My 'run' is 6'-7' tall.  12 feet wide.  My 'plan' was to be able to till up/under the soil and re-plant with a fast growing crop, like radish, rye grass, greens.  I like the wire idea, I might try it in an area where it is already deforested from their traffic and see if it works on a small scale.

TRG

POOP FREE EGGS!!!

So, one of my major issues with the existing coop is the fact that the hens lay eggs on top of each other.  When the hens got older, one of them began laying a shelless egg and others began laying eggs with very thin shells.  Even with calcium served Free Choice, they still just made a mess in the nest.

I've been running two coops for almost 3 months.   Old hens in one (the converted barn), Pullets in the 'tornado proof' coop that I built from the panels found in the barn on the new property.

I built a double run.  50'x25' (12.5' each side).  Fenced with 6' chicken wire, posts and finally found an excellent deal on a 60x20 bird net on Amazon for 16.00 shipped.  This serves as the 'roof' for the runs to allow in all the rain and sun, but keeps out predators, owls, hawks, etc.

Once all that was finally completed, I had a chance to try an idea from the Internet to make a more efficient, clean and snake-proof nesting box.

Google: Paint pan chicken nest

I ordered 8 pans from Amazon.  3.67 ea shipped.  Not bad.

I took some spray adhesive and some of the micro-fiber rags that my wife was tossing out and made a set of old shelves in to my new nesting boxes.

This set of shelves is suspended from the floor with a ramp leading up.  The lights for the coop shine right on these nests.  Makes it easy to see when you enter the coop and there is no 'surprise! Snake!' effect.  You can see the hinge on the left of the image.  There are two rows of nests.  6 total.  The old hens are now sharing the coop with the pullets.  One of them was kind enough to model the new and improved nests today.



The wooden 1x4' lip is hinged and the system works by letting the hen, and anyone gathering eggs,, to see the egg that has rolled forward.  

This is how it looked after the hen left hte nest:



TRG

That's pretty cool.

The rags on top form a 'roof' that will discourage one of the hens that likes to sleep on top.

This is the final result.  9 nesting boxes.   The shelves that were the frame were 'free'.  They were thrown out by the woodshop when I was teaching HS back in 2003.  Solid oak, and they made the perfect nesting box holder.

Rags were originally from Costco and had been worn out by the wife.  So, they were 'free'.  I might replace them with astro turf if they collect too much dirt and dust.  Since they are glued down they will not crumple with use, but, they are not removeable for cleaning either.



Viewed from the doorway.  The hens *could* lay their eggs in a hay filled corner, but, they seem to be drawn to the nests.



This is the entry gate.  I built it from some old fence materials that had been used by the Party Barn.  I know this treated lumber is approaching its 30 year Bday.  Pressure treated FTW.  This opening allows the wire from the run to be continous.  It "S" curves around hte post and continues on to the gate.  I am not too worried about a coon digging in, or a fox, I am more concerned about a chicken trying to squeeze out, or graze with their head outside the fence.



AS you can see in the pic above, the new coop runs across the eggplants, peppers and sweet potatoes that still remain.  I have 2 gallons of canned, pickled and now candied jalapenos, we are not eating much egg plant these days.  I am still letting the sweet potatoes grow.  Once a frost hits, I'll dig the remaining ones, here:



TRG

Thanks man.

It's been an interesting project.  VERY hard to keep the price down, but, I turned a few pennies in to copper wire and made it work.

The only things that I have had to purchase at 'retail' has been the treated lumber for the coop, posts and the 1x4 'rafters' for the run and the chicken wire.  But, the wire was marked down 115.00 for 100' of 6' wire.  It was normally 152.00

The 'roof' on the run was the hardest thing to figure out, even with Mittfoo giving me advice.  I finally found the perfect material at 1/10th the price of chicken wire.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BY2U2HE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lot of people sell bird netting.  But, not in the dimensions, or price range, that I needed.

With some patience, I was able to string up some parachute cord and "X" it through the rafters to help support the net.  Chicken wire would have been a nightmare to install, stretch and support.

