Devonviolet Acres

Baymule said:

Finally checked email at DDs house, first time since we moved. LOL send pics, going to DDs house Saturday.

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Will do!

It has been a while since I posted, because I still can’t get online, using my satellite internet. Since internet, on my phone is limited, I tend to not use it to browse the web.

We continue to be busy, getting things done, here on our little homestead. Plans are in the works to build a chicken run, to put the 5-1/2 week old chicks and French Guinea Keets in once night time temps start staying in the mid to upper 60's.

The two meat birds are growing by leaps and bounds! They are easily five times the size of the other chicks!!! We tried letting them out of their cage once and the others were pecking at them. So, they went back in their cage. They seemed to love being out, though, so we tried again the other day, and they had developed the defense mechanism of flapping their wings and running a few paces toward the one(s) pecking them. That is very effective! So, we have been leaving them out during the day, and putting them in the cage at night, so they can’t eat.

I drew up plans for a cool looking chicken run, to attach to the chicken coop - which we painted red. We still need to put white trim around the door and along all the edges of the exterior chip board.


The other day, DH looked at a 10X10 dog run, at Tractor SUPPLY that would likely be cheaper than building it ourselves, so we might do that instead. We would need to put some kind of wire on top, though, as we have lots of hawks and crows overhead.

Our three laying hens are all giving us eggs - almost every day, and a couple weeks ago, the turkey hen started laying an egg about four or five times a week. We are thrilled! Here are some pics of recent eggs. I want to enlarge (the pics, that is), and put them in frames on the wall.
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One of the Buff hens seems to be the favorite of the Roo, and her back is showing wear from all the attention. No broken skin yet. But it is looking sore, so I don't want it to get to that point.


I found directions, for making a Chicken Saddle, and finally got around to making it today. The one I found online used snaps, on the end of elastic, to hold it around the wings. I didn’t have snaps, but did have velcro, so used that, on the elastic and saddle instead. I figured it would make it easier to get it on her, and it seemed to work fine.


We went out and herded the sweet hen into the coop, and finally managed to catch her. She put up such a ruckus, which got the Roo going. He really IS very protective of his girls! here is my favorite shot of him watching over his girls.
I put her down in the chicken yard. She took a few slow steps, and then realized there was something on her back - panic set in, and she started her wings flapping and running all over the place. Roo also set up a ruckus, following her, as she ran. It didn’t take him too long to catch her and snatch the offending saddle off her back. I was disappointed, but so impressed with the way he protected her from the perceived threat. I had my camera there, but it all happened so fast, I couldn’t get a shot of it.

So, on to Plan B. I sat back down at the sewing machine, and sewed through the velcro, so it wouldn’t come apart. Next, I sewed a piece of elastic onto the body of the saddle, to put under her tail, so it wouldn’t flop around on her back, the way it did when she was running away from it in panic mode.


This time I decided to wait until dark, and get her when she was calmly roosting in the coop. We went out at about 8:15, and found all the chickens on the roost, in the coop. Of the four chickens, she is the only one that jumped off the roost, but I was able to catch her without too much commotion. I held her for a couple minutes, to calm her and then slipped the saddle on her. After it was on, I just held her and made “sh-sh-sh-sh” sounds. I’ve found that seems to calm them, when I am holding them. Then, I slowly put her down on the floor, expecting her to panic again. Surprisingly, she didn’t panic!!! I was able to get some photos, first of her on the floor

and then after she jumped back up on the roost.


I slowly let myself out of the coop, and when we came in the house, all was quiet. I am hoping that she will get used to it overnight, and by morning it won’t be a problem for her to wear it out of the coop.

Great to hear from you and so sorry about your internet woes!

It's easy to see that ya'll have been busy...things are coming together.

The saddle is cute - hope that silly hen appreciates all the work you did for her.

Check in when you can; we miss you around here!

Thanks FEM! I'm not so sure she appreciates all I did for her! When I get near her, She sqawks and runs away.

This morning, when we let the chickens out our little hen, with the new saddle, seemed to be okay with the saddle. Then, as we stood, enjoying our animals, we we're able to see, first hand, how well the saddle works. No sooner had she come out of the coop, after laying an egg, the roo charged her! She sqawked and hunkered down. I'm happy to say the saddle works perfectly!

