Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

'I've believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast'.
One of my all time favourite quotes ever. I do find Alice a strange choice for children. Some of the antics are extremely questionable, especially when we keep telling them: Say No to Drugs. Nowdays I can't read Alice without hearing Grace Slick sing Feed your heeeeeead!!!

Indeed I think it is a lot for "middle aged" children. I think very young children can just enjoy it as a silly story and I think teenagers know enough. It's that middle group that I think would struggle with it a little.

 

[BY Bob]

Indeed I think it is a lot for "middle aged" children. I think very young children can just enjoy it as a silly story and I think teenagers know enough. It's that middle group that I think would struggle with it a little.

Chicken tax

 

[Scrambles83]

Winterizing the Pre-manufactured Coop

WARNING. This is a long post. That's no joke; it's long.

To best understand the challenge that was before me as the National Weather service was posting their blizzard warnings for us I need to take you back to the pre-manufactured coop and how I modified it for the hens.

If you remember, the coop had no functional roost in it. Therefore I had added a roost in the “run” portion. This worked great in the summer and fall. When winter arrived I realized that I had made a big mistake. In fact, winter just showed one day as the fall hung on past Thanksgiving. All of a sudden the forecast was calling for fridgid temperatures and I had not planned ahead. The “coop” portion of the structure was way too small to hold them out of the weather in the winter. I was going to have to do something to keep them out of the wind and snow/sleet, etc. and do it fast.

I did not want to simply wall in the structure. They needed daylight as I didn’t want them to feel “cooped up”. Whatever I did, I needed something clear.

For the back wall of the structure I took an old wool Army surplus blanket and tacked it on. Very little sun came from that direction in the wintertime and it was on the lee side of the structure away from the winter wind. I needed something clear that could be taken on and off the coop. I found Plexiglas at Home Depot but it was outrageously expensive and then I noticed a large broken sheet that was marked way down. In fact there were 2 broken sheets. I grabbed them up an thought, ok, how do I attach them?

Thinking this was going to be our forever coop, I knew I couldn’t just screw them into the frame. I also knew I had to allow for ventilation. Now the blanket will permit some air exchange but I was concerned and didn’t want any of the girls getting frostbite. I picked up some small screws, washers, and wing nuts. My plan was to cut the Plexiglas to fit the panels in the structure, my grinder worked great for that. I then drilled holes through the plexiglas and the frame, fitted a screw through, placed washers onto the end, put the plexiglas back on, and used a wingnut to hold it in place. The washers created a space for air exchange and the with a few small pieces of wood I was able to encase the outside of the coop. Here it is.
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Now I knew that the hens did not need heat but I did have a big problem, how would I keep their water from freezing? At that time I had no idea they made water containers that kept the water warm. The only thing I had handy was the heat lamp from when they were chicks. I ran an extension cord from the pool pump to the coop and mounted their heat lamp so that it pointed directly at their water dish and put it on a remote switch for Christmas lights. That way when it was above 32°F (0°C), we could sitch the heat lamp off. Here is the coop in winter with the heat lamp on I had not yet put the Plexiglass on so there is a piece of cardboard up to keep the wind off the roost in this photo.
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Here are Dolly and Trisha on the roost that first winter. You can see the army blanket behind them.
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The Blizzard of 2016: A Chilling Tale, Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

This was the situation we were still operating in a few years later when the first blizzard, post chicken acquisition arrived. I had added an extension to the coop structure to provide some more room and I had added a large run onto that which was 6 foot (1.8 meters) wide 12 foot (3.6 meters) long and 5 feet (1.5 meters) high. But the coop itself was still that original structure. Now the coop itself was about 3.5 feet (1 meter) high. I can say with certainty that we have never had a snow that deep. At this time the flock now consisted of three hens, Daisy the Alpha, Patsy, and Lilly the “spare” chicken. Here is what the compound looked like at that time. These were taken 1 week before the storm.
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And here is the flock on the roost.
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So as I prepared the yard and house for the storm to come I was not really concerned about the girls. They were calling for 18+ inches (45.7 cm) of snow but I figured I could dig my way out to them after the storm was over. I did add a second feeder for them and turned on the heat lamp so they would have plenty of warm water, and frankly a warm spot to lay in if they wanted.

It started snowing about 8 hours earlier than they projected. In fact it would wind up snowing over 2 nights for what seemed like 48 hours with wind gusts well over 50 mph (80 kph) at the peak of the storm.

