Official Squatch Watchers

[apryl29]

@FlyingNunFarm
Hopefully these make sense. The first pic is the bottom part of the drain. I cut a hole in a 1x3 or something to give the drain part support so it didn't tear the tarp. I cover my run in chicken wire so I just snipped a link to give enough space to put the pvc through, wood above chicken wire, under the tarp, then screwed the top on. It doesn't appear to leak around the tarp. I'd cut an x in the tarp and squeezed the hose end through slowly so it didn't tear. I think the screwed on cap is actually on part of the tarp.

This is the top, you can see where I messed up. I guessed about where I needed the drain, mostly based on the fact that I needed my piece of pvc to reach the edge of the run to reach the larger pipe. So if you're going to do this I suggest spraying some water on the tarp to see where it's going to lie so you can mark where you need to put the drain.
The back edge has a 12' 1x4 that goes across the run to support the chicken wire cover (red line), then I have a post about 1/2 way between the edge of the run and that 1x4 for support (red circle). Then I have a 2x4 going between the 1x4 and the edge of the run (black line), basically making a big box. Then I have a 2x4 running diagonal between the 2x4 and 1x4. I'm sure there's a MUCH better way to do all this, but most of that was done after it'd snowed and pulled down the weight of the tarp under the snow b/c I didn't consider that the tarp would get weighed down and not drain off the side.

Here you can see the post I have to support the tarp and chicken wire cover. Then the PVC elbow to the bigger pipe (it's what we had lying around). I have a lean to shed and the roof slants to the back and was pouring right into the run ever time it rained and it was a disgusted swampy mess, putting the tarp there has really helped a lot. I still get some water under there, but nothing like last year. I was planning on removing the tarp for summer, but with all the rain I think it's better off this way.

The big thing you'll need to worry about if you do this is making sure you have enough support for the weight. If your run is just posts and fencing you might need to put some wood in there. You wouldn't need as big of a tarp, you'd just need to make sure it went out far enough to catch the run off. You could use a sheet of wood for something more permanent, I'd planned on doing that, but never got around to it.

 

[Parront]

Squatcher friends I need advice. At what age do you all stop providing supplemental heat for your chicks? Chick wise things are complicated this year and I am going to have to keep all my babies living indoors in my office until the end of the first week of July. They were born June 12. I am hoping to be able to put them outside then with out heat. What do you all think. Good idea? Terrible idea? There will be at least five or as many as seven of them moving outside depending on how some other things go.

ETA nightime temps will probably be in the 60s at night. Maybe low 70s depending on how the monsoon plays out this year.

By 4 weeks they should be pretty well feathered and you will be very ready to get your office back!

 

[Parront]

Good morning! Going to go paint the new house. Got to get all the peeling paint taken care of for the VA loan. Can't believe it, the place is 100 years old, and they won't finance it if there is flaky paint! The seller has moved on, not doing anything. Hoping this goes through!

 

[apryl29]

I'd like to add some sort of roof over the run one day. At least part of it. But one thing at a time. Roof or no roof, gutters or drain or something is needed to get the water out of there.

Could you rig something... like using pieces of a 2x4 to support a gutter?

Don't want to jinx it but two nights in a row iv'e went to lock up and everybody is on the roost.
They aren't making me stand around and wait it is suspicious to say the least.
Normally one or two like to peck around, drink water, preen just anything but get on the roost.
It has been a tiring day. The rain brought bullfrogs, bullfrogs brought maaaaany derp screams, derp screams brought my butt out the door more times than i'd like to admit.
I knew it! That was the face of a possum with a well stroked ego.

I'm shocked too, there really isn't much they won't eat especially fruit wise.
Iv'e tried all phases of ripe too from green to "are you sure thats a banana?" brown and they want no part of them. Honeydew melon and papaya are so far big flops too.
I like cooking with the brown ones, muffins and pancakes they will absolutly eat the baked goods so thats kind of them eating bananas.
I'm glad little William finally got some, poor guy maybe got to smell them before you laid one on him.
I hope he appreciates you.

