Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[servpolice]

Your geese are all gorgeous-- where do you live? Looks like a great area for geese

Thank you also i live in southern Ireland

 

[ChickDancer]

A quick preview of some new pens going up for ALL of the birds. Geese, ducks, and chickens will all be separated by breed, eventually, and living in a pen like this. Tarp will cover the top, and one side will have a door. One corner will also have plywood for privacy, and nest boxes for the girls. But this is the very basic pen for all of them. Cost per pen is only about $150, and it's 10 ft x 10 ft x 5 ft, so it's big enough for a little crew, and tall enough for the ones that like to fly a bit.

Bonus features: It's light weight, so I can move it around as needed. It's made of welded wire, which will keep most predators out. And at a neighbor's suggestion, I'm adding a plug on the bottom PVC and a valve on the top to fill the PVC pipes with water to help weigh it down to keep out bigger, digging predators, like coyotes. But the plug in the bottom will allow me to empty the water whenever I want to move it around the yard!

 

[livininbrazil]

A quick preview of some new pens going up for ALL of the birds. Geese, ducks, and chickens will all be separated by breed, eventually, and living in a pen like this. Tarp will cover the top, and one side will have a door. One corner will also have plywood for privacy, and nest boxes for the girls. But this is the very basic pen for all of them. Cost per pen is only about $150, and it's 10 ft x 10 ft x 5 ft, so it's big enough for a little crew, and tall enough for the ones that like to fly a bit.

Bonus features: It's light weight, so I can move it around as needed. It's made of welded wire, which will keep most predators out. And at a neighbor's suggestion, I'm adding a plug on the bottom PVC and a valve on the top to fill the PVC pipes with water to help weigh it down to keep out bigger, digging predators, like coyotes. But the plug in the bottom will allow me to empty the water whenever I want to move it around the yard!

Nice. It´d make a nice breeding pen, too. How will you stop the rain water from collapsing the pen when it gathers in the tarp?

 

[livininbrazil]

All lovely pics, serv. Especially this one. How are the Africans getting along now?

 

[ChickDancer]

Nice. It´d make a nice breeding pen, too. How will you stop the rain water from collapsing the pen when it gathers in the tarp?

I'm not too worried about that, but I do have a plan. I have a tarp over my Sumatras, and it has been there since January. It has not only caught LARGE amounts of rain water, but also pine needles and leaves (mostly pine needles). But it has still held. The key was to make it nice and tight, using ONLY the rivets designed for tie-down. And... to put a single solitary hole in it, near the very center, for the water to actually drip out. Well, the hole was actually a slit, made by a steak knife. But it has worked! I thought it would have collapsed ages ago (it's also a very CHEAP tarp) but it has held! That's how I got the idea to use tarp on these pens.

 

[livininbrazil]

I'm not too worried about that, but I do have a plan. I have a tarp over my Sumatras, and it has been there since January. It has not only caught LARGE amounts of rain water, but also pine needles and leaves (mostly pine needles). But it has still held. The key was to make it nice and tight, using ONLY the rivets designed for tie-down. And... to put a single solitary hole in it, near the very center, for the water to actually drip out. Well, the hole was actually a slit, made by a steak knife. But it has worked! I thought it would have collapsed ages ago (it's also a very CHEAP tarp) but it has held! That's how I got the idea to use tarp on these pens.

Oh, that´s clever, then. Tight tarp, together with a hole for water to escape. There´s stuff a bit like tarp here, but it´s lots of threads of plastic woven together, and once it get a hole in it, it just starts to come apart. I use it to cover my chickens, but just a small area, over poles, and it has loads of holes in it that the water goes through..the holes are just wear-and-tear, from the chickens getting up ontop and wearing it away! I have an old frame from agazebo here that I was thinking of doing a similar thing....trouble is, the wind would just take it away, but I like your idea of weighting it down.

 

[Nyssa03]

I'm not too worried about that, but I do have a plan. I have a tarp over my Sumatras, and it has been there since January. It has not only caught LARGE amounts of rain water, but also pine needles and leaves (mostly pine needles). But it has still held. The key was to make it nice and tight, using ONLY the rivets designed for tie-down. And... to put a single solitary hole in it, near the very center, for the water to actually drip out. Well, the hole was actually a slit, made by a steak knife. But it has worked! I thought it would have collapsed ages ago (it's also a very CHEAP tarp) but it has held! That's how I got the idea to use tarp on these pens.

Just an idea - we used a similar enclosure, and added a 2X6 across the middle of the top of the pen before putting on the tarp -- so when you pull the tarp tight you have a little bit of a pitch to your "roof" The 2x6 has to extend past the top bar, front and back - we bungied it to keep it in place. We used it all summer and into the fall, but dismantled it and moved the birds before snow.

 

[servpolice]

Brazil the Africans love the grass ! the babies also and they love being domient of the main flock

 

[livininbrazil]

Brazil the Africans love the grass ! the babies also and they love being domient of the main flock

I bet they do! They look so regal. Beautiful there, free-ranging. How are things going with those magpies, crows, etc?

 

[Iain Utah]

Hey all, been so busy it is hard to keep up with the chatting. But I love all of the pictures of your beautiful birds and their babies!!

Not too much to report at my place. The babies (3 ducks and 3 geese) hatched by their mommas are all doing well. I have two African eggs on day 15 in my bator and my main breeder dewlap goose finally went broody on a full clutch of eggs a couple of days ago.

Due to the fox problem (it has now gotten three muscovies and one African), we implemented operation secure birds while we get the necessary equipment and help to catch the nasty predator. Our remaining scovies and the geese raising babies are in small pens in my house and garage and the rest of the african group get locked up at night in our garage on our horse property. We are also locking up our cats at night, just to be on the extra safe side. They are not thrilled about the new routine, but they will get over it.

we catch the fox soon!!