fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[Mother of Chaos]

No coop work today, just puttering.
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Connected a second shorter hose to the rainbarrel overflow hose. Now that it's long enough to reach the blueberry bushes and two of the raised beds I can attach a soaker hose!

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I raked up debris from the garden clean up. They were in small piles around the yard.

As I raked I found a lovely pile of soft and dark humus underneath an old tarp.

I put it in one of my raised beds.
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See the difference?

Look at the iris bloom! It's the first since I moved them last year.
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I swear, you do more in one afternoon's puttering than I can do in a week of limping around my backyard!

 

[fuzzi]

I swear, you do more in one afternoon's puttering than I can do in a week of limping around my backyard!

I'm puttering for two hours after work. I move at a leisurely pace, don't push myself.

Once the heat and humidity (and mosquitoes!) move in, I just won't be able to do much in the evening except water my gardens, pick produce, collect eggs.

 

[fuzzi]

Pretty iris!

Now I have to check mine. I have them in several places. Some tend to bloom early and some later.

It seems the deer don't like the iris. I saw a doe bite down on my iris foliage one time and immediately backed off. They ate all my hosta, oriental lilies and started on the daylilies. I have moved almost all my daylilies close to the back deck. So far so good.

So nice to see blooms again!

I've seen deer in the backyard, but not for a while, three years maybe. The farmer's fields at the end of our road (1/4 mile) are sprouting houses like mushrooms after a rain. The fields and woods that used to be deer habitat are gone.

There's still a small patch of woods next to me, but I had someone remove what was next to my fence and push the growth back. There's now a buffer of about 20' between my fence and the remaining trees.

 

[fuzzi]

I spent some time this evening working on the hoop coop, securing the hardware cloth to the wood frame/base.

The HWC started snapping as I tightened each fender washer and screw. What?

That did not happen the last time, and I'm using the same brand HWC.

I was not amused.

I patched the broken areas with some of the leftover black HWC (a 10' sample from Amaz0n, I used most of it on the door).

To avoid breaking any more of the HWC I didn't try to torque it tight to the wood, which I did with the first hoop coop. It's tight enough.

Ta da!

Both long sides are now mostly secured.

Next, I need to add HWC around the door and the last few inches over the top of the hoop.

And finish securing the HWC to the hoop frame with zip-ties.

And figure the best way to secure the wooden end.

Maybe drill holes and zip-tie?


Speaking of drills, I broke another bit. This time I don't have a spare, will have to get a replacement.

 

[fuzzi]

A second iris plant has bloomed!

 

[lightm]

I spent some time this evening working on the hoop coop, securing the hardware cloth to the wood frame/base.

The HWC started snapping as I tightened each fender washer and screw. What?

View attachment 4082921
That did not happen the last time, and I'm using the same brand HWC.

I was not amused.

I patched the broken areas with some of the leftover black HWC (a 10' sample from Amaz0n, I used most of it on the door).
View attachment 4082922

To avoid breaking any more of the HWC I didn't try to torque it tight to the wood, which I did with the first hoop coop. It's tight enough.

Ta da!
View attachment 4082923
View attachment 4082924
Both long sides are now mostly secured.

Next, I need to add HWC around the door and the last few inches over the top of the hoop.View attachment 4082925
And finish securing the HWC to the hoop frame with zip-ties.

And figure the best way to secure the wooden end.
View attachment 4082926
View attachment 4082927
Maybe drill holes and zip-tie?


Speaking of drills, I broke another bit. This time I don't have a spare, will have to get a replacement.
View attachment 4082928

Very impressive!

 

[1muttsfan]

No risk of seeing any flowers around here anytime soon. We have about 6 inches of hard packed crusty snow with ice underneath that showed up while I was on vacation. Thank God my neighbor plowed me out before I came home, or I would have been on the tractor after dark.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks great @fuzzi !

 

[fuzzi]

Worked on the hardware cloth by the door today. I was able to flip an almost long enough piece of HWC over the last area by the door. The right side went well...

...but the left side was not cooperative. I had to cut the HWC and then patch it. Zippity zip-tie doo dah!

Frankenstein coop!


It's not pretty, but it's secure, and the chickens won't care.

The heat got to me and I put off doing the patches above and around the door frame until tomorrow afternoon. Or after work this week.

 

[fuzzi]

Gardens Update

There are now three confirmed purple iris plants. I have no idea what the others will be. When they were given to me over ten years ago some were white, some were apricot, might have been some yellow, too.

Milkweed are sprouting!

As are peas!

The green and wax beans are also sprouting, didn't get a picture, though.

And I transplanted tomatoes yesterday.

No one here eats them, so I planted two, for my chickens.