The Old Folks Home

[Wisher1000]

Morning SCG and ChestnutRidge (running stealth mode this morning)!

I am trying to hold out till school starts myself. My kids can never understand why I get giddy when its time to buy school supplies!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Chicken math approved chicken coops?

Ok, I'll start...


Here's my Coop 1.0 (it was so clean before the riffraff moved in)



Unfortunately chicken math also moved in... necessitating an immediate addition:



Finished coop, huge run:




Decorated for Christmas ... it's the closest I'll get to a magazine spread... strange we had a brown Christmas this year...




But then duck math moved in... I have no idea why they have such a ghetto set up... forgive me.






And more chicken math... This is the rooster grow out tractor...



And then I got offered some free goats with goat shed... and of course I couldn't say no...


So BF built a moveable fence for them... We still need to make some more panels, but they free range a few times a day with us:


Free goat shed (needs cleaning):




That's about it for the "farm" besides a bunch of gardens, the indoor cats and BF.

Hope you enjoyed your visit.

 

[Wisher1000]

Fantastic! I'll take that over any Southern Living "I'm too snooty for your coop" digs anytime! I would love to have your goat compound! I even called my DH in to see your pics so he might get the hint (it rarely works, though.) I don't mean to be hatin' on the charming little coops that many (BYCers and others) have, I can appreciate those, but in order to have a dainty little cedar cottage with a moss covered shake roof and flower boxes, you have to be a gardener with a few chickens, not a chicken addict with a garden, Like me!

 

[Wisher1000]

Okay, here's mine.....

This is not to scale, the enclosed area on the right, is what we call the 'bed and breakfast' with the back section being 'the bedroom' and the front being 'the kitchen.' I really need to redo my drawing.

 

[Wisher1000]

Having trouble getting pics to load....

 

[Arielle]

Wisher, sorry you lost Scarlet. Hugs.

Yinpu--nice to see you are around. I did hatch 3 ducklings--so proud of myself. Just like turkeys, only a little longer. Have four in the hatcher now, set on July 4th. @ look full, 2 look like they quit a while ago. Still hoping I'm wrong. I've been know to put on the wrong dates before!

SCG-- love the digs!! I started converting a quick winter shelter, think pallets and plywood scraps and 2-4 scraps, into a taller structure and it evolved adding on a run, then a covered section fo the run. DH was was not pleased that it was looking the like a coop the Beverly Hilbillies would build.

I said it would look better with a coat of paint!!

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Morning SCG and ChestnutRidge (running stealth mode this morning)!

How did you know?!?

Decorated for Christmas ... it's the closest I'll get to a magazine spread... strange we had a brown Christmas this year...



Hope you enjoyed your visit. Absolutely!

Love it! Your big coop is fancy! It does look like a magazine spread all dolled up for the holidays!

Let me see if I can find some...

The first coop.... 4'x4'. I had no idea the madness that was going to overtake me...
This coop is now used for brooding, breeding, isolating, grow-out, etc. It has rabbit wire over the chicken wire and deer netting over the top of the run - this was a work in progress.


A couple of months later, we built the 8'x8' right behind the other. Small coop, big coop. Red coop, green coop.
This is where the main flock lives.

This year, I had toooooo many groups of young'uns and no money to build with, so I went to Goodwill to get some stuff I could use for cheap, temporary housing.

Thus, the side-table broody coop:
Before:


After:


And the desk coop:



I sectioned off part of the big coop's run for each small group. It's pretty much madness around here, and thankfully, I should be able to par down to my winter group pretty soon. I only have chickens in the big coop for the winter.

The current insanity:

And I am standing in the little red coop's run.


So, this is how it usually looks, sans chickens. (It was winter and the flock was out ranging.) I couldn't find any good "country magazine" shots. I'll have to do better this year...

 

[GardenerGal]

Condolences on losing your beloved hen, Wisher1000.

 

[yinepu]

Morning Bunnylady!

Yes, by all means, post pics of emu! and peacocks (or hens)! I love to see pics of other peoples farms or coops. I like the mag layouts (did you catch the latest Southern Living?!) with the beautiful little cottage coops, but I would rather see the good old, down home, thoroughly - immersed - in - chicken - math coops of real bird hobbyists. Have y'all noticed how when pics are posted in a thread, there are always comments on what is in the background of the pic? It makes me laugh thinking of all the people sitting there at the monitor, leaning in to focus on the framed photo on the bookshelf in the background of the picture of the injured hen in the infirmary box on the dining room table. Or taking mental inventory of all the items in the garage around a brooder full of new chicks. I think it speaks to the reason forums are so popular. We are all fascinated by glimpses into the lives of people we have never met. We love to compare our own day to day existence with the day to day existence of people in very different circumstances, environments, and locations.

I have pics of the emus when they were babies in one of my signature links.. also have pics of one of our Hoop Coops in another link.
I really need to take some more emu pics.. they are getting big!

I'm so sorry.

Those poor pups. People treat animals like a disposable accessory. They should stick to fake pets on Facebook.

Of course, I love heelers, but they have too much energy for most owners. They are dogs that need a job or they will develop neurotic, maladaptive ways of releasing their energy.

It's also awful to put the dogs in a position where they become a threat to people and their animals. Around here, people think it's fine to let their dogs run loose to sow their wild oats. Then they start running in small packs, usually pairs. When strays have been seen in the yard, I have to look around carefully before taking the dog out, can't allow free ranging, and pretty much worry about the chickens in their pens for days...

It's a lovely day here. I'll be going back to work soon after the summer break, so I'm soaking up these last few days the best I can.

We've had three dogs and at least four cats dropped off so far this year. We kept one of the cats and got him neutered. Also kept one of the kittens.. as soon as he's old enough he will be getting neutered as well. The dogs hang around for anywhere to a day to a few weeks.. I usually try to catch them to have them scanned for a microchip.. but so far they have been to skittish and i haven't been able to get near them

Wisher, sorry you lost Scarlet. Hugs.

Yinpu--nice to see you are around. I did hatch 3 ducklings--so proud of myself. Just like turkeys, only a little longer. Have four in the hatcher now, set on July 4th. @ look full, 2 look like they quit a while ago. Still hoping I'm wrong. I've been know to put on the wrong dates before!

SCG-- love the digs!! I started converting a quick winter shelter, think pallets and plywood scraps and 2-4 scraps, into a taller structure and it evolved adding on a run, then a covered section fo the run. DH was was not pleased that it was looking the like a coop the Beverly Hilbillies would build.

I said it would look better with a coat of paint!!

congrats on the ducklings!

 

[Arielle]

Loving the architecture. Keep the pics coming! Everyone is so creative.


ON another note:
This is my vaca week. One whole week without kids. My one week in a whole year. No place to run off to either, just home for the entire 7 days.

My kids are off camping with DH.

Would like to get a plucker made and a tractor made for the speckled Sussex. And a couple more nest boxes-- the girls are using the strangest places: under tarp over snow blower and in a little picket of folded material of a horse blanket. At least when they lay in the horse trailer I can find those!

Storm blowing thru, some good rain, hopefully enough to truly water the garden. And the bags of grain. sigh.