"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[TerriLaChicks]

Well, naturally the sun finally came out now that it's Monday & I'm back at work! Golly it's cold though!

Brought water to the Wellies in their outside brooder this morning - all of the faucets are covered up so had to lug it from the house - right when I put it inside the bottom came off (some idiot didn't secure it properly) & it slooshed all over me! so of course had to jog back up to the house & refill it & back out to their brooder & then go sweep up where I'd tracked in wet leaves & mud from the back door to the kitchen.

nice, real nice!

Even my young male peas are fanning like crazy so maybe we'll have an early spring!

Ironic note: Ash Wednesday - the start of Lent - is the day BEFORE Valentine's Day this year. Somebody apparently doesn't want me to even think of being tempted by chocolate!

 

[Celie]

Well, naturally the sun finally came out now that it's Monday & I'm back at work! Golly it's cold though!

Brought water to the Wellies in their outside brooder this morning - all of the faucets are covered up so had to lug it from the house - right when I put it inside the bottom came off (some idiot didn't secure it properly) & it slooshed all over me! so of course had to jog back up to the house & refill it & back out to their brooder & then go sweep up where I'd tracked in wet leaves & mud from the back door to the kitchen.

nice, real nice!

Even my young male peas are fanning like crazy so maybe we'll have an early spring!

Ironic note: Ash Wednesday - the start of Lent - is the day BEFORE Valentine's Day this year. Somebody apparently doesn't want me to even think of being tempted by chocolate!

Good Morning, Everybody!
First of all, YES, sand is the only way to go in runs, in our high rainfall state. I agree TOTALLY with you, Terri.

You have some GORGEOUS PEAS, but I am sure you know that.

Don't get your hopes up, with this sunny weather, last night's weather shows rain again for the next 3 days, but much warmer. The way the turkeys are laying, it should be a warm winter. Al least, I hope so.

Don't want everybody getting sick in very wet cold that we have had the last few days.

It has rained soooo much, I have standing water all over, so I think in the spring, we need to put in some sidewalks around here, plus fill in some holes. The chickens are not hardly laying at all now, but that's OK, I still have plenty enough and a few extra. I need to cull the non productive layers to get the feed bill under control!

As far as Chocolates go, they are my weakness, too, but I decided to eat all the sweets and high calorie foods during Jan. and start my diet in Feb. I told DH, I didn't even want any sweets, other than fruit, in the house from Feb. until I loose these 20 extra pounds! LOL

Sorry you got wet, that must have been very cold?

 

[TerriLaChicks]

"Sorry you got wet, that must have been very cold?"

Yeah, you could call that the understatement of the day! I was in my fashion-provoking sleep tee, mud boots & old barn jacket (which wasn't fastened).

I grabbed the water thing when the bottom fell off & yanked it out of the brooder so I wouldn't get the hay in there wet - got to think of the birds, right?

I swear I could hear them laughing all the way back to the house....

 

[kuntrygirl]

I SEE BLUE SKY HERE!!! it's NOT RAINING!!! e Here's some pics of my new additions -- six cuckoo marans chicks hatched yesterday. They were from an Ebay auction from Russ's Marans - really nice, dark eggs - I spotted his auction a month ago & the starting bid was ridiculously low & nobody was bidding so I did, & got them. (I noticed he's raised his prices considerably since then). I still have one Cuckoo Marans hen - Myrtle - who will be 6 years old in February, & always wanted more (Myrtle was the only girl). Looks like one of my new chicks may be a blue one maybe, what do you all think? Out of 9 eggs sent, 6 hatched & the other 3 were not fertile, so I'm pleased. I had to help the last one out of the egg - the humidity in my little bator had dropped by then & I could plainly see the membrane was drying too fast & "shrink-wrapping" it so I intervened & took 1/2 the shell off & spritzed it w/some warm water & put it back in the bator & it kicked off the rest of the shell w/no problem. All have straight toes & are lively & also they all have feathered legs, which I think is so cute! BTW their legs look yellow in the pics - they come out of the shell that way, their legs will turn white in a couple of days.

THEY ARE SO CUTE !!!!!!!!!! Congrats Terri!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Exactly! I agree with you. Highway robbery. I would NEVER pay that much for a coop. Well, I would NEVER pay for a coop period. I recycle everything. I love getting used materials and making some out of it. Only way to go for me.

and I thought you had ordered this Chicken Coop for yourself....

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/christm...asy Gifts&pageName=Beau Coop&icid=CBF12_O5415

if not it's not to late....go ahead treat yourself...lol

just beyond crazy to think they may have sold some at that price.....

