Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I love Mr P

Don't you think he looks like Hulk Hogan?

 

[ValarieF]

Have you kissed him yet?

He wont let me but I did when he was a baby he got on my shoulder. So I know its just hormones and female chickens driving him nuts. Cause he is a good boy.

 

[ValarieF]

Don't you think he looks like Hulk Hogan?

NO! Hulk hogan is ugly Mr. P is adorable lol

 

[Ponypoor]

Move over!
Everyone wants to roost on top of the nest boxes - sheesh! It's not like there isn't enough room on the roosts, and the shelf, and all the nest boxes - noooo - they want to roost on top of them.... gahhhhh!

I am afraid to check now to see how it all settled.

Well looks like it's still a free for all in there, and Mr P has decided to hog the roost for himself. At least Fluffy and Curly are staying clear, hanging out by the wall. Good Girls!

 

[Ponypoor]

NO! Hulk hogan is ugly Mr. P is adorable lol

I like Hulk Hogan His mustache reminds me of Mr Ps wattles haha!

 

[ValarieF]

Move over!
Everyone wants to roost on top of the nest boxes - sheesh! It's not like there isn't enough room on the roosts, and the shelf, and all the nest boxes - noooo - they want to roost on top of them.... gahhhhh!

I am afraid to check now to see how it all settled.
View attachment 3411152

Well looks like it's still a free for all in there, and Mr P has decided to hog the roost for himself. At least Fluffy and Curly are staying clear, hanging out by the wall. Good Girls!
View attachment 3411156

omg I would flip a cookie they are all up there. How!? lol

 

[ValarieF]

I just want to clear up that when Zeus attacks me he just thumps me with his feet and knocks the hen off my lap. He doesn't hit me with wings or bite me. He's still a good boy.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Trying to do the multi quote thing-

I would need at least a 2" opening to prevent snow buildup.

I would still need to use beams across the span of 16' to assist with holding the netting across the section. Can't wait to get home and start on it!

Think about walking around in your netted areas given the height of the netting, too low will be a PITA. If you put beams across a five or six foot fence top that seems low to me, especially since netting sags.

Calling all enablers!!

I have secured my Blue Partridge Brahmas (3 pullets) but they are 12 weeks old and will be arriving at some point in the next couple of weeks. They are 3.5 hrs away so its still being determined if I will drive to go get them or have them shipped. All depends on shipping costs.

I need to mentally review the steps for properly bring in new flock members. Help me if I am missing anything.

1. Quarantine (30 days): will my brooder tent work set up in the garage likely suffice for this length of time?
2. Integration - need to acquire a round pen like for small dogs so they can see each other but not hurt one another or would a large dog kennel be more ideal?

I’d drive, as less risk, and probably stress to the birds, and it would be fun!
Quarantine - if you’re trying to do full bio security they say to change clothes and shoes and wash hands at least, probably showering is best, between flocks. Certain things can settle on your hair and then you spread it around. Would be very hard for me to really adhere to! I did keep Lil’ Queenie inside for over two weeks, to see if she would develop symptoms of anything. But @Shadrach pointed out that really, it was not technically much of a quarantine. Do you know the health history of the flocks where the brahmas are coming from?
I like the pens in addition to the tent setup, so they don’t go stir-crazy with the lack of space.

Hmmm: that is about $135 and $ 175 respectively in Canadian dollars, which is still significantly cheaper! Plus, since I live in the U.S., no shipping charge for me! Thank you for this - once I get the pen extended, I will be needing this on the un-roofed portion for hawk deterrence.

Thank you again - bookmarked!!!!

I think there are other suppliers in the US for this type, it’s just that Pinnon tells you what they’re selling in good detail and why, and appear to have good customer service. Not a warehouse sale, in other words.

Why do my Princesses wait until I am away to fulfill my dreams. Bernadette I now know laid her first egg literally the first day I was gone. And this morning I get this lousy picture from the coop cam which is all three dust bathing together. Actually Babs was kicking dirt into Bernadette’s face and Bernie seemed fine with that.

View attachment 3409653

Babs is helping bathe Bernadette’s head!

How do you deal with fallen leaves, branches and snow getting all tangled up in it?
I have been avoiding netting because of those issues. Maybe I need to rethink.

