~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[gryeyes]

After painting the coop wall, I made myself a great "mess" of bacon and banty eggs. Thus fortified, I went back outside and took a whole bunch of pictures of various members of the flock.

Several of the pullets like to perch in trees during the day.

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Little Bit hatched four chicks, and this is Cardigan. He has a twin brother, Ross.

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This is one of my EE crosses, Cinnamon. She's quite a character.

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This is Elizabeth, one of the girls hatched from Jeremy's eggs,

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This is Albert, and the next photo is of Amy. They are two of my night-time "porch" chickens. (Amy's photo doesn't do her justice - she has the CUTEST little face!)

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Hannah Ancona.

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This is my very first GrandChick, hatched by Buffy, laid by Rebecca and sired by Carl. Notice her hooked beak? It doesn't seem to bother her at all. And this is her daddy, Carl.

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This is Brenda, originally called Penny when I bought her as a chick, but renamed when she lived with HHandbasket and Farmer Lew. Next is Goldie, another one of my EE crosses.

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Wilbur is just as good looking from the back as he is from the side or front. The next roo is Frick.

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5 of the 8 Cayugas are swimming; it's all four hens and one drake. In the next photo, Hitchcock has been drinking from that mucky kiddie pool. Why do we give them fresh, clean water, anyway?

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Two of my four buckeye pullets. Then there's Michael, who spent some time - mistakenly - in HH and FL's Freezer Camp. His brother Patrick (not pictured here) needs to go take his place...

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This is Little Bit. Kinda fuzzy photo, but I do love her feather markings! Next photo is Phoebe, who used to live with another BYCer.

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This is Riley, who is going to go to Freezer Camp, as is the next cockerel, called "Not Riley."

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The geese have managed to pierce the plastic over the bale of shavings in several places. The chickens then assist in disseminating shavings from the opened bale(s). The next photo is one of Hitchcock and Monica; Monica is one of Little Bit's four chicks. I think even Monica is larger than Little Bit.

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And here's a collection of eggs several pullets have decided belong here, behind bags o' trash, the trash can, piled up boxes, etc.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Quote:
Erk. The top section is asbestos siding from waaay back in the past. I wasn't planning on trying to paint that siding - it's got wavy lines in it. I'd have to slather a LOT of paint on it, and I'm not sure it would stick to it like it does to wood.

I have a nifty metal "Est. 2011" sign with a rooster and hen silhouette. It will show up on the gray top section, probably place it to one side of the "Chez Poulet" wood sign up there. As to contrast, I was actually thinking of - eventually - using the yellow-green paint to make chicken tracks across the dark green wall, kinda wandering diagonally from bottom right to top left.

Some time ago, I purchased a great "Farm Fresh Eggs" sign, in very dark green (much like the color of the wall now) with a hen on a nest and the letters in gold. That's going on the wall somewhere.

What to do, what to do......

I had to bag up and haul off a few stacks of that stuff. You can paint it! Our neighbors were required by their insurance company to coat it several years ago and the paint is holding strong. If you google how to handle the siding, there are painting instructions. Because it is non friable, it is not as bad as the friable stuff that is so dusty. The texture of the siding does show through the paint

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
I would need a ladder; the long pole paint roller thing won't do that job. My ladder is still in the shed at the rental, to be used in dismantling it. Perhaps John can loan me one of his....

I'm just glad I finally got THAT painting done!

but maybe the yellowy-green would look good up there. Hmmm. With dark green chicken tracks "continuing" to wander across it.

 

[bluesub]

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I agree with painting it. Our house had/has asbestos siding and the paint sticks better on the asbestos siding than on the newer siding...

 

[Carols Clucks]

It is not easy....but I know that a 2 story paint pole can paint the peak/eaves of a house, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint worth too. If you are painting both the same color it is easier because you have fewer worries about getting the peak color on the eaves. I used a "weenie" roller, one of the super skinny ones with some extra nap so I could push paint up in the gap between them.

 

[Kansaseq]

Non-paint related, I have chicken 'tracks' in my cement walkway leading up to my house. The former owner had chickens, who decided to walk through the wet cement as it dried.
Chicken tracks on the coop sound cool!

 

[SunnyDawn]

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[gryeyes]

Quote:
...Just don't ask how I'm going to do it....

