Category: Chickens

Scrap Happy for February 15, 2025

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It has been a long time since I posted for Scrap Happy.  And, yes, this is a second post for today, but I didn’t want to miss out!

Scrap Happy is a once a month post wherein we use our quilting scraps or other finds to make something new, creative, fun and useful.  Most posts are made of quilting scraps; but not always!

Today I share my chicken yard roost.  It was made primarily of small saplings, and a few larger limbs cut from the fence line you see in the background of my photo. Everything had become quite wild and overgrown, so Bob chopped them all down. I decided to put the trunks and limbs into my project, rather than leave it out front for the monthly large items pickup.

The whole project took about two days. I used a bit of leftover lumber for the square frame. I attached legs cut from the largest tree limb, and then screwed the cut saplings to the top for a roosting area.

It took a bit, but my chickens have come to really appreciate it on rainy days when the soil is wet and soggy.

I enjoyed this project and it kept the yard cleanup mess from becoming “junk” going to the landfill!

ScrapHappy happens each month on the 15th.  The many participants are listed below, and although they don’t participate every time, it’s always fun to see what they have created from their scraps!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Tierney and Hannah

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

Update on the Avian Flu

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As I told you on the 15th of March the Avian Flu has been seen in our county, and so far our chickens, and my geese Polly and Fredrik are flu free.  I have made it a point each day to check beaks and bills in the AM and PM to be sure no one has a runny nose.  This is the good news.

STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU ARE IN THE LEAST BIT SQUEAMISH!

And so it was that I found my Black Cochin rooster, Pagliacci had fevered and swollen eyelids on his right eye.   I picked him up and took him into the mudroom to see what was going on.  I expected to be cleaning debris out of his eye and then treating with an antibiotic eye drop…  except that his eye was missing.  Gone.  It was a chilling discovery as he had been fine in the morning when I let him out.  I did the only kind thing I could do and put him out of his misery, but I must tell you that every time I thought about him for the next couple of weeks I was chilled and sad all over again.

My 14 lb, big fella came to me from Murray McMurray Hatchery as a free chick; they are almost always a rooster.  He  got his name for singing crowing loudly every time he heard my voice or saw me coming into the chicken yard.  He was so fluffy feathered he looked for all the world as if he were wearing a clown suit!  I am sad to tell you I never got a photo of him fully grown, but if you follow the link above you will see an illustration that looks exactly like him.

Raising animals on the farm is certainly not for the timid or weak of heart.  It’s all fun and frolic until someone gets hurt and then you have to step up and do your best for the injured animal.  Sometimes, as in this case, it is very hard to do.

Newsflash!

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We are slowly being surrounded by avian flu here!

It started in south Tennessee and has now shown up in our county here in North Alabama.  It is mostly in the big producers chicken farms, but there has been one instance of a backyard flock becoming ill.  There is no cure and the all the chickens in these groups have been destroyed.  It is spread by wild birds. 

What does this mean to me here on the Farmlet?

If my chickens get sick they will also destroy my pet geese, Polly and Fredrik.

I have a knot in my stomach.

LOCAL NEWS on the subject:  http://whnt.com/2017/03/14/bird-flu-suspected-in-3-north-alabama-counties/   (On the lighter side; don’t you just love Commissioner John McMillan’s southern accent?  😀 )