Same witht e paracord.  Lots of people wanted to sell me paracord, but, finding it in 100' rolls for :

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7G9HUG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That made the entire 'roof' possible for under 50 bucks.  That's 1200sq ft of coverage.  That 4 cents per sq ft. to cove the run.

Pennies in to wire.  

TRG

4 cents per sq ft, Hell yeah.

Awesome.  Hope you don't mind if I borrow these links do you?  I am digging on your laying pans too.

That's why they are there.  The nets are a Rubics Cube.  Go slow when you unpack them, watch for tangles, but .. once you take your time they unravel and unfurl in to a nice covering.

TRG

I don't understand why you are dehydrating sweet potatoes.  They store perfectly in the skin and their taste develops over the months of storage...

As for a winter garden, I have not had enough rain to even try.  1" in the last 60 days or so?

TRG

Good to know.  I was looking at them before I just ordered.  I said to myself, self, this could be a disaster if I don't take my time.  I went ahead and ordered 200 ft of the paracord, as you can never have too much of that stuff.

I really like your run.  Did you dig the chicken wire into the ground?

I have around 200ft of 5ft welded wire 2"x4" fence that I will be taking down to repurpose for the run.

No.  I have it level with the ground.  I have not had any issues, in the past, with varmints trying to dig in to the old coop.

I plan to buy a roll of 1' wire and unroll it around the perimeter and tie it in.

TRG

I've had a camera running on the property since mid-summer.  At times, 7 does on the camera at once.  Very few bucks.  This guy showed up a few days ago:



Season does not open until Nov 1, so I decided to spend the last two evening watching to see what else might be coming up, but not walking to the feeder.

Hard to take pics through a scope, but...










I'll be waiting to see him again in a week...or maybe his older brother...an uncle...grandpa?

With as many does as I am seeing in the field of view of the camera, there must be a healthy and active large buck population as well.

TRG

Mikhial Neal made it here at 8:03am this morning.  Mom and baby resting.  10lb 14oz.  C section.

No issues.   Some minor blood oxygen problems from the c section.  After 20 minutes. They had every vital in the green.

O2 was only a few percent low. Apparently common from the baby not being squeezed in the birth canal.

Both healthy and sleeping.

TRG

congrats!  

Congratulations!

Just celebrated our oldest's 5th on monday... time dramatically accelerates once you have kids.

That's some great news! Congrats, dad.  It's a wild ride.

Yep, mine just turned 2 a couple of weeks ago, and it sure as hell doesn't seem like 2 years have passed.

Just wait, 22 years go by in a flash.

Congratulations TRG

Wait, Wut? The goat had a kid?  congrats

Congrats my man!  

Time flies, my gal just had her 1st birthday this past Sunday.  Welcome to the world of no sleep

Congratulations!

Thank you all for the well wishes.

He's home now.  Mom and kid are settling in to their routine.  Although I have now been trained in all things baby (because nurses made me do it...) mother took over tonight and it gave me a chance to get a few things done outside...

Namely, deer hunting.

Got that biggun that I saw the week before the season opened.

Before...



After:



Dems horns...







Had been sitting in the blind looking at a possible spike, mulling over my energy level with so little sleep ... thnking maybe I'd just pass this evening afterall when he streaked in from upwind to sniff the does in the pasture.

As soon as he turned and the crosshairs settled.  .308 for DPeacher dropped him in his tracks.

A little high on the shoulder at 158 yards.

Broke the spike, ripped out all the arteries on the top of hte heart (heart intact).  

Bullet did not exit, but, this buck was DRT.

He turned out to be too heavy for me to lift in to the truck alone.  That;s a first for me in this county.

TRG

You sir are living right!

Serendipity, at times, my friend.

TRG

TRG

congrats on the buck!

good lookin' goat too

Your wife must be beautiful...

She is:



TRG

Indeed!  Great picture!

Whenever anyone compliments our kids I just say: "I blame my wife!"

Nice work.

Congrats on both friend.

We all get lucky.

TRG

So, we just got back from another 3 days in he hospital.  I'll keep it brief, but, baby and mom are fine.

So... we left he hospital Friday with a happy, healthy, breast feeding baby.  Our first meeting with the pediatrician was Monday morning, 815 AM.

