Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sunshinechickies]

The Sebright babies are big, the roosters are starting to crow/screechView attachment 3413124

Ohh they’re sooo cute! I love the one with the naked neck !

 

[ValarieF]

Sebrights are so cute and tiny. I havent been on much still not feeling good and slept most of the day. I do stay logged in most of the time though lol. Have a drs appt thursday and friday. Maybe we can figure something out and also get the referral to the cardiologist.

 

[bgmathteach]

Fail with the poultry netting fence, the frozen shale is too hard.
Part of the line I want to run is on the edge of our shale driveway. Normally I use a strong (steel?) tent stake and a hammer to drive holes into the shale for the step-in pins, but here I could only get about an inch, then it’s frozen solid rock, not breaking or moving at all, really impossible. The stake began bending. DH says I need a hammer drill? I think like a jack hammer! It’s not great work at any time of the year though, and I’m looking for a year-round alternative, see “Crazy Idea” below which I'll post elsewhere on BYC too.

I got 2" aviary mesh netting up on two greenhouse frames and intended to surround it with poultry netting. Here’s pics, I have a corner up for me to go in and out. The chicken door to the area was going to be where those treated blocks in front of the plastic sheeting are. But today with snow on the ground, they expressed zero interest in setting foot outside the run, they stopped yelling, so there’s no urgency to this now. They stood in the doorway and looked at the snow. They're happy to eat collard greens and blueberries inside, thank you.

View attachment 3411846

Crazy Idea? Anyone else try this?
Had the idea of placing the poultry fence in what I found out are called planter blocks. Bought a few on a whim last summer while I was getting cinder blocks for weights and things, they’re cute and I liked the shape, and the notches make them easy to grab and move around. Discovered this year that a step-in two-tined fence post fits in the hole and the notch so I placed one on the shale and used a plain post to hang extra cable on next to the electric fence cut-off switch, worked great!

View attachment 3412926

I would have to fill in below the electric fence in between the blocks because the fence bottom is now higher in this scenario. Thought about stones or concrete blocks, then realized it's made for 2x lumber to make planter boxes (duh! see the image below), and found a scrap 2x8 to try and I laid out two blocks.

The scrap wood is just a little long but hopefully you can see what I mean. I have one or maybe two more planter blocks to experiment with and lay it out further, but right now it’s behaving much like step-in poultry netting does. The end fence poles, if tied or braced to something, will pull the fence straight I think. Laterally, they seem to have as much strength as when in soil, because the blocks are as deep as the tines, and I could pound in some wooden wedges into the middle hole and stop any wiggling of one tine, but they could still lift out without much trouble, which is good, or maybe bad?

View attachment 3411849
View attachment 3411848
View attachment 3411847

That looks like a great idea. The only down side I can think of to this set-up is that since the electric netting doesn't go all the way to the ground, it would be easier for a digging predator to dig under the fence without getting zapped. Otherwise, this looks like a very cool solution!

 

[bgmathteach]

I have not had good luck with wing clipping. It makes it harder for them to fly, but the determined ones still do fly. and have gotten over my 5' fence. Also, note that IF you clip the wing feathers, you have to re-clip fairly regularly, as they will regrow (at least annually, but some hens replaced their primaries despite the feather being trimmed, not plucked. more often than with the annual molt.)

Also, in my previous picture (I'll repost), note that my hen is standing on some green snow fencing. That snow fencing was 4' tall, on top of my 5' chain link fence (I overlapped 1', so it was about 8' high) I had some that flew to the top if all if it, others that learned they could fly AT the top of the chain link fence and the snow fence would give enough they could sort of land on top of the chain-link fence and 'fly-walk' up the snow fencing and go over. As you can see, the snow fence got mushed down. I would fix it, the next day it would be mushed again I gave up. They won that battle! (for now. Once I expand the pen and build 8' walls, I'll be able to put some sort of netting/mesh across the top!)


View attachment 3412898

And a couple more pictures, just because:

More trouble makers!View attachment 3412899View attachment 3412900

I saw your laugh @RoyalChick

But I think I'm getting the last laugh here...with my transplanted trouble makers!

 

[Chicken poppy]

How is the wee mama doing with her chicks today?

Doing wonderful! She is a bit spicy today, she chased my cat down the hall (which i didn’t expect) and also Peep. (Serves him right! Cheater.)
The babies were only scared of Peep, not my cat.

 

[BY Bob]

No Ask Aurora Today

I just left work at 8:17 pm eastern.

 

[GregnLety]

Somerville's turkey flock

 

[Aliceismad106]

You people are showing off your beautiful chickens, all happy and bouncy, where my chickens are today are under the porch out of the wind and cold. ( not near me for pictures) ah heck! Who wants to see a few Rocks anyway?!
I’m in a grumpy mood!

I like rocks! We actually collected so many, we made a firepit.

 

[Aliceismad106]

If you look close, she is not nearly as happy as I am about this even though she asked for it....

 

[Chicken poppy]

No Ask Aurora Today

I just left work at 8:17 pm eastern.

That’s okay. I will just take Aurora from you then.