Ergo Rail - You need it and it's easy to install

A while back I won a drawing at American Preppers. The original item was supposed to be an aluminum Bulldog case but that item was backordered and seemed like it would never come in, so they told me I could select something else of equal value from the same vendor. I'd like to thank American Preppers VERY much.

I picked a mounting rail from Ergo. The one I selected is a 6" aluminum rail designed to go on standard or M4 style handguards on ARs in case you don't have a fancy quad rail free float handguard on your rifle.

Here it is after I took it out of the package. It comes with three allen head screws, mounting plates that serve as a combination nut and washer, and three little ladder cover sections.


The first step is to remove the lower half of the handguard. Some fit tighter than others. This one was a good deal all around because it came off easily by pushing down the ring but it doesn't wiggle around when it's installed. Here is a pic of after removing the lower half of the handguard.



The instructions say that the screws are long enough to go through a single heat shield but not a double heat shield. This particular upper was a midlength with a Cav Arms fat M4 profile handguard with a single heat shield. I think this model has the single shield mounted farther away from the handguard itself because as you can see in the pic the screws don't come close to being long enough.


I have installed rails like this on M4 double heat shield handguards and sometimes it is a pain because the upper heat shield is glued in. In that case I used a screwdriver and pliers to bend the inner shield up far enough to let the nuts slide into place and then bent the shield back down after tightening the screws. The heat shields may give you trouble aligning after all that bending so be patient and don't give up.

In this case I had to remove the single heat shield. On these Cav Arms handguards they don't use glue. Instead the heat shield locks into notches in the handguard. I used a screwdriver to pry the heat shield out. Here is what it looks like.


Then I put the screws through the rail and installed the little nut/washer combination mounting plates inside.


Next, I put the heat shield back inside the handguard. Here is what that looks like from the inside.

You can see that the little mounting plates are very close to the heat shield. In fact the one on the right in the pic above hit the shield and made it difficult to get the shield to lock into the notch in the handguard. I put a screwdriver blade against the shield and hit the screwdriver handle with the palm of my hand a few times and knocked it into place. The slight damage is hidden when everything is assembled.


Here is what the lower handguard looks like with the rail on it.



The next question was: What to mount on it to check it out? I have an old Surefire G2 with a Cree drop-in conversion in the drawer and some Warne quick detachable 1" rings sitting around taking up space so I used them.

One thing is apparent right away: I need to add a front side sling mount. They are inexpensive and easy to install but I didn't have one handy when I took the pics.

How does the combination work? Lets see.

In the pic above I was 5 long steps from the front door. You can see the circular outline of the spill beam. The pic doesn't show how bright the light really is. The shadow at the top of the spill beam is from the barrel. There were no sights or optics on the upper so I just rested the camera on top of the rail so I don't know if the picture was taken from the same height above the bore that your eye would be when using sights. I mention that because the hot spot in the center is a little below the front sight post and I don't know if the light is really aimed a little low at that distance or if it just looks like it because of the camera location.

Here I stepped back 2 or 3 more long steps. The hot spot looks centered better but again, I may have had the camera further forward or backward on the receiver. Something that is apparent from the pic below is that with a wide spill beam like this you can identify a person or check out a stranger out at night without pointing your rifle directly at them.

The top and bottom of this particular handguard are almost parallel to each other and the bore so the light isn't aimed up much if any. If I decide I need the light up a little I can pull the center and rear screws and add a washer under the middle of the rail and two washers under the rear end to tilt the light up a little. Like most things that is a compromise because it can't be perfect at every distance. That light is good for 30 to 40 yards max so I'm sure I can find a way to make me happy.

When the rail is mounted at 6 o'clock like this a light with a pushbutton tailcap is not the best solution. The Streamligh TLR-1 or the Insight lights are much better because their switches were disigned to be operated when mounted like this. I'd like to get an angled offset rail so I can mount the light off to the side and make it easier to operate. For that matter I'd like to have a free float quadrail but sometimes I have to settle for good enough. These are good enough.

Ergo is not the only place that makes this type of rail. MI also makes very nice rails. The price on the aluminum rails runs from about $15 to about $25 depending on brand and the length of the rail.

You can also mount these on other firearms. With a little tinkering (and maybe some different screws and/or epoxy) you could easily put one on your lever action rifle or pump or single shot shotgun. All you need are some holes that are more or less in line with the bore.