We spent the weekend learning to soothe the fussy new addition.  Each day, and night, we had fewer moments of fun, and more time spent soothing, feeding, and changing.  Everyone that we knew said, "Haha! Welcome to the Club!  See?  That's what babies do!"

So, we sucked it up, tried to stay calm and tried to soothe Michial and keep him fed, clean and sleeping.  It was beginning to turn in to a regiment of "Oh, he just woke up.  I'll clean him, you go get ready to feed him, let me apply some colic aid to his lips, you feed...now!  Let's go before he gets so angry he can't feed...."

Rinse,  Repeat.

By Monday morning, we were both beaten down and trying our best to run on a few hours sleep.  But, hey, all our friends just laughed and said this was, "Normal!  Haha! Enjoy it!"

The pediatrician weighed Michial and damn near shit.

He was down 20% on his weight.

When we had been at the hospital we met with the 'lactation nurses' about breast feeding.  WE asked questions, they explained and patted us on the head.  I asked about weighing him ore- and post-feeding and they just laughed... "All you need to do is count diapers.  One pee, one poop, each day.  Add one of each every day.  Moe than that is even better."

Michial knocked it through the goal posts.  Extra pee's and poops.  We knew things were good.

Until the pediatrician confirmed he was losing weight at a dramatic rate.

They re-admitted us.  Michial had also shown a high temp on Saturday night (IMHO from being swaddled too tight, fussy, hungry, and fighting) and that made the pediatrician demand that we allow them to run antibiotics in case of an unexpected infection.

All turned out to be good.

Milk is now expressed to a bottle and fed.  Michial has gained a pound back.  And now spends his days cooing, feeding and pooping.  

It was a very long, very rough weekend.  I lost some faith in nurses, and doctors, and will be less naive about doing my own grunt work when it comes to it.

But, he has turned a corner and things look very good now.  

TRG

glad things are back on track.

I do know that both of ours initially dropped weight from birth over the first few days.... our ped [actually two different ones in different states] said it was normal.  I don't recall the percentage but I know both were around a pound... and both of ours were flyweights to begin with so we had less of a buffer to begin with.

ditto

Off to google "swaddled".

ETA - I just found out you swaddled and swallowed me BOTH on the same weekend circa ~ 2003.  Ya, I got both.

It is easier for kids to get the bottle feeding down vs breastfeeding.
Your son could have had an infection too.


My fourth was born in September and spent two weeks in the ICU.  Critical condition the first few days with pneumonia plus something subclinical going on in his intestines.
He's home and healthy now.



Glad Michial is gaining weight.

It's ok.  I peed all over his leg.

That's a stain that goes to the bone.

TRG

Stories, like yours, made us take a deep breath..step back..and realize that this was a hiccup.  We were lucky it was not truly serious.

TRG

Brother, you don't know the half of it yet.  My first really terrifying moment was the first time Jake slept through the night.   There are fears that only a parent can truly know.

The second moment is when they spend the night with the grandparents for the first time.

My son was a horrible sleeper for 11 months, so when he started sleeping through the nights, I slept terribly and often woke to go check on him.


Y'all will get it figured out.

TRK turned 6 weeks a few days ago.  It's been a 25 hour per day operation to keep him clean, fed, and most importantly .. asleep.

He has not had any real 'pattern' to his sleep and at times only would sleep on his back, on the couch, on a pallet.  At other times, only in his swing, at others... only while being held.

We started, about 4 days ago, to begin to allow him to sleep only in his crib.  He is a stomach sleeper.  Now that he is more than strong enough to lift his head, turn it, and reposition himself the wife unit has relaxed about him sleeping on his stomach.

I am more relaxed because I was worried he would get trapped on his back, asleep, and aspirate vomit.  

The most he sleeps is 4 hours.  Normal sleeping is two hours, then 15 minutes to feed, then some play/stretching, then back to sleep.  The amount of crying, finally, has diminished.  He's got some lungs on him.



This picture was from about 10 days ago, during his 'refuses to settle down and sleep or stop crying' period.  Still makes me laugh.  It sums up our desperation and his look of 'what's this shit about?!?' defines the first 6 weeks of this kid's life.



TRG