Solar Battery, More Mowing And Plans For Moving Sheep

So the battery kept the fence charger going all night. It only got down to about 75%. Today I plugged in a light for the chicks and a box fan for the coop. During the summer I run the fan 24/7. And since we're already getting summer like temps, I plugged it in. We'll see how the battery holds up with the light and fan added to the load.

Today I also did a lot of mowing at the side yard and around the house. Tomorrow I'm going to try and mow around the garden and along the electric fence. Actually, I'll probably do the fence line first. That's more important. The grass and weeds have already gotten high enough to be touching the bottom wire. I move a couple of posts inward where they've already chewed down the grass, mow where the posts were, and then move the posts back.

I'm actually thinking of moving a lot of the electrical fence to the other side of the property. I'd shorten the area a lot on this side, take the posts and wire to the other side of the property and set everything up there. I'd put the girl sheep over there and allow the boys on this side, out of their welded wire fenced area.

Then I could use the welded wire area be for the pigs when they have their babies. The electrical fence holds in the older pigs. But I'm sure the babies would be able to get right under it. And I don't want babies running wild on my property. Too dangerous. They could get hurt or lost. I'll also be able to separate the girls from Boris so he doesn't breed them again right away. I'd like to give them a little time before they get pregnant again.

Moving the girls to the other side of the property, I could do a little rotational grazing by moving the fence over after they've chewed down an area. Won't be able to move it far depending on how much wire I'll have. But it'll at least give one area time to recover while they graze another. I'll have to build the girls some kind of movable shelter though. Actually, no I won't. I'll be able to use the pig shelter since the girl pigs will have the boy sheeps old shelter. And I'll just have Boris in with the boy sheep.

Yes, I think this will work out very nicely.

I also let the biddies some free time in the coop today and did an update video.

Anyway, it's almost time for bedtime. Good night all and have a good one.

Setting Up My Solar System And Chicken Loss

So yesterday I received my charge controller and inverter in the mail. Yes, I went ahead and bought the inverter too. I figured the sooner I can use the solar power, the sooner I can start making my money back. Yesterday I was also able to mount the inverter and charge controller on the wall under our crawlspace. Our foundation is pretty high on this side of the house and I can stand up fully (5'9") so there is plenty of space there for the components and future battery bank.

Today I connected all of the wires and other components (solar panels, charge controller, battery, inverter, load). The load is the electric fence for our sheep and pigs. I then sat for a while just to be sure that nothing was going to start smoking or sparking. That might sound silly. But this is my first time setting up a complete system like this. I wanted to be careful.

As I sat and waited, I did a couple of short videos. They're only a minute long each because that's how long an instagram video is.

Still waiting to see how long the battery can power the fence charger. So far it's 11pm and it's only at 83% according to the app for the charge controller. I think maybe the fence charger and a couple of lights for the chickens is about all I'm going to be able to manage with this battery though. Now starts the slow climb of building up our battery bank.

Good news, though, is that I'm not going to have to order another charge controller. This one is an mppt charge controller and it adjusts the voltage and amps to suite your system. For example, it will take in higher watts from 24v panels (or a couple of my 12v panels in parallel) because the amps will be less. I can hook up all 8 of my 100w panels this way and run it through this one charge controller. But it will also bring the voltage and amps down to the proper level to charge my 12v battery.

In other news, I lost one of my orpington chickens today. He was really sluggish this morning and not wanting to stand. I thought maybe he had a vitamin E deficiency like one of the other chicks did when she was only a week old. So I gave him some vitamin E and a vitamin mix for birds. I then put him in one of the rabbit cages so he could rest without being bothered. But by the afternoon he had passed on.

Really sucks to lose one. Wish I could have done more for him but I had no idea what was wrong and went with the only solution I could think of. The only good things are that he was a rooster (comb color and size already developing) and I only need one rooster. Also I only ordered 10 chicks and they sent me 11. So he was kind of my extra. As long as I don't lose anymore, I can deal with the one loss. Some loss is to be expected. Just really sucks when they die and there's nothing you can do about it.

Ok, uploading those short videos to youtube took way too long. Yay for rural internet. (sour face) I gotta go to bed peoples. Night night and sleep tight.