These are a good way to mount a light on your rifle without spending a lot of money. They also make great gifts.

No STD's listed in the Electronic Health Record

You can opt out of listing STD's and abortions in your EHR. Isn't that nice. No surprise that this comes from someone named Kennedy. Kennedy's have to be able to cover their indiscretions somehow.

The scary part to me is not that you can hide when you cheat on your spouse so much as the fact that EHRs will exist at all. I love this part:

The law says that doctors, hospitals and other health care providers must create an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for every American by 2014 or else face deductions in their Medicare payments. The EHRs are supposed to be integrated into a national health care IT system where health-care providers nationwide as well as the government would have the ability to access them when authorized.

" . . . the goernment would have the ability to access them when authorized." LOL. The question is: When would the government NOT be authorized to access EHRs? Probably for moslems, acorn members, government officials, and anyone that makes a big enough campaign contribution.

I wonder how long it will be before the records of opposition candidates start being leaked to the press right before elections? Surely people at Tea Party's would never have their records opened to the public, right?

Ah, the benefits of socialism.

Main production hens molting at our place

We have 6 White Leghorns that have been our main egg layers because the other birds aren't up to full production, yet. While we were on vacation it rained every day. Even though we had people coming over to check on them it rained so much that a lot of their food was ruined before they could eat it. Between being on short rations and the weather and the shorter days these ladies have started molting.

The pen looks like someone blew up a chicken in it. There are enough feathers to make 3 pillows. The bad part is that they have stopped laying. The Rhode Island Reds are also suffering from stress because they have just about quit laying as well.

We had to buy eggs from the store this past weekend!!! That's the first time in a long time we've had to do that.

The black chickens and the mixed ones we hatched are not quite old enough to start laying. Hopefully the stress didn't set them back very long so they can start laying soon.

Fortunately, we have some eggs frozen so we aren't that short. We haven't tried cooking the frozen eggs but we have made some muffins with them and they seemed to be fine. When the ladies get back on the job I will probably freeze more of them, especially next summer before they molt.

Our process for freezing eggs is to break an egg into a bowl. Stir up the yolk and white. Pour the egg into a plastic cupcake liner. Ours are the reusable, plastic liners for individual cupcakes. They are stiff enough to stand up and hold about one egg each. We put a bunch of liners on a cookie sheet and put one egg in each. Then set the tray into the freezer. When they are frozen you peel off the liners and put the "egg cupcakes" into a ziplock freezer bag or you can vacuum seal them. Then put them in the freezer and you have a supply of eggs when your chickens molt.

Let's just spend our way out of an economic crisis.

Yeah, that will work. The President said it would.

Good luck with that.

I think this just about covers it:

U.S. budget deficits will continue to pile up in the next decade, eventually reaching an unsustainable level that may result in an economic collapse, according to Richard Duncan, author of “The Dollar Crisis.”

The U.S. has little chance of resolving its deteriorating financial position because the manufacturing industry continues to shrink, leaving the nation with few goods to export, said Duncan, now at Singapore-based Blackhorse Asset Management.

Sounds like a good argument for preparing for the worst. How can you prepare for an economic collapse?

The usual stuff will help:

Get out of debt.

Store up some food and have some means of producing more food.

Get the training and tools to protect your family and your resources.

Learn skills that will allow you make some kind of income in a bad economic times.

Start getting yourself in better physical condition. You may be forced to take a job that requires more physical effort than you are used to now so the sooner you start the better off you will be. Another benefit of getting in better shape is that you will have a better chance of living long enough to see your grandchildren or even great-grandchildren.

I am no expert of any kind on this but I think a good approach is to imagine you just lost your job and that there are few prospects of other employement in that field. Then look at your situation and start thinking about the problems you will face. Then start thinking about what you can do to head off those problems now while you still have an income.

Reduce debt if you can. If you have a problem that you know is coming in your house or vehicle then think about fixing it now while you can better afford it. Get a physical. Get your teeth cleaned and checked out. Get your eyes checked and if you need corrective lenses then get a couple of spare pairs of glasses.

There are plenty of books and websites that can give you more detailed info that I can if you just look around a little. The important thing is to take the time to look around. A little effort now can make things easier in the future. Even without a gloom and doom collapse you will be better off.

