Eva’s Friends

[Evadig]

It's been a long week since I last posted. Now I can't remember everything I wanted to say.

Chickies went into Apartment No. 1 of the Muddy Run last Monday. After a few days of putting them up to bed in the nest box at night, they are perching! They are the smartest birds I've had!

Of course, putting them in there required moving the Biddies out. They now reside in No. 2, and the Big Hens with Winston live in No. 3. The turkeys get to perch in the hallway on a nice flat board.

We saw a fox this morning about a quarter mile away. Unsupervised free ranging is no longer authorized...

Spring semester is out next week, so I haven't had time to take many pictures. I have to write two news articles, create a youtube video, and come up with a report on a topic that I don't have firsthand experience with - all of which is due this Friday!

Hope and Charity getting big! They're seven weeks this Wednesday.

Hens in the converted turkey run - Apt. No. 3

Turkeys' new roost in the hallway above the goose pen

Closeup of the nesting box in No. 3

 

[BockityBockBock]

Nice thread and great pictures of all your cute critters! You've got a beautiful bunch of babies (they're all babies to me no matter their age)!

 

[CCsGarden]

It's been a long week since I last posted. Now I can't remember everything I wanted to say.

Chickies went into Apartment No. 1 of the Muddy Run last Monday. After a few days of putting them up to bed in the nest box at night, they are perching! They are the smartest birds I've had!

Of course, putting them in there required moving the Biddies out. They now reside in No. 2, and the Big Hens with Winston live in No. 3. The turkeys get to perch in the hallway on a nice flat board.

We saw a fox this morning about a quarter mile away. Unsupervised free ranging is no longer authorized...

Spring semester is out next week, so I haven't had time to take many pictures. I have to write two news articles, create a youtube video, and come up with a report on a topic that I don't have firsthand experience with - all of which is due this Friday!

Hope and Charity getting big! They're seven weeks this Wednesday.
View attachment 3815838

Hens in the converted turkey run - Apt. No. 3
View attachment 3815839

Turkeys' new roost in the hallway above the goose pen
View attachment 3815840

Closeup of the nesting box in No. 3
View attachment 3815842

Wow! I didn't realize you had that many animals!!

 

[Evadig]

Wow! I didn't realize you had that many animals!!

I think we have 37 total...

 

[N F C]

It's been a long week since I last posted. Now I can't remember everything I wanted to say.

Chickies went into Apartment No. 1 of the Muddy Run last Monday. After a few days of putting them up to bed in the nest box at night, they are perching! They are the smartest birds I've had!

Of course, putting them in there required moving the Biddies out. They now reside in No. 2, and the Big Hens with Winston live in No. 3. The turkeys get to perch in the hallway on a nice flat board.

We saw a fox this morning about a quarter mile away. Unsupervised free ranging is no longer authorized...

Spring semester is out next week, so I haven't had time to take many pictures. I have to write two news articles, create a youtube video, and come up with a report on a topic that I don't have firsthand experience with - all of which is due this Friday!

Hope and Charity getting big! They're seven weeks this Wednesday.
View attachment 3815838

Hens in the converted turkey run - Apt. No. 3
View attachment 3815839

Turkeys' new roost in the hallway above the goose pen
View attachment 3815840

Closeup of the nesting box in No. 3
View attachment 3815842

Sounds like spring break is going to be busy for you...thanks for sharing new pictures!

 

[CCsGarden]

I think we have 37 total...

nice! I had 23 but 4 died

 

[Evadig]

Good evening y'all...
I'm trying to return to my biweekly schedule, hence the back to back posts .

I forgot to say that in my previous post that a fifty lb. bag of food lasts ten days when you're feeding twelve chickens, three ducks, four geese, and two turkeys.

There isn't a lot to report in two days. I have upgraded the security to the Sentinel Coop. It had me worried because the hardware fabric was just stapled to the wood with cheap staples. So I used washers and screws to affix the fabric better.

I also have put down sand in the coop, because I was tired of wasting pine shavings when they're just pooping on them, so we'll see how that goes.

I remember a thread where someone wanted to put an addition to the Sentinel coop, so here's how I did mine. Maybe I should make a coop article instead of posting it here, but for now...

The area of the run inside the S coop is roughly 18 sq. ft. (6 x 3). I knew I wanted to have three birds in the coop (a rooster and two hens) so I built a 6 x 4 run on the back for a total of 42 sq. ft.

I started by laying down four 2 x 4's to form a frame.

Then added two corner posts...

...followed by two slanted posts. These hold up the top part of the frame.


After that I stapled the hardware fabric onto the sides with Helen's supervision.

A OSB board laying around was screwed on for the roof.

The hardware fabric was ziptied with the strongest ties I could find to the metal frame.

Folding it over the door was the hardest part, as I was trying to hold it down and ziptie it at the same time (I was alone).

The last step was to fill in the gaps between the frame and the hardware fabric. This is another area that could use some extra security, but I'm not sure how to go about it (actually, writing this just gave me an idea ). I do not have a picture of this.

So that's how I built a run on the Sentinel coop. Looking back, I'm not sure how I managed to fit four big hens in that original space before we built the Muddy Run. They literally spent all winter in there (sometimes upstairs all day!) but amazingly, there was no feather pecking and we still collected an occasional egg.

If you've made it this far, here are a few extra pictures :

Dolores

Lily apparently followed me into the basement when I wasn't looking and got left in there. She was mad!

Dishwashing Day!

Eva on mouse patrol

Eva and her little friend, Sophie, a rescued box turtle

 

[N F C]

You did a good job upgrading the security of the coop...an article is a good idea!

 

[Callender Girl]

I ALWAYS enjoy the posts about your wonderful menagerie!

As a retired newspaper editor, I'm curious about the news articles you're writing -- tell me more, please, when you get a chance. Sounds like you have your hands full right now.

 

[Evadig]

Good evening, y'all! Not much going on here, but the Muddy Run is living up to its name again. The roof is leaking, bad. The runs are all mud, the bedding is soaked, at least a pound of food has been wasted.

Helen hurt her feet trying to get out of a pen (not the one in the picture). She literally scrapped the skin off several toes, poor turkey! I felt so bad for her! I put VetRX on them and wrapped them in gauze.

The neighbor down the street lets their Muscovy ducks run free on Sundays. This morning they decided to block the road as I was late to church. I had to get out and shoo them into their yard. I'm surprised they haven't got hit yet!

That's all, and no pictures either. So here's a couple random ones. Hope you enjoy them!

The dogs don't even know where their own food is, but Brianna went right to it!

Niagara Falls from the American side

Abraham Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Illinois