I have always planned to put chicken tracks on a coop, but the first idea was to make them out of the smaller paint stirrer sticks. After seeing a post of painted chicken tracks on the floor of a coop (helpful biddy of THAT BYC member) I decided normal size and paint would be much more cool. In a wandering pattern.

Here's not a great photo from today, of some critics checking the work. They moved before I got my iPhone to take the picture, so - darn it! - you can't see what I originally saw: both geese with necks stretched up, inspecting separate white stripes, and four ducks tapping at the green with their bills.

Managed to run out of coffee AND Diet Pepsi at the same time, so I zipped up to the little market to rectify that problem. "Hello, Linda," said the retiree who lives next door, just as I paid. He was there to buy gas. We chatted for a few minutes. Weirdest darned weather for this time of the year. Yes, he'd "heard" that I won against the citation. The roosters get noisy now and then, but he "probably sounds off more than they do, sometimes," he said. (He's right about that; he got another nice hunting gun for Christmas and likes to target practice with his weapons. Plus, he is a loud kinda guy with strong opinions, often audible across my gully.) I reassured him at least 3 more roosters were going to go away before too long. And if he was willing to risk his health, I would still have eggs for him if he wanted them. He said, "Grand-daughter has been staying with us for a while - she doesn't eat eggs. I'll need some before too long, thanks. Got a few empty cartons I need to walk down to you for filling."

We'll see how long it takes for that information to make it to the complainant.

I still have the recorded Rose Parade to watch. <*yawn, stretch*> Stayed up all night to read a book - one with actual pages to turn - and didn't go to bed until 5:00 a.m., just as the cock crowed. Well, several of 'em.

(I have lights on timers inside the house so I don't have to stumble around in the dark on work days. They trigger Carl, which wakes up the porch roosters, and then more roos inside the coop sound off. Every morning. When this happened, I realized I should probably get some sleep.)

 

[gryeyes]

Well, I just risked my life on a wooden step-stool in putting up a security camera on one corner of the grape holder....err, pergola. (No grapes yet. The vines didn't survive the really cold snap back in December.) The power cable for the camera is raised above the ground (above my head, eventually) crossing the side yard to the guest bedroom window. This one will "watch" the coop, pointed most directly at the automatic door, but able to see that whole side of the coop.

The security system instruction manual said to place the cameras first before setting up the DVR and operating system. Each camera has 60 feet of power cable, which will connect to a special 4-camera splitter thing, so only one power adapter is used for all four cameras, back at the source. Pretty nifty.

I also placed one camera to watch the back of the house. (I may have to move it, but I THINK the 60 foot cable will make the distance.) The remaining two I install will watch the front porch and the side of the house with the French doors, respectively.

Just taking a bit of a break. And, rethinking it, I need to move the "back view" camera to the other end of the house and point it the other way. There will be plenty of cable for the camera in that location.

Needed coffee and time to spend watching Chicken TV. Probably won't have the system powered up until Wednesday, when I take the day off to be home for the propane heater repair appointment.

Even with this little progress on the security camera project, I am feeling like I accomplished something. At least I didn't fall off the footstool and hurt myself!

 

[dsqard]

Linda, it sounds like 2012 is starting off well for you!

Please be careful about using something that is not a ladder as a ladder. Maybe consider getting one of those plastic step stools? They are pretty inexpensive and actually really handy for those small jobs that don't require a full ladder. I use one in my barn a lot and it is a handy place to sit when I am watching chicken TV. I can't take it out to my turn out area for the horses though. My two youngest seem to think it is a most interesting PLAYTHING and have tried to play soccer with it in the past. The chickens also enjoy using it to get up on the table (where of course they are not allowed) to see if I have left any goodies for them up there (I never do but hope springs eternal even for the turkeys that made it very evident they were up there yesterday

) I had to send a few roosters to freezer camp yesterday as well. I have about 15 hens and had eight cockerels/roosters. Besides the morning, noon and night crowfests, I think the poor ladies were just worn out. We have only been getting one egg a day at best. I know some of it is the cold, some of it is the time of year but last year I had only one rooster and nine hens and we were getting a couple of eggs a day at least. Keeping my

that the reduction in "constant" affections from the boys will let the girls calm down some and start laying again. BTW I vote you leave the pinstripes on. They make a very nice contrast to the forest green.