We get more toads than frogs. Once one of them grabbed a baby toad and I chased her around trying to get it away from her.. I gave up, but now when I see toads I grab them and put them in a safe place. I get peed on so I don't think they appreciate it, but they might get to live so I guess it's worth it.
I'm not about to make bread for some chickens. They can eat the raw bananas. My older one likes bananas, but the little one is allergic so if the big one isn't in the mood we get old gross bananas all the time.

I'm coming to the realisation i'm not a fan of bullfrogs.
They keep thunking the house eating bugs out there, tree frogs and toads eat out there and no thunking.
I had to be so careful not to step on any today difficult due to the plagueish number of them.
Hobo enjoyed frog day but only her which was just ODD.
Of course hubs had to inform me Hobo was eating frogs over and over.
No idea why, not like i'm snatching frogs from that woman nooo! lol! nooo!.

At least one of them figured out they're a food source.. Tell him it lowers your feed bill.

I came home to find my Marans with the crop issue dead. And something is clearly wrong with Jr. If he is at rest the back of his comb is black. During the day when he’s moving around it’s red but at night after roost and when he first gets up it doesn’t look good.
The first time I saw it like that was only yesterday. Makes me think something is wrong with his heart but it sounded ok to me. He is very thin as well.

All around

I hope the meds work. It was pretty hot and humid out yesterday. What's the temp in your coop, maybe he's just hot?

I kinda like toads though especially little ones

Me too! At my gma's house we'd always find tons of toadlets hopping around the yard.. Not so much anymore.. I assume the chickens find them first.

I love when the Dr doesn't listen to the mom having her third kid. This one was sitting maybe 40 ft away and ended up coming in, looked and said "Give me gloves! Any gloves will do!" What was even better was the fact that he got hosed with amniotic fluid and basically had to change before coming back in to stitch the rear. I have him enough of a warning to get the down and make with shield on, but hey, OB Drs know more than the moms who've already had kids. For me, there was no "you're at 9 cm," it was 8 cm and then telling them I had to push.

When they were doing my epi w/ the last one I had a contraction and there was a gush of fluid. I heard it splash on the floor. I felt SOOOOO bad! I'm sure that poor nurse's shoes were super gross. I peed on the dr w/ the first one. He deserved it.

 

[apryl29]

Good morning! Going to go paint the new house. Got to get all the peeling paint taken care of for the VA loan. Can't believe it, the place is 100 years old, and they won't finance it if there is flaky paint! The seller has moved on, not doing anything. Hoping this goes through!

They're probably worried about lead paint. This girl I went to school with, she bought a really old house and didn't realize it, but her youngest was chewing on the window sill! She took him to the dr b/c he wasn't acting right and they finally figured out that he had lead poisoning. They had to have people come in to the house and professionally remove all the paint before they'd let them back into their home. That stuff is terrible. Use a face mask if you're scraping the paint or sanding.

 

[ronott1]

Morning folks.


@FlyingNunFarm

Nunny, I’m so sorry.

@Anansi
BRAVO !


@ronott1
Do you have any friends in southern ca who can recommend a good GI Doctor?

@perchie.girl is in San Diego

 

[ronott1]

They're probably worried about lead paint. This girl I went to school with, she bought a really old house and didn't realize it, but her youngest was chewing on the window sill! She took him to the dr b/c he wasn't acting right and they finally figured out that he had lead poisoning. They had to have people come in to the house and professionally remove all the paint before they'd let them back into their home. That stuff is terrible. Use a face mask if you're scraping the paint or sanding.

The chickens can eat the paint chips and then the eggs can have a high lead content. The lead can cause illness in the chickens that looks like mareks too

 

[apryl29]

The chickens can eat the paint chips and then the eggs can have a high lead content. The lead can cause illness in the chickens that looks like mareks too

That's good to know. Chickens will eat anything (except Chicky's birds and bananas).

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Well Jr made it through the night. I did give him a half an aspirin to see if maybe that would thin his blood and get it moving better.
This was him on the roost last night. So I brought him in.
This is gross chicken diarrhea from this morning. Its grass green. Whatever the Marans hen was vomiting was this color. I'm wondering if there was something with the grass I gave them. They had eaten the grass out of the run so I didn't think anything of it. But I found my sidewalk and the sod I pulled off in sheets I let them scratch through.

