MJ's little flock

[Shadrach]

I like to use marine ply when building things for the hens and I try to buy AA which means there are no blemishes in the grain on either side and that's good because blemishes are more likely to hold water. Sometimes AA is not available and sometimes I can't afford it. The new ramp was made from a BC 3 ply I bought when working on the roosting box. So it's got blemishes on the B side, and significant blemishes on the C side (quite large knots).

Is the A B C ply grading system in use elsewhere?

I sometimes see it on ply here.

 

[MaryJanet]

The view from my workspace.

I hope she's ok in there. She keeps twitching. I wish I'd seen her on her feet more often during this brood.

 

[MaryJanet]

She wasn't ok.

I took a closer look and discovered Mary had pooped in the nest. My fault for leaving food in there.

So I lifted her out and discovered a broken Welsummer egg with a dead chick. I don't think it had reached hatching, but I can't be sure.

I cleaned out the old nest and put new straw in as quickly as possible.

Now I'm waiting for Mary to go back to the nest.

Spoiler: Picture of broken egg

I don't know if cleaning the nest was the right thing to do. I was thinking of the other chicks exposure to bacteria.

Not sure if the others will survive this disruption immediately before hatch day.

 

[MaryJanet]

She's back on the eggs now.

 

[MaryJanet]

The eggs were exposed for about 30 minutes. I hope they recover ok.

The ambient humidity is only 32%

 

[MaryJanet]

If any chicks hatch it'll be a miracle.

 

[BDutch]

If any chicks hatch it'll be a miracle.

Sorry you lost this chick at this stage.

It doesn’t mean the others wont hatch. Good luck!

 

[BY Bob]

Marine ply works best but it's become really expensive. I looked at marine ply, can't remember the exact grade but its full boats, when I was still thinking about building a coop rather than buying one for the field chickens.

I used some ordinary grade ply on a couple of the coops in Catalonia and the edges were peeling after a single winter. They were painted as well!
The bullet proof option I found was half inch marine ply covered with EDPM sheet over the roof and the EDPM sheet edges tucked under the roof and held in place with wooden battens srewd into the ply. Obviously screw length becomes critical here. I know.

I know it is limited in time. This will be the 3rd porch roof. I have accepted that it will age quickly up until now. I believe that I will look for an alternate solution this time. Either metal or perhaps I will apply plexiglass to cover the plywood as I did with Hattie House at one point.

 

[BY Bob]

Awww no peeps yet.

Mary looks like she's paying attention to something and not merely zoned out. So I wonder if she can feel movements in one of her eggs.

She will start to talk to them at some point. Perhaps you will catch her doing so.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes, your number 1 and number 2 are commonly used in the kind of trans-Atlantic English I am familiar with. Actually I am not 100% sure that number 2 works in US English.
But a Tinny in Australia also refers to a can of beer, and a small open boat. The boat one I learned of here from our Australian friends. The beer one I was already familiar with.

Look at you translating for the Aussies.

How many languages do you speak? I count, English, American, Australian..........I bet there are many more.