Finally! When I did my last check on the chickens before bed, they were all roosting! None on the ground, hurray! I had to keep the light to a minimum, so they didn’t come ask for mealworms, so briefly shone enough light from the flashlight to get photographic evidence.
I will wait for awhile before trying the poop catcher, though. Deep litter method it will be for the time being. (I turn over the pine shavings to mix in the droppings every morning, rather than scooping them out.)
I know, it doesn’t look that big in the picture, but my dog weighs about 50 pounds, and that turtle was about 20 feet away from him. Trust me, it was a big turtle. The thought did cross my mind to get in for a closer picture, but I like my dog’s nose whole, and myself whole for that matter. (We are in Texas, we are nearly country, and walking into someone else’s yard is grounds for getting shot. I respect that. Turtle pictures can wait.)
It is not sophisticated, but it works. I cut off the bottom two inches or so of a red Solo cup, punched two holes with a paper punch, and used poly twine to tie it to the leg of the work bench. It works.
When I find the right fancy bottle (ok, when I empty the right fancy bottle), I’ll try making a grit dispenser like Lisa’s, but until then, this works.
We did our chicken health check: weight, band size, vent, feet. It has been about a month since the last one. I meant to do it sooner, but it was either hot, or we were tired. I don’t want to overly handle the chickens when it is hot to avoid overheating (especially since our “feels like” temperature is consistently getting into the 100s). And since it is a two person job, doing it tired leads to grouchiness.
The chickens are growing well (Magic is the largest at 1315 grams, or 2.9 pounds). Their vents are clean, their feet look healthy, and we only needed to change out a few bands.
I did figure out how to change the colors on the series in my chart, so now the colors match the leg bands on the chickens, which really helps me to read the chart!
I’ve started to use a wooden basket to carry out ice packs and frozen gallon jugs to the coop to help keep the chickens cool. The pink plastic basket just wasn’t up to the task. My inside cat has seen the basket go out many times. So she decided to try and hitch a ride (or it was a case of “if I fits I sits”, she is a cat after all). I wasn’t fooled.
She has since regularly settled down for a nap in the basket.
So we have started using a 5-gallon bucket for the ice, and let the cat have her chosen bed. Because we are cat minions.
Critters and Craft 