And then there is this... my other Marans girl apparently had 2 eggs in the chamber. The one that is still in egg shape was on the floor and at 73 grams I'm guessing has both yolks. The slimy mess was in a nest box. It was more egg shaped before the other tiny dinosaurs found it and I had to fight to get it back.

@FlyingNunFarm
Hopefully these make sense. The first pic is the bottom part of the drain. I cut a hole in a 1x3 or something to give the drain part support so it didn't tear the tarp. I cover my run in chicken wire so I just snipped a link to give enough space to put the pvc through, wood above chicken wire, under the tarp, then screwed the top on. It doesn't appear to leak around the tarp. I'd cut an x in the tarp and squeezed the hose end through slowly so it didn't tear. I think the screwed on cap is actually on part of the tarp.
View attachment 1818457

This is the top, you can see where I messed up. I guessed about where I needed the drain, mostly based on the fact that I needed my piece of pvc to reach the edge of the run to reach the larger pipe. So if you're going to do this I suggest spraying some water on the tarp to see where it's going to lie so you can mark where you need to put the drain.
The back edge has a 12' 1x4 that goes across the run to support the chicken wire cover (red line), then I have a post about 1/2 way between the edge of the run and that 1x4 for support (red circle). Then I have a 2x4 going between the 1x4 and the edge of the run (black line), basically making a big box. Then I have a 2x4 running diagonal between the 2x4 and 1x4. I'm sure there's a MUCH better way to do all this, but most of that was done after it'd snowed and pulled down the weight of the tarp under the snow b/c I didn't consider that the tarp would get weighed down and not drain off the side. View attachment 1818475
Here you can see the post I have to support the tarp and chicken wire cover. Then the PVC elbow to the bigger pipe (it's what we had lying around). I have a lean to shed and the roof slants to the back and was pouring right into the run ever time it rained and it was a disgusted swampy mess, putting the tarp there has really helped a lot. I still get some water under there, but nothing like last year. I was planning on removing the tarp for summer, but with all the rain I think it's better off this way.View attachment 1818460
The big thing you'll need to worry about if you do this is making sure you have enough support for the weight. If your run is just posts and fencing you might need to put some wood in there. You wouldn't need as big of a tarp, you'd just need to make sure it went out far enough to catch the run off. You could use a sheet of wood for something more permanent, I'd planned on doing that, but never got around to it.

I do have a carport frame out there to support bird netting. I could try and move it closer to the building and add a tarp over the top. I'll have to find the feet in all this mud before I can move it. (I knew I wanted to put it in wheels. I should have listened to myself. lol)

 

[apryl29]

Well Jr made it through the night. I did give him a half an aspirin to see if maybe that would thin his blood and get it moving better.
View attachment 1818505 This was him on the roost last night. So I brought him in.
View attachment 1818504 This is gross chicken diarrhea from this morning. Its grass green. Whatever the Marans hen was vomiting was this color. I'm wondering if there was something with the grass I gave them. They had eaten the grass out of the run so I didn't think anything of it. But I found my sidewalk and the sod I pulled off in sheets I let them scratch through.

View attachment 1818503 And then there is this... my other Marans girl apparently had 2 eggs in the chamber. The one that is still in egg shape was on the floor and at 73 grams I'm guessing has both yolks. The slimy mess was in a nest box. It was more egg shaped before the other tiny dinosaurs found it and I had to fight to get it back.

I do have a carport frame out there to support bird netting. I could try and move it closer to the building and add a tarp over the top. I'll have to find the feet in all this mud before I can move it. (I knew I wanted to put it in wheels. I should have listened to myself. lol)

Poor guy. Does he look better this morning?
I would hope there isn't anything in the grass, esp if you just got it from your yard. Is there any way you could be getting run off from some place that might have been treated w/ chemicals?
Not sure about the eggs. I get weird ones all the time. I have someone laying wrinkled eggs..
The car port + tarp would probably work really well, it'd at least keep the water off part of the run. If it's peaked you wouldn't even need to worry about putting in any kind of drain.