Farm and Garden

[racsan]

Wish mine could free-range all the time, dont think im in any danger of mink but theres plenty of hawks in the area and I see eagles at least twice a week within a few miles of the house. Back when I set cat food out for the wandering night life (figured keeping the neighbors cats passing through might help keep the mice at bay) I would see not only cats visiting but raccoons and the occasional possum, I dont mind possums but dont want the coons so I quit putting food out. One bay of the garage is about to be set up for a new batch of chicks, black star or rhode islands. While it is cool to see eagles, its not so cool that they are a predatory threat to my chickens, and possibly the yorkie.

 

[racsan]

Well today was a busy day. I bought a new 6 x 14 trailer, checked out a consignment auction that happens tomorrow, and made the rounds to 4 different “farm” stores in search of chickens. Rural king had the ones I wanted so I brought 6 home and set up a nusery in the garage. One isnt very active, hope they all make it. The birds were 3.99 each. Wanted some rhode island reds but they were out. the black sex link birds we got are a crossbreed that includes the rhode island. Two of last years birds are the black sex link and are excellent hardy birds. Now to get a new chicken house built, the small coop will go to the new batch of birds once they are ready to leave the garage pen. Last year I bought the same mini water trough that rural king uses for their chicks, works well and much safer than a big cardboard box with a heat lamp inside.

 

[sgtsandman]

I eventually want to get some chickens. I'll have to use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire since we have raccoons and coyotes here. The plan is to put the coop under the Silver Maple and have the run come out the side out from under the canopy so they can get some sun if they want. I'll have to see once I get an idea how many chickens we want and how big the coop will be. That will dictate how big I can make the run.

 

[Roert42]

I liked our ducks, they pretty much kept to themselves and chased bugs.

 

[Curious Hound]

I've heard they don't get along well with rabbits.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

A couple weeks ago I put in a door sill and moved the door up so it is easier to shut. What got them this last time was the ground keeps heaving with the cold/warm cycles and the door catches on the dirt floor. Normally not a big deal, I go chip a little with the spade and get it shut for her. Well that last time we had a big storm coming in, I was busy putting vehicles away and got caught in a weird hail storm with a ton of lightning. I forgot about the chickens and just ran into the house once the vehicles were squared away. So a mink killed all the chickens.

Before, you can see how the door drags.



So I dug it out (been waiting for the ground to thaw) and screwed a recycled pressure treated 2x12 to the beams.



Stacked another 2x12 above that.



Then backfilled, cut the hole in the wall out more to move the door up (which was way too short for me) and filled around the door to keep critters out.





Then added a nice latch and auto-returns spring so no matter what the door will at least shut on its own.



Anyway yesterday I thought I would be proactive and get the planter out so I could start working on it. Its been sitting a couple years. So I go out and sure enough the tires are flat. So I sneak the Ranger over and pump them up with the 12v compressor. One took air, the other went up but went back down. Neat, I will pull it out of the weeds and check it out so I go to get the first tractor out of the barn to give it a tug which is my C. Set the battery in and go to bump the shifter to neutral and it doesn't move, my hand bumps off and catches the setcrew on the throttle and I get a neat gash. Check into it and think maybe the tractor is putting pressure on it so I give it a rock and the sucker won't move. Apparently the one time it rained last summer it got water in the trans and it froze. Not a big deal but nothing can move inside the trans at the moment. And it is blocking the other two tractors in the barn.

Ok whatever, I will just pull the tire off there. I get my hi lift and get to work. Nope, planter is froze to the ground.

So we admit defeat on that. Basically out of time anyway, I needed to go finish up on the chicken house. Pick up all the traps from my failed attempt at catching the mink, cutting down the old roost they never used and getting the tractors and heat lamps set up for this years batch.



And we booted out the ducks and the first batch of chickens.

 

[RumPunch]

Supposed to be getting a Wizard mower from a co worker. Hoping to get it running with minimal effort just looks fun to tinker with. Anyone have much info? Internet is absolutely lacking on this STYLE from them. Found one matching design grill on a Montgomery Ward but incorrect deck/HP rating. That looked to be a Gilson made. This I leaned towards MTD but the tag has MDT which makes no sense.. either way for $50 I figured I’d try it. Yeah I’m getting the oil jug too.

