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Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock
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Thanks @rural mouse
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And they are all gorgeous! Especially those!
Everybody is doing okay. Hazel is resting more than the others, so I am watching her, but nothing shows up in observing her or feeling her. Here she was sitting down in the corner and Diane-Ida came over and sat next to her on her right, which she allowed; she is very easy going and a bit of a pushover but when she wants to put the hammer down she does. When Diane-Ida snuggled a bit close and pushed against her I heard Hazel give a few little boks. Popcorn is standing with her.
Here's Tedi come over to join them. The Buff Orpingtons will be eight months old end of March and lay almost every day. Hazel and Popcorn will be four years old at the beginning of July and are laying an egg now and then.
I have zeroed in that Diane-Ida is pecking and biting for food to appear in my hand. She broadcasts a whiney sound first. I try to nip it in the bud and today it worked, she whined but held off with pecking/biting and waited for her turn. It looks hard for her to hold off. Later on I fed them pellets from my hands, they can all eat at will and she again held off when they ate it all and I refilled my hand. Other days she has been loaded for bear but possibly there's less days like that now overall.
Those pictures were taken before the ice storm came in. Needless to say, with the woods behind us cracking, big and small branches coming down, they spent most of yesterday morning under the coop itself, the safest spot!
The weather has been heavy ice, a good centimeter thick in places, followed by snow, and the aviary netting is very strong and holding up fine. BUT NOT the supports for it. The weight did in one greenhouse frame, the frame was on a slope sideways and tilting downhill already, and the weight pulled it over further and the tubing caved.
Lots of heavy work disconnecting it from the big run. It had blown out any zip tie attachments, but not carabiner clips. Releasing the netting took pressure off the remaining greenhouse frames, and I undid where each piece attached to another. I had to cut a few places, there was too much force. The net is heavy with the ice, just like tire chains. Only there's so much more of it. Like giant chain mail. What a workout!
I recall reading a post about a chicken yard covered with this type of netting, and the poster wrote that it's not the netting but the supports that you have to worry about. This fellow had a center wooden pole snap once. Ever since then he's kept the 4x4 outer fence posts connected, but has the center lifting pole NOT set in the ground, and he lays that pole down and lets the netting sink onto the ground in the middle now. It saves the center pole and the surrounding fence posts.
I freed as much side-pulling force from the other two frames as I could. The forces on them are mostly up and down now, and both are standing as of this writing. Will see what's come pf the poultry netting later when the ice clears the next few days. The stretching stress can weaken the wires.
I'm concerned about this one's left side but I think messing with it further, like trying to remove the netting altogether, would be added stress and could do more damage than leaving it alone.
Never kept the netting and poultry fencing up through winter before, so I'm learning. Until this happened I've been glad to have it up, as our winter has seen only some snow, and even heavy wet snow has been easy to knock off this netting.
So the chickens have been out and about under it a lot, all winter, the BO's don't mind walking on a little snow too much, and the Buckeyes will follow them out (yup, the "hardy" Buckeye breed, hardy, yes, but not hardy souls, this bunch anyway. They do not lead the way out on to the snow, never have liked it much. The BO's will go out. However it also may be more the Youngins' Urge To Explore types versus the Elders Who Have Seen It All and No, There's Nothing Worth It Out There Until There's Some Ground Visible to Scratch types).
This ice is different from ice experienced in the past, it completely stuck to the netting in thick finger-sized chunks, so I'm rethinking how to arrange it and how to support it. I will say as much as showing up the weakness in the set-up, this situation has been a testament to the strength of the netting, it is amazing.
Here's Tedi come over to join them. The Buff Orpingtons will be eight months old end of March and lay almost every day. Hazel and Popcorn will be four years old at the beginning of July and are laying an egg now and then.
I have zeroed in that Diane-Ida is pecking and biting for food to appear in my hand. She broadcasts a whiney sound first. I try to nip it in the bud and today it worked, she whined but held off with pecking/biting and waited for her turn. It looks hard for her to hold off. Later on I fed them pellets from my hands, they can all eat at will and she again held off when they ate it all and I refilled my hand. Other days she has been loaded for bear but possibly there's less days like that now overall.
Those pictures were taken before the ice storm came in. Needless to say, with the woods behind us cracking, big and small branches coming down, they spent most of yesterday morning under the coop itself, the safest spot!
The weather has been heavy ice, a good centimeter thick in places, followed by snow, and the aviary netting is very strong and holding up fine. BUT NOT the supports for it. The weight did in one greenhouse frame, the frame was on a slope sideways and tilting downhill already, and the weight pulled it over further and the tubing caved.
Lots of heavy work disconnecting it from the big run. It had blown out any zip tie attachments, but not carabiner clips. Releasing the netting took pressure off the remaining greenhouse frames, and I undid where each piece attached to another. I had to cut a few places, there was too much force. The net is heavy with the ice, just like tire chains. Only there's so much more of it. Like giant chain mail. What a workout!
I recall reading a post about a chicken yard covered with this type of netting, and the poster wrote that it's not the netting but the supports that you have to worry about. This fellow had a center wooden pole snap once. Ever since then he's kept the 4x4 outer fence posts connected, but has the center lifting pole NOT set in the ground, and he lays that pole down and lets the netting sink onto the ground in the middle now. It saves the center pole and the surrounding fence posts.
I freed as much side-pulling force from the other two frames as I could. The forces on them are mostly up and down now, and both are standing as of this writing. Will see what's come pf the poultry netting later when the ice clears the next few days. The stretching stress can weaken the wires.
I'm concerned about this one's left side but I think messing with it further, like trying to remove the netting altogether, would be added stress and could do more damage than leaving it alone.
Never kept the netting and poultry fencing up through winter before, so I'm learning. Until this happened I've been glad to have it up, as our winter has seen only some snow, and even heavy wet snow has been easy to knock off this netting.
So the chickens have been out and about under it a lot, all winter, the BO's don't mind walking on a little snow too much, and the Buckeyes will follow them out (yup, the "hardy" Buckeye breed, hardy, yes, but not hardy souls, this bunch anyway. They do not lead the way out on to the snow, never have liked it much. The BO's will go out. However it also may be more the Youngins' Urge To Explore types versus the Elders Who Have Seen It All and No, There's Nothing Worth It Out There Until There's Some Ground Visible to Scratch types).
This ice is different from ice experienced in the past, it completely stuck to the netting in thick finger-sized chunks, so I'm rethinking how to arrange it and how to support it. I will say as much as showing up the weakness in the set-up, this situation has been a testament to the strength of the netting, it is amazing.
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What does notabitail mean?
notabitail
Big Rooster
- Apr 2, 2023
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Chicken Abigail. My Mom called her "Abitail". I made up the story that Abigail insisted her name was "Abigail, not Abitail".
Therefore I have been known as "notabitail" since I am neither.
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- #186,668
Oh my. Fox. To many of those around these days. Please be careful.
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- #186,670
So wonderful to see them all again. Look at Bridge go!
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