London Fashion: What is wrong with these people!?

I know little about fashion. I like pants and shorts with cargo pockets and I like heavy duty shoes or boots that will protect my feet. I don't care what they look like. I could probably buy my entire wardrobe at Gebo's and be satisfied.

However, I know enough to say that these people at a London fashion show look funny. In fact, they look like something out of a 1970's sci-fi TV show. Maybe from the Battlestar Galactica or Buck Rogers in the 25th Century series.

This one looks like a heroin addict with a tie-dyed Komondor on her head.


This one is proof that zombies do walk the earth. People don't wear outfits like that around here except at Halloween - any other time and someone would shoot them.


The guy on the left looks like a zombie wearing road kill. The one in the middle is C3P0 crossed with a pregnant woman that wants to be a drum major. I think the one on the right is Olive Oil (from Popeye) except she's got the tin-foil hat on the wrong end.

The one on the left loved Devo as a child and the one on the right can't decide if he wants to be a jet fighter pilot or a state trooper.


Guys, I guarantee that if you wear these as camouflage in Afghanistan the Taliban will stay FAR away from you. The one on the right reminds me of the time Mick Jagger got lost in an Army-Navy surplus store.

If these are examples of fashion then I think I'd prefer to be out of style, although the zombie outfit would be neat for Halloween.

So the President is "suntanned"

So says Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy.

Is this guy really as dumb as the Vice President, or is he just trying to help the American people to not feel so stupid for electing an idiot to be our President?

Humor from the article:

"I bring you greetings from a person who is called...a person who is sun-tanned...Barack Obama," the smiling 72-year-old politician told a crowd of cheering supporters in Milan on Sunday.

"You wouldn't believe it, but they go sunbathing at the beach together - his wife is also sun-tanned."

Is he trying to say that there is something wrong with a man sunbathing at the beach with his wife? With Berlusconi's record I guess that he thinks a man should leave his wife at home so he can sunbathe with his mistress.

I will give the man credit for not being PC:

Later that month he reiterated the remark, saying that anyone who found it racist had no sense of humour and was an "imbecile".

I don't know what to make of the comments on the whole, but the article gave me a chuckle.

"Idiot of the Day" Awards

From this article about flooding in the southeast.

At least two people were missing, including a Tennessee man who went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a $5 dare and a 15-year-old Georgia teen who never returned from a swim in the surging Chattooga River.

The guy from TN won big, didn't he?

I have a question about that: If someone says "Hold my bear and watch this" and then is swept away by the current in the flooded ditch he just went into over a $5 bet, what do you do with the beer?

Both of these clowns deserve the "Idiot of the Day" Award.

Runner up awards go to the idiots I saw on the TV who went out in the flood in their bass boat. Apparently their motor died (or maybe the current was too strong) and in the video I saw the boat was swirling around and it bumped into a partially submerged fence and the guys in the boat were trying to hold onto the fence so the boat wouldn't be swept away. I don't know what happened to those guys. If they survived they may have learned something.

Don't go out in a flood for fun. Don't go in a car, don't go on foot, don't go swimming, and don't go in your fishing boat. I thought everyone knew that but I guess not. Maybe their parents just never told them not go play in flood waters.

You may have to get out in high water to try and save a loved one or if you are somehow caught by surprise and have to move to higher ground. In those situations you do what you have to do but make no mistake - it is not fun and should not be treated as a carnival ride.

Have you ever driven a diesel locamotive?

We went to the Southeastern Railway Museum and I rode in the cab of one of their diesel locos with my two oldest. Here are a few short videos. I've got another couple of videos and some stills to upload later. I would have more pics but I used all the memory on the videos and we didn't have the laptop with us. I really need to get more memory cards.











If you like trains this is a neat place to go.

I've been away for a week . . .

. . . in case you hadn't guessed by the lack of activity. Went to visit inlaws. I thought they had an internet connection. They do, sort of. It claims to be a 50k dialup but I think it is more like 5k dialup. You can wait 15 minutes for it to find a login page, then wait 15 minutes after you enter your login info. At that point it will tell you that the server could not be found and you have to start over. I gave up after a couple of tries.

I hope to have some interesting stuff to post soon but I'm still catching up on stuff around here.

The kind of 9/11 memorial we need

Why didn't we rebuild the Twin Towers, except make them 10 floors taller?

