Cockroaches

On June 2, 2019May 30, 2019 By CarynIn Wildlife

Ugh. There are cockroaches in the coop. I saw a couple when I opened the cabinet doors, then I found some in the chickens feeder that got stuck and couldn’t get out of the smooth curved walls of the feeder. I captured them and fed them to the chicks (yes! I did!). I spread some diatomaceous earth on the floor of the food cabinet and some more throughout the coop, then started researching what to do about cockroaches.

A couple different bloggers capture the cockroaches in glass jars and then in the morning, let them loose for the chickens. Rather than spray pesticides, we decided to give this a try. We had an empty dog treat jar, plastic instead of glass, but with curved sides at the top of the jar. We put some chicken feed in the bottom, and put it on the floor of the coop.

It worked! The next morning there was a trapped cockroach inside the jar.

I took the jar out to the runs (with the chickens close to my heels), turned it loose out in the open, and a chick caught it! Yay! It was incredibly satisfying watching the chicks devour that insect!

New latch

On June 1, 2019June 1, 2019 By CarynIn Coop

I changed the way the outer door latches and unlatches, because I was afraid one of these times my eldest or I was going to accidentally lock the other in. So I used some scrap wood and a dowel to make a latch that can open from either side. We still have the hasp and lock to foil the raccoons, but this makes it easy to get in and out during the day.

My hand is covered in dirt, ash, and diatomaceous earth in my animated GIF, sigh. I was supplementing the chicken’s dust bath tire.

Inside view of latch

Watermelon rings are scary

On May 31, 2019May 28, 2019 By CarynIn chickens

So I really thought that hanging a ring of watermelon rind would be great fun for the chicks. Nope. Apparently it is a great scary thing.

At first the chicks were in a different run (I haven’t made the doors yet, although the poultry wire is now up). I put the watermelon ring up, but all the chicks stared at it from the other run. Then I helped one a little, she grabbed a piece, started it swinging, and scared everyone off. I missed getting video of another having a try and leaping three feet in the air when it moved.

Here is a video of a chick walking up on the poultry wire to avoid the ring. I don’t know why she didn’t cross to the other side. The paths chickens take have long been a quandary.

The chicks eventually figured out how to deal with the swinging ring, because a couple hours later the watermelon was cleaned out!

Poop catcher

On May 30, 2019May 29, 2019 By CarynIn Coop

Here is the rest of the new roost! My local hardware store had heavy-duty cotton drop cloths on clearance, so I cut up one to make the poop catcher underneath the new roost. I have read that the most droppings occur when they roost, so the idea is that this will make it easier to clean the coop. We’ll see!

I sewed pockets on each side for the small diameter PVC pipe, and one hem (I used the salvage edge on the other side).

Getting the PVC pipe and cloth through the channels that I made with larger PVC pipe was a little more difficult than I hoped, but not unworkable. And if the cotton turns out too absorbent, it will be easy to change material.

The chicks have not yet gone back up on the roost, so we’ll see how long it takes them to adjust.

New roost with poop catcher system

P.S. It took a few days before the chicks were willing to jump back up on the roost, but they eventually did it!

And there was poop in the poop catcher! As an added bonus, my muck bucket fits under perfectly, so I can just scrape the droppings straight into the bucket. Win.

Chicken swings

On May 29, 2019May 25, 2019 By CarynIn Coop

After making the new roost, the old roost, which was the old food and water hanger, needed a new purpose. So I unscrewed the two screws holding them together and made two roost swings! Yay, repurposing.