Weedeating The Front Yard And More Seedlings Transplanted

It rained yesterday so I couldn't do any mowing today. But I did do some weedeating. I'm trying to get more of our front yard under control but it takes a while to knock it all down. It also take a lot of fuel. I went through a whole can of fuel (premixed fuel from Lowe's) just doing this little bit. Well, almost a whole can. There's still a little bit in the can but not enough to actually fill the tank.

Now that this part is knocked down, I can run over it with the mower and cut it up into smaller bits. I'll keep doing this over the summer until I get all the way down to the road. The area to the far right was the hardest to do. It's really wet there (standing water) and I can't mow over that part for obvious reasons.

One of our ducks is laying eggs in the nest box which is 2 feet up in the air. Didn't think any of them could get up in there but she does. She has also started to pull feathers for a nest. So I put some more shavings in the nest box and added some ducks eggs that had been laid on the floor. Maybe I can get her to go broody and we can have some babies.

I also got the rest of my sprouting seeds transplanted. But I'm going to have to redo my romaine lettuce AGAIN! I was in town yesterday and it was barely cloudy. The weather forecast was only 20% so I wasn't expecting really any rain at all. On the way home it started raining. By the time I got home (15 minutes from town) it was a downpour. And all my seedlings were flooded.

I was able to lay the cups on their sides and let some of the water drain out. I was able to pour out some from the kohlrabi. But the romaine seeds are so tiny that I really don't know if they're going to make it or not. I might try the romaine in the cups instead of the shallow trays. So far things are coming along really well in the cups.

Anyway, gonna go play some World of Warcraft for a little bit. Maybe have something more for dinner than just Vienna sausages. I'm just being really lazy this afternoon. Maybe I'll have some ramen. Nice and easy.

Take care all and have a good night.

The First Mowing Of The Year And Flowers Are Blooming

So the past couple of days I've been mowing the front yard and giving the grass clippings to the animals.

They are enjoying them so much that they are eating them before their hay.

I've also got several flowers in bloom.

I love all my irises but I can't decide if I like the dark purple or the rust orange more.

My knockout rose is also going bonkers and producing so many flowers that it's making the branches bend. You can see I have one of the branches tied to the post of the porch.

And last, but not least, is a foxglove that my daughter bought and died. Well, I guess it had some seeds because they've bloomed this year. Foxgloves are a biennial which means they were grow for a whole year, bloom the following spring and then die off. But they are also highly poisonous so don't let your animals around them.

Ok, I think I'm going to go to bed early. I've got a bad tooth that caused me not to sleep very good lately. I've got some swelling and tenderness in my gums and the doctor gave me some antibiotics for that. But I'm definitely going to have to find a local dentist to deal with this crap. Tooth extractions are always expensive and I've put this one off for as long as I can.

K, have a good night all and take care.

Chicken Tractor And Paving Stones

Got the chicken tractor done.... Sort of. I forgot to buy hinges and a latch so instead I just screwed the wire in place. It will keep the chickens in and whatever else out.

They will be in there about a week before I move them to the pasture or front yard. Haven't decided yet. This time will also give them time to see this as their new home and help to till up my garden space some more. There are 12 chickens in there which would be too crowded if that was all they had. But once they start free ranging this will just be for food, water, nest boxes and sleeping.

I also got some pavers put in the girl sheeps' shelter. As you can tell, I'm going to need a lot more.

I also did some mowing of the front yard. Not much. Just enough to fill up the catch bag and give it to the animals. The pigs and ducks are enjoying their piles. The boy sheeps and the rabbits are pretty much ignoring theirs. But it is a bit warm today so they're hiding in the shade.

And now I need to eat dinner, feed the livestock and then transplant some sprouted seeds into some cups. The cucumbers in the cups I did yesterday are already starting to come up. Hopefully I'll be about to transplant them into the garden this weekend.

Take care all.

Making A Trellis and Planting Seed Sprouts

Been doing some work outside today. First I finished putting the wire on the top of the chicken tractor. I also bought and cut some wood to build the door. I didn't take a picture though because I'll do that tomorrow when I finish the tractor.

But I did use some more of the wire to make trellises.

And then I planted my pumpkin seedlings. The only seedlings to survive this crazy spring and all the rain.

