A wasp nest in the coop that I sprayed a year ago finally fell down into the runs. I left it up because I read that if there is a nest, other wasps will avoid the area. Apparently people make all sorts of fake nests to psych out the wasps (yes, there are even crocheted decoys!) I just left the fumigated nest in place. We’ll see if I get new inhabitants this spring.
Silly cat. She gets up on the coop roof via an overhanging tree. She quite likes peeking down at the chickens. And me.
I had contemplated keeping the back door of the coop open at night to really let the cool air flow through the coop. There is a “screen” door with chicken wire instead of screen, but chicken wire won’t hold up to the attentions of a raccoon, and after the trail cam took a picture of a raccoon right behind the coop, leaving the door open is a definite no. In fact, I need to line the inner door with hardware cloth and put a heavy two step latch on it just in case a raccoon gets bold before I close the back door! (The solid door has three latches on it and a pad lock.) I had originally intended the inner door to only be utilized when I was out in the coop, but I found that keeping it as a breezeway after dinner makes a 10 degree difference in the inside of the coop. When the temperature in the coop goes from 95 to 85, it is worth airing out.
The trail cam also took a decent picture of an armadillo behind the coop. There is hardware cloth buried all around the coop and runs to keep the diggers out.
It is 102 in the shade here in the afternoon. I have iced foot baths, lots of shade, an oscillating fan, cool treats, I water down the ground, but I haven’t tried a mister. I had a mister that I bought for humans, but the humans were not that impressed (the youngest human likes to be soaked, not misted), so out to the chickens it goes! Not entirely sure what the chickens think of it either, but at least they didn’t freak out when I set it up (no broken wings). Picking a spot was problematic. I didn’t want it to spray on them, or the food, or into the coop. I settled on the corner of the run where wind blows the mist either way.
Coop: My husband built the coop and I love having a shed sized building to house the chickens. We can walk in which makes cleaning out easier and catching chickens easier. There is also plenty of room for storage. I originally planned to section the coop in half so that I could house a mother hen and the chicks in one side separate from the adult flock. I don’t think that is going to happen, but having the option is nice. I do hang a waterer inside, but all the food and the rest of the waterers are outside the coop. (I have 5 water stations for 11 chickens. Texas summers are hot.)
Runs: My husband also built four runs off the front and side of the coop. The main run, which is open all the time, runs along the side and across the front. This is where their food, water, and dust baths reside. I have three other runs with latched doors. The original idea was the center run would be a garden, but with the surrounding trees it doesn’t get enough light. The next idea was to rotate the chickens through the three runs so they would have fresh grass. After carefully tending grass growth for a week, it takes the chickens one day to take it all down to bare earth. Ugh. I am currently leaving the farthest run open all the time (this run is the chicken’s favorite because it has the most perches and overlooks the meadow) and alternating growing forage seed in the other two runs. The runs are enclosed with hardware cloth that is also buried about a foot down all around the coop. Inside the runs we used less expensive poultry wire. There are swings in two of the runs, and the chickens do jump on them occasionally. What they really love are the natural branches lashed to the framework.
Situating the coop and runs in the low point of the meadow has given us some drainage issues, but some creative ditch digging solves most of the unwanted flooding, except in really heavy rains.
Something that definitely failed from heavy rains was the rotating latch on the outside run door. The tolerances were a little tight, and when the wooden dowel swelled from moisture it would get stuck in the pass through hole. Eventually the dowel tore in two from being twisted when wet. Oops.
So I think that is it for now! I’ll probably think of other things to share later, but a 5 part post will have to do for this week. Tomorrow I’ll go back to my regularly scheduled program of random rotating subjects.
Critters and Craft 