Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

“Hello, I’m Jaffar, View attachment 3588212the substance of dreams!”

Hey Jaffar - you handsome man

 

[Ponypoor]

I love your precious poultry pond!

Mosquito breeding pen….

I was covered in the blood sucking monsters coming back from the barn.

 

[Lilion]

Oh gosh that is concerning for certain. Can you rig up a hose with a timer? Like for an irrigation system.

Fans Fans Fans - that is pretty much all you can do. Keep that air moving. Can you get a bunch of box fans (3 or 4) and put them in the coop, pointing a couple outwards through doors and windows to remove hot air, and a couple inside to move air around?

Also I think you already have a shade cloth in front or over top of your coop, that will help lots.

For next year what I would do is plant climbing/pole beans and peas on a trellis in front of your coop and run, I used to do that on the west side of my barn it would just be baking in here, but the plants grew so fast (I would plant early spring), and they would just cover the whole front of my barn, kept it cool in there - I really wanted to do that this year but I was unsure how to keep the chickens off the plants - I now have a plan for next year though.

And they also give you fresh green, yellow, and purple beans, snap peas, snow peas, and any other climbing/pole beans/peas.

But for this year fans and shade cloth are your best bet.

I am curious to see how micstrachan (michelle) does her slow drip system - that would be really great I think.

We've decided to shorten our weekend to just Friday morning to Saturday evening. So we need one less day of chicken tending from the neighbor. Still, this coming week and then who knows how long, is worrisome.

We don't have a shade cloth. We have been hosing the building down every hour or two. Most of the day it is in the shade, but in the afternoon it does get a lot of sun. The only days we won't be able to do that is that Friday/Saturday.

We have one box fan and one smaller battery fan. I'll check and see if any neighbors have more. I may try to take down some of the walls myself and replace them with chicken wire. I know that would help air flow lower down.

I can't put a hose on a timer. For lots of reasons, my well system won't allow that. I'll have to hope our neighbor will take care of them.

We won't have this problem next summer. The new coop will fix that. But it's not ready now. It's not predator proof in any way...its just a shed. It can't be ready any time soon.

I'm wondering... worst case scenario... what if I tell the neighbor to just let them out of the run? Will they go find a cooler place? More importantly, will they come back? I don't know where that leaves Eenie and the triplets. They'll be 2 weeks old on Thursday.

 

[rural mouse]

We've decided to shorten our weekend to just Friday morning to Saturday evening. So we need one less day of chicken tending from the neighbor. Still, this coming week and then who knows how long, is worrisome.

We don't have a shade cloth. We have been hosing the building down every hour or two. Most of the day it is in the shade, but in the afternoon it does get a lot of sun. The only days we won't be able to do that is that Friday/Saturday.

We have one box fan and one smaller battery fan. I'll check and see if any neighbors have more. I may try to take down some of the walls myself and replace them with chicken wire. I know that would help air flow lower down.

I can't put a hose on a timer. For lots of reasons, my well system won't allow that. I'll have to hope our neighbor will take care of them.

We won't have this problem next summer. The new coop will fix that. But it's not ready now. It's not predator proof in any way...its just a shed. It can't be ready any time soon.

I'm wondering... worst case scenario... what if I tell the neighbor to just let them out of the run? Will they go find a cooler place? More importantly, will they come back? I don't know where that leaves Eenie and the triplets. They'll be 2 weeks old on Thursday.

They know that's home. They know food and water are there. Safety is there. They may do some exploring, then again, they may stay in the run for safety. Predators would be the bigger worry. They aren't used to keeping watch for them. The chickens would find a cool place to be and would head back to the coop as dark is coming (Eenie and babies included). Their instincts would bring them back. Aside from the rats, what sorts of animals are in your area?

 

[bgmathteach]

We've decided to shorten our weekend to just Friday morning to Saturday evening. So we need one less day of chicken tending from the neighbor. Still, this coming week and then who knows how long, is worrisome.

We don't have a shade cloth. We have been hosing the building down every hour or two. Most of the day it is in the shade, but in the afternoon it does get a lot of sun. The only days we won't be able to do that is that Friday/Saturday.

We have one box fan and one smaller battery fan. I'll check and see if any neighbors have more. I may try to take down some of the walls myself and replace them with chicken wire. I know that would help air flow lower down.

I can't put a hose on a timer. For lots of reasons, my well system won't allow that. I'll have to hope our neighbor will take care of them.

We won't have this problem next summer. The new coop will fix that. But it's not ready now. It's not predator proof in any way...its just a shed. It can't be ready any time soon.

I'm wondering... worst case scenario... what if I tell the neighbor to just let them out of the run? Will they go find a cooler place? More importantly, will they come back? I don't know where that leaves Eenie and the triplets. They'll be 2 weeks old on Thursday.

Can you rig up a shade cloth to keep the sun off in the afternoon? Yo u should be able to find one locally -even some home depots carry them (note - 70 or 80% would be better, but 50% is 50% less sun getting to them!) If you have a Harbor Freight near you ,they usually carry one size that is either a 70 or 80%.

Rigging up that and asking them to put huge chunks of ice in a shallow bin - in a corner of the coop out fo the sun - to just melt and make a shallow pool of cool water will help, plus a fan. You can, for the time being, put up the shade cloth with a few garden stakes and maybe put some screw hooks into the coop on that end, at the top. Between that and the garden stakes ( attach shade cloth with ball bungies - they come with crimped on rings just like tarps), it should help a lot for the afternoon sun.

 

[Lilion]

Can you rig up a shade cloth to keep the sun off in the afternoon? Yo u should be able to find one locally -even some home depots carry them (note - 70 or 80% would be better, but 50% is 50% less sun getting to them!) If you have a Harbor Freight near you ,they usually carry one size that is either a 70 or 80%.

