Small sustainable project in the city

Good hearing from another Missouri city homesteader! Your bucket garden is looking good!
 
Thank you. Veiw my personal page to see more of what I am doing on my 1/2 acre lot. And mind you. I have 2 large dogs and 2 medium ones, so they need to have plenty of room.
We have only lived here for a bit over a year and a half. So, I am quite proud of how things have come together.
I am glad your enjoying the pictures and the updates. This is a lot of fun.

The lady w/4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 5 meat rabbits, their kits and a lizard
 
What did you do to work with your Rottie around the chickens?

I've got two pit bulls, and although we put the dogs out on their ties if the chickens are free-ranging in the yard... I'd like to be able to let them all run around the yard. The dogs are still just WAY too interested in the chickens.

I love your bucket garden. Hubby drives a commercial garbage truck, so whenever he finds a bucket he'll bring them home... now I know what I can try doing with the 50 or so buckets we've got in the shed. :)
 
I too have a question about the dogs - I am thinking about getting a rescue dog but haven't because I am away from home 4 or 5 days a week for12-15 hours a day. I've been thinking that wouldn't give me enough time with the dog to train or to just provide company.

have 10 acres, and this would be a dog that would be outside during the day while I am gone.

main reason for getting a dog would be to establish a deterent for varmits (woodchucks/skunks/bears) (no, I would not want the dog to take a bear on!! just that the bears spend less time at the farms with dogs than dogless places).

am I right in thinking that would not be fair to the dog? and better to not provide a home in such circumstances?

really impressed by your set up with the rabbits/chickens/buckets!
 
When we used to raise German Shepherds we ALWAYS conditioned our pups to chickens.

This sounds mean but it works FOREVER.

When the pups were eyes open and beginning to toddle around well, they paid a little visit to our standard Old English roosters pen. We put them in with the rooster for about 5 minutes. If they ignored him - he ignored them. If they moved towards him at all - POW he would peck and flog them. There was a LOT of screaming and squawking but little actual damage done.

It was a one time "vaccination" after that no matter how old they got they were NOT interested in chickens, but they DID keep the predators at bay. I guess in their minds that GIANT mean rooster still exists. :P
 
What kind of percentages did you use on your soil in the buckets. We have tried buckets because our soil is mostly clay. Never had much luck. It seems like peppers and chives were about it. When you go to HD all the soil is marked as potting or in ground soil. All the potting soil has fertilizer mixed in. Just curious we have plenty of sun and plenty of water with drains in the bottoms of the buckets. I'm sure it's the dirt. The stuff is so expensive in bags I don't want to waste money on something that doesn't work in a bucket.
 
I used 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 2 kinds of compost (mushroom & cow in my case) and 1/3 a cheaper miracle grow garden soil.
I do think the recipe in the below site is better I just could not afford the vermiculite.

http://www.pasturemanagement.com/Howtobucketgarden.htm

I used about an inch and a half of round rock and put it around the wicking cup and across the entire bottom to help stop the soil from going through the drain holes. In this heat I am filling the resivour and top watering daily as you can imagine.
Next year I want to have some kind of hog panel wall for the tomatoes, tomatillos, vine plants to grow in. You need something quite strong to hold some of these plants up and in a wind you really need some help.

Now for the dogs...
My partner and I have both trained dogs for years. 3 of the 4 dogs we have are rescues. The rotty was emaciated and days from death when she was rescued. The cocker spaniels came from a back yard breeder with to much on her plate. Both had ear infections, matted, fleas........
The german shepherd is a puppy we kept from fostering her mom. She was put in a back window and had access to watching chickens on the other side of the glass since she was 4.5 wks of age.
Now... understand I had the rotty and spaniels before I got chickens. So, they are all leash trained, obediance trained, and have been through all kinds of tests I put them through. You can leave the rotty in a down at Petco and shop for 20 minutes and find her in the same spot waiting for you.
With that said......... the spaniels used to help herd them and once they got pecked good on the nose decided they were NOT herding dogs. They have been 110% chickens safe since day 3 or so of being outside off leash with them supervised. The Rotty on the other hand was extremely obsessive of them at first and would charge their tractor from time to time... She would be corrected for her behavior and finally figured out if you leave them alone you dont get in trouble. After a year, and plenty of consistancy regarding not looking at the chickens in their tractor we took her outside on leash (several times) with the chickens free ranging. Now remember........... this dogs obediance is 110%. After watching her behavior and Knowing my dog and body language and our own abitlities, we let her off leash with the ladies and the spaniels. We were right. She was ready. She new they were part of the pack and they had a higher spot then the dogs. There were different rules the dogs have to follow with the chickens. One is... You CANT play with the chickens. And you do not cross them. "Mom gets real testy about her chickens!"
The german shepherd in the last month or so has also been allowed off leash with the ladies and the other dogs. She is doing great! She is the only one, who is not yet allowed to be left out unattended with the ladies. Lots of TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING and consistancy! It can be done. I love not having to pay attention to what is happening in the yard with the chickens and the dogs when I am caring for the rabbits. And, if the dogs bark at something the chickens go running to them. It is a riot.

The lady w/4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 5 meat rabbits, their kits and a lizard
 
citylife said:
I used 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 2 kinds of compost (mushroom & cow in my case) and 1/3 a cheaper miracle grow garden soil.
I do think the recipe in the below site is better I just could not afford the vermiculite.

http://www.pasturemanagement.com/Howtobucketgarden.htm

I used about an inch and a half of round rock and put it around the wicking cup and across the entire bottom to help stop the soil from going through the drain holes. In this heat I am filling the resivour and top watering daily as you can imagine.
Next year I want to have some kind of hog panel wall for the tomatoes, tomatillos, vine plants to grow in. You need something quite strong to hold some of these plants up and in a wind you really need some help.

The lady w/4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 5 meat rabbits, their kits and a lizard
Click to expand...
Thanks.
 
I also raise meat rabbits on this 1/2 acre property and am enjoying the benefits of the high quality of meat for the table and the great addition to my compost piles. I am extremely satisfied and pleasantly suprised at how easy and inexpensive it is to raise my own low calorie, low fat meat for my family. I also was not expecting the fact that you eat less rabbit then you do other meats. It is light, tastey, but more filling. My breed of choice converts its feed into muscle quite well. They are blocks of meat!
If anyone (in the KC area) is looking for meat rabbits or good breeding stock just let me know.
1834_snjrdoe8710.jpg


The 3 week old doe on the left is one that has caught my eye. She very likely will stay and be part of my breeding project. She has stood out since she was born.

the lady w/4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 5 meat rabbits, their kits, and a lizard
 
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