I have only found half eaten carcasses which leads me to believe it's a fox. I just cannot fathom how he would be getting into the run. The fence is 6ft + tall.

Speaking of which, the last bird is gone. Whole flock.

We got chicks yesterday, three Barred Rock and three Buff Orpingtons. That was pretty much out only choices for locally available sexed chicks so that's what we are going to roll with.

Quick update:

We lost one of the Buffs about 2 days after we got them, I suspect it got smothered. We replaced it with a Rhode Island red.

Girls went out to the coop today.

The culprit of the last chickens demise was a fox. Was.

So far they seem to be doing well, exploring the new coop and look to be pretty well feathered out. The Barred Rocks are MASSIVE peckers though, to the point my daughter won't handle them. I suspect they are just curious, but they peck the crap out of everyone.

Chicks have been out of the coop and had the run available to them, and have had a ball. Unbeknownst to us, when the grass grew back up, there was an entire crop of tomato plants that grew with it. They have had an absolute ball destroying those and eating tomatos and foraging for bugs in the mix. I did make some mods to the chicken feeder to make it harder for them to strew crumbles everywhere. The other struggle they seem to have had is the watering situation, but a couple days of snagging a bird and having it peck the nipple in the cup seems to have done the trick. Chickens tend to be very "money see monkey do" sometimes.

One improvement I am going to make is a fowl net over the top of the run. The crows like to raid the chicken food (one of the reasons for my feeder mods) but also for keeping anything else out. I found a place in Florida that does custom measured backstop netting. The reason I did that was 1.5 inch squares UV stabilized rope, and it's less than $100 for one net the size of my run (I ordered 18x10 for some overhang).

I will add, we made a conscious effort to handle every bird, every single day from the time we got them u til they went out to the coop, and IMO it has made a BIG difference in their temperament towards people. They will actually run to you to be held.

My latest frustration though is paper wasps. We have found them in our master bathroom and bedroom and I cannot for the life of me figure out where they are coming in at. I managed to find the nest behind a light fixture next to the exterior bedroom door and eliminated it thinking that would fix the issue, but I killed 10 wasps tonight alone. My concern is obviously getting stung, but also having the dog try to eat one. She is a fly murderer extraordinarre and I don't want her getting stung and potentially reacting badly, so we have been keeping her out. Any help here?

Care to share the name of the place that makes the netting?  My brother has lost all his chickens multiple times over the last several years.  Each time he reinforces things something else gets them.  A fox was one of the culprits as well.  He has been raising his next batch in his garage until he get can a new shed and run finished but he plans to leave the top open as he can't find any affordable netting.  He's building the new coop between his house and the horses, hoping the activity from both will keep predators away.

http://www.nettingpros.com/

They are in Florida and shipping was pretty quick.

Most the fowl nets I have seen have left a lot to be desired and $100 for me at least is cheap insurance.

Thanks.  I passed the info on to him.  The chickens are really his sons.  His son named and would hold all the chickens and gets really attached to them.  Two year ago, when he was 7, he went out to the coop and saw all but one of them laying there slaughtered.  He was pretty shook up about if for a few months.  He still likes his chickens but he doesn't seem to get as attached to them now.

Heh, I will have to update this tomorrow but I figured out where they were. Sadly didn't take any pictures.

I just got back from overseas so trying to play some work catch up tonight, but I will post a good update this week

Couple of good updates coming!

First off, lets talk the wasps. I mentioned I found a nest in the light fixture outside the bedroom door, little did I know, that was only the tip of the iceberg. Right before I went to Houston for work the first of September, I found them coming through the triple gang wallplate thats on the opposite of the wall from the fixture. At one point, I had killed 45 wasps in the bedroom at one point, to the point we stopped sleeping in the bedroom for a few days. Long story short, we called an exterminator and broke out the checkwrench as I figured this one was above my paygrade. Ultimately, we sectioned out a piece of the drywall above the switch box and found a 2ft plus long next built into the wall. Exterminator did a fantastic job and I have since patched the drywall and sealed up the box for the light outside, and that put an end to that.

The chickens are doing well, still love people, and I gave them the Christmas tree to play on, and they have had an absolute ball with that. That said, their egg production has been lackluster, but I am reserving judgement until spring and longer days hit.

After coming back from the Netherlands, I was out and about doing things around the house and noticed the door to the well house looked off. Apparently I was not the best when pouring the pad and it cracked clean in two.

Sprayfoam to the rescue!


I took a jack and lifted the house a bit, got the piece back into place with shims, and filled the base with as much foam as I could get in there. Let it cure for a day or two, and seems to be ok for now, but I will need a longer term fix at some point.

Speaking of things around the house, I now have a bit of extra help in terms of machinery...


Lastly, one thing that has always irritated me was the way the pool fence was done. It was a pinch move when the house was bought, and we went with the first contractor we could because our homeowners insurance was raising hell about the pool not being fenced. In the hurry, I didnt consider the equipment being inside the fence. That issue has been fixed.


Doing this has made such a HUGE difference. The new fencing doesnt match 100%, but nothing would after being out in the sun for 8 years at this point, so this is as good as it gets. Its really only noticable in direct sunlight, and I had the contractor hide the new panels behind what will soon be an equipment house. I plan on using it to house the equipment and keep it out of the sun, but also to store things like the vacuum hose, robots and chemicals.

Lastly, the BIG news...

The master bathroom remodel is getting done. The contractor has been paid the first draw, the plans are done, and we are picking out materials!

Today is demo day!

Crew is here demoing the bathroom and so far no surprises or significant water damage (which was my big concern). Looking forward to having this project DONE in about two months as it's been a long time coming.

Taking pics as I can, I'll post some up shortly.