I moved all my herb pots over near the coop so that I could set up a watering system and so they would be closer to the chickens. They appreciate it when I grab some stems when I am headed to the coop.
I have found that if I hold the herbs, they can pull off bite size pieces.
It didn’t take long for the chickens to adjust to the changes after I leveled our Grandpa’s Feeder properly. We had a relatively cool day (the high was 95 degrees F), so I put the feeder in the full working position where the lid closes all the way.
The step to the treadle is really high now. But I left the chickens to it, with the trail camera watching, and within an hour of shutting the lid, the chickens had figured out how to open it, and there was photographic evidence that all the chickens ate out of the feeder.
Well, Cloud and Cockatrice can open the feeder, then everyone else shoulders in to eat. At least they are all eating.
… don’t buy any more capris with ties on the legs.
The chickens like to untie them.
After learning how to twine by hand, I started to want to know more about spinning yarn (next logical step, yes?) I didn’t want to jump into buying a spinning wheel, but I saw many Pinterest posts about drop spindles. I admit, I attempted to make a drop spindle from a hooks, a dowel, a screw, some play dough, and the bottoms of aluminum cans. I used the bottoms of two aluminum cans filled with play dough to give it weight.
It was functional, but very wobbly. After perusing more drop spindle designs, I found reference to a Turkish spindle, which is assembled in such a way that you made “turtles” or balls of yarn as you spin. This seems much better than spinning to a spindle, then winding from the spindle to a ball.
So I made one.
I had left over Roman Olive Wood from a spoon I had made, so I planned out my spindle design, used the bandsaw to rough cut the shapes, a drill press to rough cut the slot and drill the spindle holes, and a chisel to refine to slot. I then sanded the whole thing first with a belt sander, then by hand. I finished it with Tung Oil (which took several days, argh, the waiting!).
It doesn’t spin perfectly (I can’t get it to spin like a top), but it works much better than the dowel and aluminum contraption. I ordered some Merino wool roving (I read that was better for beginners) in wild colors, and set out to learn to spin. There is definitely a learning curve; my yarn width is still inconsistent, but it is interesting and another good survival skill.
After moving the Grandpa’s Feeder into position two, we were having trouble determining if all the chickens were now eating in the new configuration. My eldest had the brilliant idea of setting up our trail cam to watch the feeder! Since all our chickens have leg bands, I set the camera up at leg band level, so we could see who was able to get food.
I am happy to report that after reviewing the pictures (by the way, we had to sift through over 1,000 pictures a day; those are active chickens!) all the chickens are eating from the feeder! And three chickens are able to open the feeder: Cloud, Cockatrice, and Taco. Apparently the rest wait until it is open, then go muscle in. At least they are eating.
I was concerned because my Grandpa’s Feeder wasn’t gravity feeding the way it should. Every time I checked the food level, I had to push some down into the tray. Turns out the bricks I laid down were not level (you can’t tell in the pictures, because the camera is crooked). So I pulled up the bricks, laid another layer of sand down (I did use sand the first time, but then added additional bricks, so the whole bricked area didn’t have sand), and then relaid the bricks. The gravity feed works much better now!
Just in case, since I reset the bricks and the treadle was at a different level, we are keeping the week 2 configuration with the partially open lid for a few more days, just to make sure the chickens can eat.
Critters and Craft 