Cheryl's Hen House...

[TerryH]

Nice!!
I was just wondering how y'all were doing.

We're doing well other than it is total craziness at both of our work places. Ethyl still hanging in there but still not really with the rest and doesn't seem to be maturing with the rest. Holding pattern of wait and see. The rest of them are doing great!

 

[aart]

Sooooo, I see you are back.....how's things in Cheryl's' hen House?

 

[TerryH]

Sooooo, I see you are back.....how's things in Cheryl's' hen House?

I'm always around. Just choosing my spots to post. To be totally honest, I've lost some steam after having to euthanize the last 2.

Things are going fine for the remaining 4. Thankfully it's been uneventful of late. Nobody laying other than Laverne but they all seem healthy and happy. Contemplating my winterization plan for the run. Puzzling out some sort of cool removable panels to block the wind and snow....if it ever gets cold. Still 80 every day here.

How are things in your world?

 

[aart]

Quote: I'll bet....hard trials by fire for y'all....glad the rest are doing well.

Been busy...bought a new 6x10 trailer to haul hoop coop from loaner location to new owners.
That was a trip, never had/used a trailer before, but had always wanted one so splurged, need to move coop now justified it somewhat. A bit nerve racking but getting the hang of it.

 

[TerryH]

I'll bet....hard trials by fire for y'all....glad the rest are doing well.

Been busy...bought a new 6x10 trailer to haul hoop coop from loaner location to new owners.
That was a trip, never had/used a trailer before, but had always wanted one so splurged, need to move coop now justified it somewhat. A bit nerve racking but getting the hang of it.

Woah, first time pulling trailer ever? There is a learning curve. Especially going backwards.

 

[aart]

Quote: Backing up fairly straight is a piece of cake after many years with my garden tractor and cart.
But backing 'around a corner', so to speak, took 2-3 're-runs'.
When I went to pick up a load of chips was able to do it .... boom-boom-boom.
I'm a great parallel parker so knew I could get it down with some practice.

There was also a huge learning curve figuring out how much weight I could pull with van for the chips,
but I figured it out and it went smooth.

 

[TerryH]

Backing up fairly straight is a piece of cake after many years with my garden tractor and cart.
But backing 'around a corner', so to speak, took 2-3 're-runs'.
When I went to pick up a load of chips was able to do it .... boom-boom-boom.
I'm a great parallel parker so knew I could get it down with some practice.

There was also a huge learning curve figuring out how much weight I could pull with van for the chips,
but I figured it out and it went smooth.

Now that you have a trailer you will wonder how you ever got along without one. You are also likely to have all kinds of newly found friends. My 6x12 has been borrowed about a bazillion times over the years.

 

[aart]

Quote: I actually had not bought one prior because I couldn't justify it......could move most anything I needed to in my van, which will fit a full 4x8 sheet.
We shall see how much I use it over the next few years. It was kind of an immediate need plus compulsion/bucket list buy.
Place I bought it from are good people, gave me a good deal too.
They couldn't get it fabbed and delivered when they said they could, so he sold me his own(6mo old),
same model with powder coat and LED upgrades for less than new.
Some are already drooling with envy, one I would loan it to without compunction...another might be a train(trailer) wreck.

 

[TerryH]

Began winterizing the coop and run today. Not much to do in the coop other than to close the windows but I did need to address the waterer. I found a thermostatically controlled bucket heater on Amazon for $26.26 and it seemed to be just the ticket.





Couple of modifications to the bucket and we were good to go.

The plug wouldn't quite fit through the anti-poop on the top of the bucket upside down funnel so I cut it off a bit.



Drilled a hole in the lid with a hole saw.



I wired an outlet specifically for the heater when we built the coop so nothing to do there but to plug it in. Seemed like the ladies all approved.

Untitled by TerryHatfield, on Flickr

 

[TerryH]

I've researched and thought a lot about how to winterize the run to keep the north wind, rain and snow out of the run. This is what I finally came up with.

I bought some clear polyethylene sheeting that is made for green houses. Not perfectly clear but not too bad. Seems to be super tough. UV treated and guaranteed for 4 years of continuous exterior use. It'll likely be on the run for about 4 months out of the year here so I expect it should last a good long time. I also ordered a 4" wide roll of clear tape specifically made for this sheeting.

Coming up with a method of attaching the sheeting to the run so it could be easily installed and removed and easily stored when it's not in use was the interesting part. I decided to use 1/2" electrical conduit kind of like curtain rods for the top and bottom of the panels. I'll use the 4" tape to make sleeves for the conduit.

I got the conduit clamps up today and all the conduit cut. I have the poly but still waiting on the tape to arrive so attaching the poly will have to wait for another day. Few pics of where I stopped today.



I used 3/4" clamps so the conduit will slide in and out easily.



Same basic idea for covering the door but I needed to put the panel on the inside of the door because of the hardware on the outside.





I think it's going to work pretty well. I should have the tape in a couple of days so hopefully I can get the sheeting up next weekend.