Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

At noon, the sun returns !! The big girls will be happy to be out of the coop!

Have u got power?

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Have u got power?

Yes, it was sporadic in the evening, but stayed on after 8. It took me hours to feel warm though, even though the house was warm. Hopefully that's that for the YEAR!!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Yall...I gotta tell somebody before I explode from anger and sadness at myself!
i have noone to blame but myself!
My OCD was killing me looking at the level coop i convinced my husband to get my son-in-law to build. Is it perfect, no, does it work? YES!
This was after i had convinced my husband the silkies needed some sort of a run to go with the pre-fab coop joke i had gotten myself into cuz as the article says...I'm always learning as i go. So in an effort of compromise my husband got me this metal structure 10'x20'. Most people would have been thrilled at somesomething so nice...not me - immediately i thought "i can make it work".
long story short is I've spent the last few gorgeous days we had here before all this heavy rain trying to jack up this unleveled run to be even with the new coop.
why?! Why didnt i just spend those gorgeous days with my babies!?!
I have to be the most stubborn person in the world!!!
i put the tarps back on in preparation for the rain coming. I wake up this morning immediately thinking of ways to keep the water from coming into the front of the run. And thankful I got the 25' trench started with daughter's help.
I look out the window to find the tarps pooling in the center of the run with water bending the metal structure.
Wait...it gets worse.
i told my husband to go onto work that I would figure something out. He said i should be able to prop longer pieces of wood in under it to give it support til i get the water off.
I get inside the run and see the hardware cloth has separated in the center where it was joined with ultra strong zip ties and only the tarp is holding up gallons of water ready to pour into my dry run.
So I took a long piece of wood and as soon as I went to try and prop it up under the metal bars it all gave way.
It didn't completely come down on me...I'm ok. I had to crawl out from inside the back of the run.
I had no choice but to puncture a hole in the tarp and start draining the water...at first I was so upset and frustrated I just watched as the water poured into the dry run. Then stubborn me grabbed a 6 gallon bucket and it immediately filled up while it was still going everywhere including the bucket. I emptied that thing atleast 6 or 7 times.
I stand back as the rain is quickly turning to ice and temps dropping into low 30s to see this disastrous mess I once thought I could keep making better and make do with.
The story if my life never being content! Never really appreciating what I have until it is gone! Why my husband continues to put up with me after 31 years I will never know.
I'll be fortunate if I have anything else but this nice coop now. The babies are all stuck inside - dry - but unable to do anything but stare at 4 walls.
I am beyond thankful Mango, Milli and Vanilli were NOT here! They could have been crushed and hurt badly!
oh Lord why am i like this!?!
Thank yall for listening as always...I really dread my husband seeing it like this!
If only I had appreciated THIS

Learning as I go...take 3 coop/run 2021

What began as an empty nester's Mothers Day gift from my three adult children has turned into the most expensive yet peaceful time I've had since coming to know God! While the cute little pre-fab coops seemed perfect for a small backyard and had all of the cuts and measurements already done...

• Gammas Bearded Babies
• Dec 27, 2021
• 4.40 star(s) 5 ratings
• Comments: 3
• Reviews: 4
• Category: Medium Coops

I did something similar. I stretched a giant tarp between our main coop entrance and a small covered shelter that sits about 10 ft away. My hope was that I could create a dry run area that would allow the chickens a path between the coop and the shelter. I pulled the tarp taut and secured it with bungees in hopes that the rain/snow would roll off. Well, we got lots of sleet & freezing rain, then an inch or more of snow, followed by more freezing rain. Not only did this majorly pool up on the tarp instead of rolling off, but I had secured the tarp to one of the central posts we use to hold up our overhead nets. It caused the post to snap in 3 pieces! So not only did my idea NOT work, but now I gotta fix the post too which is going to be a big pain. Hubby came back and chastised me for not realizing that my idea was not gonna work. The pathetic part is that my first college degree is in architecture! I *should* have known better..... I just wasn't thinking it through and only thinking about a quick fix for the girls.

 

[TJAnonymous]

So its very very cold out.. chickens are fine.. power is out, but thankfully i had the sense to heat the house up to 78 when i woke up, had the feeling the power would be too unreliable. So i succeeded in getting the house uber warm before the power went out 30 minutes later!

Its 70 now and will hopefully stay warmish until they restore power.

But that isn't why I'm using emergency phone battery power that is running low... my tolbunt polish boy found his big boy KAZOO VOICE!!!! 3 kazoo hip hip hurrays and that was that! i can live with that!! I hope it doesn't change! Happy happy!!

I'll be back when power is back on!

Gotta love ERCOT

 

[kurby22]

I am glad to hear you and your fluffy babies are surviving the storms! I always miss winter and snow...but I have definitely felt grateful for nice winter weather now that I have chickens! It is definitely FAR less stressful, you all are so impressive to me!! I know that we are always our own worst critics, but sometimes we just have to love ourselves enough to give us the grace to be who we are and keep working on our flaws. It just sucks that sometimes our babies (and bank accounts!) pay the price while we are growing and learning as people. I have been learning a lot this past year and the chickens are teaching me a lot more about myself and my capabilities as well as my shortcomings!! Hope you all see some sun today and stay WARM

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Oooh.. there was a mini rooster crow off this morning, soooo cute!! Not quite proper crowing, but they tried their best! Little silkie vs big polish! They are 9 weeks old this coming Sunday.

Big girls had to be bribed to come out of the coop into the cold.. a full cup of scratch plus meal worms worked... for about 15 minutes clearly they are tortoise chickens!

The sun is out though and the melting ice looks so pretty

 

[AngBantamLuv]

So.. finally, only took 2 days, but 2 of the polish figured out how to roost.

The little ones are on the brooder floor, and i Don't mind that because they all cover the tiny silkie.. i might TRY to get the two polish to stay in the big girl coop, totally depends on Elsa's behavior. The third (girl) polish is besties w the tiny silkie, so separating them would just stress them out. I'll keep them sleeping in the mini coop until the tiny silkie gets a bit bigger.


Its blurry because they will all jump around if i get closer, but there are actually 4 chicks cuddling on the left!

 

[kurby22]

Oh dear, guys someone local asked me if I wanted a couple of Tolbunt chicks…Polish are nice birds yes? Will they be nice to my silkies and other bantam chickens? I’ve heard they’re great and I’ve heard they can be somewhat less friendly…tell me they’re not friendly so I don’t feed my chicken math disorder

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Oh dear, guys someone local asked me if I wanted a couple of Tolbunt chicks…Polish are nice birds yes? Will they be nice to my silkies and other bantam chickens? I’ve heard they’re great and I’ve heard they can be somewhat less friendly…tell me they’re not friendly so I don’t feed my chicken math disorder

Gettttt themmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Oh dear, guys someone local asked me if I wanted a couple of Tolbunt chicks…Polish are nice birds yes? Will they be nice to my silkies and other bantam chickens? I’ve heard they’re great and I’ve heard they can be somewhat less friendly…tell me they’re not friendly so I don’t feed my chicken math disorder

Tolbunt chick and silkie chick BFFs!!!!!!