Ribh's D'Coopage

[LozzyR]

Yesterday morning.
We left early for the mainland.

I had bits cut out of sensitive parts of my face so I was pretty much a write off for the rest of the day.
Chook food, building stuff & some yarn for me.

The girls spent their 1st full day together & I wasn't round to supervise.
Everyone survived. Mhari & Medh were both eating from my hand yesterday & they both roosted together on the top bar last night. Interesting social dynamics starting to emerge.
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Gorgeous picture! Hope you are feeling better soon Ribh.

 

[Ribh]

Gorgeous picture! Hope you are feeling better soon Ribh.

All good this morning. I don't like needles so my stressometer goes through the roof.

 

[Shadrach]

The Campines are certainly quick. If I remember correctly the Fayoumi are also great foragers. How much territory are they covering, do you know?

He has 6.5 acres fenced and mostly they stay there. He has sort of tree houses out there which apparently the birds will use when it rains.
He has two pairs outside the fence that drop by to eat and they are his youngest. He's also got off ground nest boxes dotted around which they apparently use.
He also has three 30 meter square maternity coops and runs, a much larger version of what I use here. Because the hens don't go broody that often one is generally free for medical emergencies.
His family have been chicken keeping a long time and he's put a lot of thought into how to keep the birds. He doesn't have any other animals apart from his two dogs

 

[Ribh]

He has 6.5 acres fenced and mostly they stay there. He has sort of tree houses out there which apparently the birds will use when it rains.
He has two pairs outside the fence that drop by to eat and they are his youngest. He's also got off ground nest boxes dotted around which they apparently use.
He also has three 30 meter square maternity coops and runs, a much larger version of what I use here. Because the hens don't go broody that often one is generally free for medical emergencies.
His family have been chicken keeping a long time and he's put a lot of thought into how to keep the birds. He doesn't have any other animals apart from his two dogs

I don't suppose you have pictures? This sounds like a fascinating arrangement . How high off the ground are the nest boxes & how has he set them up?

 

[MaryJanet]

I've been on the next mountain watching my friend make up a batch of feed for his Fayoumies.
To say I'm stunned is an understatement. There are no grains in the feed.
There were more herbs than I knew the name of in any language, each to supply certain vitamins and minerals. The nearest thing to anything that I might feed the chickens here was some alfalfa.
The feed is basically meat and quite a lot of it. There were also some seed pods that he gets sent from Egypt. Apparently they are part of the staple diet of the original Fayoumies.
These chickens roost either in his open loft with one of his dogs, or in the trees, depending on the weather mostly. He now has 11 breeding pairs all free ranging. He says his eldest is 12 years old and she has arthritis.
I've been trying to get to spend more time with this guy for a while now but don't wish to impose. Apart from being what I would describe as a good man he knows an awful lot about chickens that I don't and each time we talk I learn something.
I also had a look in his laboratory/clinic. He's well kitted out including a large stainless steel table with a grip mat and a microscope, plus a proper specimen fridge.

That's amazing. He might be a better avian doctor than your vet.

 

[Shadrach]

I don't suppose you have pictures? This sounds like a fascinating arrangement . How high off the ground are the nest boxes & how has he set them up?

I don't know how high off the ground they are.
I haven't been out in the grounds. I have seen the maternity units because they are close to his house.
I don't have any pictures and even I took my camera I couldn't get close enough to a chicken to take a shot. You see one for a fleeting moment and then they're gone.
I should explain. I do speak basic Catalan but he speaks mostly Spanish or Moroccan. I don't speak either. He does speak some English but not enough to make detailed stuff easily understandable.
Also he doesn't really want people out in the grounds disturbing the chickens which I understand. I don't like it when people do that here.

 

[Ribh]

I don't know how high off the ground they are.
I haven't been out in the grounds. I have seen the maternity units because they are close to his house.
I don't have any pictures and even I took my camera I couldn't get close enough to a chicken to take a shot. You see one for a fleeting moment and then they're gone.
I should explain. I do speak basic Catalan but he speaks mostly Spanish or Moroccan. I don't speak either. He does speak some English but not enough to make detailed stuff easily understandable.
Also he doesn't really want people out in the grounds disturbing the chickens which I understand. I don't like it when people do that here.

Right! I get not wanting people all over the place & the language barrier is definitely problematic! It's just an arrangement you never see & I should be fascinated to learn more.

 

[Shadrach]

Right! I get not wanting people all over the place & the language barrier is definitely problematic! It's just an arrangement you never see & I should be fascinated to learn more.

There is another example of knowledge that it would take lifetime to acquire and that is the witch two farms down the track. I think she's 70 something and she still walks the woods here. I see her out with her daughter from time to time. She has this basket and it's always full at the end of her walks. She has supplied herbal remedies to a lot of people in the local villages.
I would love to kit myself out with a decent mobile recording kit and spend a month getting her to talk about what she knows of the plants etc in this area. When she dies what she knows goes with her.

 

[Ribh]

There is another example of knowledge that it would take lifetime to acquire and that is the witch two farms down the track. I think she's 70 something and she still walks the woods here. I see her out with her daughter from time to time. She has this basket and it's always full at the end of her walks. She has supplied herbal remedies to a lot of people in the local villages.
I would love to kit myself out with a decent mobile recording kit and spend a month getting her to talk about what she knows of the plants etc in this area. When she dies what she knows goes with her.

Yes, I remember you mentioning her before. What a shame for all that knowledge to be lost!

 

[Ribh]

I had a *Yikes!* moment yesterday ~ mostly because it was so unexpected. We don't have a lot of predators because there isn't a lot of ground dwelling prey around for them so when we got home yesterday I let my big girls out for the couple of hours before feed time. Normally I would leave them out in the run for the 1/2 hour or so while we duck out to do our mailing & pick up our bread & milk & they would be perfectly safe. Yesterday we spotted what looked like a boxer/pit bull X casing out our property from the paddock across the road! I don't know who owns him, where he comes from or why he was loose but I wasn't happy. Nor were my girls! I rounded them all up & tidied them away in the coop again until I got home but now I will have to keep a sharp eye out. When it comes to predation other people's dogs are the worst! And that sort never considers other people might see chickens as friends & pets, not just egg laying machines. Hopefully they will move on soon & take their horrible dog with them!