After reading a recent post here at Ranch Ramblins entitled Non-Toxic Fly Control, Duane of Geek Acres asked if I would give a tour of our hen houses.  If I were to choose a time to give such a tour, I probably would have waited until this coming fall, when I am scheduled to make repairs and repaint our out-buildings.  Since Duane asked so politely, I couldn’t refuse his request, however, like a guest who arrives unannounced, I will ask you to kindly overlook the unkempt appearance of the hen houses.

But first, a disclaimer of expertise.  Most farmers in the Ozarks, especially in Arkansas, have forgotten more about poultry and poultry housing than I will ever hope to learn about the subject.  What follows comes mostly from my limited, but enjoyable observations over the past several years.  Having gotten that off my chest, let’s go look at the houses.

Hen house #1 is a free-standing structure that is located beside the loafing shed we maintain for our horses’ shelter.  The hen house is constructed in such a manner as to provide protection from predators and shelter from inclement weather.  The south facing portion of the coop features an outdoor courtyard for the fowl, which is sheathed in chicken wire and hardware cloth.  The walls to the north, east and west provide protection from the prevailing wind in our area.  To keep rain and snow at bay, this coop is built with a simple pitched metal roof, utilizing rafters of sufficient strength to support the snow and ice which accumulates in the winter.

To avoid respiratory problems and heat-stress among the fowl, the coop features adequate cross-ventilation provided by two large openings, which close tightly for protection in the colder months.  In the following photograph, besides the ventilation openings, notice that the coop has been constructed on top of concrete footings, designed to keep predators from burrowing underneath the coop to gain access to their prey.

The following photo shows the screened soffit that the coop utilizes to provide adequate ventilation for the fowl even with the windows tightly shut.  Also notice that the coop has been screened with hardware cloth wherever possible, as thinner chicken wire can be penetrated by many predators. 

There are additional things to consider when the coop is to be located in a cold-climate area, such as the Ozarks.  In the following photo, you can see that the coop (on the far left) is completely enclosed from the northerly weather, and is sheltered by the loafing shed to the south when the breeze blows from that direction.

Even though the coop is sheltered by the loafing shed, it is still equipped with a partial wall separating the courtyard from the house proper, which provides additional winter warmth for the birds.

Even with all these precautions to protect the fowl from the cold, the nesting boxes have been installed along the northern wall by first affixing a sheet of plywood, which creates a dead-air space and provides additional protection from the cold winds of winter.  The poultry feeder has been suspended from the rafters, to help keep mice away from the feed.

This hen house originally was constructed with home-built nesting boxes, but they had deteriorated over time.  Rather than rebuilding them out of the same material, we opted to purchase ready-made metal nesting boxes, which are available at many local farm stores or from Internet merchants.

Both guineas and chickens prefer a perch to sleep on whenever possible, so we have provided them with ample places to do so.  Besides placing perches in all corners of the pen, as shown below, we have also placed an old ladder from our milking barn into the coop.  This has turned out to be the favored perching spot for many of the birds.  Notice that the interior of the coop is bedded with wood chips, which acts as a compost medium for the litter produced by the poultry.

It is important to supply the fowl with perches in the courtyard as well, in order to allow them the opportunity to perch outdoors in fair weather.

Although the coop is built with a full-height entry door in the front, it also contains a mini-door in the rear.  This door serves two purposes. If you free range your fowl during the day while the fowl are young and still in their learning stages, they are sometimes too dumb to go around the coop to find the front door.  By providing an additional door at the rear, you can save yourself a lot of aggravation when trying to herd the flock back into the coop in the evenings (see previous post To Free, Or Not To Free (Range Your Chickens).  The second purpose is to provide an escape route for poultry that might be in the coop during the day, should a predator find it’s way into the hen house.  Without an alternate escape route, these fowl would become trapped inside the coop, and probobly meet their demise.

On to hen house #2, which we have built into our existing equipment barn.  The style of coop is different from the first coop, but the basic principles remain the same; shelter from the prevailing weather, protection from predators, wood chip flooring, insulated nesting boxes, and plenty of perching space.

This hen house was relatively easy to construct, as the major portion of it is comprised of the existing structure of the barn.  We simply added a couple of walls and a door, and after agreeing to abide by the rules of the house and signing the lease, the birds moved right in.