I'm cheep cheep cheep. I'm trying to get stuff for my next pea pen and chicken pens.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Hey, I have a kind of dumb question - we've had our hens out in their run now for about 4 months or so. When it was hot and it rained, the wood shavings we used for the floor in there dried off pretty quickly and weren't any worse for the wear, but now that it's cold they just seem to stay wet and nasty. We tried adding more dry shavings on top of them, but of course it rains nearly every day so they just get nasty within a few days of adding them. 

Should we try using sand or something else underneath the shavings? The run is covered but the shavings seem to get wet anyhow.

TL;DR - nasty weather we've been having!

More sand would help as it would drain better - the shavings just lay there & soak up moisture & get all soggy.

I agree with Terri.

Can you make your run totally sand?

 

[TeePants]

Yes, we could do it totally in sand if that would work better! I feel kind of dumb for waiting this long to ask.

We're expanding their run to be about 10x10- should we sand the whole thing or leave some dirt?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Yes, we could do it totally in sand if that would work better! I feel kind of dumb for waiting this long to ask.

We're expanding their run to be about 10x10- should we sand the whole thing or leave some dirt?

I am a big fan of sand and would not use anything else. I posted these pics on another thread a week ago, so I will copy and post the same information on here. Here are pics of what my sand run looks like after a hard rain. I hope this helps you decide.

I wanted to share this information along with pics to anyone who is trying to decide what type of bedding to use in their coops. I see posts on BYC asking about which is the best bedding to use and if sand is a good bedding to use.
The type of bedding that a person uses depends on their own unique situation. No bedding is right or wrong. You just have to find what works for you. Throughout the last 2 years, I have found that "washed" sand works best for me. As long as I have birds, I will always use sand in my runs. Because our rainy days is Louisiana sometimes end with as much as 6 inches or rain if not more, sand is the key to not having the pens flood. I do have dirt in some of my stalls but they are covered, so it never gets wet or muddy. But this year, I am using sand in ALL runs.

Over the last week or so, we have had a LOT of rain. Yesterday, we had a 100% chance of rain and it rained several inches in my area. I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity for me to take pics of my sand run after a total drench of rain. To show you exactly how much it rained in my area, I took a pic of the ditches in my front yard, so that it can give you an idea. It literally rained ALL DAY long on yesterday. I had to run outside when it slacked off to try to take a pic of the sand run before night fall.

Please find below pics of my sand run when I first built my pen and put the sand in. This pen was built 2 years ago and sand was put in the run at the same time, so the sand is 2 years old. Please keep in mind that I have not had to add any more sand and I have NEVER EVER EVER had to scoop poop or do anything with the sand. There is absolutely NO smell at all and there is NEVER an accumlation of poop. I literally have not touched this sand in 2 years.

Day 1 of Sand in Run 2 years ago. This pen was built January 2011. The measurements are 28 feet long - 10 feet wide - 8 feet tall.

Pic of the top of the pen. This shows that I have an unprotected/uncovered pen. There is only wire at the top, so it rains directly in the run.

Pic of what my ditches looked like yesterday after it rained ALL DAY. Keep in mind that this is a deep ditch. When I am outside and my chickens and ducks are in the ditch scratching and digging for bugs, I cannot see them if I am in the back yard. They disappear in the ditch. That's how deep this ditch is.

Pics of my ducks enjoying the rain in another ditch.

Pic of what a little bit of the chicken yard looks like after a rain. My turkey was inspecting the damage. If I would have a dirt run, this is how much of a mess I would be dealing with.

Here are pics of the pen that has the sand run. I took this right after taking pics of the ditches. It was getting dark outside, so the pics may not be as clear as I would have liked them to be. But at least you can get an idea. I took pics at different angles (length and width of the pen). I tried to focus on the "wet spots". Where you see darker areas, is where it was "damp". Notice that I used the word damp and not muddy or a puddle of water. It was only damp. There was not even a puddle of water in the pen where the sand is. I could not even scoop up a tablespoon of water from the sand if I wanted to because there was literally no water. There was nothing there. This is why I am a fan of sand and I advocate for sand runs. Can a uncovered dirt run or shavings in an uncovered run measure up to this type of weather? Could dirt or shavings have been this dry after continuous rain all day? My chicken yard is all dirt and when it rains it is A MESS.

The proof is in the pics. I'll let you decide. I hope that this helps anyone who is trying to decide what type of bedding to use in their uncovered run or even covered run.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Yes, we could do it totally in sand if that would work better! I feel kind of dumb for waiting this long to ask.
We're expanding their run to be about 10x10- should we sand the whole thing or leave some dirt?

If you can afford it, sand it all - if not, at least get your low spots as much as you can. Our run's too big to sand the whole thing but we got a good bit of the front of it & even that helps so much! - the back part still floods a bit, but the flock all goes to the front where it's higher & dryer so they don't churn up the mud like they used to do before we sanded it.

 

[TeePants]

Wow! Yeah, that's a big difference from the nasty mush ours turns into. Thanks, we will definitely be going with sand.