Tales from the Coop: Cleaning Day

Cleaning day is the chickens favorite day!

About every two weeks I clean out the old hay, clean the coop, and add new hay.  The rest of the day, the chickens spend their time straightening and organizing the straw.

Happy chickens are the best chickens.

Laboring for Labor Day Weekend

In honor of labor day, we spent the day in the San Antonio heat building a new vegetable garden.  And it all started with 4 cubic yards of dirt...

Jenny came up with the overall design of the garden and I figured out how to build the planter boxes.

The inner portion is within a six foot enclosure measuring 12x12.  The inner planter boxes are protected from squirrels, birds, and other pests by the netting.  On two sides there are 2x12 planter boxes for heartier plants.

Mr J was extremely helpful in building the structure.  Here is a photo of him with some of his favorite tools.

SUPPLY LIST
1   2x12x16 (for back board)
7   2x12x12 (for planter boxes)
10    2x4x12 (for enclosure)
1 6ft scrap board (for enclosure door)
bed liner (under planters)
lightweight netting (for enclosure)
staples for staple gun (for netting)
1 bazillion screws

Backyard Nature

Every night we hear the chorus of cicada.  That's how we know it is a Texas Summer.

 

The racing lizards tell us that it is the near desert climate of San Antonio.

Tales from the Coop: Hawk-Proof Fence

Last week, Grandpa Steve and I spent the better part of a day building a 12'x12' chicken run that attached to the existing coop to protect the ladies from predators and to keep them from accidentally fence hopping too close to the doggies.

Less than a week later, I caught a hawk in the act of trying (and failing) to break in to gobble up a chicken.  I quickly ran to the camera and snapped a few photos of the culprit, a red-tailed hawk.  The picture to the left is of the fella posing in a tree after giving up.  Moments later five sparrows chased him off.  I estimate Mr. Hawk to be 20 inches tall or so but I didn't get a very good look at him.

The lower picture shows him trying to break into the top of the chicken run.  I am so amazed that I was able to take a pic of the criminal in the act and it wasn't even too blurry.  I feel a little like I'm on CSI, zooming in on the bird and making a positive ID.  The top of the coop was closed in with multi-purpose plastic screening; who knew it was so strong! 

What We Made: Chicken Run Expansion

About a month ago,  Jenny and I realized that we desperately needed a more secure chicken run for the ladies.  They had taken to hopping the four foot fence between the backyard and front yard, and they could easily do the same into the street.  Before leaving for Canada, I set up a temporary chicken run for them by patching an old six foot fence enclosure attached to our alley.  Aside from it being completely ram-shackled, we quickly found out that six feet was not enough to contain Houdini.   She could perch on the coop and hop over the fence and occasionally would fly out from the ground. 

For a few weeks we kept them in the portable chicken coop and attached run with about 35 sq. ft. of ground space.  They did not appreciate the cramped quarters so I spent all day Tuesday building them a palatial 12'x12' chicken run.

The sides are made of poultry netting with a reinforced 3"x3" welded wire fence panel overlaying it (not pictured).  The top is a plastic multi-purpose netting to create a visual barrier for the chickens flying out and predator birds flying in.  The portable coop was used as one corner of the structure so it is portable no more, but I think the extra space is well worth the loss of mobility.  Truth be told, I nearly gave myself a hernia every time I picked the dern thing up!

Here I am looking very proud of my nearly finished work.  Please note that this is after a shower and a good night's sleep.  Remind me never to spend all day outside in the San Antonio Summer heat.  To say the I was tired, cranky, and hungry by the end of the day is an understatement.

You may notice our dogs lurking in the background of each picture.  By building the coop/run in the front yard, the dogs again have unfettered rein of the backyard through the doggy door.

The Long Weekend

Weekends are supposed to be relaxing.  Generally they are, but they can be long.  I tend to try and cram all of my productivity for the week into the last few days.  This weekend we had Jenny's birthday party with family, a birthday party for one of Mr Js classmates, and stacking yardwork we had to address before our trip to Canada next week.  We had a blast each step of the way,  well not the yardwork, but it just adds up to a long weekend.

On top of that, we lost a chicken this weekend.  Eliza managed to avoid being put away in the coop Saturday night and our doggies got to her in the morning.  We can't get mad at them for being doggies, but Jenny and I feel horrible.  Lets just hope we can make sure this doesn't happen again

I spent most of Sunday doing yardwork and securing a more secure, all-be-it much smaller roaming space for them.  They will be officially fenced off early this week.

Early Eliza

Tales from the Coop: Yard Chickens

Our little ladies have quickly outgrown their coop. We haven't had time to upgrade the structure for them yet, so our previously chicken tractor bound hens have gone wild!

We let them out for a few hours a day to stretch their wings and roam for bugs.

It also gives Mr J more opportunities to commune with the chickens. He thinks he is part of the flock and loves to hang out in shade with them!

I haven't been worried about the chickens flying out of the yard until today. We have a four-foot fence around our yard, and they haven't shown much interest in flying until recently. Today they decided to roam further than ever! If they keep this up, then I will either have to learn how to clip wings or build faster.

Hackberries

Like many parts of the country, heavy rains and strong winds have been visiting San Antonio lately. These storms have taken a heavy toll of our tress because of the 22 month drought that broke this spring. Many trees lost root and trunk mass during the drought, and the heavy rains have now made the branches too heavy to be supported by the tree bases.

On our two acre lot, we have lost significant portion of about a dozen trees in the past three weeks. Because of this, the hackberry tree has become the bane of my existence. Hackberries are notorious for the trunks rotting from the inside-out to the point where they can no longer support the canopy. These vile trees then attack fences, roofs, and cars across the land.

We have removed many trees in the past month, which is very hard for me to do. I hate to see large trees cut down, but I know it has to happen. The trees may appear healthy on the outside but they are serious hazards. Much of the problem with the hackberry exists because they are a non-native species. They were brought to San Antonio to be shade trees and planted throughout the area. Now they pop up in yards and do not survive well in our climate, causing them to lose large branches. As Jenny and I continue to reshape our yard, we will aim at replacing non-native plants with natives that are better suited to our environment. Besides, there are so many beautiful native in Central Texas, it is hard to go wrong! Suggestions?

Spring has sprung

In addition to quickly trying to come up with a way to contain the one flying (eeeek!) chick, we've been spending a lot of time outside in the beautiful weather. The yard is a nearly endless task.