Maine

[buckabucka]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to lock themselves in the chicken pen! Sometimes the run door slams shut. DH has rigged up a string system now that allows me to lift the latch outside from the inside, although occasionally that system fails (string gets frayed and breaks).

I'm small and can crawl through the pop door (not a pleasant experience) and go out through the coop door, but if that second door is latched I am doomed!

 

[lazy gardener]

We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now
Yay!

Any other Mainers joining the Easter hatch-a-long?

I'm not joining the EHAL. I don't do any HAL, just simply hatch when it's convenient for me. I have a shipment of chicks coming on 4/14, so will plan a hatch for 4/12, so the chicks will all be the same age. I don't need to hatch chicks, cause I have more coming than I really need... but... it's going to be spring. Hatching... that's what I do! Plan is to raise them up till they are off heat, then sell a bunch of the pullets. Doing an other gender selected hatch.

As for getting stuck in a run or coop: I just recently put a screen door spring on my run. It is such a treat when I go in there to have that door smack closed behind me. No more escapees when my hands are full. As for the coop, it has a lever handle on both inside and out... came with the door. Also has a dead bolt.

My DL is working very well in the coop this year. I think it may be partially b/c it's been a warmer winter, and partially b/c it is a bit more damp. I recently broke a bale of hay open, and spread a very thin layer of that over the leaves. Prior to the hay, there was one day when I picked up a bit of ammonia smell. After adding a few more leaves, and the hay, it smells very nice in there. Combination of a nice clean barn, and a forest floor. The litter under the perches is about 14" deep.

 

[lazy gardener]

Just chased a hawk out of the run. All birds accounted for, though I don't know if any were wounded. Need to string up some nylon twine across the winter run. Or may put up some 2 x 4 fencing. Any readers have cover over their run that can handle the snow load? I'm looking for something that will keep day time preds out (mainly hawks), and allow snow load to pass through. Winter run is 5 - 6' high, approx 12' x 12'. I can use bird netting over the rest of the run for summer time, but need to take it down for winter months, so have sectioned off one area that obviously I need to cover.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Just chased a hawk out of the run. All birds accounted for, though I don't know if any were wounded. Need to string up some nylon twine across the winter run. Or may put up some 2 x 4 fencing. Any readers have cover over their run that can handle the snow load? I'm looking for something that will keep day time preds out (mainly hawks), and allow snow load to pass through. Winter run is 5 - 6' high, approx 12' x 12'. I can use bird netting over the rest of the run for summer time, but need to take it down for winter months, so have sectioned off one area that obviously I need to cover.

Glad you got the hawk out!

I have 4x4 wire over my run and it is about the same size as yours. The wire is attached to four wooden beams that go across - two across the length and two across the width. The coop and run came with our house... not sure what I would have come up with myself, but this has worked well. The snow passes through it without a problem and (so far) the predators have stayed out.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I'm several days late to the getting stuck in the coop conversation, but I did it twice before finally fixing the flaw with the door that allowed it happen! I was able to crawl through the pop door and get out through the run, but yuck!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Interesting morning here, so far. Got up around 6, and started the chores. Got the bread started. Got the last birds out of the house, then managed to refill the wild bird feeders since it's been warm and we've had about 3 feet of snow melt.

Came back inside, sat down and started to have a cup of tea and relax a bit. I hear a racket outside. Guineas, ducks, chickens and toms are going crazy. The ducks are looking east, so I go to those windows. I see nothing. I come back to the kitchen just in time to see a round, small, brown-butt running down into the chicken yard from the top gate.

I say something similar to "what is that?" but with much more colorful language. At that point BF comes running into the kitchen and announces "it just ran under the coop."

CRAP.

I grab the Walther P22 from atop the fridge, which is exactly where we keep it, loaded and chambered (but on safety) because occasions like this are not uncommon.

I go out the front door (those hours of shoveling last week when I wanted to give up certainly were worth it) and slip/slide/squish my way to the top run gate. The brown something comes back out from under the coop, goes around the composter and just stares at me. It's a beautiful shot. All clear behind it. The brown something has stopped, waiting for me to get the safety off, aim and fire. I do.

Nothing happens.

The gun isn't chambered. I pull the slide back. Nothing.

At this point I realize someone has removed the magazine from the gun.

Seriously. WHO DOES THAT? This gun is always loaded and chambered for this reason.

The brown something runs off. BF comes out now, with a rifle. The thing is gone. We don't know where.

I go back inside and get more appropriately dressed and go out to the coop to see if anyone is injured. I go around the north side of the coop and find brown something's baby, dead, probably killed by poultry.


There's fresh blood in the snow outside the duck house. I have no idea where it came from. It isn't a lot of blood, like something exsanguinated there, but it's enough for concern. I can't see that it came from one of my animals, but honestly I probably wouldn't notice if one was missing at this point, unless it was a favorite.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Interesting morning here, so far. Got up around 6, and started the chores. Got the bread started. Got the last birds out of the house, then managed to refill the wild bird feeders since it's been warm and we've had about 3 feet of snow melt.

Came back inside, sat down and started to have a cup of tea and relax a bit. I hear a racket outside. Guineas, ducks, chickens and toms are going crazy. The ducks are looking east, so I go to those windows. I see nothing. I come back to the kitchen just in time to see a round, small, brown-butt running down into the chicken yard from the top gate.

I say something similar to "what is that?" but with much more colorful language. At that point BF comes running into the kitchen and announces "it just ran under the coop."

CRAP.

I grab the Walther P22 from atop the fridge, which is exactly where we keep it, loaded and chambered (but on safety) because occasions like this are not uncommon.

I go out the front door (those hours of shoveling last week when I wanted to give up certainly were worth it) and slip/slide/squish my way to the top run gate. The brown something comes back out from under the coop, goes around the composter and just stares at me. It's a beautiful shot. All clear behind it. The brown something has stopped, waiting for me to get the safety off, aim and fire. I do.

Nothing happens.

The gun isn't chambered. I pull the slide back. Nothing.

At this point I realize someone has removed the magazine from the gun.

Seriously. WHO DOES THAT? This gun is always loaded and chambered for this reason.

The brown something runs off. BF comes out now, with a rifle. The thing is gone. We don't know where.

I go back inside and get more appropriately dressed and go out to the coop to see if anyone is injured. I go around the north side of the coop and find brown something's baby, dead, probably killed by poultry.


There's fresh blood in the snow outside the duck house. I have no idea where it came from. It isn't a lot of blood, like something exsanguinated there, but it's enough for concern. I can't see that it came from one of my animals, but honestly I probably wouldn't notice if one was missing at this point, unless it was a favorite.

what is it? a woodchuck?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Sorry, best guess is a mink or something in that family

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Sorry, best guess is a mink or something in that family

i hope you are able to find/exterminate the rest of them

 

[lazy gardener]

Well, ok then... What on earth is that? The brown something... can you approximate it's size? It's shape? bigger than a small cat? Long and skinny, short and fat? Did it waddle when it ran? was it moving smoothly, like it was designed to be a runner?

Hubby bought me a new shot gun yesterday. I'm loving it... the way it feels. He traded in the old monster shot gun last week, and bought me this one this week. I feel like a kid with a new toy. Have not yet shot it. It's a Stevens 320 20 ga. youth. Just the right size for me!

Today, he helped me cover the winter run. We put up 2 x 4 wire that butts up to the sun room roof, and I closed off a small area to the north of the sun room with a shade tarp. So, now the chickens can come out without the hawk getting them.