Our Non-Human Animal Friends

[DutchMuch]

Yup! I think we went a bit overboard (starting with the 4 layers of flooring) and it's not even done yet!

Those will be some happy chickens then. Will they wear sweaters?! LOL
(they actually make those...)
Looks great though!

 

[Gemma]

Those will be some happy chickens then. Will they wear sweaters?! LOL
(they actually make those...)
Looks great though!

Lol no, no clothes on my chickens, just a pretty house!
Thanks!

 

[MoonShadows]

Beautiful coop!
How about chicken diapers? LOL
Yes, they are real, and people who let their chickens run around their house use them! (Why would you want chickens in your house.)

 

[DutchMuch]

@MoonShadows the world is doomed...

 

[MoonShadows]

Not a good morning...

I walked out on our front porch at about 4am this morning to find my worm composting bin had a visitor last night that ate the food in it and probably a bunch of worms. There were worm castings all over the porch. I had moved it to the porch when it got a lot of fruit flies. Now, that there aren't any fruit flies, I'll move it back to the kitchen or down in the cellar.

A little while later while I was sitting at my desk when the chickens started making an awful commotion. I got out there just in time to see a raccoon over one of the chickens in the run. I opened the door and the raccoon ran out, but not before he killed my last barred rock. In the coop, he killed our last Jersey Giant....both 3.5 years old and from our original flock. All of this within a minute. My guess is he somehow was able to get the sliding door on the run up just enough to get under it. This is the first time in 3+ years we've had a kill from a raccoon.

No a good way to start the morning!

Well, after yesterdays slaughter, I spent part of the morning building another door on the coop. Last night the chickens did not want to go into the coop no matter how we tried to coax them. It took almost 2 hours to get most of them in. Our oldest, who lost who two buddies yesterday, and one of the younger ones who got smacked across the head suffering an injury, wouldn't even come from the outside into the main run. And, since the outer fenced in area is full of all kinds of wild raspberry plants and other good hiding spots, we couldn't catch them. We finally gave up thinking they would be killed last night. To our surprise the two survived the night. Perhaps the raccoon didn't come back last night because we scared him off yesterday morning.

Anyway, after 3 and 1/2 years of raising chickens, we have decided to rehome them to a friend who has an educational farm. We will turn the coop into a tool room and we will extend our grapes into the run. We only eat about 3 eggs each a week and we give away about 4 dozen each week. It would be cheaper to buy them down the block from another woman who sells her eggs.

 

[MoonShadows]

@MoonShadows the world is doomed...

LOL Dutch...I have seen coops where people hang wall art, have curtains and even furniture. These folks usually clean there coops almost every day. Take a hop over to https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/ and you'll get a few laughs when you find such threads.

 

[DutchMuch]

I would but im to scared. LOL

 

[MoonShadows]

 

[Gemma]

LOL Dutch...I have seen coops where people hang wall art, have curtains and even furniture. These folks usually clean there coops almost every day. Take a hop over to https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/ and you'll get a few laughs when you find such threads.

I clean my coop every time I go visit my pullets so at least 3 times a day! I only have 4 and it's not a big deal to pick up the poop if I do it often

PS I read about your misfortune, I'm really sorry for your loss! ):

 

[Gemma]

Beautiful coop!
How about chicken diapers? LOL
Yes, they are real, and people who let their chickens run around their house use them! (Why would you want chickens in your house.)

View attachment 102091

Thanks!
diapers ewwwww!

 

[DutchMuch]

And I had to show off the best invention ever, in chicken feeding...
We took a deer feeder (solar powered btw) and tapped a (bottom cut out) planter bucket (plastic) onto the deer feeders "outflow" so the food goes in one area (about 2ft diameter) and so the chickens can scratch a bit more, rather than eating from a container.

 

[Nepen]

I forgot all about this thread, so here's the update...
I purchased 5 chicks back in March: 2 Blue and 1 Black English Orpington (siblings), 1 Black Australorp and 1 American Buff Orpington...

The weather kept setting us back in building the coop, so I had to keep them in a temporary coop in my basement, and clean every day to keep them from smelling
Of course everyone's favorite turned out to be a cockerel so I gave it to a very sweet lady who loves him just as much as I did, and sends me regular updates

The coop isn't finished yet, but we were able to put the pullets in it a few weeks ago.
The coop project....
We started by digging a trench (forgot dimensions but you get the idea)and building a rat wall....
View attachment 102077 View attachment 102076 View attachment 102078 View attachment 102080
The two sides are the same, and the front and the back are identical, except for the front has a screen door and the back has a tiny chicken door (I love) built into the large door View attachment 102082 View attachment 102083 View attachment 102086
We need to finish siding the back and put up a run, then we'll work on the front porch, and of course a window box and a nice knocker ring for the door this is where we are right now View attachment 102085

WOW!!!! that's so pretty!! I wish I have that type of skills

 

[Nepen]

Nepen if you try an electric fence try one of these; https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/...0y7WrMgmIB_0LoCgPMEYtn-Q79D--GqVZIaAogY8P8HAQ
Sorry for your loss by the way, we try not to name our animals (the farm animals) because if they die then we will get upset. Which it is upsetting anyway but you wouldn't be As upset as you would if a pet had died. If your doing this for like a butchering and food factor (not eggs) then don't name them and don't consider them pets because if one dies (basically a 50/50 chance for all poultry) then youll cry like the dickens. We named our first batch of ducks years ago and my dog ate them ALL and I almost killed him (chicka chicka, POW).
Rip. Jr. The best chicken for some reason. 2007 to 20010

I only have my ducks named because we hatched them My son named them though. And I think we will eat them if we have too many. We got 4 new ducks (I realized we have 2 boys and 1 girl left, so I needed more girls) last month and I havnt name them yet.

 

[Nepen]

So after I got 4 more ducks, now my old ones are not as friendly anymore. The new ducks are really scared of me and made others scared of me too. My old girl (Ms. O) is the brown one and she took the new ducks under her wings and she's the leader of the group. She's the loudest.

My husband kept asking when we will get the duck egg.... they are barely 4 months old... so a couple more months to go!

 

[DutchMuch]

Every time I see your duck pond...

Oh man I need one, do you accept credit? lmao