That would be a memorial that would really mean something. It would say that if destroy a symbol of this nation is such a dramatic fashion that we will build it back bigger and better.

Camped out with the kids last weekend

We were in the back yard. Being out of the city it is closer to camping than you think. Here is a pic of our little tent.

One thing we did was have a fire and cook hotdogs and marshmellows over it. It had rained hard earlier in the day and everything was very damp and humid. I thought I'd try out a Coleman Fire Starter. It is a block of magnesium with a flint epoxied to the side and a steel striker attached on a chain.

One problem with this item as it comes out of the package is that the chain is too short. With the steel still attached to the chain you can barely move the steel enough to scrape off the magnesium dust and there is not way you could strike well enough to get sparks. Seems to me that the reason for the little chain is to keep you from losing the little steel scraper/striker so having to take the steel off the chain defeats that purpose. For that matter I don't like or trust the little ball chains. They are fine for light switches in unfinished garages but I don't like to depend on them. When I have a few minutes I'm going to throw that little chain away and replace it with either paracord or maybe 50lb test fishing line. I'll make sure I have enough length to use the tool without separating the pieces.

To use the tool you first scrape off a little pile of magnesium dust or chips. Use plenty, especially if you have trouble finding dry tinder. The little pile will burn hot but it burns very fast. Check out the wet spots on my shirt - I told you it was humid.

Now you put your little pile down near some dry stuff and scrape some sparks into it. It takes a little practice to get the sparks to go near where you want them to, or at least it did for me.



When you hit the pile of shavings with enough sparks this is the result. The fire wasn't near as close to my boot as it looks in that pic.

Pics of the Hi-Cap Chicken Feeder

Here is a pic of the base. You can see where I folded the edges over to cover the sharp ends. The wire is to keep it from tipping over. When it is filled to the top it could get unstable.


Here is an overall view. I can add more pipe to make it taller if I want to. The idea is to hold enough feed that I can take off for a few days and not worry too much about them.


Here is how it looks with the bucket on top. I suspect that the chickens will soon be using it as a roost. When that happens the support wires will be even more important.


Here is a pic of the waterer with the air release valve added. That adds another $3 or so to the cost but it is still much cheaper than one you buy at the store, especially if you have some of the pieces left over from some other project.

What could possibly be worth all this trouble? Here are some of them now. These are Black Australorps. They are a little difficult to see in there without the flash on the camera. The shelter they are sitting in was a doghouse that I picked up for free on craigslist. I added a little door in the side to make it easy to get the eggs out. We don't have to enter the cage except when we are taking out the fertilizer.


Jimmy the Screwdriver at Prepare Your Family asked a couple of questions in the comments on a previous post:

Q: Do you think it will hold up?
A: I think they will probably rust out sooner than a store bought one but I don't really know how well they will last. If it starts rusting right away I might paint the outside with latex exterior paint to see if that will help.

Q: How many chickens?
A: We have a total of about 45. Some Black Australorps, some Rhode Island Reds, some White Leghorns, and some mixed. About 10 or 12 are roosters and some are not old enough for me to tell yet. We plan to keep about 4 or 5 roosters for breeding and cook the rest. We have one cage with just Black Australorps and one with just White Leghorns. I want to try and raise some of each just to see how they turn out. The Reds are in another cage with some more Whites. We bought 6 straight run Red chicks and two were killed in a hailstorm so we ended up with 4 red hens and no red rooster. If I can find just one red rooster I'll probably buy him just so I can have matching sets for breeding.

Hi-cap Chicken Feeder

I built a couple of hi-cap chicken feeders this weekend. I don't have pics here but I'll try to post them tonight.

I started with 6 foot long 7" diameter A/C conduit and cut it in half to make two 3 foot tall feeders. I cut rectangles out of the bottom of the "pipe" with snips. The result looks like the top of a turret on a castle with several tabs sticking up. I used pliers to fold the edges where I cut them so they are smooth and won't cut people or chickens.

Then I folded the end of each of the tabs down and punched a hole in it using a concrete nail as a punch. I had some pressure treated lumber to use as a base and a new plastic oil pan to keep the feed from being scattered too easily. I put deck screws through the holes in the tabs and the oil pan into the wood. That gives a little weight at the bottom and raises the pan up off the ground. I drilled a number of small holes in the pan to drain out any rain that gets in so the pan won't fill up.

