if you're if you're our videos sure that you hit this subscribe button on social media until next time thank you so much for stopping by our Homestead take care and God bless God bless

Channel: Living Traditions Homestead

Views: 105,184

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

Id: 7FEpX2axhLE

Length: 28min 36sec (1716 seconds)

Published: Wed May 31 2023