Maine

[ashandvine]

I was disappointed to hear that my neighbors across the street got a dog. They haven't had a dog in several years, but they have NEVER tied their dogs. She told DH that the dog is a 3 year old golden retriever, and that it doesn't chase cats. And she said she doesn't think it has ever ventured across the street yet.

She needs an electric fence for it because it is a bird dog in its heart and marrow. Retriever. She is going to be receiving gifts that came from your yard! I like hoppy's advice. Someone in here has a quote: a dog in its owner's yard is a pet. A dog in your yard is a predator.

All of the snow has melted, and it's sort of nice out this morning, so the chickens are happy. I need to clean out the coop- the deep litter method has been working...as far as smell goes, no smell, but it is very damp, and I know that is not good, so I'm going to start over

My deep litter is... okay. Its ugly. I need to find a nice source for wood chips and sawdust instead of these shavings. Today is warm enough that I am bribing my son with green apples, prosciutto, dark chocolate and Fruit Ninja to clean one of the coops for me. We use a wide sheet rock mudding palette knife to scrape or scoop and kitchen gloves officially dubbed our "poop picking gloves." It goes into a poop bucket for the garden later. My wrist is so bad today, worse I think than its ever been. I called the office and they are closed and will be till Wed. So Ibuprofin AND Tylenol to the rescue I guess. Not much going on with me because of it.

So, our house has linguistic and potty humor often. Today we made up tongue twisters like:
How much poop would a poop picker pick if a poop picker could pick poop.
Then we added chucker instead of picker... it was good for a laugh here.

I found a paint ball gun works well. you can hit the dog, it leaves a mark that shows the owner, it could have been a dead dog but it's not. they will think twice about letting it run.

You are the best! I have thought of this but never dared. OMG you are my hero today! Do you REALLY do this? Has the ACO ever talked to you? Do the neighbors??

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I found "deep litter" to be really damp, too. And it did start to have an odor once it got a bit beyond that damp phase. The first year I tried it it was damp and then it got cold and the whole thing froze into a sheet. It wasn't that bad I guess, but when I tried to get a cage out of there for cleaning, it was frozen to the ground and I bent it trying to get it out. I decided to clean the coop every few months and let it "deep litter" in my compost pile instead. Don't get me wrong, it gets disgusting, and starts to break down, but I'm never going to make chicken salad out of chicken poop in the coop.

I have got to go out soon and find and reinstall my gutters that blew off last night. But it just started to rain again, boohiss.

 

[Mainechick168]

My grandfather always went the bb gun route w/ dogs that should not be on his yard- he told the new neighbor ( after their dogs got loose and had a tussle with his mini dach.) not to worry, because if he saw them again, he's just shoot them a few times, and they wouldn't come back.

I got the coop cleaned out before the rain started...success!

also went to the grocery store, but they lost power for so long last night that they had NO meat or dairy...guess I'll have to try again tomorrow.

 

[ashandvine]

My father did this with the neighbors dog that used to scare us and threaten us all. He ended up sued. Don't do it.

Got our first duck egg!

 

[buckabucka]

I don't have a paint ball gun, but I like that idea a lot! Of course, I'd have to see the dog arrive and make sure I hit it, while racing to rescue any chickens.

It seemed quiet at the neighbors today, so I let the older flock out to free-range this morning. We have exposed grass in places and they really enjoyed it. While they were occupied, I raked out the run and sprinkled some DE and dry leaves, pretending that I was removing all the round worm eggs. It at least looks nice in there now.

The head Basque rooster bit my leg this morning in the hoop coop, and I had to flatten him and carry him around for a while. I was hoping he was just tired of being cooped up, so when the older flock returned to the run, I locked them up and put leaves in front of the hoop coop. I was able to entice the hoop flock outside. Normally, they are fenced in while outside, so it was their first free-ranging experience. They stayed together in a fairly tight unit, ignoring the rain for quite a while. I hope my rooster stops acting like a jerk, because I really wanted to breed him.

 

[Mainechick168]

I found "deep litter" to be really damp, too. And it did start to have an odor once it got a bit beyond that damp phase. The first year I tried it it was damp and then it got cold and the whole thing froze into a sheet. It wasn't that bad I guess, but when I tried to get a cage out of there for cleaning, it was frozen to the ground and I bent it trying to get it out. I decided to clean the coop every few months and let it "deep litter" in my compost pile instead. Don't get me wrong, it gets disgusting, and starts to break down, but I'm never going to make chicken salad out of chicken poop in the coop.

I have got to go out soon and find and reinstall my gutters that blew off last night. But it just started to rain again, boohiss.

chicken salad out of chicken poop?!?!

( prob. an innappropriate emoticon here....)

I was really hoping to have some poop for the garden...but what about all the hay? when I clean things out, i just dump it all in a pile out back...I don't have poop boards either....how do I get some good manure out of this situation?

 

[buckabucka]

Can't you compost the big pile out back?

 

[hoppy]

my neighbors know where I stand and they also, i think, are happier that I use paint balls then bullets on their dogs. I've never had a dog return that has been paint balled.

You are the best! I have thought of this but never dared. OMG you are my hero today! Do you REALLY do this? Has the ACO ever talked to you? Do the neighbors??

 

[hoppy]

compost really well, make sure it gets really hot to kill the weed seeds, otherwise you will be saying all kinds of colorful things while you weed your garden this summer. I had more grass in my garden one year from the hay in the coop, never never again, burn baby burn!!! flip and burn some more.
editting to clarify- the composting heats up and burns the hay by rotting and producing heat, no need to set actual fire to the pile. flipping the material every few months helps it cook more.

chicken salad out of chicken poop?!?!

( prob. an innappropriate emoticon here....)

I was really hoping to have some poop for the garden...but what about all the hay? when I clean things out, i just dump it all in a pile out back...I don't have poop boards either....how do I get some good manure out of this situation?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

If you're a lazy composter like me, it takes about 2 years to turn shavings and poop to compost in a pile. I turned it a few times this summer, but not many. I'm about 90% of the way to compost.