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^^^^^ Yay! Gah. Made an unpleasant discovery this morning when I went out to take down the old nasty burlap swamp cooler curtains on the chicken run...a whole BUNCH of the UV resistant, heavy-duty zip ties I used to bind the wire walls of the chicken run together when we built it have given up, the rest are brittle. There are some major gaps in the wire where the two pieces meet that I have to seal up. So what worked for us for 10 years in southern California lasted a little over a year and a half up here in the land of ice & snow. Time to go medieval on it's rear end, got me a pair of hog ring pliers and two boxes of hog rings to make a proper chicken prison. Not what I planned on doing today, but hey.  Chickies gotta be safe.
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Oct 25, 2013 21:08
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Gah. Made an unpleasant discovery this morning when I went out to take down the old nasty burlap swamp cooler curtains on the chicken run...a whole BUNCH of the UV resistant, heavy-duty zip ties I used to bind the wire walls of the chicken run together when we built it have given up, the rest are brittle. Not to mention some dumbbutt would have EATEN bits of that brittle plastic if it had crumbled and fallen into the run. 
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Oct 25, 2013 21:47
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GOOD GRIEF! I guess it's luck that a predator didn't find out about those brittle ties, there is a buffet of chicken in there! Glad you found this out before it got too cold to manipulate pliers. At least for me, my hands don't work so good in the freezing cold!
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Oct 26, 2013 15:20
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^^^^ What's really fun is that the hog ring pliers didn't work. After 1+ hours of trying and a big pinch on my left middle finger, we gave up and used more zip ties for now. Cam is up, today they got a huge pile of fall leaves to play in. Meeko didn't care when I wheeled in the big 90 gallon trash can, but wigged RIGHT the gently caress out when I dumped the leaves out and had to be rescued by 12_String.  I'm gonna toss in some old bread in a few to encourage participation.
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Oct 26, 2013 19:51
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Much hassles with the cam today, but as of now, it's back up.
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Oct 26, 2013 22:19
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The back yard is frozen tundra this morning, as soon as it warms enough we'll put out the cam and Halloween jack-o-lanterns. 
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Nov 2, 2013 18:45
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Velvet Sparrow posted:The back yard is frozen tundra this morning, as soon as it warms enough we'll put out the cam and Halloween jack-o-lanterns. YIPPEE - jack 0 lanterns for the chickens! Sounds FUN! I'll be standing by! 
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Nov 2, 2013 20:02
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...and now the new computer tower, which tested perfectly yesterday, is being a butt. 12_String's workin' on it. *sigh* The jack-o-lanterns are sitting outside the coop, being stared at by chickens.
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Nov 2, 2013 20:46
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Velvet Sparrow posted:...and now the new computer tower, which tested perfectly yesterday, is being a butt. 12_String's workin' on it. *sigh* LOL. Take a photo of the hungry chickens please! Waiting for the cam!
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Nov 2, 2013 21:41
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IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now running through Flash Media Encoder again, using the kid's computer tower instead of the laptop so it should be UCH smoother and less flaky. Pumpkins incoming, although they were not jazzed about the chunks of cut pumpkin I put out on Halloween so unsure of the reaction.
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Nov 2, 2013 22:00
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REMINDER: Daylight Savings Time ends tonight! Since it got dark at 6:30PM PST tonight, that means NEXT week it'll be dark at 5:30PM PST. When it gets dark we have to take the cam in for the day, and if the weather is crappy over the next few months it may get dark even before 5:30. Winter hours!
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Nov 3, 2013 02:56
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Bloop photobomb! And his tail in the center of the frame.
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Nov 3, 2013 02:58
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CM Cluck finally makes an appearance to eat on the tops of the pumpkins.
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Nov 3, 2013 02:59
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After the sun set, all the chickens suddenly went into the coop, leaving Doodad all alone and eating on a pumpkin. Then Meeko RAN out of the coop and over to Doodad, telling Doodad it was time to go to bed! They then both went into the coop. Below: Meeko telling Doodad to get inside the coop where it's safe!
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Nov 3, 2013 03:03
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Inveigle posted:CM Cluck finally makes an appearance to eat on the tops of the pumpkins. Pompadour between the pumpkins looking like her own landmass.
