INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

Well after some quality time with my hen Mr P has decided he likes her. I've been working with him and after release on Saturday he is not leaving and is putting himself up in our large coop with her and the chickens! So glad! He won't leave her side.
Finally got some outside pics and moon! Unfortunately it's dreary outside so no pretty sunshine but it will do for now. He's 2 and has a handful of eyes there but I took the pic from my kitchen window.

 

[pginsber]

My chicken run didn't stand up to all the snow we had in Indy this winter. The weight of the snow on top has pulled the top down, and the sides are leaning in. It WAS almost 5 feet tall, but now it's barely 3 feet tall on the inside. I was hoping it would spring back a little by tightening the tension wires, but it's not. It's made from T-posts and chicken wire (buried 6 inches). It was a real nightmare to do that chicken wire on the top of the run, but it worked well at keeping out predators. The only thing that got in was a little featherless baby cardinal (RIP) that fell from his nest.
I'm planning the chicken run re-do. I'm going to use chain link this time, which seems to be a do-it-yourself-friendly project. I'm hoping that the design I'm planning with the chain link will be a little easier to install than the chicken wire was. It will be my project this summer, wish me luck!

 

[CRSelvey]

So true! They don't tell you about all the times your DH will smash his thumb with a hammer!

Not even close to ready...but we'll say about 25%. I do not look forward to nailing the roof onto that thing and putting up HW cloth. Those jobs are going to test the marriage!

22 days until my babies arrive!!!

We had that happen so many times. The smashing is a real bummer, as is the drill going through my finger (don't ask). Seeing my DH up on the roof scared years off of me, but thankfully, that part is over! As Old Salt told me, if you like your skin intact, wear leather gloves when working with the wire. It will eat you up. Our marriage survived the coop building, but it might have been a close call

. I wish you and yours the best of luck and lots of patience.

WB, Cheryl!

I would love to see some of your stained glass sometime.

And ix-ne on the ow-sne.

I would love to show you some, but most of the finished pieces were for other people or are unfinished now. I have a lamp shade that I was making for practice and a couple of little jewelry boxes that are down there, so its mostly just shelves of gorgeous unused glass. If I make the windows for my friend's house, I will post them.

Mother2Hens- You asked about the windows in an email. I started working on glass as a hobby about 12 years ago. I was trying to make blown glass, but the class was full, so I took the stained glass class. When I was still a student, I went to a new glass shop and when I walked in, it was a huge DISASTER. After talking to the owner for a few minutes, we decided that I was going to use some vacation days from my actual job to help her re-arrange and organize the glass store that she had just purchased in exchange for more glass supplies. She could not afford an employee and I didn't want a part-time job messing with my taxes. So, we made a deal that lasted for a few years. I ended up helping her build windows, selling glass, helping her with her classes, and purchasing glass from a distributor. In exchange I got a ton of glass and was able to use her wholesale discount to purchase even more when picking up her orders at the warehouse. It was a great deal, but moving it all out from California to here was a major task. Once I was settled here, Vaughn build a great workshop for me in the basement. It wasn't much to look at, but it was completely functional. I also worked in a glass shop part time in Plainfield for awhile, but due to my pregnancy, I had to stop. I love making things for people when they ask, but that's about the only time now that I get too. I never fully understood how busy I'd be with 4 other people, two dogs, a cat, a fish and 15 chickens to take care of. I'm considering moving the glass area out to a smaller storage area in the basement just so we can use the space as a family room. It would be used much more often that way.

The whole basement was used as storage when I first moved here, but now its shaping up a bit.



We did a lot of wine tasting back then too!

Back to the updates!

 

[ChickCrazed]

My chicken run didn't stand up to all the snow we had in Indy this winter. The weight of the snow on top has pulled the top down, and the sides are leaning in. It WAS almost 5 feet tall, but now it's barely 3 feet tall on the inside. I was hoping it would spring back a little by tightening the tension wires, but it's not. It's made from T-posts and chicken wire (buried 6 inches). It was a real nightmare to do that chicken wire on the top of the run, but it worked well at keeping out predators. The only thing that got in was a little featherless baby cardinal (RIP) that fell from his nest.
I'm planning the chicken run re-do. I'm going to use chain link this time, which seems to be a do-it-yourself-friendly project. I'm hoping that the design I'm planning with the chain link will be a little easier to install than the chicken wire was. It will be my project this summer, wish me luck!