I also transplanted some of the sprouted seeds into plastic cups. I figure this will give them a little more 'leg' room before I need to put them outside. These are zucchini and cucumbers so far. I will do some other varieties as they sprout.

One other thing that has started to sprout is the red romaine. But there were so many and they were so small that I wouldn't have been able to transplant them individually. So instead I tore the paper towel in half, laid each one in a container with some coconut coir seed starter mix and then sprinkled a little more on top and watered it in.

But that was pretty much my day. How was yours?

Solar Stuff And Duck/Chicken Stuff

So I haven't posted in over a week. Haven't really had much to post about. The solar inverter worked fine in everything except the solar part. It wouldn't even read that their was any solar power coming in at all. And I know the solar panels work because I checked each one with a multimeter. So I sent it back and have been waiting for the money to go back to my card. It finally has and now I need to order a whole new system.

I'm not going to try any short cuts this time. I'm going for the tried and true system of solar panels, a charge controller, batteries and an inverter. Trouble is, it's going to be a lot more expensive. For example, I'm going to have to get two charge controllers. My panels put out enough amps that I can get a charge controller that can handle 40amps and should be able to handle 4 of my solar panels. There are charge controllers that can handle all 8 of my panels. But they're not very common and so are very expensive. More expensive then buying two separate 40amp controllers.

So just a little while ago I ordered one mppt charge controller and a bluetooth thing that attaches to it so I can monitor the system from inside my house. Yes, simply a thing of convenience. But I'm much more likely to check that more often than I am to climb under our house and check the controller itself. The controller is from Renogy, a popular name in the solar world so I should be good to go. Mppt is important because they help to use your solar panels more efficiently.

Then once I've got that mostly paid off, I'll order an pure sine wave inverter. Renogy does have one in my price range. But I'm not sure if I'm going to get that or a Vertamax inverter. They're also supposed to be really good too. Pure sine wave is better than modified sine wave because the power fluctuates less and you have less chance of having a power spike.

I'm only ordering components that have really high ratings and lots of them. I'm tired of messing around. I want my solar power!

In other news, I'm slowly working on my garden. I've lost most of my seedlings that I've started so far because of this weird weather and late season frosts. I think I also started most of them too early and they've been in those toilet paper rolls for too long. Not enough space to grow for very long. So I've restarted a lot of them in baggies. I've got several things sprouting in the baggies and we should (SHOULD) be past the frosts. I'll put plastic bottles over them at night just in case.

As you can see from this picture, the chicks in the chicken tractor have been 'preparing' part of the garden for me. I've also bought some u-posts and fence wire to use as trellises. I need to finish putting those up. I can also use that same wire to finish the duck tractor. Not sure if I should use it for the ducks or for chickens. Eventually I want to have everybody out on pasture but just not sure if the chickens should go first or the ducks. I'm also not sure how far the ducks will wander so I'm a little nervous about that.

Yeah, I think I'll put the chickens out there first. The ducks have their kiddie pool in the pen area and I'd like to monitor if the hens go broody.

Anyway, like I said. Not really much going on to report. Just been waiting for the money from that other inverter to be returned on my credit card, researching solar components and slowly getting the garden in order. Not very exciting stuff. Just a lot of looking and waiting.

Oh, something slightly interesting (at least to me) is that I've been trimming the sheeps' hooves and putting some medicine on them for hoof rot. With this extremely wet winter/spring, the sheep have been in danger of hoof rot since our property holds water like a sponge. One of the girls were limping the other day so we grabbed her and tried to treat her foot. You're supposed to put these rubber booties on their feet and put the medicine in that. But those wouldn't stay on so I just put the stuff straight on her hooves. But after the hoof trim and cleaning, she was already walking much better. I was able to do one other girl the next day by myself and I'll do the last one today. Then I'll get the boys done. But the boys area stays fairly dry so they should be ok. But I'm sure they still need a trim.

I'm also going to get some stone pavers for the girls' shelter. That way they'll have some place dry to stand and walking on the stone will help to keep their hooves trimmed down. I'm not going to do it for the boys because their shelter faces the sun and I'm afraid laying on the stones in the sun will make them too warm.

Ok, gotta go feed the animals soon so I'm going to go and finish my own breakfast. Take care all and have a good day.