 

[Curious Hound]

Supposed to be getting a Wizard mower from a co worker. Hoping to get it running with minimal effort just looks fun to tinker with. Anyone have much info? Internet is absolutely lacking on this STYLE from them. Found one matching design grill on a Montgomery Ward but incorrect deck/HP rating. That looked to be a Gilson made. This I leaned towards MTD but the tag has MDT which makes no sense.. either way for $50 I figured I’d try it. Yeah I’m getting the oil jug too.
View attachment 90348View attachment 90349View attachment 90350View attachment 90351View attachment 90352

I like the happy face on the front.

 

[Blmpkn]

Well today was a busy day. I bought a new 6 x 14 trailer, checked out a consignment auction that happens tomorrow, and made the rounds to 4 different “farm” stores in search of chickens. Rural king had the ones I wanted so I brought 6 home and set up a nusery in the garage. One isnt very active, hope they all make it. The birds were 3.99 each. Wanted some rhode island reds but they were out. the black sex link birds we got are a crossbreed that includes the rhode island. Two of last years birds are the black sex link and are excellent hardy birds. Now to get a new chicken house built, the small coop will go to the new batch of birds once they are ready to leave the garage pen. Last year I bought the same mini water trough that rural king uses for their chicks, works well and much safer than a big cardboard box with a heat lamp inside. View attachment 89255View attachment 89256View attachment 89257

If chickens stayed that small and fluffy and cute I would literally have 10,000 of them

 

[racsan]

They aint as cute now. but they are thriving!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Got all the tractors out of the barn so if needed I can cram vehicles in there for spring/summer/fall storms again.

Started sorting in the garage and had an idea, offered to see if dad would want to help me break this Oliver loose. Getting kind of tired of weed eating around the thing. He happened to be driving by and swung in so we got to it.

He made a hose eons ago that connects the hydraulics from one tractor to the spark plug threads of another for to break them loose. Don't get crazy on pressure and generally at worse you blow a head gasket and at that point she is stuck enough who cares.

So since I had my JD B out (A-C ran a crazy high hydraulic pressure so my other two were out) we made it happen... and nothing happened. Switched from #3 to #4 and neato, we have hydraulic oil coming out the exhaust pipe.

So we were done....

Or are we?

Dad pulled the thermostat housing and I rattled off the manifold and headbolts with the impact.



Bores are scummy but smooth. Hone and go.

Headgasket wasn't blown and nothing seems to be broken from freezing. It did hold coolant like it was supposed to.

Copious amounts of trash in the bores though. Like rust flakes I am guessing from the exhaust manifold. Even if it broke loose it would have probably screwed the valves up more than they already are. Our current theory is the valves are not seating enough to hold much of any pressure. The B didn't pull down at all when we were putting it to it like the hydraulics were deadheading against something, we were almost questioning if it was working right.









So I loads it up and take to my dad's shop so we can touch up the valves and clean up the head.



It is so weird, it looks "oh my god" terrible but for the most part it just wipes off.



So we are staying cautiously optimistic.

And I heard "you broke the top off my tractor" at supper from my kid tonight. So I bust up laughing and I get "you did do it!"



And it is his, I just want to get it running and moving so I can move it around and do light odd jobs with it. If it turns out to be a smoker we can rebuild it later for 4H or whatever if he wants to. I am just trying to make something out of it and make it somewhat useful until it is his turn. And if I get it going now it will be easier to deal with later. Its already sat 20+ years (I last remember it running in 2001), sitting another 10 won't do it any favors.

 

[Curious Hound]

Actually sounds like a fun day. Tinkering around with tractors on a beautiful, sunny day. Would be different if you were under pressure to get it running because you have to get the fields tilled and planted by a certain time.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Actually sounds like a fun day. Tinkering around with tractors on a beautiful, sunny day. Would be different if you were under pressure to get it running because you have to get the fields tilled and planted by a certain time.

Yeah, this thing has been sitting there for two years now. Really don't need it for anything. Doesn't have much more power than the B and doesn't have any hydraulics so I don't have a ton of stuff to do with it. Basically just a tug or running my shredder.

Kinda stressful though, I need to be pulling the heads off my Ranger not the lawn ornament... and yet here we are lol.

 

[Roert42]

I would be willing to wager that the B has infinitely more power the the Oliver.

 

[racsan]

more low end tourque anyways. The oliver has more gears, at least I think that one is a split H pattern. Not sure if that B is just a 3-speed or if it has a hi/low lever. My dad had 2 different “A”s, one was a 3-speed flywheel start & the other he still has is a ‘49 with the hi/low & electric start. Hard to beat the old twin-cyl deeres, the A is a bit thirsty on fuel though. 321 cid out of 2 cylinders. 980 governed engine speed. The B runs a bit more rpms, 1200 I think.