Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

[journey11]

I caught another opossum in the trap this morning and DH dispatched it when he got home. Not a real big one, but he got in my hoop coop the other night when I forgot to turn the electric on. None of the chickens were hurt, but nearly all panicked and flew out, spent the night in the woods I guess. I only found two hiding in the yard and put them back, but everybody else came home in one piece the next morning. I caught one little orange feral cat in there the first night I set it using tuna. I thought, good grief, this could go on for days on end... I was really surprised to get the opossum on my second try!

 

[Beekissed]

I found a possum in my spare pen the other day too...smelled it first, then went looking for it. One of the dogs had killed it at some time or other and tried to bury it in the corner of my spare pen...it was covered in maggots.

Bay, is your good dog staying with the sheep all the time now? Can't imagine him letting a possum or cat get past him if he were not otherwise engaged.

Yes Bee it is my coop I run a exhaust fan most all the time but using deep litter
there was only one time I had a problem it is 17 ft in diameter and roughly 10 ft
tall in the center I max myself out at 20 birds but have stayed just below that

Penny Jo, your whole winter coop life would change tremendously if you got aholt of one of these here clear tarps! I couldn't believe just how much of a change it was when I switched from a regular, colored tarp to the clear for winter time....so much light and warmth comes through that thing! It's like keeping chickens in a greenhouse for the winter.

You must live where it gets seriously cold to have to wrap up your coop like that! We get into teens below zero here and I leave the top half of the coop door open, as well as small windows on either side and the pop door open under the roosts, not to mention 4 in. venting at the roof. If I didn't get that passive airflow going in there I'd likely be dealing with frostbite, especially with the humidity coming off my DL.

Finally got the final work done on the roof liner and tarp today, with the help of my grandgirl...she has great ideas that actually work! I'm VERY pleased with the end result, though the new tarp is too wide and I'll have to adapt it to fit when I finally lower the side flap for the winter. It fit perfectly in length and this is the best fitting result I've ever achieved on the fastening it all down. I'm tickled with it!

Got the nest boxes cleaned out and refreshed with bedding, dusted those and the roosts, got Ben's dog house refreshed with new straw also, though he rarely ever uses that one...he prefers his hay bunker to a dog house.

Aliza helped all day...she's watching the rooster eat in this pic, he's the big bird to her right.

Stripped down, bare bones hoop coop....ready for a new plastic roof liner. The last one lasted 4 yrs before coming to pieces.

Once again Ben helps by holding down something...this time the tarp. In fact, I couldn't get him to get off it when I needed to put it on the coop. Every time I'd shew him off and grab the tarp to move it, he walk back on it.

The prevailing winter winds go west to east on this ridge top, so it slides right over this hoop coop...the tarp never even ripples in the worst winds.

The dogs were plumb tuckered from watching me work all day.

Ready for winter....will lower that last flap when it truly gets cold.

All that remains to the coop tweaking right now is to jack up the coop and insert some 4x4s under the front to elevate it and prevent sagging in the middle and, hopefully, finally get it level on the top. This coop sits on a slope.

 

[PennyJo]

I like your coop now that we have the new tarp on I went with the grey only because it is 11 ml
we have three outside cats that walk over it causing the 8 ml tarp to leak like heck... the
gray actually does produce heat also.. Sadly enough the Pyrenees is the only dog that can be with the chickens
our others cannot be trusted but the garden area has a separate fence need to clip wings on birds before I
can release the birds in there during the day

 

[baymule]

Bee, just yesterday, I combined Paris and Trip with the sheep. I also put the two keeper ewe lambs with the flock. We ran a fence from the main sheep pasture to the back yard, closed off the pasture and opened the backyard gate. This gives Paris the option to go in the back yard which is her comfort spot. She and Trip got along wonderfully. It went smoothly. I planted 125 pounds of rye grass in the pasture, it's the one in my I Hate Greenbriars thread. This morning all the sheep were in the backyard, Paris was in her dog cave and Trip was outside the backyard gate, watching over all.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm so glad you got sheep and have these good dogs watching over them....doesn't it make you sleep better at night knowing they are out there on guard? I can't even imagine keeping any livestock out in the country without that peace of mind. I wish more folks understood what that feels like, when your dogs are not just couch warmers and fur makers but are real partners in what you are trying to do in your life. It gives them purpose and they seem so fulfilled by it.

Ben was barking his fool head off last night, but one of those repetitive barks I hate to hear in a dog....he's been barking more than normal this week, as we have a large black bear on the land and he's doing his job well...I can tell when the bear is getting too near, that bark gets aggressive, but the past few nights he has settled into a rhythm of barking that tells me he's not warning off a predator, he's a bored dog that's still barking after the predator threat has gone away.

I finally went out and hollered at him to "Shut it!"...instant silence. I love how responsive he is to verbal correction. I only want to hear those dogs barking when the threat is real and active in the area.

 

[PennyJo]

Agree 100% there Bee a dog that is bored will bark or dig find trouble to get into
give it a job you have a happy p0ooch that will listen to commands also

 

[baymule]

Paris does that, barks and just keeps on and on sometimes. I tap on the window and she stops. Trip's favorite place is halfway down the driveway, our house sets off the road, from there he can survey his kingdom. He barks a BOOF that is a warning, then turns into a BOOF-FEST. He BOOFS just to be BOOFING. I go outside and talk to him, tell him he is a good dog, but stop BOOFING and he does.

 

[Beekissed]

Bay, that's exactly what it sounds like when these dogs bark!!!! "BOOF"! Something about these breeds....they just have a deeper chest than most, because male or female, that bark comes out like a base drum.

 

[PennyJo]

Snows boof is rather girlie yet just a bit to young but taking the job quite serious
I go to the chickens in the morning she is with telling me all are good

 

[Beekissed]

Another five chickens butchered this morning, this time all 6 mo. old cockerels raised here from chicks. All meaty, heavy birds and beautiful of form and feather, docile to handle. They won't have as much lovely fat stored as the old hens though way more than any other cockerels I've butchered before getting WRs, and their meat is incredibly fine textured and dense.

They are MUCH easier to butcher than the tough old hens, for sure. Slowly but surely the meat harvest is done in this manner, sorting out what one will keep and what one will eat. It's an age old ritual passed down since the beginning of time and I love being a link in that chain. The work goes faster if you have help, but there's something to be said about the silence and serenity of doing this kind of work alone that I love too. It's a beautiful day and a slight breeze every now and again....quiet except the sounds of crows in the distance and the crunching of bones as the dogs eat heads and feet, while the rest of the flock scratch through the fall leaves. God gave me a beautiful day for such work and I thank Him for the good, clean meat grown on this peaceful land.

More meat in the jars by this evening! Hopefully. If I don't wear out too soon. LOL Gotta let that chill in the fridge a bit while I go unload a truckload of leaves and 200# of feed.