Tag: chicken run

Happenings Around the Homestead

What a week!  We started off and ended with some beautiful spring-like weather, which is fitting now that we have officially crossed over to spring.  It wasn’t without a nice brisk few days inbetween though.  Even so, my gardening fingers are itching!

Speaking of fingers, both my index finger and thumb seem to be healing up nicely from the pruning accident last weekend.  The index finger in particular seems to be doing quite well.  The thumb was cut deeper, and I still do not have full flexibility with it.  It is improving day by day though.

The big homestead project this week was to create a portable chicken run, which I decided to make out of PVC and fencing.  It wouldn’t hold a big dog, but it will hold chickens.  😀  This is light enough two people can move it, though four people would be able to handle it easier.  The plan is to move it to a different place in the yard weekly, and then let the chickens have a considerable amount of time in it throughout the day, which should give them a nice addition of bugs and grass to their diet.  I’ll show pictures of it in tomorrow’s post.

Oh, one other thing from this weekend is that I opened my winter sowing pots and let them breathe.  It is really going so well.  All plants haven’t sprouted up in hearty strength yet, but I think all of them have sprouted.  The brassicas are looking really good though!  It won’t be long until they have their first true leaves and are ready for transplanting!

Winter Sowing - Broccoli

Winter Sowing – Broccoli

Yes, they need thinned out – ALOT!  I didn’t think I seeded that heavily, but obviously I did.

That reminds me of another task I need to complete.  I need to stake the garden off so I can know exactly where the planting areas are according to my planting map.  Yeah, yeah, yeah – that’s the nerd coming out in this gardener.  😀

The Chicken Chronicles

Whew! This was a big week for the chickens!  Saturday was a beautiful day, which could mean only one thing: it was time to get one of the run extensions built!

To give a little history, I have long wanted to build a northern and southern run extension, which when done would triple the run size, allowing the chickens more room to roam when we can’t let them out to play in the yard.  Ultimately, I would love to get to a point where these could be moved so we could actually let some grass grow in a spot, move the run on top of it, and let the chickens decimate eat the grass.  😀  Anyhow, that is a long way off.  This weekend was time to build the Northern Run.

First, I had to get the materials.  People often laugh at me when they see me leaving the home improvement store with 2x4s heading to my economy car, but let me tell you, this little thing can haul stuff!  No, it is not a pickup, which I dearly want, but it it does the trick.  Look at my Toyota Matrix loaded up with 20 2x4s and other building materials!

The Materials in my Amazing Matrix

The Materials in my Amazing Matrix

So I decided to build this run much more sturdy than originally planned.  My original plans were to make this modular, meaning wall panels that could be easily moved, but I decided that a semi-permanent extension was better.  When I say semi-permanent, that doesn’t mean immovable.  It just takes at least two strong people, if not four.  Here’s the eastern and western walls, which provide the basic strength for the run extension:

The East and West Walls

The East and West Walls

It wasn’t long until I had this thing framed up and ready.  You can see by the looks of this, it was not light at all!  It is 6.5 feet wide by 8 feet long.

The Frame

The Frame

One of the main things I wanted in this was a feeding door on top.  The original run has doors on the northern and southern side that lift up.  While this is fine for letting the birds out to play, it isn’t so convenient when you just want to throw some scraps in there for them to eat, as they quickly run out!  It is also a pain when it comes time to change their water or food, as you have to climb into the run, which is under 3 feet tall, to get to the food and water.  With a feeding door on top we can now throw scraps in without them getting out, and we can hang the waterer and feeder from the 2×4 next to the door for easy filling.  Sadly, I only realized after getting far into the project that I will have to put some sort of roof on this to keep the food from getting wet.  Another project for another day.

Easy Access Feeding Door

Easy Access Feeding Door

As mentioned above, we haven’t liked the doors that swing open from the bottom.  This is our new door that will open out to the side.  MUCH more convenient!

Easy Access Recess Door

Easy Access Recess Door

And this is the completed run before we moved it to the coop:

The Completed Northern Run

The Completed Northern Run

Here it is in place on the northern side of the current run.  You can see it effectively doubled the side of the run, giving the girls a lot more area to roam, including the ability to get out in the sun more.

Completed North Run Extension

Completed North Run Extension

After we installed this, the ladies spent the rest of the afternoon poking around in the new area.  I take that as a sign they were happy.  😀

Happy Chickens in the New North Run

Happy Chickens in the New North Run

I was a bit worried they may try to roost outside, as it was such a mild day and evening, but apparently the events of the day had them all tuckered out.  Nine of the ten are on their roosting pole, while the other is on the other side of the coop hanging out by the watering bowl.  Silly bird!

Night, Night.  Nine of the Ten Ladies Calling it a Night.

Night, Night. Nine of the Ten Ladies Calling it a Night.

As if this wasn’t enough excitement, the ladies had another increase in egg laying this week.  It seems the Easter Eggers are getting back in the swing of things.

The next two projects are chunnels (chicken tunnels – you are going to enjoy this when I get to it!) and the southern run extension.  It is going to be a weekend or two (or more!) before I get to those projects though.  There are just too many other things to do.

The Chicken Chronicles

I am not sure I have even seen the chickens except from a distance this week.  Praise God for my lovely wife who has mostly taken care of them.  It has been a bit of a chaotic week that ended with me feeling a bit under the weather.  Thankfully I think that has mostly passed now.

The ladies aren’t feeling under the weather though, it seems.  I have been pleasantly shocked to see more of the Easter Eggers’ eggs in the egg cartons this week.  Even though the days are still short, perhaps they are itching to start laying again.  When I gather eggs I remind them, “I either have egg layers or meat birds, one of the two!”  This reminds me of a cute cartoon I saw sometime back:

Why the Chicken Crossed the Road

 

I decided to validate that they are laying more, and I was wrong!  The Rhode Island Reds have had a good week (20 last week, 22 this week), but the Easter Eggers are actually down from last week (9 last week, 8 this week).  That being said, they are laying more than they were just two weeks ago (2)

One of the big projects I need to get done is expanding the chicken run.  Our birds are fortunate in that we have a decent sized run for them, but they sure do enjoy getting out of the run and stretching their wings.  You ought to see these little ladies when they find some new bugs or worms – it is like Christmas morning to them!  Of course, expanding the run isn’t going to replace that free time out in the yard, but it sure will help us feel a little better about it when we aren’t home to let them out.

The Chicken Chronicles

After yesterday’s post on the BIG weekend, I am sure you know the chickens had an eventful weekend too.  The poor ladies started out pretty scared of all the work that was going on, even staying upstairs in the coop for a while.  After they got used to the front-end loader, they began venturing downstairs, and were as exuberant as ever to get out and run around.  They curiously watched to try to figure out what was going on, but in the end, all they cared about was finding treats amount the wood chips.  😀

The laying is still slow, as I am sure it will be until the days start getting longer, though the Rhode Island Reds are real troopers.  The four of them laid 24 eggs this week, whereas the six Easter Eggers only laid 8 eggs.  This was the whole reason added the Rhode Island Reds to the flock though, as they should continue laying most all winter.

Charity noticed a problem below the coop though.  It seems the ladies are thinking the insulation foamboard I put there is for their dining pleasure.  SIGH.  I don’t think I will work on that today, but sometime I will have to cut it out where it is not within their reach.

One of the next big projects I have it to get a portable chicken run built, so I can actually let them stay out in the yard for extended periods of time without someone watching them.  Ideally, this would allow me to let the work the unplanted garden areas as well, with the chickens aerating and fertilizing the soil while they have fun.  I am thinking of building something out of cattle panels, but I need to work on this more.

There’s never a shortage of things to do, is there?

 

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