Posts Tagged ‘chicken coop’
Not Quite
First of all, I have good news and bad news to report on Dezirea’s progress. The good news is that she is showing interest in eating and behaving much less depressed. The bad news is that she is showing very little, if any progress toward returning to normal manure production. She remains under close supervision, but we have decided on a path of minimal intervention for now.
I caught several frames of activity on the trail cam a couple of nights ago, but the best way I can describe what appeared in the series of images is, the camera captured Predator in invisible stealth mode. It was actually kinda creepy.
It doesn’t show up in a single image, but when a series of multiple images is toggled, the blur of translucent motion is detectable. One possibility is that a deer was moving too fast for the camera speed. I suspect deer because a minute later, the view picked up an extreme closeup of a fraction of the rear flank of what can only have been a deer passing directly in front of the camera.
There aren’t any other animals that size, except for maybe the Predator.
It’s not quite warm enough for the chickens to be given full access to their little courtyard, but in the days ahead, the forecast looks promising. The birds are showing great interest. Cyndie snapped a shot of two of them enjoying the view out their picture window.
Delilah seems even more anxious for them to come out than they are. Lately, there is nothing about her behavior that assures me she understands their protected status in the hierarchy of our domestic animals.
I’m pretty sure she is not quite there.
Just like Dezirea is not quite back to normal health.
We are standing by expectantly, sending love to all our critters for good health and mutual respect.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Safe Visitor
The month of May arrives for the year 2017 and we are here to greet it with bells on. Well, with something on. I’m just not sure what.
On a bright side, ever since I moved the trail cam back for a wider view of the coop, the number of images captured revealing potential predators roaming around has been minimal.
Most recent, a captured image showed an appearance by a visitor we dearly love having around.
Seeing a deer wandering by seems like a message that there aren’t any scary beasts in the vicinity. How long do you think this will be the norm?
…
Meanwhile, this morning we reach 72 hours since Dezirea’s symptoms appeared. As of last night, she had not wavered very far either direction toward better or worse.
Cyndie and I spent a little time talking through the situation before turning in for bed. We want to remain open to whatever lesson this presents for us. We can only treat her through options within our means. Whether she recovers, or this becomes an end of life event, we must accept the outcome. We would like to achieve the peace that Dezirea is projecting.
We will continue to do everything possible to provide comfort to Dezirea while helping her get better if she can. She’s in charge of the rest..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Good Time
The chicks seem to be having a good time getting comfortable with their coop, especially since we are experiencing the return of wintery cold rain and dreary gray skies outside this week.
It’s almost time to scrape the poop board!
Cyndie snapped this wonderful photo of the bulk of them making good use of their roost perches. These birds keep doubling in size every few hours, it seems. Can’t wait for them to be out chasing the local fox away and eating all our bugs.
It does work that way, doesn’t it?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Small Step
Giant leap.
The hatch opened and our chicks took their first look at the outside world yesterday. We put up a temporary barrier to contain them to a small yard outside the coop for the training period where we familiarize them with the routine of navigating in and out of their fortress.
The Barred Plymouth Rock chicks are establishing themselves as the first to explore new opportunities, yet the Buff Orpingtons have frequently stepped past them to be the first to leap.
It surprises us a little because the former started out, and continue to remain, the smallest of the group, and the latter have always been the most skittish when activity picks up around them.
I figured the Rhode Island Reds would be the leaders, but they are proving to be more than willing followers thus far.
I wonder which of them will take a lead in ganging up and chasing off the first predator that shows up with nefarious intentions.
A guy can wish.
After Cyndie and I got the fencing installed, she hustled up to the house to prepare a little picnic lunch for us to eat while supervising the chicks’ recess period.
We witnessed a lot of hopping around on the ramp and moving in and out the door while we ate, but only one Plymouth Rock and one Buff took full advantage of the outing.
When Cyndie wanted to end their playtime, she stepped inside the courtyard with several birds on the ramp and the two on the ground. She decided to reach for one of the chicks on the ramp and in the ensuing bird startling, two other chicks made for earth.
Suddenly she had four opportunities to practice catching evasive chicks to teach them how to return to the coop when it’s time.
