Arizona Chickens

[gckiddhouse]

So, dd and I decided to tweety-bird-proof the coop. We are tired of all the gross tweety poop everywhere! Sheesh! It's sooo much worse than the chickens!

So, Tuesday evening, we covered the whole magillah with bird netting! We used so many zip ties, our fingers were raw!! We also CoMpLeTeLy scrubbed down the hen house, removing all the tweety poop! Cleaned out the nest boxes, and wiped the whole thing down with a little Murphy's oil soap to make the paint look pretty again. We had cleaned out the deep litter last weekend, so we also put down new litter (TerrAmigo-which we really liked) and bricked off a little dust bathing area. So proud of our work we went in and to bed.

Next morning - the coop was FULL of tweety birds!!!!! Fresh poop all over our clean hen house!! Ugh!

So we inspected the bird netting and found a whole section we had forgotten. After securing that with more zip ties, we went in the house. Only to come out an hour later and find that the coop was FULL of tweety birds!!!

So we inpected again. We decided that the door needed some more securing. DD said if that doesn't work, she will be "ticked off"!

About 30 minutes later, she came in saying, "I'm officially ticked off!" Yep - FULL of birds!!!

So we went out and found that where the coyotes had dug a hole, there was a little space underneath the coop fencing. Ah!! We filled that in with rocks.

A little later - FULL of birds!!!! Mind you that each time, the birds have gotten in, but they can't get out, so we must dislodge their little necks from the bird netting, or untangle their feet to free them.

They had moved the rocks we had used. So, this time we put bricks down in front of the hole and in front of the gate where there was a 1 inch gap underneath.

NO BIRDS!!!!!

Whew!! Let's see how long 40lbs lasts, now!

Darn tweety birds!!!

How long do you think it will be before they chew their way through the netting???

 

[dofnup]

Thanks for the responses, guys! ^_^ I feel so much better. I will just be patient and maybe start giving them treats by hand.

OMG that Yokohama is gorgeous! I swear someday I'm gonna figure out a way to have 35 chickens of different breeds all in my little back yard. And DH will let me. And I'll have one of those $2000 coops for them. And I'll pay someone to clean it. And I'll have time to knit. And then I'll ride away on my unicorn.

In the meantime, I'll just fawn over my 7 fuzzybutts

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Quote:
I know how you feel. My first chickens were 8 weeks old when I got them and they HATED me so I got a dozen chicks because "I wanted them to be nice". Didn't matter. They're 4 months old now and FINALLY starting to come around. They will actually fly up onto my arm or shoulder. True that they get down when they realize I don't have any treats in my hand, but they're much more comfortable now.

I picked up an Aloha hen yesterday... she's so pretty!! At first, my older girls picked on her a little bit, but when I went out to close up the coop, she had shacked up right next to the one that was the meanest to her. She's so forgiving

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Quote:
I know... I let you all down

I will take pics tonight to show you!

My CM did another squatty dance yesterday when I was herding them back into the coop. They better start laying SOON or else DH is going to evict them for non payment of rent!!!

 

[tofuranch]

Well as of this morning....DH doesn't know about the turkeys...I do have to say that he is suffering from a cold. The cow is still pregnant and I am so tired.

We got the coop from craigslist and it is really cool. Now to find a place for it

It is looking to be a great day, between the great weather--I will be watching the cow (take her sweet time) and finishing an outside run for some chickens. Also, finishing a area for the just weened lamb I am going to get. I like the number of times I said the word finish, it feels so good to finish stuff.

Have a great day all

 

[Triple T]

Cluckin Crazy two of my hens will do the squatty dance when I get close to them or am trying to get them into the coop. Mine want to be petted. The other three will not let me pet them, but those two insist on me stopping everything to pet them. They do that to the DH and he ignores them so whenever he is sitting in the lawn chairs we have at the coop area so we can watch the chicken channel in the evenings to relax they jump up on his leg and squat so he will pet them.

It amazes me how two can be so demanding of affection and the other three are little Miss Touch-Me-Nots.

We got all 5 at the same time.

 

[redrocketrooster]

It sounds strange that they go nuts to me. When I walk in they come throwing themselves at me. My Dad went in (he really hasn't interacted with them at all) and was surprised by how friendly they were towards him.

I'm secretly trying to push him to play with them some...so maybe he won't be so against it if I get more *cough cough*.

About three days I filled out an application for a Vet Tech position. The staff was very friendly, warm and overall it was really positive.
They aren't really looking to hire but they said if they see a good app it wouldn't hurt to hire another Tech.

Can you imagine! I can walk there too! OOOHHHH!

I really hope... because that would make everyday of my life...just pancakeflippinamazing.

tofuranch
The cow is preggos? Were you trying for it? GRATS anyway!

gckiddhouse
ACK! I hate those little tweeters! They actually pooped so much on my Dads window shield wipers he had to replace them.
Netting might last....month and a half? Not sure, some tweeters are obsessive.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Quote:
Hurray for a reward at last! What a lot of work. I am glad it is paying off for the moment. Last year when the wild birds were getting into my chicken feed I took away the at will feed and started feeding the birds 2-3 times a day. Good luck with the netting. It sounds like you have made good progress!

 

[cap1717]

Quote:
speaking of "tweety bird proofing" the coop. . . .I am still getting sparrows and an occasional dove inside, through the "chicken door". . . .so. . . I hung a piece of netting over the door. . . took about 3 days for the chooks to learn to use it, but now they just go in and out like it's not there. Thought that would solve the problem, but if a chook or breeze leaves it open for a minute or two, a lucky sparrow still manages to enter. Anyone else have this problem, and more importantly, a way to solve it? Thanks

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Man, I feel for you all with these bird issues! I have trillions of pigeons in my neighborhood, but it seems that chickens and pigeons don't get along. Any time a pigeon lands in the yard, the chickens chase them off!! I haven't seen a pigeon any closer than the neighbor's roof in months! They let the morning doves in, but I'm ok with that. I will take morning doves over pigeons any day. They don't eat their food... they usually are just in the grass cleaning up any scratch or treats that the chickens missed. Which isn't often!!