February is off to a working start

This morning I rented a trailer to get rid of this pile of junk we pulled out of the woods....

The junk - behind the soccer net and the the pallet of wood...

So we loaded it all up and headed to the metal scrap yard...

And I have to admit that the $100 bill they paid us for it was a sweet incentive.

This was in his dirty fingers for 3 seconds before I snatched it back

 Then it was off to get the shed that I found FREE on craigslist.  Yep, if we took it apart, we could have it.  So I enlisted the help of a former construction guy....

The pieces are stacked in the yard and it looks like next weekend we will put it together and I can get to work installing the perches and nesting boxes inside.  I even have insulation and drywall in the basement so I am debating just how serious I am going to get with this coop.  The birds will be happy.

Don't people pay for frozen eggs?

Now I know what happens when an egg freezes...

Grilled Salmon - it's for the birds

I had a huge piece of salmon that was a day overdue.  It was probably good enough to eat still, but I wasn't in the mood to eat it and there was a part of me that just wanted to reward the birds.  So I did.

And they rewarded me

Happy Birthday!!!

One year ago today I came home to this...

And tonight I have this...

Happy Birthday girls!

Silkie Sue is doing some cooking

Silkie Sue is the smallest of our birds as a silkie-mix hen.  She lays small green eggs.

Clyde either really likes her or he's just too darn heavy and rough for her because she's lost all of the feathers off her back.

So I had to order a "chicken apron".

This will protect her back and so far she's okay with it.  I brought her in the house to put it on and Faith was nose to feathers sniffing her before I even realized what she was doing.  She was good and gentle but I still put her in another room while we got the apron on.

I took pictures of this feat, but of course my phone didn't save them.  So I had to run outside to get a picture of her with her apron on...

I think I can now do anything

The temperatures were dropping below freezing and the animals weren't able to get any water.  I could easily  find a water heater for the goat's water because it is a big tub and finding a heater was simple.  But finding ways to keep the three smaller water dishes for the chickens from freezing was looking too expensive, each new water dish was over $40 because they were new water dishes with built in water heaters.

And then I found information on another chicken blog that told me how to make a water heater for a few dollars...

Yes, I bought two tins from the store for a couple dollars.  Then I took the light bulb piece from two lamps and attached them.  I put them out there immediately to test them out, and sure enough that little 40 watt light bulb heats up the tin just enough to keep the water dish on top of it from freezing.

I also bought an outlet converter that only turns on when the temperature goes below 35 degrees, so the water heaters will all turn on when it gets too cold, but automatically turn off when the temperature warms up.  

I felt like a genius this day :)

They can fly!

I already knew the guinea fowl could fly.  They can't fly like a normal bird but what I'd read and witnessed was that they could fly 20-50 feet.  And so yesterday when I heard a fluster I turned around and watched two of them fly up into this tree.

I told myself it would be cool to get a picture of them up there and then decided to run in and grab the camera.  Of course one flew out before I came back outside, but I managed to get some proof of how high these crazy birds went.

As soon as I snapped off two pictures of how high the bird was she decided to take off and fly down, so I got a few shots of that too...

And she's off!

Faith sees dinner!

Please excuse the compost, metal scrap pile, and soccer goal...

Coming in for the landing

I still have no idea what made them take off and fly up the high in the first place.

"Chicken" Pox

Our birds have chicken pox.  It is actually called "fowl pox" and is not the same thing as chicken pox.

Avian pox is a relatively slow-spreading viral disease in birds... Mortality is not usually significant unless the respiratory involvement is marked.....Fowl pox can be transmitted by direct or indirect contact... After the infection is introduced, it spreads within the flock by mosquitoes as well as direct and indirect contact. Recovered birds do not remain carriers. 

Since fowl pox usually spreads slowly, a flock may be affected for several months. The course of the disease in the individual bird takes three to five weeks. Laying birds experience a drop in egg production. Birds of all ages that have oral or respiratory system involvement have difficulty eating and breathing. The disease manifests itself in one or two ways, cutaneous pox (dry form) or diphtheritic pox (wet form).

 Dry pox starts as small whitish foci that develop into wart-like nodules.

Wet pox is associated with the oral cavity and the upper respiratory tract, particularly the larynx and trachea. 

There is no treatment for fowl pox. 

Here is the evidence for our birds:

The tiny little black dots on their combs, wattles, and earlobes are signs of fowl pox.  The good news (so far) is that the form they have is not deadly.  The bad news is that it will take 3-4 weeks to clear up and it will spread to all of the birds.  So it looks like we will be seeing this through the winter.

There is a vaccine, however it doesn't work once they have the pox.  I also don't know if any of the birds have already been vaccinated for it since we got them all once they were a couple months old.  At this point I am just keeping an eye on them to make sure it doesn't turn into the respiratory version that can be deadly and watching which birds show signs of it.  We have 3 or 4 that have had it for a couple weeks now.

Friendly Little Flock

We went for a hike in the woods around our house and when we came home the birds were waiting for us....

So, I pulled out treats for them.

So I fed them.   They've already become a lot more friendly on their own, but I am forcing them to be even more comfortable around people... by bribing them with treats on our laps or in our hands.

That's Buffy, my favorite.  I'm determined to make her the friendliest.

That's Clyde, who has no shame and will always get what he wants.

Just a Little Landscaping

Last year I built 3 raised flower beds in an attempt to hide the foundation of the house and to add color to the front of the house.

The chickens like to use this one for a dirt bath and bed.

We have a big hill in the goat pen.  It's a mix of dirt, rocks, and trash.  Yes, the original owner dumped trash on the property and then they buried this pile.  We've uncovered pieces of a swing set, an oven, and a car so far.  

When we were putting the new goat house into the pen I decided to get some of the rocks and boulders out then, so I wouldn't have to move them around the goat house later.  I knew I wanted to use them to build another raised bed for a strawberry patch.

This is most of the pile of boulders and rocks that I pulled out.

 A few days later I carried and rolled them over to the side of the house.

I've been putting them together like a puzzle, trying to make them fit well enough that they won't fall apart once I fill the area with dirt.  Last year I had a cheap white wire fence and I had planted some bulbs in the ground and in pots.

The pots are still there

I need to get the last few boulders moved over, they are pretty darn heavy and I'm working alone so I'm not moving them as quickly as I'd like.  Hopefully I will get that done before school starts up again, then I need to dig out the bulbs from last year to transplant them before I fill in the bed with dirt.