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Nov 3, 2013 08:15
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Thanks for the pictures! About 4:30 pm the winds here got really bad and when that happens, the DSL goes down. So sorry I missed the remainder of the evening of Chickam! Hope to 'see' you next Saturday! edit: Blew in snow we are getting now, Sunday morning. YUCK! piscesbobbie fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Nov 3, 2013 |
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Nov 3, 2013 16:53
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Yay! Thanks for the pumpkin party pics! (Love that Bloop photobomb!) Did any of them try to jump into (or fall into) the pumpkins? I had missed the cam by about an hour! Hopefully I'll be able to catch them this weekend!
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Nov 7, 2013 22:54
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Someone posted this: And we thought that our chickens might be, uh...'persuaded' to do this, too. Weedcat needed a bit more persuasion than Fred did, but in the end it was done, roos were de-dignified and Inveigle recorded it. http://youtu.be/eMVFPb6n19E
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Nov 8, 2013 02:55
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The cam is up and running, I gave them a bunch of fall leaves to play in so there is much rustling.
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Nov 9, 2013 19:51
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Velvet- Any chance you can do an updated chicken roster?
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Nov 10, 2013 01:38
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CrazyLittle posted:Velvet- Any chance you can do an updated chicken roster? Yeah, I'm going to take pics of the roos for rehoming anyway, so I'll get updated pics of this year's kids. I'm almost done revamping my chicken site so it should be up in a couple of weeks with new pics of the chickens. Fine tuning it now. We may put the cam out front tomorrow, we've got some lovely wild birds that come to eat every day, especially the California quail. So cute.
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Nov 10, 2013 01:59
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Chickam Saturday Video! Chickam Wattle Wars II: The Wattling First, a young roo named "Honey" gets wattled. There is a slight break in the action, so that we can all admire Bloop's lovely red comb. Then Meeko is then caught and wattled. Cammed on November 9, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8SHicfBmso below: Honey gets wattled.
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Nov 10, 2013 18:35
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Chickam Saturday Video! Chickens Forage in Autumn Leaves -- Plus a Crow-off between Weedcat and Bloop! The chickens spend a lovely fall afternoon, foraging through some autumn leaves that VS added to the chicken run. The soft rustling is so peaceful. That is, until Weedcat and Bloop start a crow-off! Bloop is the tenor rooster. Weedcat is the baritone.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe145MZGvSU below: Linc enjoys the afternoon sunshine. Inveigle fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Nov 10, 2013 |
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Nov 10, 2013 18:38
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Chickam Saturday Video! Chicken Close-ups! A few of the chickens stop to check out the webcam. VS: can you help I.D. these chooks please? (Thanks VS! )https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7vED1GYiB8 below: Zipper, checking out the shiny webcam. Inveigle fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Nov 11, 2013 |
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Nov 10, 2013 18:43
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Inveigle posted:Chickam Saturday Video! Chicken Close-ups! Love Honey's 'Oh, NO!' roar in the first vid. In this video, it starts out with Pompadour the gray Giant Cochin hen, Zipper the Red Star is behind her. .58 Pomps wanders away, Rose the Americaunas hen approaches and pecks Zip 1:13 Zip close up studying how cameras are constructed 1:28 Linc the Barred Rock hen wanders around 1:35 On the left are Fred (roo), Baba and Wotsit, all light Brahma/Silver Laced Wyandotte mixes.
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Nov 10, 2013 22:44
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Meeko has pretty neck feathers.
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Nov 13, 2013 00:38
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The cam is up!
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Nov 16, 2013 20:33
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Hooray, there be chickens!
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Nov 16, 2013 21:09
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 I spent all day sick and forgot about chickens completely in my misery.
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Nov 17, 2013 08:06
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The cam is up, the last few nights it has been down in the low teens temperature-wise, and we got some snow a couple of days ago...so it was slow to warm up this morning. I have some goodies to toss out in a bit, and Meeko and Fred have both been crowing this morning--very deep voices but really confused as to proper cock-a-doodle-do technique.
