Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[RedReiner]

Paradox; you do some fine work. That is one nice coop.

I second that, am going to set up a new coop this week, my first one I made the mistake of building on the ground like you did and after a bit ended up with a rat problem under the building, someone gave me a pig house on skids, I am putting it up on blocks so no rats can hide under it and eat my chicken feed!!

I don't want to sound critical, but I wouldn't want to have to reach through the coop to get to the eggs.

I will post a picture, my pig house is an actual building on skids, I can stand up and walk around in it the current coop was a shed built on the ground, so rats tunneled under and moved in. if the other building is up on blocks, nowhere for them to hide. I am going with raised buildings from now on.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: A short axle and a couple of wheels with a detachable handle for pulling would solve that problem. (I'm always looking for the easy way) The "Red Flyer" wagon of my youth comes to mind. Would be perfect if you could find an old rusted one cheap.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: No, I have other plans, mostly trying to catch up on my maint. around the place here. This dang rain ain't helpin' either. (I really hate working in the rain)

 

[SadieSue]

Got something done today at least. As I am getting much closer to being ready for some chickens to come stay with me I thought it would be a good idea to have something to transport them in. This is what I came up with. I'll install the door tomorrow.

Oh man, that is beautiful!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Paradox; you do some fine work. That is one nice coop.

I second that, am going to set up a new coop this week, my first one I made the mistake of building on the ground like you did and after a bit ended up with a rat problem under the building, someone gave me a pig house on skids, I am putting it up on blocks so no rats can hide under it and eat my chicken feed!!

I don't want to sound critical, but I wouldn't want to have to reach through the coop to get to the eggs.

This is why we have long grabbers with suction cups on the ends. Unfortunately, they don't make them long enough for where the Wyandottes want to lay, so I have to make a nest door for the coop today, assuming I get that far. So far it's a matter of nibbled to death by ducks.

I've split the Hamburg chicks into two groups of five today and put the bantam chicks into a deeper box, picked up empty rat-bait boxes, tethered the sheep in tall grass, put Deary in her day dwelling, and put a prop under the place on the falling peach tree which I think will make it roll onto the fence instead of into the middle of the quince tree: fences can be rebuilt. And wasted a lot of energy worrying about how to put Bluebelle's eggs under Malvina, since I'm not at a point where I can move the Hamburgs out of her pen, and the EASY thing to do- move the hoop house, wash it down, reattatch the roof wire, and put her in there- means I lose the grow-out pen for the Hamburgs I want to keep PLUS incur immediate major side projects (there's an old clump of the double yellow daffodil Doubloon in the way that I have marked to dig; I need to put a rat-proof skirt on the ends). Or I hope Deary has been looking at and listening to Cheery long enough to have overcome her desire to scalp her and put them together again freeing up the kennel, because the original plan was to do what I did last year and put Malvina in the dog kennel while she's on the nest and doesn't need much room.

I moved the cattle to the south field yesterday but did not close them in- mostly because I didn't feel like wading, and there's water standing outside the little gate into the orchard.

And of course this is the week my hired hand is on the east coast visiting family (thanks to her dad paying for the flight).

 

[SadieSue]

I've been getting a kick out of watching our littles now that they're in with the hens. I was fascinated one evening when I lingered in the pen after the hens had already retired to the coop and the littles were still playing outside. Once they got bored pestering me for treats they noticed it was about time to go to roost. So #1 starts walking all around the ladder to the coop looking up as if to say "I know it's here somewhere, but I just can't find it!" She kept it up for the longest time.... pacing and searching, pacing and searching. She finally hopped up onto the ladder, walked part way up, looked around and decided that just wasn't the right place. So she hopped down and renewed her search for the pop door. Round and round, looking every where. She finally hopped onto the ladder again and made it to the top, stopping just inches shy. Looked all over and AGAIN decided it wasn't the right place. By then #2 had followed her up and was hot on her heels, so they had to do quite the dance to do a thorough search only to decide it wasn't the right place!!!! It took several trips up and down and all around before they finally got all the way inside the coop. And one of the hens kept reaching down from her strategic location above to give them a good peck, letting them know SHE was having None of this follie! I was *fascinated* and totally laughing out loud. The next evening I drug DH out to watch and yep, they did the whole thing again! He laughed even more than I had. These little critters are SO much fun! LOVE THEM! And my DD just doesn't get why I like chickens so much.

Well most of us TOTALLY get it - so you can just keep sharing those stories here!

 

[CarolynF]

Okay.... I need to ask the THEATRE FOLKS.... does anyone have the skills to convert a standard swim suit pattern to create one like this?



The seams for the bust look difficult to design. From the bust down it's sort of a std. princess line.
DD is asking me for help with her costuming, ugh.

 

[SadieSue]

Here's an update on my coop. I think I posted a picture of what I started with already but anyway here goes a little timeline on my coop build. I call this the Freestyle Coop.


And what do we have here? Chickens a roosting! I'm SOOOO! excited.

Welcome to your new home ladies. I'm really glad to have here!



Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks for looking.

Wow, all freestyle? You are pretty skilled! Looks great and those chicks look pretty content! Nice job.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Okay.... I need to ask the THEATRE FOLKS.... does anyone have the skills to convert a standard swim suit pattern to create one like this? The seams for the bust look difficult to design. From the bust down it's sort of a std. princess line. DD is asking me for help with her costuming, ugh.

I think you'd need to make up a muslin for a standard princess seamed suit and then chalk it for the seams, take it apart and draw a pattern from that (says ten years of 4H sewing and tailoring and decades of garment making that stopped in about 1986). Or take the coward's way out and either applique or use fabric paint on a black suit.

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote: I use medium weight fabric interfacing instead of muslin. Now that I have the interlock/overlock machine, it's pretty easy to do stuff like this. What you can try, is buy a basic single colour cheapy from Costco, and mark out the panels with interfacing (or muslin) Since you are going to be using sport fabric, it doesn't have to be a perfect fit since it will stretch. Just make sure the seams are not wiggling all over the place!

(Or, just cut the cheapy one apart, and use it for a pattern, adding a tiny amount for seam allowances)