The Front Porch Swing

[WindStep]

Hello every one my name is WindStep I live in Floyd Va. and am so glad to be on here!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Hey there Windstep! Welcome to the porch. You'll find goodies on each of the tables around here and there and drinks are over in the corner where it stays pretty shady. Make yourself at home, pull up a chair and tell us all about your week.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Sweet tea please!

I don't have any of that at the moment, but I do have two sweeties to share with you ...

Kisa, the cat on the left is ALWAYS sleeping on someone's feet. Usually mine or Gust's. Here she has found Kita's.

Today we finally put out some of the trough feeders we made so we can start feeding more fermented feed.

This photo shows one of the feeders through the side of the coop ... dreary day, so not a great one for taking good photos.


The feeders are cut from PVC, and I filed them smooth so nobody snags a wattle or a comb on them. Each one is 4' long, and we set them in cement blocks. We can adjust them down for chicks if necessary, but I think this is a good height for our flock. I left a little strip of pipe at the 2' mark, so we have a handle ... my hands aren't very big and I like to be able to grab things with one hand so the other hand is free to do stuff.

This one was taken from inside the play room of the coop.



This photo shows some other things about the coop ... like a big wet spot under the automatic waterer which could either be from the waterer (need to check if it is leaking) or from the sideways rain we've been having. We don't really care if this room gets a little wet ... we leave the sides up almost all the time in this room.

In the upper left corner of the room you can see the Dusting Box ... which they do sometimes use though they generally dig holes in the deep litter. And one of the pellet feeders is right by that. The two aluminum feeders are for grit and oyster shell ... they didn't do well as crumble dispensers.

But also note the glowing white rooster lurking behind the oyster shell feeder. He was in stealth mode during the closing cerimonies of Cockerel-Palooza ... no tail, small comb ... so we missed him. Soon after that I started noticing he had that cockerel posture of having a very high chest and longer legs. And now he has a nice comb and is starting to get saddle feathers. But still no fancy tail. I think he thinks we still don't know he's a he ... he doesn't crow or mate. But we're keeping an eye on him and the first sign of a pecking order disturbance in the flock and he's outa here. He's not very big, those BOs are even our biggest hens.

We only missed two cockerels during the winter cull ... that's not too bad considering the chaos we were experiencing then.

 

[PrairieChicks]

This is our yard - taken in Jan. We have a bit more snow now. So we went from this

to this (in San Diego) - so many beautiful orchids at Balboa park.


Deb, I'm thinking this must be in the general area of where you were talking about - between San Diego and Yuma.



We drove to the edge of Yuma to watch the sunset. The water is a canal they use to water the fields here. So warm, could hear birds. So beautiful!

 

[Lacy Blues]

I don't have any of that at the moment, but I do have two sweeties to share with you ...

As my son, Benjamin, would say... "Purry Furries!" Love kitty kats!

 

[chickenboy190]

I don't have any of that at the moment, but I do have two sweeties to share with you ...

Kisa, the cat on the left is ALWAYS sleeping on someone's feet. Usually mine or Gust's. Here she has found Kita's.

Today we finally put out some of the trough feeders we made so we can start feeding more fermented feed.

This photo shows one of the feeders through the side of the coop ... dreary day, so not a great one for taking good photos.


The feeders are cut from PVC, and I filed them smooth so nobody snags a wattle or a comb on them. Each one is 4' long, and we set them in cement blocks. We can adjust them down for chicks if necessary, but I think this is a good height for our flock. I left a little strip of pipe at the 2' mark, so we have a handle ... my hands aren't very big and I like to be able to grab things with one hand so the other hand is free to do stuff.

This one was taken from inside the play room of the coop.



This photo shows some other things about the coop ... like a big wet spot under the automatic waterer which could either be from the waterer (need to check if it is leaking) or from the sideways rain we've been having. We don't really care if this room gets a little wet ... we leave the sides up almost all the time in this room.

In the upper left corner of the room you can see the Dusting Box ... which they do sometimes use though they generally dig holes in the deep litter. And one of the pellet feeders is right by that. The two aluminum feeders are for grit and oyster shell ... they didn't do well as crumble dispensers.

But also note the glowing white rooster lurking behind the oyster shell feeder. He was in stealth mode during the closing cerimonies of Cockerel-Palooza ... no tail, small comb ... so we missed him. Soon after that I started noticing he had that cockerel posture of having a very high chest and longer legs. And now he has a nice comb and is starting to get saddle feathers. But still no fancy tail. I think he thinks we still don't know he's a he ... he doesn't crow or mate. But we're keeping an eye on him and the first sign of a pecking order disturbance in the flock and he's outa here. He's not very big, those BOs are even our biggest hens.

We only missed two cockerels during the winter cull ... that's not too bad considering the chaos we were experiencing then.

Cute cats! and nice chickens! Are some of those ISA Browns or not?

 

[Beekissed]

Hey everyone!