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Nov 23, 2013 20:17
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Also, we got something the other day at the hardware store for the chickens--a large, shallow concrete mixing tub and a bunch of play sand. It's going to be a wintertime dustbath for them. We'll put it out in a bit, and I'm sure they'll be terrified of it for a while. EDIT: It's in, and is veeeerrrryyy interesting. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Nov 23, 2013 |
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Nov 23, 2013 21:27
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So do the lil' raptors get Thanksgiving leftovers today? 
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Nov 30, 2013 20:06
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Vaga42Bond posted:So do the lil' raptors get Thanksgiving leftovers today? Yes. I have a turkey carcass I'll be putting out once the cam is up in a few minutes, it's finally warmed up enough. The dust bathing tub is still just an interesting thing, but I'm sure once it's the driest dirt around they'll use it for it's intended purpose. I'm going to mix in some regular dirt with the sand, maybe that'll be more appealing. As for next week, there may not be a cam, we're supposed to have colder weather moving in and the highs during the day will only be around 32 degrees. EDIT: UStream is being a butthead, we're trying to get things going. EDIT2: UStream appears borked across the board, we can't see ANY other live feed for any channel, and other people are commenting on it. So this time it isn't us, it's them. We'll watch it and leave our cam running, if they get it fixed and it comes back we're ready. VVV Ok, what the Hell. We have no picture or sound, just the UStream logo and the spinny 'loading' circle thing. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 21:25 on Nov 30, 2013 |
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Nov 30, 2013 20:41
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Yay, Cam seems to be up, but oh gods, it's on a Dutch Angle!  edit: Angle's fixed. Velvet Sparrow posted:EDIT2: UStream appears borked across the board, we can't see ANY other live feed for any channel, and other people are commenting on it. So this time it isn't us, it's them. We'll watch it and leave our cam running, if they get it fixed and it comes back we're ready. That's weird, because things look just fine on my feed here. Vaga42Bond fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Nov 30, 2013 |
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Nov 30, 2013 21:21
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Rebooted everything damned thing we could think of, now I get picture & sound on my comp, 12_String gets nothing at all on his. Anyway, turkey carcass incoming shortly!
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Nov 30, 2013 22:22
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Anyway, turkey carcass incoming shortly!
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Dec 1, 2013 11:12
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spookygonk posted:You're going to let them loose on a turkey carcass? Yes, it was from a 16 pound turkey and they had skeletonized it in less than an hour.
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Dec 1, 2013 18:43
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Yes, it was from a 16 pound turkey and they had skeletonized it in less than an hour. That was so amazing, dragging around the skeletal remains of the turkey. Who knew! It's been so much fun and such a learning experience watching the chickens! Thank you again VS and 12String for doing this!
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Dec 1, 2013 20:09
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Well we make sure to snatch the bones away as soon as they have picked the meat off of it, don't want them ingesting any bones and getting a crop impaction. But fun food is always a good thing for chickens, keeps them active, thinking and engaged.
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Dec 1, 2013 21:05
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The cam is up and running! It's been snowing like a sonofabitch and very cold since last night, so no chickens today. Instead we have the computer/cam in the living room, the cam pointed out one of the windows at a small table where we regularly feed the wild birds. There will be picture but no sound today, otherwise it would be 'wild birds and Nadine yelling/endless, mind-melting Pidge cooing cam'. It's still snowing and is supposed to the rest of the day, so at least it'll be pretty and the quail are dead-on cute. We normally get Valley Quail, starlings, black and white magpies, bluejays and various assorted finches and sparrows. I've put out a variety of food for them: dog food (magpies, starlings, jays), chicken feed (quail) and bird seed (sparrows, finches, quail). There is also some peanut butter mixed with bird seed, a yummy cold-weather treat that gives them extra energy, most birds go insane for it. I've scattered some peanut butter/seed mixture around and there is a dangling pine cone stuffed with it hanging from the table.  We had some birds come by this morning before we put food out, the quail are the ones who dig up the ground so thoroughly beneath the table. Others have left tracks on the porch, including a little one-legged quail who is a regular at the feeder. You can see his track, it's one footprint (he hops) and a straight line drag mark from his leg stump, there is a normal quail track near it for comparison. He gets around just fine, tho.  Near his track a sparrow hopped by.  And then took off, leaving marks.  The birds normally come and go all day so we should have a pretty good turnout! Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Dec 7, 2013 |
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Dec 7, 2013 19:09
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