DEAD BIRD

Found a dead guinea hen in the coop this morning... Saw liquid chicken "poo" in the yard yesterday.. Am going to treat the entire flock with Corid and assume Coccidia is the culprit. Hoping this works........... I HATE losing birds:(. 

Lattice Out of Sticks:)

Lattice out of sticks

I was asked to describe how I made this...

We live on a farm and are BOTH (hubby and I) busy most of the day, everyday... So, I don't always have him to help me with things. With that being said, a few months ago, we purchased a small electric chainsaw for me at Lowes. I think it weighs around 6 or 7 pounds. I can't handle large gasoline powered chainsaws safely.

I would one day, like to participate in the local farm-tours our state puts on, and have been trying to think of free and low cost ideas to make our farm unique and enriching for the animals who live here.

I didn't cut down any live trees to make this, but instead, used limbs that were down in our woods. I used my chainsaw to cut the limbs into small sections.

From there, I made a small grid like pattern with the sticks with the smaller sticks on top running from side to side. I used screws and a battery operated drill to attach the smaller sticks to the larger ones.

I don't consider myself exceptionally strong or strong at all, honestly. Screwing the sticks on wasn't easy but it wasn't super difficult either. It took me about 20 minutes to screw all of the limbs in place once I had everything cut to size.

I have another project in mind for today, so I will keep everyone posted on my progress.

I LOVE the freedom my little chainsaw gives me:). I know that sounds corny, but it keeps me from "bugging" my husband with all of my "ideas."

And... The chickens LOVE this little lattice thing. It's ONE of their favorite spots in the yard:).

Chicken Yard Additions:)

I absolutely LOVE spending time with all of my "critters." I added some neat things to the chicken yard yesterday. I added some vines/branches above the LGD's window on their house, a couple of roosting bars, and a climbing rack that also gives some protection to lettuce, cabbage, and newly planted beans:). The chickens love fresh veggies, so planting them in their yard is the easiest and cheapest way to give them what they love:)!!! 

Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick

Have I said lately how much I LOVE my chicks and having fresh eggs??? lol... 

Chicken Yard THINGS...

 So... After the numerous attacks on our free range chickens, ducks, guineas, we fenced in a 3/4 acre "chicken yard." Our babies are used to having the run of 50 acres or better, but we recently experienced much loss with fox, opossum, and raccoon attacks. The top picture is a "scratch bed" I made for our babies. It contains compost, leaves, sticks, bark, pine needles, and worms. They love scratching and pecking in the woods, so I hope this provides them SOME comfort/fun:). We planted a weeping willow tree nearby that will give them some shade in this area as well. 

All of the plants in the chicken yard are "chicken preferred." We planted things they like as well as natural de-wormers. We added an apple tree for additional shade AND yummy treats. 

They have marigolds, roses, catnip, spearmint, peppermint, oregano, pineapple sage, chives, garlic, cone flowers, lemon balm, thyme, rosemary, lemon grass, lavender, wormwood, dandilions, sunn hemp, and "grass." 

YES... They have a chicken swing:). 

Re-Purposing

So... Today, I plan to re-purpose a portable greenhouse I purchased (similar to this one) into a "chicken" room. I will keep the door/flap rolled up permanently and will place chicken friendly plants inside. This will give the chickens something else to do to keep them busy and will make me happy because I will feel like I am doing something good:). Will likely place marigolds, catnip, mint, etc... inside the greenhouse. I will post pictures once I have it all set up and ready to go!!! Exciting! I love developing new enrichment activities/areas for the kiddos! 

Guinea Hens for Dinner

Dinner plans changed. Someone hit 2 of our guinea hens on the road and drove up to tell us, thankfully. Still warm so not wasting the meat. Heart breaking bc these were pets and insect eaters. But... Can't control where free range birds go. Bummer!

Deep Freeze

So upset... One of our favorite bantam chickens was dead in the coop this morning:(. I know this type of bird isn't particularly cold hardy, but we had a heat lamp in their coop to at least shake off some of the cold. Even with the heat lamp, their water was frozen. All other chickens, ducks, and guineas were fine. We have to assume our beloved hen died because of the cold weather:(.