Washingtonians

[CarolynF]

My annoying pen is almost done! Just need to put corner bracket on the inside of the door, put the last of the trim on, use concrete screws with washers to attach the hardware cloth under the floor to the concrete patio, and fill the floor with sand. I'm putting off the last paint until spring; it's just too cold and wet. Yeesh, what a total pain. But it should be as tight as Fort Knox:




Jennifer

Super cozy pen, they'll stay nice and dry in there! Looks like it's on a concrete slab... no diggers to worry about there! Congrats on finishing it before the monsoons!

 

[KMHunter]

Quote:
Tell me about it! We've got Red-tailed and Coopers hawks, and once we even spied a baby eagle (complete with remnants of head fuzz) sitting in a large dead tree! None of our chickens are truly safe!
See and given where I live this is why my birds don't free range and ALL of my runs are covered with wire or net.

I understand completely. I talked to a friend's mom the other day and asked about her young birds. Of the twenty she started with, twelve were killed by hawks and coyotes. They don't keep their birds confined at all. They can run under cars or into a few small patches of vegetation, but that's pretty much the only cover they get. It makes me sad to think that her birds are always in constant danger.

Oh, how sad about those birds!

I have been looking at bird aviaries. I wonder what DH is going to say if I ask "Hey honey, can we turn our entire back yard into an aviary?" LOL. Not that I'm totally crazy enough to do this, but, then again...

What do you guys think... would something like this batting cage be enough to keep hawks, eagles, etc. away from my girls? http://gourock.com/battingcage_home.html

I wonder if I could sell enough crapola from around the house to pay for something like that. But, I'd only want to spend that kind of money on it if it was believed that it could work.

Edited to add: This would JUST be to replace free-ranging, when I am at home supervising them, during daylight hours. When I am gone, or at night, they are always locked in their coop/run set-up.
Renee, I am going to say that the batting cage would work great for any Raptor type predators. See you on the new WA thread!

 

[CarolynF]

I agree with you on this. Since I scoop coop poop in the morning, before the girls have decided to dig it in, I just do a few little scoops in the coop and I have a perfectly clean coop. I scoop the run next - just a few scoops. Check the water and food, and we're good. I scoop poop in the grass when I go out to watch the girls around lunch time. I talk with them. They follow me and coo at me. It's fun. It's my bonding time.

When we came back from Yellowstone and I had 10 days worth to clean on the dirt floor of the run...

. I couldn't believe how long it took me to clean up that little run. I would so rather do a tiny bit each day, then a whole bunch every once in a while.

Exactly my experience, and feelings, too. I use very course sand in the covered run and the wood floor coop.

 

[Chickielady]

It's top secret !!!!

I have a stash of fishing net. I just built the frame of wood and strung the net over. It canalso be done with chicken wire or use a nice looking twine. Just make sure that what ever you put up is easy to see from some distance. Before I figured that out I actually had an attempted attack while gone. I nowtry to make sure my covers are esay to see.

They oyster farms out here routinely dump huge heavy plastic nets, roped around the edges, about 40 X 20 feet.
They are about twice as heavy as the type of net you throw over trees.
I find them at the dump every so often.
I have not used them due to the bad experience with the snow last year.

So are we supposed to stay off this thread and keep on the new thread, or are the powers trying to split us all up on different threads ?

I told Nifty we'd probably all end up on the same thread again...............

 

[Slinglings]

Quote: I think we are supposed to move to the new thread They will be closing this one.

 

[SadieSue]

I'm grateful I can look into the outside brooder from the laundry room. It keeps me from worrying too much about the chickies on their first night out.

It's hard when you first put them out, isn't it? No matter how many times I do it, I still worry about them!

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:

So are we supposed to stay off this thread and keep on the new thread, or are the powers trying to split us all up on different threads ?

I told Nifty we'd probably all end up on the same thread again...............

I think we are supposed to move to the new thread They will be closing this one.

Supposed to head over to the new one. And here I was looking forward to that 100,000 post mark.

*pats thread* You were a good thread. We will miss you.

I'm heading on over.

 

[Justahannah]

Quote: It's pretty smelly...they cook it up to kill any bugs, mix it with sawdust and sand, it's supposedly has rewards for being one of the "cleanest" biosludges around, but it's definitely not composted to completion. I mean, it's uniform and dark and if I hadn't read their website, I wouldn't know it was human. But it definitely has a hot, ammonia waste smell and I'd be afraid of it burning delicate plants. I got it for $5 bucks a yard and nearly free delivery, so it sure was a cheap way to fill in some major holes in the yard!

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: It's pretty smelly...they cook it up to kill any bugs, mix it with sawdust and sand, it's supposedly has rewards for being one of the "cleanest" biosludges around, but it's definitely not composted to completion. I mean, it's uniform and dark and if I hadn't read their website, I wouldn't know it was human. But it definitely has a hot, ammonia waste smell and I'd be afraid of it burning delicate plants. I got it for $5 bucks a yard and nearly free delivery, so it sure was a cheap way to fill in some major holes in the yard!
The smell disappates, doen't it? I've been in gardens where it was used, and I don't remember any disagreeable odor.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

So are we supposed to stay off this thread and keep on the new thread, or are the powers trying to split us all up on different threads ?

I told Nifty we'd probably all end up on the same thread again...............

Yup, everyone should start posting on the new thread!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/717207/washingtonians-come-together-washington-peeps