Sounds like y'all have been busy! The dog kennel sounds like a good idea, just roll out some chicken wire over the top and hog ring it in place. Make sure the kennel is standing height. I used the 2 horse panels for sides on my temporary semi-permanent run and I have to walk in it bent over.

@Devonviolet... may I ask for the pattern for the chicken saddle you made? I think I need to make a couple of those for some of our chickens.
The one you made looks really nice! Hope mine will turn out that good!
Thanks!

BlessedWithGoats said:

@Devonviolet... may I ask for the pattern for the chicken saddle you made? I think I need to make a couple of those for some of our chickens.
The one you made looks really nice! Hope mine will turn out that good!
Thanks!

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Thanks, BWG. Mine is doing a great job of protecting our girl.

I did a post on Backyard Chickens about it. Rather than recreate it, I will paste it here:
- I made mine, after looking at this thread here on BYC:
Quote:
Originally Posted by nancypo

I found this free pattern onhttp://www.homesteadingtoday.com, from "Wisconsin Ann".

It has come to my attention that the thread we usually point to with the pattern for a chicken apron/saddle has broken links in it now so, I found the pattern on my harddrive, and here it is! I think. I know this one works, 'cuz I've used it. Cut on the fold (the narrow "neck" end is the fold) and turn thru the unstitched area on the butt.

Add either an elastic or a 1/3"ish wide twilltape/belting/whatever you have as armholes...attached at the foldline/neck, and the other end to the wide area. Most hens will wear them quite happily. They seem to adjust them a bit when you first put them on, then forget about them.

I'll keep trying to find more on the pattern.

From the looks of the pattern piece, it appears, the fabric may be cut into one piece and hemmed. Mine has fabric on both sides with padding between the two layers. So, I put the 3-1\2" edge on the fold, which meant I had a 17-1/2" length of fabric and folded right sides together. So there is no seam there, where the elastic is threaded through, for the wing holding elastic strap.

Here is a picture of mine, using the Velcro. It could be, that now that she is used to it, the Velcro would keep it in place, without having to stitch it down.

.


I also cut an old wash cloth the same shape as the pattern, except I cut it off, at the top, so it was not in the channel, for the elastic. I then hand basted the wash cloth to the inside of one of the halves.

Once the 1/4" seams are stitched and I turned it right side out, i stiched across the 3-1/2" end, to complete the elastic channel, and then edge stiched around the entire saddle. To keep it from puckering, I clipped the curves, almost up to the stitching, before I turned it right side out.

For the quilted effect, I started a row of straight stitching on the diagonal and eyeballed the next rows about an inch apart. I then turned it so I had a set of 1" rows going diagonal to that, creating a diamond pattern.

As I said, when CoCo was able to snatch it off his girl, I stiched a piece of elastic (maybe 5" long) about 2" up from the bottom, and slid it over her rear, so she couldn't poop on it, but so it held the tail end in place. It seemed to work, because it is still in place, doing its job.

I hope this helps and I didn't confuse you too much.

Thanks Devonviolet! That helps me very much!

Hey DV! Good to see you! How's things? (pups, goats, chickens...)

frustratedearthmother said:

Hey DV! Good to see you! How's things? (pups, goats, chickens...)

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Oh my! The dog's are doing. Amazingly well! They are getting big! At six months Violet is 60 pounds and Deo is about 80 pounds! They are doing a great job of guarding the livestock. In fact, we noticed that Violet is doing what I call "guarding the sky". She seems to be scanning the sky for flying predators, which I don't think all LGDs do.

The chicks are 9 weeks old and we are working hard to get a 8X16' chicken run added onto the coop, so they can get out into the livestock pen.

Last Saturday we butchered our 2 meat birds. That was a first for us. We have had to dispatch a couple birds already, so that part wasn't too bad. We also watched about 5 videos on YouTube, so we knew how to do it. We put them in the fridge for 24 hours, to tenderize. Then we cooked one for Sunday dinner and put the other in the freezer.

One if our Guineas messed up it's knee and was permanently lame, so we dispatched it and the other day we found one of the Guineas dead. Apparently, the chickens started pecking, and pecked it to death. By the time we found it, it was in a corner, and They were cannibalizing It.

The goats are as sweet as ever. they love to be brushed and try to squeeze in when we are brushing the dog's. they also like to nibble on our clothes when we are working in the livestock pen.

No time for pics lately. I will try to get some and post later