I got another piece of tarp on the chicken run. It had a white one over about a quarter of it. What I added makes about half. I’m hoping to keep down the snow from their feed and water area. Chickens are subject to frostbite. You don’t want water or feed in the coop. Keeping water out obviously keeps the coop drier. And if, like me, you keep ducks with your chickens you know that ducks give a new definition to wet.
Keeping the feed outside of the coop helps keep the manure load down, plus it will help you reduce the lure of vermin into the coop. Granted, straw has seeds and that alone will be attractive to the mice and rats. Another reason to keep the feed and water outside is to force your birds to get out into the sun, and fresh air.
Now, my ducks don’t like the snow but they will go out in it. They will even play in icy water. My chickens just hate it. So the less snow buildup in the run the better. Adding the additional tarp, even if it is in rough shape, should help reduce the snow buildup.
Last year the coop and run were in a different location. It was a really sad set up. This year it is much better. Again, if you’ve subscribed to my YouTube or Rumble you will see the new set up.
One of my rain barrels just about fell over. I got it straightened. It hadn’t refilled since I last used it for the duck pool so when I switched the water the barrel was light enough for me to reposition. I still need to make a drain for the duck swimming water barrel. Unfortunately, with Christmas fast approaching I might not get it done. I need a helper but when I reach out to the local community no one wants to work.
A couple weeks ago I saw a gray squirrel out back. It was barking at me as I was hanging out some towels on the clothesline. I decided to get a squirrel feeder. I got it put up, but I don’t know how well. All I could do was use zip ties to fasten it to a fence post. It is kind of wobbly. I’ll try to keep an eye out to see if the little fella finds it. I don’t see many squirrels here so I want to encourage them.