Day 1 the snow started about 4:00 pm. When we woke up the morning of day 2 there was already over 16 inches (40 cm) of snow and the wind had not yet kicked up. I forced my way to check on the girls and they were fine in their house scratching around. Daisy laid an egg. They did not have a care in the world. As I stood out there looking at them, looking at the house, looking at the snow falling (which was beautiful), the lightbulb finally lit up in my head. It wasn’t the total snowfall that would be a danger to the girls, it would be the drifts the wind would pile up. Here is the coop on Day 2 while it was snowing.
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There was a song bird stuck in the big run so I went over dug out the door and let it out.
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Their coop (and the current one) is oriented east to west. That is very important because in blizzards the prevailing winds are from the east. The wind in a blizzard blows the length of my house and the length of theirs as well. For my house this is great. It blows my front porch and garage door clear and I can easily emerge after it is over. For them this could be deadly. In a storm of this magnitude we can easily get drifts over 5 feet (1.5 meters) high. It would likely bury their coop completely, suffocating them.

I needed a new plan.

In this instance with likelihood that their coop would be completely buried by the storm, I had no choice but to bring them into the house for an extended period of time. Now the question was where and how?

The first place I considered was the garage. Unfortunately my garage is very small I had a car in there that I was rebuilding. There was no space I could close off for them. We had gotten water in the basement from a massive rainstorm in the fall and I had torn out the carpet in the hallway and had not yet replaced it. The hallway does open into the rec room with no door so that would have to be dealt with but it might just work. So after pleading my case to my wife and getting her reluctant sign off, I covered the entryway to the rec room with a sheet that I thumbtacked up. We closed all of the other doors and covered the floor with wood chips left over from a long since departed guinea pig. A new coop was born!

I forced my way to the coop and back 3 times because I did not trust myself to carry more than one of them at a time. Here they are safe in the basement hallway.
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Now after I had them in I realized they had to place to roost. I knew they were stressed and wanted them to be as comfortable as possible. The perfect solution popped into my head, a step ladder! Here they are roosted but not in pecking order.
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That night the storm really picked up and the winds started howling. The best measurement I could get before everything started to drift was 31 inches (78.7 cm).
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This what the world looked like the next morning. This the view out my garage door to the street. That is my wife's SUV at the end of the driveway. There are 2 cars buried on the right in the driveway. You can tell the driveway was perpendicular to the wind while the SUV was parallel. Because the winds blew along the street, it was essnetially clear of sigificant snow.
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Here are the cars in the driveway as viewed from the porch.
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Once you got out to the street you can see how the wind scoured the snow away. Here is the back of my Jetta.
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This is what the indoor coop looked like. Daisy even laid an egg every day she was inside. Those leghorns are laying machines!
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Eventually I got a path dug to the coop and out they went. They were not thrilled but soon got over it. I think the mealy worms helped. I also dug out most of the big run and put down straw for them as they were going to be confined for some time.
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We have had several more blizzards since then but none since the new coop went in. It is big for a reason. I should not have to worry about blizzards any more. It has that big front face so it won’t get drifted over.

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Wow!!! We have never had snow where I live, have to go to the mountains a few hours away for that.
What an incredible story, very intense!

 

[BY Bob]

Wow!!! We have never had snow where I live, have to go to the mountains a few hours away for that.
What an incredible story, very intense!

It was something else. They happen every 3 or 4 years. At least I'm ready now!

 

[Ribh]

Chicken Tax.​

 

[RoyalChick]

The lime green poop that creates its stunning!

I know you warned me, but I don't think anything could have adequately prepared me.
It isn't just green, it is almost fluorescent! It is also copious.
And why so soon? I thought food needed digesting overnight. This seems to have gone right through them. Or maybe only some of them. I am not looking forward to tomorrow!

Spoiler: Alarming green poo

 

[RoyalChick]

We get the expensive cat food from the vet so it should be a complete food. Oriental cats can develop an oral obsession, I bet that’s an unwanted trait that has developed from “selective breeding”.

But my bubble-wrap cat is just some mutt - a classic Bitsa from the animal shelter.
He does have some gum disease and is due for a teeth cleaning. I wondered if he was in pain and chewing on things to relieve it. I am hoping once he has his teeth cleaned he will stop doing it.
Don't disillusion me - I can spend two weeks dreaming that will work!

 

[RoyalChick]

Indeed I think it is a lot for "middle aged" children. I think very young children can just enjoy it as a silly story and I think teenagers know enough. It's that middle group that I think would struggle with it a little.

I must re-read it - technically it would be read it the first time as I remember getting bored with it as a child and kind of skipping a lot of it.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Aww, I would want to adopt him!

I all reality, he's likely going to be adopted by us. I can't imagine Anna being able to give him up, and I know she going to help take care of him too, good veterinarian practice.

While his name is Josh, I feel like I'll likely rename him. Possibly something like Tres, since he'll be a tripod.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

GeeGee for short then...

Thats perfect!! Also works for goat goat...