Hey, yourself! Whatcha been doin'?

Sweet tea please!

Hello every one my name is WindStep I live in Floyd Va. and am so glad to be on here!

to the Porch where the tea and the fellowship is always sweet!

So glad to meet you and see you here...pull up a chair and tell us all about you.

I don't have any of that at the moment, but I do have two sweeties to share with you ...

Kisa, the cat on the left is ALWAYS sleeping on someone's feet. Usually mine or Gust's. Here she has found Kita's.

Today we finally put out some of the trough feeders we made so we can start feeding more fermented feed.

This photo shows one of the feeders through the side of the coop ... dreary day, so not a great one for taking good photos.


The feeders are cut from PVC, and I filed them smooth so nobody snags a wattle or a comb on them. Each one is 4' long, and we set them in cement blocks. We can adjust them down for chicks if necessary, but I think this is a good height for our flock. I left a little strip of pipe at the 2' mark, so we have a handle ... my hands aren't very big and I like to be able to grab things with one hand so the other hand is free to do stuff.

This one was taken from inside the play room of the coop.



This photo shows some other things about the coop ... like a big wet spot under the automatic waterer which could either be from the waterer (need to check if it is leaking) or from the sideways rain we've been having. We don't really care if this room gets a little wet ... we leave the sides up almost all the time in this room.

In the upper left corner of the room you can see the Dusting Box ... which they do sometimes use though they generally dig holes in the deep litter. And one of the pellet feeders is right by that. The two aluminum feeders are for grit and oyster shell ... they didn't do well as crumble dispensers.

But also note the glowing white rooster lurking behind the oyster shell feeder. He was in stealth mode during the closing cerimonies of Cockerel-Palooza ... no tail, small comb ... so we missed him. Soon after that I started noticing he had that cockerel posture of having a very high chest and longer legs. And now he has a nice comb and is starting to get saddle feathers. But still no fancy tail. I think he thinks we still don't know he's a he ... he doesn't crow or mate. But we're keeping an eye on him and the first sign of a pecking order disturbance in the flock and he's outa here. He's not very big, those BOs are even our biggest hens.

We only missed two cockerels during the winter cull ... that's not too bad considering the chaos we were experiencing then.

Kita looks..thrilled..to have her feet warm.

I so love seeing other people's setups because it gives us a chance to understand what you are talking about when you discuss your flock, the changes you make and why. I love the topper for that run and how the sides roll up...I'm getting me a white tarp for my coop this spring so I can get that natural lighting too. They have a lot of great space and airflow in there....lucky birds!

I simply love that you thought of leaving that piece in the top of that trough for a handle....I love those kind of solutions. Cheap,easy and built in functionality.

I am tickled that you convinced TPTB about FF and they are moving in that direction...you are one persistent and smart lady with all that you have stacked against you on that farm.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Cute cats! and nice chickens! Are some of those ISA Browns or not?

I've never heard of an ISA Brown (cuz I'm exceptionally slow with nouns). We've got lots of different breeds of hatchery birds in this flock, and some of their mutt babies. The one breed with "brown" in the name is the Brown Leghorns ... but I don't see any of them in this photo. The scruffy looking ones that seem to still be molting are the Golden Sexlinks. We had the worst molt ever this year. Ugh. And WAY too many hormonal cockerels running amok at the same time. It was miserable. But the BOs are looking pretty good now, and the Silver Laced Wyandottes we never thought would have back feathers are "putting on a show." Our favorite birds at the moment are "the black ones," but we can't really tell the Black Austrolorpes from the Black Jersey Giants and even some of the Black Sexlinks are solid black. Whichever of The Black Ones we're liking at the moment are very super solid birds and great foragers and sweet when you gather eggs out from under them.

That doesn't help much, does it?

 

[Beekissed]

That will most likely be the JGs, they are a sweet breed...not sure about their foraging skills, though, as I've known folks who have them but I've never owned one. I've had the BSL and was not impressed with any sweetness, sturdiness or foraging skills on their part.

 

[chickenboy190]

I've never heard of an ISA Brown (cuz I'm exceptionally slow with nouns). We've got lots of different breeds of hatchery birds in this flock, and some of their mutt babies. The one breed with "brown" in the name is the Brown Leghorns ... but I don't see any of them in this photo. The scruffy looking ones that seem to still be molting are the Golden Sexlinks. We had the worst molt ever this year. Ugh. And WAY too many hormonal cockerels running amok at the same time. It was miserable. But the BOs are looking pretty good now, and the Silver Laced Wyandottes we never thought would have back feathers are "putting on a show." Our favorite birds at the moment are "the black ones," but we can't really tell the Black Austrolorpes from the Black Jersey Giants and even some of the Black Sexlinks are solid black. Whichever of The Black Ones we're liking at the moment are very super solid birds and great foragers and sweet when you gather eggs out from under them.

That doesn't help much, does it?

Oh okay yeah. They brown production one's look the same