The following photograph shows a different style of nesting box than the boxes contained in hen house #1.  Notice that they are still attached to the northern wall with a sheet of insulating material, to help provide warmth in the winter months.

In concluding this tour, I would like to point out that there are no strict rules to follow in constructing a hen house, just common sense principles that will help ensure the well-being of your poultry.  And there is no one *right* way to accomplish this task.  Use your imagination, and let your own circumstances dictate the design of your coop.

I woke up with the intention of writing a post regarding Independence Day, 2006.  Before doing so, I began scanning the blogs that I regularly read, and came upon this post by Pablo, at Roundrock Journal:

Independence Day

I hope you will click through and read his post, as it states in a very cogent manner feelings that I share and value, but could never state as eloquently as Pablo has.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

There are few things that can disrupt the enjoyment of your 4th of July picnic as much as the constant annoyance caused by uninvited guests – namely flies.  Because this holiday weekend is now upon us, I thought it appropriate to outline a few simple measures that can help to alleviate this problem in a safe and sane manner.

First, a little background on our perspective of insecticides (and other toxic compounds).  As we look around at our friends, family and neighbors, we see a distressing occurrence that crops up with an alarming regularity – individuals diagnosed with cancers of various types.  I suppose if we knew why this was occurring then the medical community would have already found ways to prevent such occurrences.  But that is not the case.  One by one, researchers identify compounds that appear to be carcinogenic, and in a piecemeal way, these compounds are either restricted or taken off the market.  But in the meantime, we seem bent on solving many of our problems with the use of toxic chemicals.  Have you got a problem with insects in the house?  Have a pest control company spray the premises every other month.  Are dandelions and crabgrass overtaking your beautiful dichondra lawn?  No problem, Ortho has a host of chemicals that you can spray to control these nuisances.  Tired of having to clean up brush that inevitably grows along your fence lines?  Roundup to the rescue.  Just spray the unwanted growth and it will no longer be a problem.  How about those pesky chiggers and ticks, do they bother you also?  The solution is right on the shelves of your local convenience store.  Saturate your clothes with a magic chemical solution, and then slather your skin with DEET (a chemical that destroys the functioning of an insect’s central nervous system).

When you examine the label of any of these products, do you really know what all those 17 syllable words mean, and what serious long-term studies on their safety have actually been conducted?  It seems to me (based only on gut-feelings, I confess) that we have become so complacent in the use of toxic chemicals and compounds to solve a myriad of common problems, that we don’t even think of the possible consequences of exposure to these items any more.  When was the last time you saw a weekend gardener wearing a haz-mat type suit when spraying or dusting their tomatoes?  Never, I’ll be willing to bet.  And yet, if you carefully read the labels on these products, you will find all kinds of serious warnings, along with application recommendations that go unread or ignored.  Meanwhile, people seem to be dropping left and right from cancers and diseases that we cannot say for certain what is the causation.  It is in this light that I offer a few recommendations for the control of fly populations around the small hobby farm or ranch.

The first recommendation is to manage animal manure.  It is a task that is not the most pleasant to perform, but is necessary in order to control the breeding of flies, and is also vital to the health of your animals.  In the hen house, consider using wood chips on the floor.  By laying a sufficiently deep layer of wood chips, and frequently turning the chips with a rake or shovel,  you are in effect composting the litter, thus depriving flies of their favorite breeding material.   In the following photograph, you can see that we have created a 6″-12″ bed of cedar chips on the floor, which serves as both a compost medium and deodorizer.

In the pastures (and stalls, if utilized) manure must also be dealt with.  Mucking is not a particularly pleasant job, but it must be done on a regular basis.  We do not stall our horses (except in medical emergencies), but the manure in the pasture must be managed for the control of flies.  We have settled on the use of a tine-harrow (also called a field drag or scotch-harrow) to cope with the horse manure in our pastures, as pictured below.

The use of the harrow serves several ends at one time: breaking up and spreading manure, which deprives flies of a breeding medium; fertilizing the pasture with the pulverized manure; and ensuring ground contact for germinating grass seed.

