Keets in the Mail

[perchie.girl]

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Oh dear, there went my stress level!!! I think I sent you 6 light birds, yikies!

Maybe you could have a "breeding flock" of all your light birds that you could keep cooped/penned up and only let them out to free range while you are there to watch them...

You can always come get this BLM Burro, he'll watch your birds for ya, lol.

this has been my plan all along. I have a huge backyard which was devoted to goats.... Goats will be moved to the horse corral which is bigger and will give my horse more company. Then the back yard will get converted to Seven runs eventually. with the largest space for the guineas. There will be a free flight area and hopefully I can include a couple of low branches from the only tree... LOL. At first the coop is going to stay as it originally was built. Sixteen feet by twelve feet of space. This will get expanded to 24 x 24 feet square with partitions for the different breeds of chickens I want to keep.

Ideally the poultry house floor plan will look like this:

an eighteen by 6 space in side the coop with an option of another twelve by six space to be added for guineas. Those are the areas that dont show nest boxes.

Here is a perspective view looking down the hall somewhat

The runs that go off the house will have a large area at the end where the different breeds can be allowed to expand their space for the day. But theoretically I can net the whole yard and keep the light ones in.

Sumatras are very very interesting chicken. They originate in of all places Sumatra. They have a very old genome and are known for having black or deep plumb combs and wattles. Their plumage is jet black with green highlights. And they have multiple spurs. In order to show a Sumatra roo they have to have at least three spurs, among other things. Oh and because where they originated is a mass of small islands they are known to island hop flying as far as five miles.

The big netted area will also be for the Sumatras. Who like the guineas will be better kept with an enriched environment. Though I may let the Sumatras range at the same time as the dark guineas. We will see if I can gird my loins to let my babies loose on the world.

 

[perchie.girl]

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I will thank you Lois. All ready am I love the Pterodactyl phase.... I gave yours watermelon tonight for the first time.... But they were too busy giving me the stink eye on the other end of the cage to investigate. When I finally left the house they were stretching their necks waaaayyyyy out looking at the foreign objects in their dishes.... Too funny. The little peeps had already rounded off the edges of their melon in little triangular mouth bites.

 

[PeepsCA]

perchie.girl :

this has been my plan all along. I have a huge backyard which was devoted to goats.... Goats will be moved to the horse corral which is bigger and will give my horse more company. Then the back yard will get converted to Seven runs eventually. with the largest space for the guineas. There will be a free flight area and hopefully I can include a couple of low branches from the only tree... LOL. At first the coop is going to stay as it originally was built. Sixteen feet by twelve feet of space. This will get expanded to 24 x 24 feet square with partitions for the different breeds of chickens I want to keep.

Ideally the poultry house floor plan will look like this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/72852_big_coop_3.jpg

an eighteen by 6 space in side the coop with an option of another twelve by six space to be added for guineas. Those are the areas that dont show nest boxes.

Here is a perspective view looking down the hall somewhat
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/72852_big_coop_2.jpg

The runs that go off the house will have a large area at the end where the different breeds can be allowed to expand their space for the day. But theoretically I can net the whole yard and keep the light ones in.

Sumatras are very very interesting chicken. They originate in of all places Sumatra. They have a very old genome and are known for having black or deep plumb combs and wattles. Their plumage is jet black with green highlights. And they have multiple spurs. In order to show a Sumatra roo they have to have at least three spurs, among other things. Oh and because where they originated is a mass of small islands they are known to island hop flying as far as five miles.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/72852_schock-sumatras-bamboo11-300x183.jpg

The big netted area will also be for the Sumatras. Who like the guineas will be better kept with an enriched environment. Though I may let the Sumatras range at the same time as the dark guineas. We will see if I can gird my loins to let my babies loose on the world.

A woman with a plan, gotta love it. Nicely planned coop/run setup indeed. That would work nicely for a selective Guinea breeding facility too, heh.

