Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Caturday Saturday

BFTP
Dreaming of warmer days, morning sunshine.

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The Cheshire returns!

 

[featherhead007]

It got cloudy. And we got a few sprinkles. I thought it was bird poop at first.

Collecting poop on my head and shoulders, is my job!

“I bet I can land one right on his face!”

 

[ValerieJ]

That little house is so cute & a nice idea as a feeding station. Will re-roofing fix it from leaks?

I dislike deterioration...cracks, peeling, rotting, collapsing, rusting. In 2015 I erected a 10'x10' popup canopy over the chicken raised sandbox to keep the sand dry during rain & shaded from summer sun. I buried the canopy legs in the soil to keep it from para-sailing away in our heavy Santa Ana Winds.

2015 ~ yard remodel ~ buried canopy legs
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4'x4' sandbox under 10x10 canopy
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The new block wall & no trees planted yet & waiting to erect 2 more canopies ~ 2016.
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The canopy covers tear & get replaced a couple times a year by clipping new tarps (actual custom replacement canopy covers are too expensive & tarps are much cheaper & last just as well). We put up more buried frame popups & planted trees. Recycled dog houses are for the chickens to snooze in.
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After 10 years buried in the ground our very 1st canopy frame over the sandbox has finally rusted & collapsed! We may not live in snow country but our Santa Ana Winds are vicious to deal with. One year some of a neighbor's roof tiles blew into our yard from 2 streets away! During one windy episode we witnessed someone's popup canopy frame & cover (not ours) blow across 4 lanes of freeway traffic.

Our old collapsed frame ready for the junk reclamation truck.
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DH buried a new frame over the sandbox while in the wind & rain before the sandbox got filled w/water.
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2 Silkies & a Dominique exploring under the new sandbox canopy. This has always been a popular site for our chickens to hang out ~ especially now that the Pomegranate trees are full grown.View attachment 4067772

Oh yes...I know about the Santa Ana winds. Like I said, lived there for 40 years. Those are great canopy ideas! It all looks so great. We have found that hardly anything canopy style works here. We have the winds, with falling branches, and then the occasional heavy wet snow that collapses them. So everything has to be built to last. I'll have to get a picture of how our coop is now at some point. Big, safe and solid. It has the enclosed coop, with an outdoor covered and hardware clothed space that doubles for dust bathing when it's too wet to go outside.

The little coop was something I bought on Wayfair for about $100. It was great for raising those 3 chicks, and being a feeding station, but I don't think I could get DH to reroof it, or do any repairs to it. He builds all our coops, and of course, thinks that one is a piece of junk. I leave it there because the chickens go in and out of it from time to time. It's just another point of interest for them.

 

[ValerieJ]

Collecting poop on my head and shoulders, is my job!

“I bet I can land one right on his face!”

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I would put sandboxes under their roosting beams. Easy to clean, and you always know where the poop is going.

 

[featherhead007]

I would put sandboxes under their roosting beams. Easy to clean, and you always know where the poop is going.

I tried putting poop boards up, under their perches. The thing is, the chooks, tip them over, or sometimes sleep on them.

 

[BY Bob]

3 in a Row

 

[ValerieJ]

I tried putting poop boards up, under their perches. The thing is, the chooks, tip them over, or sometimes sleep on them.

Ours are permanently fixed to the wall. They really do work great.

 

[Sally PB]

I attached the poop board to the roost. One of my hens, Widget, usually sleeps on the poop board.

 

[ValerieJ]

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I attached the poop board to the roost. One of my hens, Widget, usually sleeps on the poop board.

I have had a hen or two that will find a quiet corner in the sand to sleep, but mostly they ae on the roost. It really is a great system.

 

[featherhead007]

I have had a hen or two that will find a quiet corner in the sand to sleep, but mostly they ae on the roost. It really is a great system.

I’ll have to take your word for it. It didn’t work for my chooks.
It’s easier to rake the poop off the floor (for me anyways)