It was a giant leap of a day for us.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Morning Visitor
When I moved the trail cam away from the coop to provide a better view, I also adjusted a setting so it would only capture one image per trigger. I felt that getting 400 images in one 24-hour period was a little excessive. The first day after making these changes, there were zero pictures.
The batteries had died.
I replaced the batteries and prepared for the new views.
Now I am going to reset the number of images per trigger. In the past few days, we ended up getting only a single image from each overnight span of hours. The images captured in the first two nights were simply a pair of eyes in the dark. For some reason the camera isn’t taking a second image before the visitor departs. There’s probably another setting I need to review for time between triggers.
The good news is, thus far, the predators aren’t loitering around searching for ways inside the coop.
This morning, in the minutes when the sun was beginning to appear over the horizon, the cam snapped more than just a pair of eyes. We are guessing it very well could be the same critter whose eye reflections glowed the other two nights.
Here is our first view of the fox checking out our hen house.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Roost Achieved
I was all excited to check the image card after another overnight on the trail camera, but there was nothing there. I think the batteries expired. If any new prowlers showed up on the second night, we’ll never know.
In a strange result of nature, we received a quarter of an inch of rain yesterday before I got home, but the grounds looked like five-times that amount had fallen.
There’s almost nowhere to step that doesn’t turn out muddy when you move off the pavement or wood chips. Delilah jumped up on Cyndie in a fit of excitement and painted a wonderful image with her dirty paw. It’s time to pull out her kiddie pool and park it by the front door so she can wash her feet each time we enter the house.
On my way home from work yesterday, I stopped in Hudson to pick up some accessories to improve our electrical hook-up to the coop. It’s just extension cord for the time being, but at least it can be more soundly secured extension cord while it’s there.
I’m working toward properly burying a supply wire from the barn and securing it per electrical code guidelines, but the chicks needed heat much sooner than I could execute the necessary steps to wire it right the first time.
Later in the evening, when we walked down to reset the trail camera with new batteries and a cleared image card, we found one of the Rhode Island Reds had made her way up onto one of the two parallel roosts that offer the highest perch in the coop.
I have wondered whether having the roosts set right at the level of the large window would be a drawback for them, so seeing a bird on the roost was a big deal for me. I felt good that she didn’t panic or jump down when I came all the way up to the window.
I’m not confident they will be so comfortable when it is a large cat that shows up to look in on them.
If it proves to be a problem, I can easily add a board to provide increased privacy for them. While we were lingering there, one of the Buff Orpingtons joined the Red up on the roost. It won’t take long for the rest of the copy cats (chicks) to follow suit, I’m sure.
Remember, our chickens are brilliant.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Close Watch
I think the trail cam was too close to the coop. It seemed to trigger upon the movement of the shadow across the front door. There were 400 images recorded over the 24 hour period! That was really only 200 triggers, because I had left the setting at 2 images per activation.
The chick(en)s were under close watch for this first day in the coop. Temperature is not controlled as much as it was in the brooder located inside the barn. As far as I can see, they are not showing any signs of discomfort or distress. Why would they? These birds have moved into a Taj Mahal of chicken coops.
Still, Cyndie is not sure we are avoiding minimal desired temperature and is checking on them regularly.
I peeked in the window after setting up the camera Sunday night.
Cyndie checked on them first thing in the morning, yesterday.
Then she stopped by several times during the day.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Delilah even made an attempt to monitor their status on her own. Luckily, Cyndie was on the other end of the leash.
Finally, at the end of the day, the front door got opened for some adjustments and the introduction of a larger food dispenser. With little in the way of bugs to eat, the poor birds are devouring the starter granules faster than Cyndie can keep up.
That was all interesting enough, but the real winner on the trail cam was the night vision capture. It didn’t take long for us to have the first visitor make an appearance. There is no doubt in my mind that my attempts to critter-proof our coop will be well-tested.
.
Let the games begin…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Chicks Move
Of course, the chicks were one of the more popular attractions for visiting family yesterday. On the group’s first visit to the barn, I decided to take Delilah for a walk in the opposite direction, to keep her from feeling neglected and barking her shrill attention plea while everyone was cooing over the chicks.
Julian was kind enough to take my camera and record the proceedings for me.