Sumatras definitely are interesting, and I'm thinking with a few of those Rottweiler/Ninja Triple Sworded Roosters on duty you won't have any predator issues AT ALL, lol. Thanks for the info on them

 

[perchie.girl]

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Yep I might consider it..... Just thinking...

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LOL Rottweiler/Ninja Triple Sworded.....

Actually even though they are considered a game they are pretty mellow. There is a fellow here on BYC that rescued a whole flock that had gone feral in a town in New Jersey. The towns people were beginning to consider Trapping and killing them. Hens were raising their little ones any where and they were living on what they could glean from the country side. He caught them and moved them to his 30 acre place. I am hoping to get some eggs from him eventually. They go broody quickly so egg production is low which is great for me.

 

[perchie.girl]

OK todays the day I finally wrangled my son into helping me. Eleven guineas cage and all are going for a 60 mile ride along with a 30 gallon water tank and the final hardware to finish off the run. My water supply at the house is broken. I have water just no way to deliver it to the animals in the regular way. The house has water but its on a different plumbing. So in order to supply water we have to hook up a hose in the laundry room. The thirty gallon tank will act as a reservoir for an automatic waterer. The other animals have Big water tanks Horse has 110 gallon trough, goats have 80 gallon. I have a neighbor that feeds the horse and checks water and tops it all off when it needs it.

I had to locate the water tank and all the fittings to tap into it and connect it to a waterer. This little project has taken much much longer than I had anticipated. But I am pleased with my plan.

I will get pictures and post when I get back.

Oh and PeepsCA. I counted Keets when I cleaned yesterday and there are 33. They love their red feeder when I put it in its like Belly up to the Bar Boys. I will get pictures of that too. And every single one has wing feathers.... Too cute.

 

[perchie.girl]

Trips postponed ..... long story.... very disappointed. Saturday for sure...

 

[PeepsCA]

perchie.girl :

Oh and PeepsCA. I counted Keets when I cleaned yesterday and there are 33. They love their red feeder when I put it in its like Belly up to the Bar Boys. I will get pictures of that too. And every single one has wing feathers.... Too cute.

LOL too cute

They grow like weeds on high protein feed. Proof positive that feeding them the good stuff makes for healthy, hearty keets

Ahaha... 33 keets, woops?

I honestly expected some casualties and I wanted you to have your 30... so I tossed in a a couple extras on purpose, but I really did lose count, as I was fillin' up both sides of the shipping box, lol.

Sorry to read about your water and water tank troubles... and especially the postponed fixing schedule. I'm sorta feelin' your frustration pains up here too... I've had a few setbacks here concerning my new coop project due to the way it was framed and where I wanted to put the wire (actually horse panels from tractor supply and hardware cloth on the inside wall that will remain open all year). But I'm working around it, cuz I am 'bout as stubborn headed and determined as you are, lol (and Saturday is the day I'll be dealing with fixing it too). It's pretty disappointing when somethin' throws a wrench in the spokes of a well planned out, well needed and anticipated project tho

Looks like we'll both be bustin' our butts on Saturday!

 

[perchie.girl]

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Yeh.... I have a 3000 gallon water tank with a broken booster pump. It is plumbed to water the property. Technically its for in case of fire therefore it is not plumbed to the house. So we have water in the house but not out to the animals. The way we have been working around it is to run a hose from the laundry room cold water faucet to fill the water troughs. All have float valves and are designed for very low water pressure. So up till now we have been feeding water to the animals by just letting the water flow by gravity. Well we had some power issues when that was fixed I turned the booster pump on to test to see if it worked OK for what ever reason it blew its housing off and water came out of the two inch pipe like a fire hose.

New pump is $$$$.$$

The work around will do for the Guineas but in order to have enough water for them for at least a week I have to set up a 30 gallon reservoir to feed water to the automatic waterer. I finally got the rest of the necessary tools and parts to finish creating this reservoir today. It involves putting a drain and an adapter and a faucet at the bottom of the tank. Tools needed were a one inch diameter hole driller and a new Drill motor. Got everything together and it worked like a champ on a five gallon Home depot orange bucket..... (going to be used for the next keet coop water reservoir.)

