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Oct 23, 2019

Sneak Peak Next Week's Bathroom Remodel, The Ugly Side of Urban Life With Chickens


Before
Sneak Peak Next Week's Bathroom Remodel-
Back in 2015 I did a Mini Bathroom Makeover, and a last year we added a new Ikea medicine cabinet over the cabinet-

Back wall-


This next week we're adding new flooring, vinyl plank wood look, in a light brown/gray. I wanted just gray, but not easy to find apparently. Vinyl sheet flooring seemed to have gone away since our first remodel. We ordered a nice sheet flooring design but it got put on back order, and decided to go for good timing/same price. I can live with it. I'm going for a relaxed coastal vibe, not beachy. I'm re-using the light fixture, towel rod and small rack. Walls will be a soft nice blue/gray, Ace's Buoyant Blue, more gray in real lighting, a bit darker/grayer than the current shade-




We bought the new Ikea cabinet-


with this sink/counter, same as our other bathroom, I wanted a rectangular but Ikea was out of stock-



and a new Ikea faucet-


I found a few fun accessories at Hobby Lobby last weekend. I'll take lots of photos during the process. Saturday Dave and I are ripping out the old cabinet and clearing the walls. Sunday I will paint. Monday flooring guy is coming, will add new floor and new toilet. He's also stretching some carpeting in our 2 spare bedrooms. Then I can get them cleaned! Later in the week Dave and I will finish up. More coming soon!!!


The last two

The Ugly Side of Urban Life With Chickens-
I had to think about whether I really wanted to post this or not because I was so upset. Even Dave  was upset and he's not a big fan of the chickens. A few days after coming home, with Annie gone, Dave came home and found Sarah, our beautiful big red hen dead as well-


When I came home I couldn't find Dave and I was wondering where he was. When I saw him on the back deck with a terrible look on his face I knew something awful had happened. From what we could tell a dog got under our back fence (on an easement) where some of the boards were rotting, got into the coop and killed Sarah.


Her carcass was outside in the garden and when I took a good look at her she had been eviscerated. It looked like she was cornered in the coop. I was so shocked I didn't even know how to feel. Dave and I both blame ourselves that we should have kept the fence more intact, but I guess after 5 years you start feeling like things won't go wrong. We're not sure now if dog also killed Annie?




I kept the last two chickens in the coop the next day, since the weather was cool and let them out in the evening so that they could stretch their legs. Dave bought some lumber and basically removed all of the cedar fence boards that had rotting bases. He then back filled along the fence line on the outside in the easement. He showed me the hole where the dog had dug down. It wasn't that big but it was big enough for medium/ small size dog to kill a hen. Ironically the two chickens that were killed were both the young ones or some place supposed to replace the old ones! So now our flock went from 4 to 2 and I'll think about if we want to get a few more chicks in the spring. I just never in my wildest nightmares thought a dog would break into my yard, kill one of my birds, a few days after a the other one. Shaking head...

8 comments:

  1. Years ago, a dog got into our chicken coop and killed many of our hens and all four of our pet ducks. It's devastating. Have you considered electric fencing?

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    1. I don't think that would really work in our application but we may put some things outside the fence but so far we haven't had any problems since we updated the fence.

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  2. I'm so sorry that you've now lost two of your hens. Yes, one does feel violated when a critter breaks into what you've always thought was a safe haven for your own animals/poultry. We once had a whole flock of pullets wiped out by a pine marten. Somehow having a "neighborhood" dog do it would feel worse. We think we've covered all bases in keeping the birds safe, but there's always that weak link we don't think of until too late. But I'm sure the fence line is something you'll keep an eye on always now. So sorry.

    The bathroom remodel sounds very exciting. You and your hubby are the Dynamic Duo when it comes to doing things like that. Looking forward to seeing all the pictures!

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  3. Thanks Mama. Yes and we checked all the fence line around the entire yard and that was really the only weak link.

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  4. Two ways to learn and be vigilant about these things. Either they happen to us or we hear from someone else who it happened to.

    Sorry to hear about your loss.

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  5. I'm so sorry to hear about the hens, Nancy. :(

    I've lost quite a few chickens over the years...we have so many predators in our area. So far we haven't had a problem with dogs, but it could happen.

    Best wishes with your bathroom project!

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  6. Thanks Lisa. I guess it's just a continuing learning curve in life. And her bathroom project is coming along great!

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