The Great Escape!
Apr. 23rd, 2009 03:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
errantemberI'm going out of town to help my Mom, who is having foot surgery, for a few days this Thursday. After getting my four chickens and a coop for the price of gas, I've been working like a madman trying to get everything prepped so my roommate won't have to do shitloads of stuff while I'm gone. I've managed to repair and upgrade the existing coop, which had some holes, one of which became large enough for the chickens to escape. I think Louie, my puggle, probably pried it open.
This led to the happy surprise of finding the chickens and the dogs after they had peacefully co-mingled for what was probably several hours, greatly accelerating my Please Don't Eat The Chickens Training Program. The two chickens I got from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spottedvasa generally tend to stay in the coop where they have spent most of their lives, but the newer two get the Wandering Jones and head on out at the earliest opportunity. It would rock if we can get to a point where the chickens can free-range in the fenced back yard during the day, and (preferably automatically) be locked into the coop at night. The best part about their out-of-house adventures came when, after leaving them out until dark to see if they would return to the coop, they were instead found roosting on top of...the grill. :)
For now, they will be in the coop until I come back early next week.
To make all this easier on my roommate, I completed an automatic feeder that hold 30 lbs of feed, and an automatic waterer that hooks up to a hose and uses a toilet valve to refill when it gets below a certain level. Both seem to be working fairly well, although it took an *entire* *fucking* *day* and *four* trips to Home Depot (plus two to Wal-Mart) to get the waterer finished.
The chickens have kicked out about 7 eggs so far, and I expect to see more tomorrow before I leave.
This led to the happy surprise of finding the chickens and the dogs after they had peacefully co-mingled for what was probably several hours, greatly accelerating my Please Don't Eat The Chickens Training Program. The two chickens I got from
spottedvasa generally tend to stay in the coop where they have spent most of their lives, but the newer two get the Wandering Jones and head on out at the earliest opportunity. It would rock if we can get to a point where the chickens can free-range in the fenced back yard during the day, and (preferably automatically) be locked into the coop at night. The best part about their out-of-house adventures came when, after leaving them out until dark to see if they would return to the coop, they were instead found roosting on top of...the grill. :)For now, they will be in the coop until I come back early next week.
To make all this easier on my roommate, I completed an automatic feeder that hold 30 lbs of feed, and an automatic waterer that hooks up to a hose and uses a toilet valve to refill when it gets below a certain level. Both seem to be working fairly well, although it took an *entire* *fucking* *day* and *four* trips to Home Depot (plus two to Wal-Mart) to get the waterer finished.
The chickens have kicked out about 7 eggs so far, and I expect to see more tomorrow before I leave.