Good Luck! I went with the 6 foot tall chain link all the way around and on top. I secured it by hammering in fencing staples. Here is a picture of mine just after it was built. It handled snow well. My biggest issue has been that Starlings and Sparrows were seriously invading my coop all winter. I had to add a row of chicken wire and another row of bird netting since the Sparrows were even able to get through the chicken wire. In the end with my bird issues I wish I had just gone with hardware cloth. If you haven't had bird issues you might not have my same issue.



My babies got to free range a bit the last two nights! It took me four days to get them to come out! LOL. I didn't get any great pics, it was getting too dark. I did, however, get a picture of my rumpless Isbar. I don't think there is a standard with this breed, and I do know that there has been rumor of some other breeds getting bred in at some point. I can't decide if I should breed her or not. How likely is it for her to pass this on? I did message the breeder I got them from, I'll be interested to see what he says. The one with no tail is in the middle of the first pic below. There are some other bad pics below. The Isbars are the size of a dove right now. The Bielies are about 3 times their size (same age)!

 

[pginsber]

Good Luck! I went with the 6 foot tall chain link all the way around and on top. I secured it by hammering in fencing staples. Here is a picture of mine just after it was built. It handled snow well. My biggest issue has been that Starlings and Sparrows were seriously invading my coop all winter. I had to add a row of chicken wire and another row of bird netting since the Sparrows were even able to get through the chicken wire. In the end with my bird issues I wish I had just gone with hardware cloth. If you haven't had bird issues you might not have my same issue.

Thanks for sharing the picture of your chain link run. I was going to go with the 6' chain link, too.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Thanks for sharing the picture of your chain link run. I was going to go with the 6' chain link, too.

No problem! Let me know if you want any more pics or have questions. I want to add some kind of "front porch" to the run over by the coop but probably need to add some more supports before I do so. I'm also worried about the winds we get out here tearing a roof off (usually a good 10+ mph higher than the weather reports say). Always a work in progress and it is so much harder to add/fix things after things are already built!

 

[kabhyper1]

Columbia City TSC has a bin full of silkies that are unlabled. I told them to label them and they would sell fast. They are a week old. I cant believe they are are still there!

 

[raisinemright]

I seen them a couple diff times. Nobody is buying any of them??

 

[familytradition]

These are the Dixie Rainbows and the biggest Buff Orpington meat birds moved to a new brooder. Took a pic before they started exploring the new place. Most of the DR's are going to be creole color, which is one of my favorite colors in chickens.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm planning the chicken run re-do. I'm going to use chain link this time, which seems to be a do-it-yourself-friendly project. I'm hoping that the design I'm planning with the chain link will be a little easier to install than the chicken wire was. It will be my project this summer, wish me luck!

I was able to get 6 ft. dog kennel panels on craigslist. I keep an eye open for them and pick them up when they're cheap.

It saves a lot of time in building something or trying to handle the weight of the chain link myself...easy to work with and the panels can be moved or added onto easily. Someone just gave us 4 more 10 x 6 panels and 2 6 x 6 ft. panels - one with gate. We never turn down kennel panels whenever they become available.

You can bolt them to the side of your coop easily with the hardware they have at any Lowes, Menards, etc.

Only thing with chain link is that preds can still reach through it - and chicks can walk through it. I put some bird netting (very lightweight) to keep out starlings/robins, etc...that doesn't have to be expensive or heavy and just zipped tied it on. If I wanted it to be night predator proof I'd line it with something more secure but mine are locked in the coop at night so that's not an issue unless I want them to be able to sleep outside.

I did line the bottom with the small plastic poultry fencing so that the chicks couldn't go right through the chain link.


The shade piece is an old swimming pool cover we cut last hear to give them some shade in the afternoon if they're stuck in there.
Front:


Side



Back







The chick lining: