Samantha Hall

Sorry, I wrote this before I realized that I needed to press 1,2,3 to get to the rest of the thread.

Thank you for an amazing document of this family of spiders! Someone should definitely put this in book form.

Did the babies come out of the egg sac? I’m in tototal suspense here. This is my favorite thread of all time about the Linx spider!!!

Are all varieties of blackberries safe for infusion?
I currently have thornless blackberries growing in my yard and am wondering if I can infuse their leaves too.

I have a granddaughter who comes to visit with such perfumed clothing that I don’t know how anyone can live with the stench. But anyway, I have soaked with vinegar, washed and soaked again, and washed again to no avail. I agree, it works for many smells but depending upon what’s in the fabric we may need to use other avenues. For this reason, I’m finding this thread super useful.

Do you happen to know what’s added to the Oxyclean to make it odor eliminating?

Well yes, you are correct. I don’t know anything about Doves and whether they were happy, or not. I personally do not believe in keeping flying birds in a cage like that. I will not be locking anything up in there to live caged.

R. Han wrote:

Samantha Hall wrote:It very well might. They previously had 23 Doves in it and they seemed happy.

How do you tell that?

As i am really bad at reading their mimic i have to stick to objectively verifiable facts,
like wheter the captive animal can express the behaviour that it has in the wild.
23 Doves in that eclosure (or even one pair) cannot do that.

Just because animals eat, move and even breed doesn't mean they are happy.

I’ll look that up. Thank you!

Tereza Okava wrote:Chicken/rabbit setup a lá Joel Salatin? (it has a cute name that I can't remember right now-- chickens on the bottom, rabbits on the top). Both could conceivably have ramps going out to enclosed outside yards.

The tree shades in the other direction so it would get afternoon sun. That’s a good idea for the roof.

And yes, it could be handy for various times for chickens but not full time. I completely get that.

Thanks so much for your feedback.
Sam

Jay Angler wrote:Samantha Hall wrote:

You may need some cover if your climate is wet, but the tree will give some shade, so I had wondered if replacing the roof with old sliding glass doors to give more light would open up other options. I had not intended to suggest it would be a full-time home as opposed to a day-run for chickens. Even if people free range or create multiple paddocks for chickens, there are often times when you need a little break for those areas, and having this shelter as a known safe spot if you suddenly get a new predator causing trouble, or if you have a broody chicken followed by tiny chicks, or an injured bird that needs a safe place to heal and gain strength, this shelter, with minimal changes, could provide for that.

It very well might. They previously had 23 Doves in it and they seemed happy. However, I don’t believe that I would want quails. But it’s a great idea! Thanks

Stacie Kim wrote:Would quail do well in that setup?

If I used it for chickens, it would just be part of their home. I definitely agree it’s too small to lock birds up in there.

I absolutely love the idea of a reptile home. I’m going to think on that.

It would get much more sun if it didn’t have the roof on it. At the moment, it gets maybe 4 hrs of sun in the afternoon.

Thank you!

R. Han wrote:In my opinion it is too small for permanent housing of any avian dinosaur.
(I also oppose chicken tractors, paul has a presentation on why)

Depending on your context it could be excellent shelter for some reptiles of your choice.
So if you fancy some exotics it could be their summer residence.

I Personally would put some big ass rocks in there to create shelter for native reptiles,
because in there they are safe from cats and can warm up before they go hunting.
So you help possibly engadered species plus you get free pest control.

edit: of course the reptile thing depends also on sun exposure, you didn't give any info about that.
If you do the reptile thing, consider also putting rocks/boulders around the structure in a suntrap fashion.

The floor is lined with wire and currently has gravel over that.

Your post has me contemplating going ahead and using it for chickens. Thanks for your feedback!

Jay Angler wrote:Samantha, is the floor wooden?

The reasons birds tend to get stinky is too much nutrient-rich manure for the balancing "browns". This is worse if the build up goes anaerobic which is then harmful for the birds as well as nasty. There are a bunch of ways people manage poop:
1. In a couple of stationary shelters I use (too wet in the winter for the birds to be on the grass), I add chipped and shredded tree duff regularly. If areas get compacted, I use my garden for to aerate it. If it doesn't decompose fast enough, I manure fork it into garbage cans and move it to a compost.
2. I've heard of some people filling areas like yours with dry leaves in the fall and letting their chickens go in and break up and fertilize the leaves. I can do a little of that, but my climate is so damp that leaves are more inclined to go aerobic than tree duff is. The chickens love playing in the leaves, so I do use some, but I usually only give them leaves once a week or so.
3. If you can start off with a good base of biochar, that will soak up a lot of nutrients and help keep things light.
4. I've heard of some people using kitty litter and sifting it like they do with cats.

All these options require a certain amount of work, and it needs to be done very regularly. Most of the shelters I use for animals have no bottom and we move them every day or two. The poop gets distributed, the birds get fresh grass in which to hunt for bugs, but it's still work moving them, and the ground needs to be fairly flat.

As to non-bird uses, firewood storage maybe? I'd want to add some extra doors if I was going to do that.