Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

I don't think my tribe is as stable as Shad's was. It tends to be very fluid & I have more ornamentals. Feathered feet, frizzling & the tiny Japs mean very different dynamics to the birds like Campines & Vorwerks.

The other really big difference is the Roosters. It is a very different flock dynamic when you have one rooster, even more so with multiples. For the most part the Boys here all roost together in the same coop, and the Mature roosters and hens raise the young cockerels. It changes their behaviour. I think because @Shadrach had the separate Roosting setups with one Rooster each his “tribe” separation was even more apparent than mine. It’s why I still use the term flock in referring to my overall free range group. I have the one big flock with multiple Roosters and separate core tribes, and some hens that move between those tribes, or are completely outside them. I still get the “racist chickens” issues where there is often more cohesion between physically similar groups, and groups that arrived/hatched out together.

 

[MaryJanet]

Yes I think so. And I could also put it higher than they can fly (maybe). I investigated some ideas this afternoon. The trouble is I am not very tall and a bag of leaves - particularly before it has dried out is quite heavy. I am confident I can solve this, just some more noodling needed!

I know what you need but I don't remember what it's called...

Frustrating.

Uhhhh attached to the ceiling, a little wheel with a rope passing over it so you can hoist things up. A bit of weight added to your end to help you with the lifting.

A pulley!!! That's it!

 

[RoyalChick]

You know the one thing Imperial is far better for is building supplies… it just doesn’t translate or make any sense in Metric. I am pretty good at eyeballing and rough math. ask me about my cement patio steps that ended up absolutely perfect and to code for rise/run, square and level, based on… “that looks about right, I still have to put the cladding on it, it will be fine…” I shocked myself almost as much as DH when I checked them (I was expecting acceptable-ish, he was expecting total failure “You didn’t freaking measure ANYTHING! Are you mad???”)

I’m pretty annoying myself in bouncing between systems, a product of my age. Weight I will use grams, then ounces down to a 1/4 oz, pounds, especially for veggies, but for selling meat and fish products it’s all in grams and kg. Liquid measures I will generally use litres for fuel etc, but can usually do the gallon conversions, quickly. Cooking is of course in Cups, distance is mm, then 1/8+in inches, feet, then meters and kms.

However the two Most frustrating ones for me are temperatures because the Fahrenheit/Celsius comparisons make NO sense whatsoever, and the USD to CAD or anytime I need to figure out two or more of the numbers together!

I am a mixed bag too. I recently spoke to a Polish tradie who was explaining everything in mm and cm and switching freely between the two without rhyme or reason. And then he suddenly said "no problem, we can just fix a 2x4 between the joists" and I did a complete double take.
So in the metric world you still buy lumber as a 2x4? Apparently so!

 

[Kris5902]

I'm the same! I measure my height in imperial, distances in both, everything else in metric (even building supplies!)

I think the AUS and possibly European Building codes and supplies are set up to be more metric friendly?

I am a mixed bag too. I recently spoke to a Polish tradie who was explaining everything in mm and cm and switching freely between the two without rhyme or reason. And then he suddenly said "no problem, we can just fix a 2x4 between the joists" and I did a complete double take.
So in the metric world you still buy lumber as a 2x4? Apparently so!

I think that’s just for the purchasing because they are now in North America? I was watching a dry watching a Canadian YouTube drywalling video on this recently, and apparently a lot of older fine carpenters and cabinet makers who immigrated here from Europe still work almost exclusively in metric, but rough framing and building is set up to be completely inhospitable to it, In North America for sure.

 

[rural mouse]

Yes I think so. And I could also put it higher than they can fly (maybe). I investigated some ideas this afternoon. The trouble is I am not very tall and a bag of leaves - particularly before it has dried out is quite heavy. I am confident I can solve this, just some more noodling needed!

What about a net? Hang 3 corners (plus points along sides), run a string through an eye bolt for the 4th corner (and probably the side points leading to the corner), toss a bag (or several) in, pull on the string lifting the last corner and tie off on something.

 

[featherhead007]

You know the one thing Imperial is far better for is building supplies… it just doesn’t translate or make any sense in Metric. I am pretty good at eyeballing and rough math. ask me about my cement patio steps that ended up absolutely perfect and to code for rise/run, square and level, based on… “that looks about right, I still have to put the cladding on it, it will be fine…” I shocked myself almost as much as DH when I checked them (I was expecting acceptable-ish, he was expecting total failure “You didn’t freaking measure ANYTHING! Are you mad???”)

I’m pretty annoying myself in bouncing between systems, a product of my age. Weight I will use grams, then ounces down to a 1/4 oz, pounds, especially for veggies, but for selling meat and fish products it’s all in grams and kg. Liquid measures I will generally use litres for fuel etc, but can usually do the gallon conversions, quickly. Cooking is of course in Cups, distance is mm, then 1/8+in inches, feet, then meters and kms.

However the two Most frustrating ones for me are temperatures because the Fahrenheit/Celsius comparisons make NO sense whatsoever, and the USD to CAD or anytime I need to figure out two or more of the numbers together!

Stop it Kris, you are hurting my brain!

 

[Kris5902]

Ouch! You don’t have much choice. That’s unfortunate

The best option is to always try to fill up in town, and to carry as much fuel as the ferries will allow every trip. We have fallen behind on this recently. I like to describe it as all the different “dangerous goods food groups”. 1 Jerry of diesel, 1 gasoline, 1 20lb BBQ propane tank (largest allowed) and 5 bales of hay, tightly covered. Apparently most latex paint products are also very “dangerous” and 1 gallon max (they don’t have sniffer dogs for those and no one really pays attention to that one)!

Yet, a full Ton of nitrogen fertilizer doesn’t require any ferry paperwork etc??? So we need to be a farm, prove it, and fill out a bunch of paperwork just to purchase a literal ton of this chemical that could easily be used to make things go boom, and the ferries have no concerns transporting that, but if you have even one bale of hay they start freaking out? Any more than five square bales of Hay is only allowed to travel on the Sunday DG run and needs to be booked over a week in advance.

 

[Kris5902]

Stop it Kris, you are hurting my brain!

All is fair… you had me trying to figure out $$$ conversions and gallon to litres Before my morning coffee…

 

[MaryJanet]

I think the AUS and possibly European Building codes and supplies are set up to be more metric friendly?

Not really. I mean, the labelling is metric but I've been told the dimensions are inherited from imperial. So it makes sense to speak of 2x4 etc

 

[RoyalChick]

What about a net? Hang 3 corners (plus points along sides), run a string through an eye bolt for the 4th corner (and probably the side points leading to the corner), toss a bag (or several) in, pull on the string lifting the last corner and tie off on something.

Ingenious!