Snow -
1) My support structure for the nets is mostly the greenhouse frames, which are not very strong. I also didn’t want to bend over the maple saplings and lilac bush permanently in that back area so that was motivation to take it down there.
2) The Buckeyes have shown zero interest in marching around in the snow. They stand in the doorway and look out at it.
3) We can get a lot of snow some years, accumulating over time. You can shake snow through the 2” squares, even ice will break up. I’ve done it, not hard, but I don’t have a winter-weight support system. It’s that, not the nets themselves that’s the weak link. But if no one’s hanging out there anyway, why bother?
If you envision a permanent situation, as long as the support is strong and well-distributed I wouldn’t have much worry. I would try an area and see how it went. Then expand. You might consult the game farm places that have netting set-ups, are they year-round? There are other folks on BYC that have netting…
4) That said, because the longer-term forecast is calling for such changeable weather and I don’t think there’s going to be a steady accumulation of snow, I just put a section of net up again today over two greenhouse frames side by side, and will get a chicken door going from their Big Run, and soon (tomorrow if I can) set up a small section of electric fence around it, from the Big Run out and back. Then I’ll feel they can safely come and go at least in that part. They have been calling at us a lot these days, they want OUT when it’s nice and there’s no snow, but if I’m not out there with them I don’t let them roam.

Leaves -
Small leaves go through. This last Fall big maple leaves would settle on the net, and if I pulled the net quick I could sort of flip them across and off. They also just blew off with the wind. Some blew into one low place and I noticed the chickens liked the sheltered roof it sort of formed so I left them until I took them down for the season. That particular place the net was low and held up by a step-in post that was pretty loosely in the ground, it probably would tip over with heavy snow weight.

Branches - when branches fall it freaks out the chickens because it is something from the sky, but the net holds up. It is rated for a couple hundred pounds plus (285?) so the points of attachment / support would likely fail before the net does. If a tree fell on it yeah the point of attachment / support would give way, ie the greenhouse frame will bend.

After a season with extensive netting my approach is to make it high enough as much as possible so I can walk under it easily. Crouch / bent-over walking is not great. Last year I had the greenhouse frames set some distance from each other and then sections in between held up with 48” step-in posts. Getting a branch that has points catching in the net is not too hard from underneath. Pulling it through, or throwing or rolling it over and off (your hand can reach through 2” squares). I had widely overlapping edges when two nets met (each well-overlapped edge held onto the neighbor net with carabiners. You can pull one net through the other and then join them also) so it was also possible to reach places from above by undoing that bit.

In my setup, leaves and snow mostly fall through. Sometimes I get a build-up of snow in which case, I just give the netting a shake and it falls off. Best not to do this when the hens are outside though. They don't appreciate a sudden avalanche of snow on their backs!

Exactly!

It's like a green tunnel I love your idea of the hoop coop with the covering, maybe I can do something like that overtop of my RR to give more height inside it. Wonder if I can get some custom made ribs to make an arch over parts of it. One side it 6' high and the other ~5' so would need to take that into account so it doesn't look lop-sided.

You would have to handle it like fishing net - there is a technical way that it needs to 'handled' - that's where my Uncle would come in hahaha! Oh Uncle Eric - can you fix this net for me???? I love watching them fixing/making nets - it's like crocheting sort of.

I might get a couple of the 25x25 ones, I think if I place it over the RR I can more easily deal with the over hang - OR - I can just leave the overhang as an area they can run under for some raptor protection.

Ideas are running wild now! Can't wait to get home

Yes, we had a houseguest from Ghana for awhile, he showed us how to make nets with a wide flat tool - made from bone? Very cool.

Yes, hoops on top would be good since your fence is 5-6 feet. Again, think about walking under it…

My big worry are the freezing rain and then snow on top of that which could clog the openings making it very heavy and sag. Of course I could just roll it back for the winter, they rarely go outside in the winter.

2” squares won’t easily hold much snow. Thick freezing rain will hold for a while but wind helps remove it. You want the attachments to be good. It will sag but then come back once clear. I don’t know how much stretch it retains if stretched for weeks. Not that much I think. @Lexicon is a good resource here, can maybe elaborate on their experience.

Just for you @Ponypoor - when I clean out and collect I usually arrange the eight fake eggs and the golf ball into two nice little groups of four and five on either end of the nest box. Here’s what today’s hen did when she got in there to lay later! (No, she did not lay her egg with the golf ball!)

Here’s tonight’s arrangement so far. I wonder how she sleeps on all of the fake eggs plus golf ball?

Here’s the other three. Somebody’s in the middle of grooming

 

[LozzyR]

Ya really neat! The Exorcist Owl Growl hahaha

I am trying to see if there is an update on the egg - searching online.

No, the eggies weren't viable.

 

[featherhead007]

I just want to clear up that when Zeus attacks me he just thumps me with his feet and knocks the hen off my lap. He doesn't hit me with wings or bite me. He's still a good boy.

He just needs that kiss