BYC Café

[CapricornFarm]

Good morning Cafe. Coffee is ready.
The kitchn ceiling after a heavy downpour.
View attachment 3133124
I'm going up there tomorrow, taking off the tarp and putting up underlayment to the ridge. We'll have to cut it back when the sleepers go on to make sure we're securing them to the trusses. That will hold up better than a tarp.
I really don't need this.

Ugh!

 

[aart]

Second cooler day, gorgeous!
Got the walking mower out for about 20 minutes to cut some hay off the path and drain.
Baby steps on my shaky sticks.

 

[Shadrach]

Good morning Cafe.
Coffee is made.
Looks like it will be another dry day here.

 

[DobieLover]

Good morning Cafe and thanks for the coffee Shad.
I had the unfortunate displeasure of watching a small flock of English sparrows raid my chicken feed troughs this morning. And the chickens just kept eating around these little thieving birds! They peck each other to get out of the food but they won't peck the sparrows?!
A little miss Jody has gone very broody again. So instead of locking her in the breaker I locked her down in the maternity ward. I promised her and Tink that they would both be able to hatch a couple of eggs this year but she's got to do it in the right spot.

 

[sourland]

Good morning, and thanks for the coffee. It's raining this morning, but supposed to clear early.

 

[Sally PB]

Morning! Here's another pot, as I surely need some. With the early sunrise and no auto door on the coop, I get up early to feed the girls and let them out. (Not going to get an auto door, so I know what I'm in for.)

The sun is breaking through, and it looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day.

Look at what visited me a couple days ago!

 

[bruceha2000]

(Not going to get an auto door, so I know what I'm in for.)

Why not? I love my PulletShut door. Lets the girls out when they wake up rather than when I do.

 

[Isadora]

Why not? I love my PulletShut door. Lets the girls out when they wake up rather than when I do.

That's the same door I have. I adore it.

 

[Sally PB]

Why not? I love my PulletShut door. Lets the girls out when they wake up rather than when I do.

It's just me. If I don't open/close the door myself, then I don't know that it is done. I have total faith in the security of that door, I know it only is open or closed if I open or close it. No battery, no light sensor.

It is going to be REALLY difficult for me to let a chicken sitter take care of my girls. I'm the only person who has done it. I have confidence in the the people who will do it. But now I know what parents feel when they hire a babysitter for the first time and go out for the evening.

 

[bruceha2000]

I don't trust that all the girls go in at night though they mostly do especially since Selene died I think she was the instigator of sleeping on the people door or the alpaca stand.

The only location for the door was right under the nest box access perch so the bottom is just barely above floor level. The chickens often kick enough litter out the door or in the run toward the door that it can't close all the way. Thus I go out around dark time to do a beak count and make sure the door closed or close it myself with the magnet. But they get out with daylight whether it is before 5 AM mid June or 7:30 mid December. I am NEVER out at those hours on those days!

I don't know about all chicken doors but you can get a solar charger or 110V charger for the Pullet Shut door battery. When I bought it I didn't have power in the barn and wasn't sure if there would be enough sun to keep the battery charged so I started using 2 6V lantern batteries wired in series to provide 12V. They last a LONG time! The first ones were used (from a 4 battery fluorescent lantern) and lasted 9 months as did the second pair. I think I've bought new batteries only twice since and I got the door in spring of 2013. If one had an old "not strong enough to start the car in winter" battery, it could be recharged and last "forever".