After all the manure management tasks have been accomplished, you may still find that a sizable population of flies exists.  To handle the flies that do manage to exist, despite your best manure management efforts, safe, non-toxic remedies can be utilized.  One method involves the use of our avian friends to help with fly control.  Guineas and chickens love to eat flies, so keeping these fowl in your grounds will help alleviate a fly problem.  Another species that will consume abundant quantities of flies, as well as other flying insects, is the Purple Martin (see previous post).  By placing Martin houses along the perimeter of your pastures, as shown below, you will not only get to enjoy the aerial acrobatics of these wonderful birds, but you will be helping to control fly populations.

For those nasty biting flies that harass you and your horses, you can use a simple, but effective biting-fly trap, as pictured below.

For all other types of flies, a safe disposable fly trap will work wonders.  The type of trap we use consists of a container filled with water which is mixed with a non-toxic scent that attracts flies.  Like the famous “Roach Motel”, flies can check in, but they cannot check out.  Into the trap they fly, only to meet their doom through drowning or by being baked in the heat.  It looks gross, but believe me, they work!  When this trap is filled with flies, simply toss it and hang another.

Using these, as well as other fly control methods that you may already know about, will hopefully lead to a more enjoyable holiday weekend for yourself, your family, and your friends, without those hordes of uninvited guests!

Having been born and raised in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area, and living most of my life in neighborhoods where homeowners typically spent at least part of their weekends manicuring their yards, it is understandable that I would bring some city type thinking with me to our rural ranch.  And so it was with my attitude towards dead trees.

In the city, as I noticed on my last trip to the Los Angeles area, it is difficult to find a dead tree.  If the tree is on public property, than city maintenance crews will quickly remove the tree for safety reasons.  If the dead tree is located on commercial property, the property owner will remove the tree for liability reasons, and if the tree is situated on a residential lot, the homeowner will usually remove the tree for safety and/or aesthetic reasons.

When we moved onto our property five years ago, the land had pretty much been neglected for several years, so there was much remedial landscaping and field work to be done.  One of the first things I noticed were some dead trees of one species or another scattered throughout the area.  My suburban instincts immediately took hold, and I vowed that I would soon muster up the tractor and a log chain to pull down these offending eyesores.

As fate would have it, there were so many more pressing chores to do that I never had the opportunity to remove any of the dead trees that were scattered around our land.  Never the less, I vowed that I would get around to this task before too much time had passed.  One thing led to another, and before I knew it, another season had passed without my vow being fulfilled.

Today the dead trees still stand.  Is the fact that they still exist a testament to my procrastinating nature?  Fortunately not.  Since we moved out to the country, I have tried to educate myself about the things I see around me.  And one of the things that I have learned is just how important dead trees are to the environment around us.

A standing dead tree, know as a snag, is a thriving habitat for an entire mini-ecosystem.  First of all,  a snag is nature’s version of the fast-food restaurant.  The dead wood itself becomes a meal for ants, termites, and wood-boring beetles.  These insects, as well as their larvae, in turn become a meal for various species of birds.  Raccoons will also visit the snag for a delicious meal made up of insect larvae.

Besides serving as a feeding station, a snag provides cover for a vast array of creatures.  The loose bark of a snag provides cover for bats to roost, as well as a cozy spot for caterpillars to pupate.  Also taking cover under the loose bark are tree frogs, salamanders, and various types of beetles.  Tree holes also provide a place of refuge for a large number of critters, including woodpeckers, owls, bluebirds, nuthatches, chickadees, wrens, titmice, squirrels, raccoons and opossums, to name just a few.  It has been estimated that up to one-third of all forest birds and mammals depend on dead trees for either nesting or shelter.  The great popularity of providing man-made housing for birds stems from the fact that many species have lost a good portion of the snags that they depend on for their survival.  Thus the need for bluebird houses, bat houses, purple martin houses, etc.

One of the prime uses of a snag is for perching.  Predatory birds, such as owls, hawks, eagles and osprey use the unobstructed view afforded by the leafless snag to observe the surrounding area, searching for prey.

According to the Pennsylvania State Wildlife Management Agency, in their article Why Dead Trees Are Important To Wildlife, dead trees in many cases have become a more valuable resource than living trees, due to the declining number of standing dead trees.  Many states are beginning to require that dead and dying trees be retained in harvest areas, which marks a shift from previous forestry practices.

