Recent content by RichM

Ok, after three nights in the clink, she went to roost and stayed there! I'm getting eggs a week later. Thanks for the help. My setup was very similar to aart, except the dog crate was on the ground with a plastic pan in the bottom of it. Not ideal because it really collected a goopy mess but...

The jail I set up is just a basic medium sized dog crate with a large board on top to shield from direct sun and rain. This is placed in my large run so there's two levels of security. She's been in there for two nights now. She was broody for about two weeks as my efforts to break her kept...

Still having trouble. Using the jail method now. After a night and a day, she went to roost that night. Next evening, she went to the nest box and is back in jail. I wonder how this works. Is their memory only three days or so? If I give her a choice every day to roost or nest, will she never...

These were 16 ox bottles. Tonight I'm gonna try frozen gallon jugs. They should take up most of the space too.

My goodness, I tried a frozen water bottle in the egg box to break my broody copper maran. How could that not work? She turned it into hot water in 3 hours! I wish I made the egg boxes closable for nighttime.

I don't, but I know that a lot of wireless door sensors are battery powered. I just can't find the right thing for them to talk to.

I messed up. I lost one of my favorite chickens last night because I went to bed without closing everything up. I'm lucky to still have the 4 survivors, but I'm feeling very bad right now. What I want is a silent, remote door sensor that will turn on a small light next to my bed when it's open...

I use pine shavings and it's amazing stuff. They pack it in extremely tight, so that each bag is like an endless fountain of shavings. My coop is very small, (too small for 3 chickens actually), but I get like 10 substrate changes out of each bag.

That's the one, and it is not solid. I found that I could put a 1x1 (actual 3/4" x 3/4")piece of lumber into the top and bottom gaps, and I'm going to try use those to anchor hinges and latches.

Yeah, it is. I was actually planning to make a simple frame, but it will be somewhat different than I planned. If you have a better way to put a barn sash up, I've love to hear it. I think what I will do is just fill those gaps with wood, flush with the edge of the vinyl, and attach the...

If you are a homeowner you would probably find lots of uses for a circular saw at least. Without that, I don't think Lowe's will do all the cutting for you. They can do the big ones, but there will be many you will want to do yourself.

So recently I bought a single hung premade window at Lowe's, and it had features that I didn't want so I took it back. I decided to go simple with a barn sash window that tilts open, so I bought a vinyl premade barn sash window at Lowe's. Once I opened it, it wasn't like I expected, and there...

I have a 20' x 20' run, and I ordered a 25' x 25' cloth of aviary netting to put over the top. In the middle of the run, I have a 10' 2x4 holding up the center. The netting holds it in place. It keeps chickens in and keeps hawks out.

Ugh, I'm doing something similar but I'm using 2x4 framing. Mine weighs a ton! I hope that doesn't end up ruining the project. Perhaps if any main battle tanks come rolling through my yard, my coop will stop them cold. Other than that it's just useless weight. I haven't done the roof yet so...

Here's what happened to me. I had one of those puny store bought coops that was supposed to house 4 chickens (5 sq feet total!) and once my three hens started laying eggs, they suddenly needed more space and now they prefer to stay outside at night! They can't survive outside, so I have to grab...