All in all a late start for the trip up to the house today but doable. Got to moms house to clean and feed and pick up the keets for the trip up. Got everything except the keets loaded in the truck and my son locked the only set of keys in my car. It took the wind out of my sails completely. We had to wait for Triple A to come and Slmjim my car open. I cant afford 90 bucks for a spare key with a micro chip in it. But the Triple A guy said we could go and have a key made that will just open the door. So we spent the rest of the time at the lock smith.

On the positive side Truck is loaded up with everything needed all we have to do is grab the Keet Cage on Saturday and Leave town. Cant do it tomorrow because My son works at the Birch Aquarium on Fridays. Hes a responsible young man we just had to many things going on today and he got distracted. It happens to me as well. Sigh...

I hope your project resolves itself in a simple way.

 

[PeepsCA]

Oh lordy

... my lil wire/panel/stud placement issues all pale in comparison to what you have been dealin' with, yikes! All I'm dealin' with is over-cramped brooders that need extra cleaning 'til Sat/Sun.... I'm coping just fine tho and I just keep tellin' myself it's only a temporary glitch. Sounds like yours is too, thank gawd.... but yah, get the wind taken outa your sails too many times and it's all of a sudden beer:30 and nap time, lol. I went to town today, bought more supplies to spit shine my planned fix with, so I'll be runnin' the misters and a couple fans out in my new coop over the weekend and HOPEFULLY bustin' out the job, ending with birds comfy and tucked into a brand new coop by Sunday eve, if I don't die tryin', lol. Good luck with your project, sounds like you have it all figured out at least! Wrong time of yr to NOT have water at hand tho, I'd be flippin' out! I put a lotta faith in my lil old pump... my well is allllllllllll the way at the bottom corner of my 10 acres, lol...ugh!! At least it's tapped into a natural spring and I never run out of water tho

!

 

[perchie.girl]

OK.... tweenagers are now up at the house.... I took video but the video didn't come out. Sorry.

I took them up in their cage and while it was hot 91-95 I went ahead and wrapped the cage with a furniture pad. Ends exposed for air circulation. But the pad served as insulation from the direct sun and insulation from sound somewhat because they had to ride in the back of my Pickup. We stopped at the feed store to stock up and I checked on them. One or two were panting but for the most part they were simply rubbernecking.... LOL.

So we get them up to the house and My son and I finish out the Coop for them. Tarp over roof extra wire on the inside. And surprisingly the goats didn't mess with us too much. I set up a big feeder and went to set up the water and ran out of steam. We brought in the cage and shut the coop doors and opened the cage door. OMG the rubber necking. I had my son stand at one end opposite the door and lean forward and out they hopped. Omg... ants.... Omg... sticks... Omg... pebbles.... And the Lavender one said.... Omg.... DIRT....

What followed was an orgy of sorts. The ground is decomposed granite and packed hard. So at first the Lavender one scritched scritched and pecked and flapped on hard ground. Then all the sudden the rest discovered.... OMG.... DIRT.... Flop down flap scritch peck and pretty soon they broke the crust on top and were wollowing in about six inches of heaven. I couldnt tell where one Guinea started and another ended. We had Wing flapping and flipping on backs and straight out legs Eyes blissfully shut as scoops of dirt were thrown over backs. Then came the jostling for the softer spots.... and the head walking upon and the jump up flit around in a circle to flop back down on top of another..... It took them ten minutes to find it and fifteen minutes of OMG heaven.

Then they leaped up and shook off the dirt explored a little and discovered their new feeder where it should be in the cage. This one holds 30 lbs of feed and barely fits in the cage but I suspected they would ignore one outside for the time being. I was right. So after bath Dinner was had by all. Circling and pecking as they went. It was about four oclock before we left dog tired and still some chores needed doing but for the most parts the Tweenagers are tucked in their new house.

All in all a successful day and whew we are tired. Left Santee at 10:00 am got back home by 4:00 pm. Now time for pizza.