Rigging up that and asking them to put huge chunks of ice in a shallow bin - in a corner of the coop out fo the sun - to just melt and make a shallow pool of cool water will help, plus a fan. You can, for the time being, put up the shade cloth with a few garden stakes and maybe put some screw hooks into the coop on that end, at the top. Between that and the garden stakes ( attach shade cloth with ball bungies - they come with crimped on rings just like tarps), it should help a lot for the afternoon sun.

I live in the middle of nowhere. No home depot or harbor freight within an hour's drive.

As a reminder, here's the current shed.

The coop is in the back, left corner. The front faces South. In the early afternoon, the shed and run are not shaded much...maybe the back few feet. In addition to the two doors, there are windows on each end.

Are you saying a shade cloth staked off the front, like a porch roof, would help? Or would it need to cover the roof? Not sure how I'd get it up there, assuming I can buy one. Would it have to be suspended, or would just laying it on the metal roof help?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

thank you. affording a lawyer is out of the question. We just voted in a new slate of officers for the union (very good thing - first year in about 20 there was any 'competition' and an actual election (versus the secretary casting a single ballot to elect the slate of candidates because not a single position was contested) I am actually hoping it can turn into a full chapter grievance since so many people are involved. imo, that would be the best outcome.

and, just an fyi: no, I am not on byc during work. I will pop in sometimes during a break. (i.e. 'my time'), and I am using a day today and tomorrow. One of the ways I actually can get her to approve time off: I have enough vaca time built up that I will lose some in the next pay cycle, and, even though there is not supposed to be any 'black-out' periods regarding vaca time, August is very crazy and she won't grant vacation time then - soooo...I essentially forced her to approve a couple days each of these last few weeks - and put in that I would be over the max hours of vaca time otherwise - so she had to approve it - as that alone is a lawsuit. If we go over so many hours (375hrs/50 days), we lose them. It used to be 60 days, and any above that rolled into sick time. twice a year. Now, each pay period they check, and anything over the 50 day you LOSE (i.e. the state takes back!) So, I am taking enough time to stay below that through mid September/after the add/drop period ends - which is also crazy busy.) Since I requested it 6 weeks ahead (of the first week - requested a couple of days per week for each of a few weeks), AND made sure my days requested didn't overlap with more than one other person's in the office AND that I was still working on our extended 'accepted student's days) she really didn't have a choice.

Though she did comment - in person, mind you, not in response to my emailed request - 'What are you taking vacation time for? You never go anywhere." Um, hello - I explained in the request email I would lose the time otherwise...and what is wrong with a staycation???? I REALLY wanted to say "Any extra time away from you is well used time" - but I bit my tongue!!

Am so behind. But am popping in and around, and saw this discussion, I may be missing parts but I haven't seen these thoughts offered yet (forgive me if they have been)

1. You might do at least a free consult with a workplace harassment / workplace bullying attorney to get an idea of your legal recourse.

2. HR departments are established by management to try to smooth employer/employee relations. HR are not employee advocates in a true sense. They are not there to "help" employees except when it is in management's interest to do so, such as administration of workplace programs established by management. They help management hire you and fire you. One might consider workplace bullying to be not in anyone's interest, but management will do a cost/benefit analysis of sorts and usually decides in the bully supervisor's favor if they meet all other metrics of their job. Seems to me your story follows this pattern. Only the law (see #1) with the possibility of suit has any real influence, all other factors being equal.

3. Is your workplace union a stand-alone union, or do you have a state or national "mothership" or at least an affiliation with one? They can be very helpful, particularly to the new officers in helping you - they will consult remotely by phone / video or may even send a rep to you to advise.

4. (and #1). Unions usually have one or more attorneys who could also help, at least examine what you have in an initial free consult and advise next steps, or advise who better to consult for the issue. The union would be hiring them, not you personally. And I wonder if it could take just a warning letter from a union attorney, not a full-blown suit, to force a clear-eyed review of the situation by the bully's own supervisors. (But these types of awful people often get hired by the same types of awful people, so that might be wishful thinking on my part.)

Tax: Buckeyes eating seeds. Today Butters ate several worms and also a good teaspoon's worth of sunflower seeds. It's promising but not enough. I am going to weigh her tomorrow.

A Fluffy Butt too

 

[RoyalChick]

I live in the middle of nowhere. No home depot or harbor freight within an hour's drive.

As a reminder, here's the current shed.View attachment 3588307
The coop is in the back, left corner. The front faces South. In the early afternoon, the shed and run are not shaded much...maybe the back few feet. In addition to the two doors, there are windows on each end.

Are you saying a shade cloth staked off the front, like a porch roof, would help? Or would it need to cover the roof? Not sure how I'd get it up there, assuming I can buy one. Would it have to be suspended, or would just laying it on the metal roof help?

Is the sun coming in the front?
Could you hang sheets from toge front edge of the roof to provide more shade?
If you did that and asked the neighbor to spray water on them that would help.
Put a bunch of plastic pots of water in the freezer now so the neighbor can empty them out into pans in the coop and run.

 

[featherhead007]

It’s hot out in the coop. Chooks are not comfortable in their home. I have three in my house. This weather has been crazy lately!

 

[Lilion]

Is the sun coming in the front?
Could you hang sheets from toge front edge of the roof to provide more shade?
If you did that and asked the neighbor to spray water on them that would help.
Put a bunch of plastic pots of water in the freezer now so the neighbor can empty them out into pans in the coop and run.

Amazon to the rescue. 2, 10x20 shade cloths ordered. We'll do what we can.