frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
Great haul!
Ideas/ways to re-use/recycle "rubbish"?
- Thread starter sumi
- Start date
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
This whole playhouse was built from recycled/free wood, tin, and even the slide was recovered off the curb where it was left out in the trash. The other items inside came from Goodwill...the kitchenette was $10 , pots and pans, curtains, apron, chair, baskets, etc. were all $1-$2 items from GW.
I just completed this project today.
The reaction to it? Priceless!!!!
I just completed this project today.
The reaction to it? Priceless!!!!
NH Homesteader
Sustainability Master
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That is awesome! My daughter agrees. We are going to build her a tree house in the spring and hope to be able to scrounge up some good stuff!
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
That is one lucky little girl!
baymule
Sustainability Master
Adorable! That is one happy little girl! You did a fantastic job on that kitchen for her. Her own little world.....built by the best Grandma!!!
- Thread starter
- #76
MoonShadows
Almost Self-Reliant
NICE!
AnnaMary
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Great ideas!! Really I loved to see those upcycling ideas. Here is something I wish to add for the upcycling lovers, some tips for recycling the old trash https://www.junk-works.ca/locations/blog/2017/01/03/10-tips-for-upcycling/. I am glad to share it over here and hope that this will help out someone with their craft.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
You know those little carry bags that canvas lawn chairs come in nowadays? Well, we have a full ton of them hanging in our building, as we rarely take our lawn chairs anywhere but down to the fire pit and back. This involves using one of them for another purpose.
Anyhoo, the other day I was thinking of a way to immobilize a chicken so that I could work on them hands free, but in an easy and gentle manner, both for me and the bird. I have a hoop coop, so hanging such an apparatus was my plan, as it's easy to find hanging points in a hoop coop.
Here is the chicken sling, fashioned out of the nice, heavy nylon carrier sack for a canvas lawn chair...we have scads of those things lying around, not in use. I can see a few things I'll change on this design:
1. The velcro tabs were not sufficient for keeping this end of the sling closed if the chicken struggled or if it were a large chicken...I'll likely just make holes there and use a clip to keep it closed for those times.
2. Should have made it larger...just a tad, for my big ol' boy to fit better, though he seemed very comfortable and didn't move a muscle while he was in the sling. I may make another and make it larger and grommet the holes I need in the end, in place of the velcro tabs. As calm as they were in the sling, I doubt I'll need that feature at all anyway.
3. Move it slightly to the left of my work station...their feet was just brushing the edge of it and one got her foot under her and started to stand up. That was easily averted but to prevent the possibility in the future, I'll move it to where the feet do not touch any surface while they are hanging.
4. The hole I made for the head was fine if they are lying on their backs, but I found, with this apparatus, they were examined much better while upright, as the sling seemed to cause them to lift their tails obligingly for vent examinations...perfect! Meanwhile the seam to fashion the hole was preventing a comfortable way for their head to stick out the other end while upright, which was probably keeping them more calm but I'd like the option for them to do so if it doesn't make them too excited.
With the big boy in it.....
And the smallest chicken...the Egg Eater aka EE. Not really an egg eater...well...ALL chickens are egg eaters, but it's just a private joke on my own forum about the breed.
With a bird on her back....I didn't like this position as well as I do when I'm working on them without the sling. Without the sling it's the only way to visualize the vent and hold them still, but when they are in the sling on their backs, the pressure of their weight in the sling prevents good visualization of the vent. I'll probably discard the "on their back" design features altogether now.
Even though the sling is not tilted towards the front end of these birds, they still seem to obligingly lift the tail while in it, as this BA is doing....perfect for examining the vent and doing feet work. Not so great if I need to measure abdominal capacity or pelvic width, but that can be done pretty quickly on the way back to the roosts if needed.
When I'm done with it, it's unclipped on one end and neatly folded up into the rafters of the coop.
Final review of the first mock up? Where has this been all my chickening life??????
Exams went so smooth, getting them in and out of the sling was so easy, all areas I needed to see were easily seen and attended to even easier. My work station was left open for all my stuff, instead of trying to fit my stuff AND a chicken in the same space, while preventing them from flapping and kicking my stuff to the floor.
I didn't have to hold them with one hand, while trying to work on them with the other....BLISS.
I was done in record time and the chickens seemed WAY less bothered by the whole process, returning to a calm state on the roosts before I even got out the door....feet all oiled, butts and skin all checked, nails and spurs clipped and dremeled. Without exception, they all hung calmly in this sling without attempts to struggle or get free in any way...very calm birds throughout the experiment.
I've got the rest of the chair baggy to use for my final product and will post pic of it in action when I get it done. I tested this one with the cat and he seemed to love it and the chickens did too, so I'm thinking a good result.
Anyhoo, the other day I was thinking of a way to immobilize a chicken so that I could work on them hands free, but in an easy and gentle manner, both for me and the bird. I have a hoop coop, so hanging such an apparatus was my plan, as it's easy to find hanging points in a hoop coop.
Here is the chicken sling, fashioned out of the nice, heavy nylon carrier sack for a canvas lawn chair...we have scads of those things lying around, not in use. I can see a few things I'll change on this design:
1. The velcro tabs were not sufficient for keeping this end of the sling closed if the chicken struggled or if it were a large chicken...I'll likely just make holes there and use a clip to keep it closed for those times.
2. Should have made it larger...just a tad, for my big ol' boy to fit better, though he seemed very comfortable and didn't move a muscle while he was in the sling. I may make another and make it larger and grommet the holes I need in the end, in place of the velcro tabs. As calm as they were in the sling, I doubt I'll need that feature at all anyway.
3. Move it slightly to the left of my work station...their feet was just brushing the edge of it and one got her foot under her and started to stand up. That was easily averted but to prevent the possibility in the future, I'll move it to where the feet do not touch any surface while they are hanging.
4. The hole I made for the head was fine if they are lying on their backs, but I found, with this apparatus, they were examined much better while upright, as the sling seemed to cause them to lift their tails obligingly for vent examinations...perfect! Meanwhile the seam to fashion the hole was preventing a comfortable way for their head to stick out the other end while upright, which was probably keeping them more calm but I'd like the option for them to do so if it doesn't make them too excited.
With the big boy in it.....
And the smallest chicken...the Egg Eater aka EE. Not really an egg eater...well...ALL chickens are egg eaters, but it's just a private joke on my own forum about the breed.
With a bird on her back....I didn't like this position as well as I do when I'm working on them without the sling. Without the sling it's the only way to visualize the vent and hold them still, but when they are in the sling on their backs, the pressure of their weight in the sling prevents good visualization of the vent. I'll probably discard the "on their back" design features altogether now.
Even though the sling is not tilted towards the front end of these birds, they still seem to obligingly lift the tail while in it, as this BA is doing....perfect for examining the vent and doing feet work. Not so great if I need to measure abdominal capacity or pelvic width, but that can be done pretty quickly on the way back to the roosts if needed.
When I'm done with it, it's unclipped on one end and neatly folded up into the rafters of the coop.
Final review of the first mock up? Where has this been all my chickening life??????
I didn't have to hold them with one hand, while trying to work on them with the other....BLISS.
I've got the rest of the chair baggy to use for my final product and will post pic of it in action when I get it done. I tested this one with the cat and he seemed to love it and the chickens did too, so I'm thinking a good result.
MoonShadows
Almost Self-Reliant
Very inventive. Might be a market for those...The Mountain Sage Chicken Sling...has a nice ring.
