The Front Porch Swing

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lazy gardener said:
Enola, I'm praying for you, Brandi, and the rest of your family. Such a miserable burden for you all to bear. You are not alone in your sorrow.

Linda: I'm guessing that you have a weasel who will be back again. If not that, perhaps a rat. Have you been to the predator page? There are some charts and descriptions of the kind of damage done by various predators. It may help you to determine who did it, and a course of action.
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Just saw this, thanks. I'll check out the predator page. I put a double row of pet caging across the opening until I can get my handyman out.
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Beekissed said:
LJ, I'm putting on a new tarp also and it's opaque like yours so that they can have more light and warmth in the winter months...your coop inspired me and after this cold, dank, dark winter of birds confined due to deep snow, I'm ready for a change. I'm also going to frame up a large box in one corner for group dusting in the winter time. I'm increasing the nesting options, building in the end caps so I won't have to plastic them for winter wear any longer, running a light to the middle of the coop with a switch by the door so I can have a good work light.

I'm also moving Jake's house into the extra hoop/roosting space and building him his own entrance to the outside. No more strategic dog house placement so he can be more near the birds in the winter months and all the tarps, hay bales, etc. that are involved in that. I'm going to snug him right in the coop but he won't be "in" the coop, per se. He'll just have his dog house portion in the coop but the door of it will be to the outside only.

I've been thinking about your birds out on pasture and I think an investment of electronetting is going to be your best bet...a simple solar charger and four lengths of fencing can get you to a situation where you can rotate pasture after your birds have went to roost. Was wondering....do you all have an old hay wagon...or even a smaller, utility wagon... you don't use? That could be made into a great range coop and moved along with the fencing if you have that option..and you could do it with the hoops as planned.
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I need to get a sand box going for my girls. I just have a small dish and it's not big enough. What kind of sand? Mine has tiny rocks in it.
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Edited to add:

http://www.fao.org/ag/aga/AGAP/frg/Mulberry/Papers/HTML/Mulbwar2.htm
 
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Beekissed said:
LJ, I'm putting on a new tarp also and it's opaque like yours so that they can have more light and warmth in the winter months...your coop inspired me and after this cold, dank, dark winter of birds confined due to deep snow, I'm ready for a change. I'm also going to frame up a large box in one corner for group dusting in the winter time. I'm increasing the nesting options, building in the end caps so I won't have to plastic them for winter wear any longer, running a light to the middle of the coop with a switch by the door so I can have a good work light.

I'm also moving Jake's house into the extra hoop/roosting space and building him his own entrance to the outside. No more strategic dog house placement so he can be more near the birds in the winter months and all the tarps, hay bales, etc. that are involved in that. I'm going to snug him right in the coop but he won't be "in" the coop, per se. He'll just have his dog house portion in the coop but the door of it will be to the outside only.

I've been thinking about your birds out on pasture and I think an investment of electronetting is going to be your best bet...a simple solar charger and four lengths of fencing can get you to a situation where you can rotate pasture after your birds have went to roost. Was wondering....do you all have an old hay wagon...or even a smaller, utility wagon... you don't use? That could be made into a great range coop and moved along with the fencing if you have that option..and you could do it with the hoops as planned.
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Those sound like great improvements. I love love LOVE that Jake will be in with the birds. We know how much he LURVES his birds!

I used strings of LED outdoor holiday lights for my coop work light. I bought them after the holidays for a couple bucks a box, but they sell higher-quality outdoor string lights year-round.

You remind me my dusting box needs a new load of peat moss and sand ... I hadn't thought they were using it much, but all the "stuff" disappeared out of it, so
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We do have some dead wagons, and the back halves of pickup trucks, etc., decorating the property, and I was hoping to use some to build portable coops, which could be set up with the electro-netting ... and then we could move the birds through the fields and let them help with some of the nursery maintenance ... but that idea didn't "fly" ... Dad has a very strong aversion to any kind of electric fencing. It isn't always easy to get the team up to speed with these "progressive" ideas.
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I'm poking around for an idea that WILL fly because letting them free-range resulted in coyote lunch buffet ...
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and I just hate to see them confined to a bare lot
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.

For the current pastures, we've used a combination of metal T-Posts, wood 2 x 2 stakes we buy in bulk for staking trees, and nursery stakes (these are thin round metal stakes that can be poked into the ground very easily and we have thousands and thousands of them). Then we string that with chicken wire up to about 6' (supposed to be 1" chicken wire below, a little lapped on the ground to deter digging; 2" wire above -- and where they used the 2" below the chicks can get through, and where they didn't lap it on the ground the more intrepid hens get in and out at will, but they can also fly over the fence if they are determined, which some of them are, but those birds are also very savvy, so we don't worry about them much, they come and go as they please). It is about the least expensive fencing option we could think of, and it works okay. Ish. Exceptions noted. But we're going to need a LOT more of it, and soon.
 
Tomtommom said:
Weld a small metal cage shaped like a sadle, with some stir-ups for the roo, if you're gonna go fancy

:lau
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Getting serious for just the tiniest moment because I have a bare backed hen. No wounds or redness, but just skin. And summer could bring on sunburn right?

So I wondered what about spraying her back or rubbing something into her back that the roo wouldn't like the smell of? Do they have smell? Because I can't figure out how a little patch of cloth would stay on, even wrapped around wings as they show.
 
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My broody sisters are co-parenting the chicks. I ended up with 6 including a little deformed one with bug eyes. It was so cute but it was weak and didn't make it. So now the sisters have 5 chicks that are doing good. I don't get to see them much because if I open the door they call the chicks back under them. It is too cute!
 
Just out there looking at the bare backed hen and considering the duct tape idea. I think it would work if I put a gauze pad on the bare part and duct tape over it. I have bright blue duct tape for emergency mending of torn horse blankets. Should be interesting.
 
lindz8504 said:
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My broody sisters are co-parenting the chicks. I ended up with 6 including a little deformed one with bug eyes. It was so cute but it was weak and didn't make it. So now the sisters have 5 chicks that are doing good. I don't get to see them much because if I open the door they call the chicks back under them. It is too cute!
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I hope mine do that. I have two Aussies setting in a pen together. The eggs were set under them on the same day. Now another Aussie has gone broody! And people say Aussies don't go broody very often, yeah right! LOL
 

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