He wonderfully captured the moment when one of the chicks fell asleep in Steve’s grasp. It looks like the poor thing died in his hands.
After the festivities of the day wound down and visitors had departed, Cyndie and I went to work getting power to the chicken coop so we could move the heat lamp out there. The time had come.
We transferred our chicks from the brooder to the coop. They seemed to handle the stress well and quickly looked very comfortable in their new home. One of the Barred Plymouth Rocks wasted no time in climbing the branch that led up to the poop board beneath the two roosts.
I’m pretty sure they will be sitting on the roosts when Cyndie checks on them this morning. They were easily jumping that high in the brooder to sit on top of the waterer.
I moved our trail camera to a tree next to the coop in hopes of recording any new traffic arriving to investigate the fortress. If prowlers begin to snoop, we’d like to find out who it is so we can tailor any control measures for the most likely threats.
We spied on the chicks through the window for quite a while before leaving them for their first night in the new residence. It left us wishing we’d installed a video feed so we could watch them from the house.
Our little chicks are growing up! So far, so good.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Feathers
While we have been a little distracted with a sick dog, a buried tractor, and a colicky horse, our chicks have been busy making feathers.
It’s not like they have been ignored, though. There have been a few more visitors than usual stopping by to sneak a peek at the spectacle of John and Cyndie having chickens, and we have welcomed the opportunity to give the chicks as much exposure to being handled as possible.
The yellow Buff Orpingtons are proving to be the least interested in being held. The rest of the birds are beginning to take our upturned palms as an invitation for a magic carpet ride.
.
This particular Barred Plymouth Rock seemed to take great pleasure in using the top of the water jar as her perch. I’m not sure it is all that great for the water quality down below, though.
.
On Sunday, I re-attached a door handle to the front door of the coop and did some tightening of screws. We are going to add a temporary containment fence just outside their door in back for the first days they will be granted access outside.
It won’t be long before their big move from the brooder to the coop, where they will be confined to quarters for a week or more in the process of acclimatizing them to their new home.
I’m so ready to have them reach the point where they’ll be safe with free range access to the fly and tick smorgasbord that our property offers.
Some folks look at our chickens and think, egg-layers. I am much more interested in the chickens’ skills as insect controllers. I tend to envision them more as killers.
Hmm. That gives me a new idea for a theme of names…
I gotta do something to counter-balance all the sweet names Cyndie is plotting to give them. I don’t want these birds to become a bunch of softies, after all.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Coop Features
I based the specific footprint dimensions of our chicken coop on the size of the crates that I acquired from the day-job. We built the roost on one side and nest boxes on the other.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
We want to have chickens specifically for the benefit of their penchant for eating flies and ticks, but we won’t turn down the added benefit of collecting eggs they produce. Toward that end, on the side of the coop where we installed the nest boxes, we built an access door for collecting eggs from the outside.
To keep the chickens from perching over the nest boxes, we installed a slanted board above them, which resulted in dead space beneath it. Putting in an additional door turned that space into convenient storage potential.
Expanding on the access theme, we also put in a small access door on the back wall to facilitate frequent removal of the poop board beneath the roosting bars. Having the removable board will allow us to scrape manure to add to our compost piles and reduce the cleaning burden on the sand we plan to use for the rest of the coop floor.
We made the chicken door to slide sideways for opening. When closed, a rod fits in the groove to prevent the door from sliding, providing added security overnight.
The coop receives plenty of light through the translucent roof panels and three windows. That will provide necessary inspiration for egg laying.
There is no ceiling in the coop, simply a barrier of hardware cloth between the walls and the roof, so the entire top is ventilated. When we’ve been working in the warm sunshine, the inside has remained noticeably cool.
I may need to add something of a temporary barrier on the outside edges of the roof in the winter in case blowing snow becomes a problem. We’ll see when the time comes. Maybe it won’t blow at all.
While working on the coop Saturday, the wind was blowing hard enough by the house that one of our rocking chairs blew over. I could hear the gusts rustling the dry brown leaves still hanging on the branches of the big oak tree. However, there was no wind at all while I was beside the coop.
We picked a spot for the coop that is nicely protected from the elements, a little downhill from the house, nestled at the edge of a wooded spot beside the back pasture.
That location may just be the best feature of all.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Relative Something 