Category: Coop

Counting chickens

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop

I know my chickens and I are spoiled. They have a nice big coop and run with an automatic coop door, and I have two video cameras, so I can count chickens without wandering out in the dark.

There are eight chickens in this picture.

The outside camera has a memory card, so I can scroll back through time and watch them disappear one at a time into the coop. I’ve tried counting them using the inside camera, but there is so much jostling and repositioning that it is like playing a cup game. The inside camera can see them on their roost once they are settled, but the angle is terrible for counting.

There are also eight chickens in this picture

Yay for technology when it is working.

Uneasy chickens

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop

We were having high winds when I did my chicken camera check the other day. My hens were keenly aware of the unsettling howling wind noises outside their coop.

Chickens listening to the wind in the dark

There are eight chickens in this picture, although you can only see the shadow of the two that get the prime back corner spot. This is their usual configuration at night, but without the strained intensity.

Spiders in the coop

On By CarynIn Coop, Wildlife
Night picture from coop camera

An industrious spider built a web in front of the coop camera. Although it looks vertical in the picture, the actual web was horizontal, stretched from under the camera to the cable tie end shown in the picture. Unfortunately, when I rotated the camera, the web broke. I generally leave spiders alone in the coop. They provide valuable insect control, especially of the flying type, without toxic chemicals (unless you count the spider bite). The successful arachnids are in the upper part of the coop, since chickens are keen on devouring spiders. Extra protein. A few times a year I do sweep out the old webs that are full of dust to make room for new webs.

Winterizing

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, Garden

We had a freeze coming in so I set about winterizing outside the house in 40 degree rain. It is a little different setting up for cold temperatures in Texas than up north, but there are still things that need doing. (I would take 32 degrees over forty and raining any day, though. Yuck.)

I cleaned and filled all the chicken water (three hanging, one heated) and put away the foot baths. I closed up the extra vents in the coop to prevent drafts (there are still eave vents to allow air circulation). I drained all the water hoses and put winter caps on all the outdoor faucets. I took the batteries out of the automatic waterers and stored them away in the garage. I harvested all the basil and covered the tank garden (which still has non-producing squash vines).

Stock garden before basil harvest

I washed the basil and picked through it for the nice leaves. The remainder went out to the chickens, who appreciated that I threaded it through the chicken wire in the covered run so they could pull leaves off, and did not hang it out in the rain.

Chickens tucking into basil secured to poultry wire
After the freeze, the remaining basil is starting to brown. The squash vines bloomed.

Probable cause

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, eggs

We have continued to get eggs, way past when the hens stopped laying last year. I think I know why. We have kept the people door open to let the breeze through the coop because it was so blazing hot this summer. The door leads out into the chicken run, which is completely encased in welded wire, which makes it fairly secure against large predators. When we let the dogs out in the morning, we turn on the back porch light, which happens to shine into the runs. This gives the hens enough light to feel comfortable getting off the roost, so they are up and about earlier than last year. Extra light also encourages egg laying. Ah. They finished their molt, had enough light, and a couple have gone back into laying mode. I could close up the door, but they really do like coming out as soon as they can, and they are safe in their enclosure from twilight predators. As it gets colder, I will close the people door to keep in the heat and keep out drafts, but I may keep the chicken door open.

Gathered eggs, open coop door