The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Your dad knew the old time way of protecting the posts. We bought treated posts and we did not expect them to rot as quickly as they did.
You could always offer your dad some chicks.

When our chickens are gone we will likely use the coop for storage as well. That's what dh plans on using the turkey pens for.

Here is a pic of our coop and the rubber floor covering.


There is a slight slant to the tin roof and plenty of venteletion all around the coop with two windows and two doors with screen and welded wire of them.
We do cover the doors and windows in the coldest part of the year usually Jan - Mar.


This is the rubber like floor covering we nailed down so we can hose it out if we need to.
We will keep the three hens we have left but when they are gone I don't think we will get any more.
I have enjoyed them so much. But we will be doing a lot of traveling and I don't have anyone to come feed our animals for us.

 

[chickadoodles]

Wow Deb that is an wonderful coop design!

 

[chickadoodles]

@Wickedchicken6 I am right there with you only my worst enemy is my vision
put something in my path I go down boom I have neuropathy in my feet rarely feel them
but have the added fun it will tip me over without warning

Wow I feel for y'all!

I also have vision problems. I don't see things on the ground or above my forehead. I either land on my face or get a goose egg on my head.
I fell over stepping a squirrel hole when we were camping last week. Only hurt my pride.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Kinda oops bump you do understand ... the guys do not usually leave anything
in my path bf left his gas weed eater that hurt

I get bruised but mostly my pride also

 

[superchemicalgirl]

haven't had a build up of poop yet because they insist in dusting under the roosts!

I bought a small water trough without an intended purpose; it was on an amazing sale and it just looked so handy.
I hope I can get them to "dust" in it instead of the poop.

For dustbathing, I found a free turtle covered sandbox on freecycle or craigslist. I put it in the run. I bought a couple bags of play sand and put ash from our wood/pellet stove in it and mix it. They really like the sand and don't like it too much when I first put the ash in. When it snows I shovel out to it and open it. It's a major hit. I also open it in other seasons when the weather is nice. They still dig major biddy bunkers in the dirt, but they also love the sand box.




Can I also just take a minute to brag? I have been rat-free for quite some time. This last weekend I noticed a new rat tunnel under the front granite stairs. I put up the game cam at night and got 45 pictures of skunks (more than one skunk but often multiple pictures of the same skunk, but it was all-night-skunk... so I didn't want to put out any type of trap. I instead carefully put out poison in a rat-accessible hut, but it didn't eat it (and I dislike resorting to poison but figured it would eat it and die under my stairs, away from the rest of the food chain). So I got the smart idea last night to bring out a chicken cage with large wire spacing and put the trap in that. Success and no skunk. I put it out again tonight just in case but I think I had only the one rat.

 

[chickadoodles]

I love the pic of your birds. They are so pretty.
And congratulations on the rat success!

 

[bruceha2000]

I read somewhere that if you see one rat there are 10 you don't see

So how do you now get rid of your skunks??

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey much lighter note here Bob Dylan has been give the Nobel peace price in literature

 

[microchick]

Freaking amazing what they consider literature these days isn't it? DH has been humming "Everybody Must Get Stoned" all day.

Yep, one of the truly great ones that ranks right up there with "A Tale of Two Cities", "Moby Dick" and "Gone With The Wind".

 

[FridayYet]

Just be careful if there are any dogs around if you use poison, they don't die right away. Someone in my daughter's neighborhood poisoned a rat, and DDs dog killed it when it came in her yard. Charlie almost died, and by the time it is over DD will have almost $4,000 in vet bills. (Multiple vitamin K shots, ivs, lab tests, etc.). Thankfully he's doing much better now, but still needs oral meds and a few more lab tests to make sure he has stabilized.