The Pacific Northwest Research Station, in the article contained in their journal “Science Findings” entitled Dead And Dying Trees: Essential For Life In The Forest, indicates that the latest research into forest ecosystems reveals that the extent to which dead trees are essential to forest species has been severely under-estimated in the past, and that there is a much broader variety of species that depend on dead trees than previously thought.

In conclusion, as I have come to understand the critical role of dead trees and snags on my property, I have become grateful for the circumstances that arose preventing me from taking the rash action of downing these wonderful trees.  Instead of thinking of snags like the one shown in the photograph above as “dead trees”, I now view them in their proper light – a vital habitat for the survival of the many wildlife species that inhabit the area.

If you have followed this blog for any time now, you may know that we have suffered a rash of wildfires over the past half-year in our county.  We have had four fires that have burned on our property since Thanksgiving Day 2005, and all have occurred under the worst possible conditions for firefighting - very windy days combined with drought conditions (our drought has eased this spring, thank goodness).  If you would like to refresh your memory, you can read previous posts here, and here.

When I read our local weekly newspaper today, I came across the following article:

Arson Investigation Results In Arrest

Following a joint investigation between investigator Jim Thomas of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and investigators with the Arkansas State Forestry Commission, a Harrison man was arrested for arson.

Marion County Sheriff Carl McBee said, “Nicholas Ray Taylor, age 21, of Harrison was arrested on June 13 on an outstanding felony warrant charging him with unlawful burning, which is an unclassified felony.”

McBee said that the investigation occurred after several fires were reported in the Zinc area of Marion County from January through March of this year.  With information provided by concerned citizens in the Zinc and Lead Hill areas, investigators developed enough information to arrest Taylor.

During the interview, Taylor admitted that he intentionally set four fires in the Zinc area.  Taylor was a new member of the Zinc Volunteer Fire Department.

Taylor was booked into the Marion County Jail and released after posting a $2,500 bond.  He is scheduled to appear in the Marion County Circuit Court on June 28 to answer the charge filed against him.

“I would like to thank all of the members of all of the fire departments who worked long, hot hours fighting these fires and for their assistance during this investigation,” McBee said.

Source: Mountaineer Echo – June 25, 2006 – by Jane H. Estes – Front page

I would also like to thank these firefighters once again for all of their hard work and dedication to their communities.  Without volunteer firefighters, there would be no one to turn to in these kind of situations.  It is too bad that there was one “bad apple” in the barrel, along side of all the other wonderful men and women who give so unselfishly of themselves.  Hopefully, these frightening events are now going to be a thing of the past.  There is enough to worry about in this world without these kinds of nutcases running around loose.

Sir George, our Yellow Labrador Retriever, sat me down and had a talk with me today.  It seems that he was feeling a little bit slighted, in that Gracie (our Great Pyrenees) and the two new kittens appear to be getting more cyberspace notoriety than he is receiving.  I indicated to George that he had a valid point, and that I would attempt to rectify the situation.  After consulting with my editor-in-chief (me), I decided to help George attain his well deserved fifteen minutes of fame by posting his picture on the World Wide Web.

George loves summertime activities.  His favorite pastime, besides sleeping and eating, is lazing around the swimming pool.  Doesn’t he look as if he would fit right in at one of those senior-citizen retirement villages that are so heavily promoted down in Florida?  I think he would enjoy a good “swim-up” bar, along with a friendly older gentleman to talk to on occasion. 

As you can see in the picture below, George and the kittens are getting along just fine.  Sometimes the kittens drive George crazy with their constant playfulness and miniature feline antics, but usually they just seem to enjoy each others company.

If cats and dogs, who are reputed to be natural enemies, can get along like this, why can’t we humans do the same, I wonder?

Festuca arundinacea

Tall fescue, as pictured in this 5 acre hay field above, is a robust cool season grass that has been imported to the Ozarks region.  Tall fescue has major benefits to the farmer, but it also brings with it major headaches.

