Ladder Roost

Ladder roosts for the hens. One project finished today and the start of another accomplished. I do so love it when I actually get something to turn out pretty much the way I imagined it would. The chubby Light Brahma came back in the pen to check and see if I was putting treats down and stuck around for a snack.

   Unfortunately, for the photo she didn't hop up on one of the ladder roosts so I could take a picture. I looked in the tub and checked the wood ash and alas it was still smooth. Phooey! I was hoping to see a bunch of chicken footprints. There were a lot of chicken footprints in the ashes just inside the glass door. So, at least some of the hens are walking on the ash. The eggs were all lovely and clean today. So nice!

   As far as the partitions for the nest boxes go, I managed to crawl around and measure and write down the sizes I need to cut out of the scrap plywood. Tomorrow, I can start by marking up the wood and cutting out the pieces. I found some wooden stakes that I'm going to use to support the partitions. Using the ten+ year old stakes up will save me having to find and cut more wood.

   Since it would be very, very difficult to attach partitions in the middle nest box, I am going to let it remain a communal nest box. Six small nest boxes along with the big one should be more than enough boxes for seventeen hens.

   While I was working out by the coop, I heard what sounded at first like some chickens having a squable up in the trees. But, then I realized that it was the geese on their migration overhead. I got my camera out and tried to get a photo, but they fly at about the same altitude as the airplanes, and I couldn't see them. I tried to upload the video for the sound, but it failed. Whatever that means?

   I saw them here one year. That year it was hot and I was watering, when I heard the geese. I started calling to them and they actually started circling for a short time before they continued on their way. I don't know if they were checking out the water or me making honking noises. I'm pretty sure those are geese up there, but I'm open to other ideas. I searched for a California goose migration map but the closest information I could find for California and geese is this. I did find some hunting sites, but I didn't like all the dead bird photos. And I did find mention of people hunting geese in the San Joaquin Valley, but no mention of geese in February. Maybe these guys are late bloomers.

Peek at the Past

(February 17, 2009)

[8 eggs today!]

One egg was broken.

Clumsy chicken or snack?

~:>

Smiles

PhD?

I read today on a blog

that Phd means

Project half done.

Well, my Japanese quilt isn't even half started.

I'm still working on the layout.

But these scraps are almost going to be done.

After I sew the bits together,

I will cut out some blocks.

I believe it is called stash busting.

Something like that.

After I worked on the bits and pieces,

it was time to go out and rake leaves.

But I was missing my dirt rake.

Ah, I remember I left it in the chicken coop,

where I used it last raking out the coop.

Big mistake!

I should never have gone  to the chicken coop

because I was captured for almost the whole day

doing chicken stuff.

(click the photos)

So, I left the strips and...

Went out to the coop and found

that the chickens had dug themselves a dusting pit.

So I put a good sized rock in the hole

to slow the girls down.

My daughter saw a coyote this morning

walking along next to the house.

The coyote can dig his own holes

and doesn't need any help from the girls.

Then I filled the hole up with dirt

and stomped on it a few times.

I found the rake.

I'm done right?

Wrong...

This is a view of the top of the chicken coop pen

without

a covering of leaves.

I used the hose to squirt off the leaves.

It was kinda fun to see the leaves go flying away.

Now the sun can shine into the coop

and warm the girls bedroom up.

That anchor fencing across the top

keeps the bears and the raccoons

out of the chicken coop at night.

A bear got in once, but that was because

my daughter didn't lock the door.

We were gone and she forgot.

Oops!

The bear story is another post.

Then I noticed that the girls had decided to roost on the edge

of their nest boxes and poo in them.

I have spared you photos of that.

Here is a photo of me cleaning out the boxes

and taking the wood shaving away.

The boxes are empty!

And there is a big bag of nice new wood shavings.

I would rather have straw

but we couldn't get a bale of straw in the car.

Well, we could but it would make a mess of the car.

Nest box full of clean wood shavings.

Now what to do about the poo problem?

I know! I will lower the roosts!

Here you can see the roosts are now lowered.

Thank goodness I used screws when I built this thing.

And thank goodness for power screw drivers.

I also strung wire across the top of the board of the nest box

to try and convince the girls to use the roosts.

We'll see how that works.

The eggs you see in the nest boxes

are wooden eggs.

I put them in there to fool the chickens.

They are not too smart

and I guess they think they have already laid an egg

and so they don't... lay an egg.

The chickens were molting and looked terrible

without feathers but they were still laying.

I wanted them to grow feathers instead of laying eggs.

Hey, it worked!

It is getting late and I'm still out here!

I cleaned the waterer, filled the feeders with lay and corn,

raked out their pen and

put oyster shell in a little pot under the feeder.

This pen would be too small for all the chickens

we have if they had to stay in it,

but they are out running around

most of the day in the woods.

So, it works out OK.

I had a little time left to rake

but I only raked halfway across the driveway

before it was time to quit

and go lock up the girls.

Here are the happy campers!

Good night girls!

Smiles