In my post in the thread How did your flock annoy you today? I relate how Pippin and Helena annoyed me by deciding to abandon their little coop come roosting time and roost with the big girls and on top of the bigger coop, respectively.
Well, this has now become a "thing". Every night I'm...
Well, to make a short story long - a couple of nights ago, I went to lock up. Cochin bantams Pippin and Helena sleep in the "little coop" (one of those tiny Chinese things,) inside the run as the "big coop" is not big enough for 4 fully grown Legbars, a couple of half-grown Cinnamon Queens, and...
Sorry for the derail; I have very little experience with snow as you might imagine, but to verify that snow will build up on hardware cloth? If so, I need to add that to my knowledge base for future reference.
I've used 18" pavers, my intent is to put a wire apron under the pavers for some added security.
We're overrun with raccoons as well. I have security cameras around the house, principally watching the deck. I'd have raccoons visit every single night. But then a couple of months ago, the visits...
So this is what, a week and a half since the last New Coop™ update?
Mr. Rosehawke put on the roofing underlayment and shingles, very closely supervised by moi (he wouldn't let me get on the roof) as I'm just better at it. I've always done the DIY as an offshoot of my lifelong interest in...
Good call on snakes, although Britain doesn't have much in the way of snakes, only natives are grass snakes and adders if I'm not mistaken.
Edit: And "smooth snakes" apparently.
Edit #2: OP didn't say, technically, "UK" also includes Northern Ireland and if that were the case there aren't any...
If fox were the only issue I'd say the 12 gauge. Nothing short of a bear is going to chew through it, but unfortunately 2" is plenty of access for smaller rodents, and possibly a stoat or weasel (although it does seem unlikely.) I also suspect that for the 1/2" a determined badger could chew...
That would take a heckuva lot of shredded paper for 60+ square feet (there will be a poop tray with sand under the roosts,)! Also, no office (both retired,) no kids, very little junk mail, and what cleaned cardboard there is goes into the compost for "browns".
If the regular shavings aren't a...
Although by my guess the New Coop™ is a couple of weeks away from usability, I'm starting to think about things like bedding.
I know there are people who swear by the pine pellets for bedding, but we use that for kitty litter at which it excels, however when the occasional pellet gets flipped...
I should come here and complain about the lack of rain more often. We had a nice little shower yesterday afternoon, not much, about 1/3 of an inch, we really need several inches over the course of a week to do any real good, but every little bit helps!
There's a bit of a trick to it, although I can't really explain the technique beyond the tool needs to be positioned a certain way, and my ties are tight. I'd like to put a few more on, if I remember I'll make a video.
I did the same as Omelette-in-progress, but I didn't use regular plastic zips, instead I used stainless-steel ones. I can at least be sure that the UV won't affect them. I did purchase an applicator tool (like this,) to tighten and clip the ends off, but it can be done with just pliers and a...
Coop is coming along.
Got a bit more done that I expected today. I thought I'd be doing one wall a day, but the technique has shifted after I discovered that a wall with the sheathing/siding pre-installed was way too heavy for two old codgers to get off the deck and into place, even using...
It's a good idea, but it's something I suspect would take some pretty stout AI. If they were all wearing an RFID chip on a leg band for instance, and the software was aware of which side of the door x number of birds were on, along with an alert to your phone if after a certain amount of time...
Standard cochins are huge, I'm not saying no one would have them together in the same enclosure if that's what you're asking about, but it would be highly unusual.
Personally, I prefer the bantams as I think their proportions are better. The LF cochins always look like their heads are too...
You can also use a product called "Liquid Rubber" from the company of the same name, but it's pretty pricey - a gallon is $80 and only covers an area about 4x4 feet (15 square feet.) A 5-gallon pail is $300.