I wired them into the corners of the pens and currently have a couple of spare plastic buckets to cover the top to keep birds/rodents/chickens/rain out.

When I have time and money I'm going to add an elbow to the top and have it come out the side of the pen so we can fill the feeders from outside the cage. I'll have to build a cover of some kind to keep birds and rodents out. Maybe some of the leftover steel roof material with wire for hinges and a wire to keep it shut.

Then we will be able to feed and water the chickens and get the eggs without having to go inside the cage. That is nice when it rains.

Easy Fill Chicken Waterer Update and Improvement

There is one major problem with the Easy Fill Waterer that I made. That is air getting trapped in the bucket when you are filling it. You will see the lid of the bucket start to bulge and you have to stop putting water in for a second or two to let the air escape. One that I built had a smaller inlet fitting and it would burp water out the top of the spout. This makes filling take longer and you waste more water.

My solution was to add a second pipe with a valve to let the air out. I made the air release pipe lower than the fill pipe. I used 1/2" PVC but you could use something much smaller if you have it available. I added the same kind of valve and the same gasket to seal the top. The procedure is to open both valves and put the hose in the large diameter pipe. When water comes out the air release pipe then shut off the valve on it. You can add a little more water to fill up the fill pipe and shut that valve. It is a useful improvement.

I also made a mistake on one of these. When I was going to drill the holes in the bucket someone had left a bit in the drill. It was a little bigger than what I used before but I thought it wouldn't matter and I made the same four holes in the bucket to let the water out. Turns out the holes were too big and water would flow out almost as fast as I could put it in with the hose turned on all the way. Simple solution was to make a pair of plugs out of cork. I opened the lid and put the corks in from the inside. I put them on the sides of the water pan that face the walls in the corner of the pen. I don't know that chickens will stick their heads under to try and peck at the corks but they do lots of dumb things so I wouldn't put anything past them. With any kind of animal it is always best to plan for them to do the worst and most destructive things.

One of our hatchlings has become a serious pecker and is going after the tail feathers of a number of others in that bunch. They are not quite big enough to go into the freezer yet so we let them run loose for the first time this weekend. I'm hoping that with more room to move around they can avoid the pecker until it's big enough to eat. If this doesn't work then we may have to slaughter it sooner. I don't thing they ever went more than 20 yards from the pen and were all inside when we went to collect them about 10 minutes after sunset. They are a mixed lot and we were given the fertilized eggs so I'm not too worried if we lose one or two to predators. If any are taken I hope it is the roosters.

One Racist Out - The Rest of the Administration to Go

So the loony-toon, racist, communist Van Jones has resigned.



GOOD!! It's about time.

Seriously, this goofball reminds me of an audio book I listened to. There was a radical, nation of Islam, black power, racist black guy giving the white protagonist a ration and finally the black guy asks "Are you a racist?" The white guy responds "I wasn't until now." That's the way crazy radicals like Van Jones make me feel.

I'm glad he's officially gone from the administration but he will still have power and influence. He is too close to the philosophy of the so-called "Reverend Wright" for the President to ignore him for long.

I guess having a tax cheat as the head of the treasury isn't enough to get the American people riled up, but this clown was. Now the radicals in congress can see a line in the sand. They will have to try and push it back and go around it. Just watch. The craziness of this administration and this congress haven't been reduced.

My better half pointed out the fact that his one good point was this: He was fun to pick on and poke fun at. I didn't post about him here but we had plenty of laughs at his expense. Well, there is still the President, his wife, Pelosi, Reid, and plenty of other radicals that will have to take up the slack.

Teen unemployement over 25% - highest on record

This is another benefit of unlimited illegal immigration.

Used to be that many kids got their first job flipping burgers or making/delivering pizza. In many areas that is not the case these days.

Higher unemployment for low skilled or inexperienced (or teeneage) workers goes hand in hand with a higher minimum wage.

If you have young children you must make sure they learn how to work. I don't mean that you need to teach them a particular skill although that is great, too. I mean that you must teach them to show up on time or early, and dressed appropriately for whatever the job is. You must teach them to accomplish their task on time or early and to handle the little things that come up. Teach them to show enthusiasm for the job even if they don't feel it and to jump in on a new task and try to figure it out. You have to teach them how to treat customers.