The major benefit that fescue bestows lies in the relatively diverse growing conditions that it will thrive in.  Fescue will tolerate wet soil and short periods of flooding.  At the same time, it is also very draught resistant.  Although it grows most vigorously when soil pH, phosphorus and potassium levels are within certain bounds, it will thrive in conditions that are well outside of the recommended ranges.  About the only requirement that seems to be absolutely necessary for vigorous fescue growth is an adequate supply of available nitrogen in the soil.  Because of the wide diversity of environmental and soil conditions that fescue will thrive under, it has spread throughout the cattle producing regions of the Ozarks.  Agronomists have estimated that about 75% of the tall fescue in the Ozarks is infected with a fungus called an endophyte.  An endophyte is a fungus that grows within another plant, without causing any apparent harm to the host plant, and in some cases, providing benefits to the host.  For fescue, the benefit of the endophyte is that it produces chemicals called “alkaloids” which protect the grass from insects and nematodes.  It is said that any square inch of bare soil will soon grow something, as nature abhors a vacuum.  If that square inch is in this neck of the Ozarks, most likely it is fescue that will emerge, due to the reasons cited above.

The negative factors pertaining to fescue arise primarily due to the health effects fescue has on livestock.  The very endophytes that have caused fescue to predominate in the area also lead to the health risks to animals.  The alkaloid ergovaline causes the constriction of the blood vessels in animals.  Since cattle rely on increased blood flow through capillaries under the skin for heat reduction in the warmer months, the reduced blood flow as a result of vessel constriction can easily lead to heat stress, which in turn leads to early embryonic death.  Another byproduct of fescue induced heat stress is reduced feed intake and decreased animal performance.  For horse owners, the endophytes create a condition called fescue toxicity, which can lead to spontaneous abortion or still birth in foaling mares.

For this reason, farmers reactions to fescue are both mixed and intense.  It is a grass with robust growth, yet requires careful hay and pasture management to prevent adverse health effects on livestock.

There is much information available to the farmer and rancher regarding fescue management.  It can be easily obtained on-line, or through any agricultural extension office.  For the homeowner, there is also a large quantity of information available for the best lawn management practices.  But for someone like myself, who has many acres of established tall fescue that is NOT being actively grazed by livestock, there is very little information that I have been able to find on how to manage fescue without substantial monetary expenditures.  Fortunately, our land is comprised of many fields, and through much experimentation, I have found procedures and schedules that combine to produce lush, green growth at a minimum of expense.

The photo above shows tall fescue at maturity.  The white sheet of paper is a standard sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper, which should help to indicate scale.  When mature, the fescue reaches a height of 48″ or more.  The ample seed head is located at the top of the grass stem.

In order to meet the minimum nitrogen requirements that fescue needs to achieve optimum growth, one can rely on either an imported, or an intrinsic nitrogen source.  An imported nitrogen source would be the application of any type of fertilizer, either natural or synthetic.  This is the routine most farmers would go through, but it requires a considerable annual outlay, in both fertilizer costs, and fuel costs to spread the material.  Since we derive no income from the production of cattle, it makes little sense for us to incur these expenses, especially since there is another way to provide nitrogen to the soil.  As you can see from the photograph above we rely on an intrinsic nitrogen delivery source – red clover interspersed with the fescue.  The clover will supply and fix the nitrogen into the soil, providing the fescue with this all important resource.

Eventually, the fescue grass will run out of steam and need to be replaced with fresh seedlings.  The way that we manage this is to delay the cutting of the fields until such time as the cutting will also serve to re-seed the field.  In the photograph above, you can see the seed heads of the fescue grass.  Notice that there are no loose seeds on the white sheet of paper.  If the fescue field is predominately at this stage, then it is too early to cut.  By waiting until the seed head readily sheds its’ seeds when you shake the fescue stem, as shown clearly in the picture below, then any cutting and baling of the fescue grass will result in the loose seeds being sown into the field.

The cutting of the grass, as opposed to just letting it persist throughout the season, serves to eradicate weeds and brush that would otherwise occur in a field of this type.  The annual or semi-annual cutting of the fescue, along with the encouragement of natural re-seeding, tends to crowd out any undesirable plant growth, and because of the extremely tolerant nature of the fescue to adverse conditions, it will eventually take over the field.

