fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[Shadrach]

I got overheated yesterday, knew I wasn't going to be able to work on the coop this afternoon.

But I managed a little light job.
View attachment 4086012
I needed to trim the HWC to fit in the hasps, but it shouldn't make any difference when the door is latched.
View attachment 4086013
View attachment 4086014
I'll add the carabiners later.

Looking good.

 

[Shadrach]

I can see that, but unfortunately they view ME as a predator.

That's because you are.

 

[Shadrach]

You should see my arms and legs right now...

Steel fencing can be pretty vicious. I spent 12 years as a fencing sub contractor so I know a bit about fence cuts. One should be aware that what slows the cuts healing is the galvanized coating so one needs to be thorough in cleaning the cuts.

 

[1muttsfan]

Good advice

 

[Shadrach]

Two and a half hours today. Warm for a while but dusk brought a chill to the air.
Got Henry's meds down him, gave everyone prawns, oats and chopped cabbage. Almost cut a finger off chopping the cabbage. My knife ia very sharp but the balde is short so the usual cooks chop doesn't work. Henry ate a little of everything and went and stood as you can see him while the hens bathed. That's Sylph with her head under Henry's arse. That's Sylph next to Henry on the roost bar in the last picture. A place she managed to keep despite some pecks from her sister Tull.
Henry did eat a bit of everything. I made sure he got most of the prawns and he ate a few mouthfulls of the supplied feed when I let them out of the coop run.

I was telling Henry how pleased I am with my last blood test results; no longer pre diabetic, liver function good to normal,, cholesterol levels and balance good and all achieved by a few changes in the food I eat; well, quite a lot of changes to be honest. I binned the statins the doctors prescribed months ago and the doctor was surprised I had managed to get my tests back into the normal ranges without the use of the drugs they give everyone with similar problems. The USA and England have a different scale for diabetes. I want to get two positions further down the scale if I can which will give me a bit more peak room.
As I said to Henry, we're both getting old and I look at the pair of us and think we've both seen better days.
He did walk around a bit. I went with him more often than not and encouraged him to take those few extra steps; something I should be doing as well. I did try to get him to dig in the compost piles but he really wasn't interested and a few half hearted swipes and off he went to stand by himself while I dug a bit more for the hens. He's losing weight down to 3.7 kilos from 4.2 kilos. I have similar issues with my weight but with the carefull eating and the aging and my body type it's to be expected. I suppose it must be similar for chickens as they reach pension age.
One day at a time...

 

[Shadrach]

Sorry about the above @fuzzi . I forgot which thread I was on. I'll leave it there unless you say different (?)

 

[fuzzi]

Sorry about the above @fuzzi . I forgot which thread I was on. I'll leave it there unless you say different (?)

Happy to have it on my thread.

 

[fuzzi]

That looks great Fuzzy you're doing a really nice job

Thank you!

Temperatures are going to be in the upper 80s later this week, it's going to slow me down even more.

 

[fuzzi]

Steel fencing can be pretty vicious. I spent 12 years as a fencing sub contractor so I know a bit about fence cuts. One should be aware that what slows the cuts healing is the galvanized coating so one needs to be thorough in cleaning the cuts.

Love it, learning something new every day!

I scar easily, too, as I have very fair skin, plus I'm getting up in years, don't heal quite as quickly. It doesn't matter to me if I have little scars, they're a reminder of who I am and what I have done.

I have puppy teeth scars on my arms from Tirzah, who was whelped in 2009.

Still miss her.

 

[fuzzi]

Since I don't handle heat well and it was a mild day, I pushed myself to go out to the coop after work. I gave it about 90 minutes of attention

I decided to tackle the right side of the door first. I found a piece of HWC that was a little larger than the opening. I bent and fit it.

I tried to remove the screws and washers on the door frame so I could manoeuvre the wire better, but one of the screws just had to strip.


I used a claw hammer, and then a chisel, but neither were enough to remove the screw. I finally had to use my reciprocating saw. More time wasted. Oh well.

Getting there!

It needs some patch and attach work, and I have to add the apron, but that will be after I get the left side done.