Kids used to learn this stuff doing low wage jobs. These days parents will have to teach this.

You think our President's wife is a wacko?

We're not as bad off as Japan.

LOL. This chick is crazy.

From the article:

The wife of Japan's incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, claimed in a book called "Most Bizarre Things I've Encountered" that she flew in a UFO to Venus in the 1970s, where she made fast friends with the natives

I wonder if they performed any experiments on her?

More:

(She) says that she was friends long ago with Tom Cruise, whom she knew in a previous life when he was Japanese.

Now I don't feel quite so bad about the President's wife.

Now it's Maine's Turn

The governor has declared a "civil emergency" because of swine flu.

From the article:

The emergency designation protects schools and health care providers against liability claims related to their participation in school-based vaccine clinics this fall for both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu.

Uh-huh. They want to make sure they can't be held liable for any bad results.

So how many people in ME have the swine flu? Are the hospitals overwhelmed?

Is there really anything to be concerned about or is the government using this as an excuse?

Maybe this is the "good crisis" that they don't want to waste, so to speak.

America

No Death Panels in socialist countries, huh?

Sounds like there are to me.

There must be a way to stop this nonsense.

My New Shirt

I was playing around on customink.com and came up with this:


That website and others like it could be a lot of fun. I haven't ordered yet and haven't even checked the prices so I can't help you out there.

UN seed vault

It's nice to know that someone is planning a little ahead and storing up seeds.

It's a shame they are using "global warming" as a reason. The UN chief Ban Ki-moon said:

"The world faces many daunting challenges today, one of the greatest of which is how to feed a growing population in the context of climate change,"

Oh please!!

The seed vault is a good thing but let's not go overboard with the nonsense, ok?

Someone in MA is afraid of the swine flu . . .

. . . Or maybe they've just found a new justification to expand the power of the government.

Here is the link to the text of the bill.

Here is the link to the story on WND.

You can read the bill and the story. It covers a wide range of powers to force people to evacuate and "to destroy any material;". That is actually in the bill.

Of course people will say "whatever it takes to keep the public safe" and "it's for the children" and that sort of thing. When someone mentions "public safety" then I guess we should just throw everything else out the window.

It's not just against the public:

to require instate health care providers to assist in the performance of vaccination, treatment, examination, or testing of any individual as a condition of licensure, authorization, or the ability to continue to function as a health care provider in the commonwealth;

So if a doctor doesn't think a particular vaccination is a good idea he will be forced to do that?

Seems to me that this "pandemic" is similar to the "war on drugs" in that it is being used to justify almost anything. When the public panics there is a real danger that the government will get out of control.

Helping my grandpa keep bugs out of his garden

When I was a youngster, maybe 6 or 7 years old my grandpa wanted help getting the stinkbugs out of his garden. He gave me a metal coffee can with about 3 inches of gasoline in it and told me he would give me a penny for every bug I killed. I went through part of his garden catching stinkbugs and probably other bugs and putting them in the can. When I got hot and tired and the can was about full I took it to him and showed him. He looked in the can and acted like he was counting and pretty soon he nodded, set the can down and handed me a $5 bill. I was amazed at how fast he could count.

I took the two oldest boys out for a grasshopper safari last weekend.

We broke out the BB guns and went hunting for grasshoppers and other big bugs to feed the to the chickens. It might not sound like much excitement for an 8yo and 9yo that have deer heads on the wall and turkey feathers in their caps, but they enjoyed it a lot. It was also good training for muzzle control without being too risky.

I remember as a kid I would go out in my grandparents garden, or down the lane, or almost anywhere at the other grandparent's farm and hunt grasshoppers for hours. I would load the 700 shot magazine to the top and then carry several of the little cardboard tubes of BBs in my pockets so I wouldn't have to go back to the house so often.

I still have my old Red Ryder. It has a metal lever and trigger unlike the plastic parts on todays models. It also didn't have the silly crossbolt safety that the new ones do. It loaded under the muzzle instead of on the side like they do now. The new location of the loading port makes it easier to keep your hands out from in front of the muzzle but the new loading doors are easier to accidently brush open causing you to spill your ammo.

If the boys prove themselves to be safe enough to go on their own I might start providing the ammo and let them help feed the chickens full time when the weather is warm.