By following this type of schedule consistently, you achieve a constant re-seeding of the field, and by including clover in the mix, you provide the necessary nitrogen for vigorous fescue growth.  And best of all, you will notice that there was nothing that had to be purchased, so the expense is limited to the fuel required for cutting the grass.

What we have found on our land by experimentation is that by allowing the fescue to produce viable seed on a regular basis, and by being persistent with the cutting of the grass, we can produce fields that look like the one that follows, and do it at a very minimal cost.

You will have to ask our Pyre Gracie if it is all worth the effort.  I think I can see a big smile of approval on her face.  Can you?

We are very fortunate to have visitors to the ranch this week.  My brother Mark and his friend Sandra are on a cross country trip, and they have stopped by to see us.  How do you think they fared driving up a two mile long, bumpy and rutted dirt road to get to our place?

The trike that is pictured above is a Harley-Davidson powered, German built Rewaco Trike.  It is way more cool than it even appears in this photograph.  You have to see it in person to believe it.  I wonder if Mark would allow me the liberty of attempting to attach my Bush Hog rotary cutter to his trike, because the pastures are getting a little bit long?

This is (was) an egg produced by one of our guinea hens, but now it is no more.  I found this egg, in the condition that you see it, in the middle of the gravel lane that leads into the paddock facilities.  This egg came to it’s rather abrupt demise perhaps twenty yards away from the closest spot that I would imagine a right-minded guinea hen would lay it.

How do you suppose that the egg managed to end up in this location, in the condition that you see it?  I did not put the egg there.  I’m pretty sure that Retta did not place the egg there, although I cannot absolutely rule out the possibility, as she isn’t home right now for me to ask her.  We can be certain that neither of my dogs were the guilty culprit, because they would not have left any evidence behind.  I’ve seen their handiwork, and believe me, this isn’t their modus operandi.

The guineas never meander along this barren gravel drive, as there is a nice lawn along either side of it, rife with insects and other treats, which the guineas much prefer.  So even if you were to imagine a guinea hen ambling along and having a sudden, overwhelming urge to drop an egg, it would have most likely been on the grass, not on the gravel.

It seems logical (to me, at least) that we can rule out critters such as possum, raccoon, fox, coyotes and the like, for the same reason that I am ruling out my dogs.  All of these scavengers would most likely have eaten the spilled contents of the egg when it broke.  An even more likely scenario would have them down the egg, shell and all, immediately upon finding the “incredible edible” egg.  That is what I have seen our Pyre Gracie do on occasion.

An interesting observation is that the shell is entirely intact, with the exception of the small hole that you can see in the photograph.  It almost looks as if the hole had been pecked at in order to open it.  If so, then this would suggest a bird of some type.  Perhaps some bird found the egg, picked it up in his talons and flew off with it, ultimately ending up in this spot where I found it.  I suppose it is possible, as I once had half of a pork tenderloin stolen off of my BBQ grill on board the boat I once lived on, by a clumsy seagull who ended up dropping it into the water (I wonder, do crabs like pork?).

However this egg managed to end up broken and spilled on the gravel roadway, it sure seems to be a waste.  We could have eaten this guinea egg, or offered it to our dogs with their evening meal.  I suspect that our cats would have even enjoyed it, although I haven’t ever seen them eating eggs.  Speaking of cats, I have some that need to be fed, so I’m off…..

Remember those two kittens that Retta found beside the highway last month? Well here they are again, only this time they have names.  We named the cute gray and white kitten on the top perch Hobbs.  The other cute kitten, the one that sports a black and white coat, is named Bosco.

Bosco and Hobbs are doing just fine.  Their health is excellent, and they are quite pleased with their daily routine; sleep, eat, play….. sleep, eat, play….. sleep, eat, play. 

Max (our 2 year old tabby) did not know quite what to make of these kittens at first, which might stem from the fact that he was an “only child” and had no prior recollection of feline siblings.  Despite a little bit of trepidation, curiosity eventually got the better of Max, and he now seems to have accepted the two newcomers as legitimate members of the family.

Gracie (our huge but gentle Great Pyrenees) and George (a genius Yellow Lab) are well conditioned to the routines of our ever-expanding household.  To their way of thinking, two more family members to protect only adds to their status and prestige around here, so they are happy.  They told me so.