RollingAcres
Herd Master
Bruce's Journal
- Thread starter Bruce
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- alpacas. chickens
greybeard
Herd Master
I've seen those 'key sockets' strip out or the lug pattern the key fits into strip and the dang lug has to be cut off or rednecked in some way to get it off.,,usually on the side of the road in a pouring rain..
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Bruce
Herd Master
Yep, they are a PITA. Came on the car. DD1 has them as well and I really doubt my in laws got them on purpose when they bought the car in 2010. Really should just get some regular ones and be done with it.
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- #2,234
Bruce
Herd Master
There were originally 3 round hay bales for the alpacas. Standing "on end", they are ~5' "tall". One in the back left corner of the alpacas' "sorry you can't use it because you treat it as a toilet" stall, one in the back right and one front right. When I went to snack and close up this afternoon I needed to get the string off the second round bale having finished off the first this morning. As I was removing the string from the back right bale, I happened to look at the one on the left. There was a nest of 10 white eggs right in the middle of the roll. 8 were frozen/cracked. Perhaps the other two were today and yesterday's eggs, it was only about 25°F last night. I suppose little Lana the Golden Campine has been flying through the horizontal bars on the stall door. I had found 2 or 3 smallish white eggs a couple of weeks ago but they were in the nest box where they belong. Guess I now have to check the hay roll as well.
Sounds like someone has found the perfect nest!
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Bruce
Herd Master
It is pretty nice. The hay roll makes a natural concave area in the center and pre-lined with hay. No work for the hen at all. Could be a problem when roll number 2 is used up though. What to do, feed the alpacas and mess up her nest or let the alpacas starve 
greybeard
Herd Master
I think we know the 2nd option is not going to be the one chosen.What to do, feed the alpacas and mess up her nest or let the alpacas starve
RollingAcres
Herd Master
Leave that bale there for the hen. Buy another bale to feed the alpacas.What to do, feed the alpacas and mess up her nest or let the alpacas starve
Heck with that! Put the hen back where she belongs in a nest box and feed out that hay!
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Bruce
Herd Master
I can't really put the hen "back" since she and the others have free access to the entire lower part of the barn. Only the girls that came as day olds last April dare go in with the Alpacas though. Which is weird since the 2017 April chicks also spent their early days in with the boys. The boys don't seem to see chicks as anything other than the small wild birds that fly in and out of the barn. Much less of a problem for the littles than the older hens that see the new birds as competition.
RA, I don't know that Al has any more hay. Last year was serious drought, he was lucky to get the one cutting before it started. He usually does two and sometimes three. There is a corner grain feeder in the stall. I'd have to cut it out since the guy we bought this place from had a penchant for driving screws until the bit jumps and strips the screw head. Perhaps once I need to get too far into that third bale the silly bird will either decide to use the nest box or the corner feeder if I put some hay in it.
RA, I don't know that Al has any more hay. Last year was serious drought, he was lucky to get the one cutting before it started. He usually does two and sometimes three. There is a corner grain feeder in the stall. I'd have to cut it out since the guy we bought this place from had a penchant for driving screws until the bit jumps and strips the screw head. Perhaps once I need to get too far into that third bale the silly bird will either decide to use the nest box or the corner feeder if I put some hay in it.
