Tag: run

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On February 10, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Posted by Steve On January 20, 2015

As mentioned yesterday, this was a big week with the chickens – the annual changing of the litter! (listening for hens everywhere to start cheering) It isn’t quite as gross as it sounds. We use the deep-litter method with our hen house, which means I fill the coop with a very thick layer of oak leaves once a year. During the year the hens poop in it, stir it up, aerate it, tear it up, and cause it to compost. This means you never really have a strong smell, but instead you have soil being built. However, you must change that out periodically, not only for the hens, but for you to have the benefits of it. This past weekend was that time.

Okay, here is what it looked like before we began:

Year-Old Chicken Litter

You may notice it was not thick everywhere. That is because of the hole in the floor. The silly ladies knock the leaves down into the bottom of the coop, into the run, over time. I typically then use a pitchfork to move it from the run back to the coop to keep a good thick layer there. I haven’t really stated it yet, but as I understand it, the thick layer is essential to give enough dry brown material to keep the stench down. It is really much like composting.

I first moved all the old chicken litter out of the coop and the run while the ladies were out stretching their wings:

Chicken Litter/Compost

You can see how much compost this created in a year, and this is far better compost than you might get from any store. It is all organic, all homegrown. I know what is in this compost, and I know it is good.

I then took a large pile of leaves that were good and dry, and I move them into the coop and run. I know this looks like it would be uncomfortable for the chickens, and it may be, but it won’t stay this way for long. I happen to think they enjoy it though, digging through all this new material looking for any sort of life (read: bugs) that might be in it. As I said, it won’t stay this way for long though. Soon the leaves will become shred under their constant picking and foraging, and it will pack down. Anyhow, here is what it looks like in the coop:

Fresh Oak Leaf Chicken Litter

I also put it in the run because I need plenty of material to add to the coop throughout the year. It is essential to keep a thick layer there. As the litter in the coop runs this, I will scoop some from the run up into the coop. Believe it or not, this will all be smashed down to a thin layer in just a few days.

The only other thing going on with the hens this week is a bit of an upswing in egg product. Last week was eggs, whereas this week we had 29, and 9 of them were Easter Eggers! If we compare that to last week, we see the Rhode Island Reds laid the same amount (20) and the Easter Eggers upped their production by 7 eggs! Go Easter Eggers! It won’t be long until we see those numbers really jumping up. I am very anxious for that.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On January 13, 2015

Whoa! Talk about a tough week for relatively new owners of outdoor chickens – this week has been one of the hardest so far. We had an some unusually cold weather come through the region this week, like much of the country, and it really challenged my thinking on taking care of the ladies.

If we step back a short month or two ago, we had some temperatures in the high teens, and at that point in time I chose to attempt to heat the coop with a red heat lamp. It was obvious the birds did not like the light, and I didn’t feel it was helping that much anyhow. When they started talking about single digit temperatures this past week, I was really puzzling over what I would do.

We had already insulated the coop with plastic on most inside walls, which helped more than the red heat lamp in my opinion, but it still was not enough for single digit temperatures, at least it wasn’t enough to make me feel comfortable. I wasn’t worried about our hens dying, but I was worried about the Rhode Island Reds getting frostburn on their combs and waddles. They are cold hardy bird, but that exposed skin worried me. The Easter Eggers, on the other hand, do not have much exposed skin, so I wasn’t too worried about them.

I spent some time reading up online to see what others had chosen to do, and it seemed I wasn’t the only one suffering from indecision. I think it is because most chicken owners look at their birds as pets that happen to lay eggs. That is certainly how they are seen here. I was able to find references of folks who used the red heat lamps as I had done before, and others who used other heaters, but the resounding message from the experienced chicken owners was that people worried too much. I found examples of people who lived in some very cold places who had never heated their coops, and from what I could tell, if you could keep the wind out and the coop dry inside, the birds would likely be fine. So, I decided that was what I would do.

Even so, there was a small concern: water. How would I keep the water from freezing? I decided to use a heated growing mat under their water dish to try to slow down the freezing. When that didn’t seem as effective as I had hoped, we surrounded the water bowl with some insulation (old towels in plastic bags), which seemed to help quite a bit.

Second, we took a large tarp and draped it over the coop on three sides and part of the fourth. This provided two things: a reduction in airflow and a insulation.

The Coop Wrapped in a Tarp

I was shocked at how well this seemed to do. Thankfully we had built the coop with enough ventilation at the top that even with three sides covered, there was plenty of ventilation for the moisture to escape. This seems to be one of the largest concerns. I read a great piece of advice that said if you notice frost on the inside walls of your coop, you have too much moisture. We did not notice that at all.

After a day or so, I began to be a little concerned at the lack of light in the coop. I didn’t want to introduce the extra heat or risk of fire, but I wanted to add some light in there, so I mounted a fixture on the ceiling and put an LED bulb in it to help with the light.

The temperatures did get very cold, with two days being in the singe digits. If it didn’t hit 0° F, it sure came close. When I woke one morning it was 1° F, and I suspect it had been colder. The second wave didn’t get quite as cold, but it was still single digits.

A several things I noticed through all this. First, there was no frostburn, and the ladies seem little bothered by the cold. Second, they miss their recess breaks out roaming the yard. Third, I think they like the light during their daytime hours. Fourth, the Easter Eggers are either smarter than the Rhode Island Reds, or they need more heat. Why would I say that? Because those little ladies finally started roosting on the big plastic container which contained by heated growing mat and the water bowl. ALL SIX of them made this their sleeping quarters. 😀

Easter Egger Hens Huddling Around the Water/Heating Pad

Easter Egger Huddle

The big plastic container is to keep their water from spilling into the coop’s bedding. The heating pad is in the big plastic container. There is a 1 gallon water bowl in the big container, and it is surrounded by towels to hold in the heat as much as possible. The hens are either in the container, on the side, or at the edge.

Thankfully this bitter cold spell is over, but I feel better about future cold spells now that we have been through this one. I am sure the birds do too.

Oh, even throughout the cold spell, the Rhode Island Reds continued laying, though I think the numbers were a little less than they have been. Perhaps that was due to the decreased lighting for a few days. I show the Rhode Island Reds laid 20 eggs this week, and the Easter Eggers laid 3.

Yesterday Charity let the hens out to play for a while, and they were thrilled. I guess they had cabin fever after being locked up for so many days. Freckles must have really been that way. As we were trying to get them back into the coop, she flew up into a tree! This is at least twice as high as I have seen a chicken fly, if not three times the height:

Freckles in a Tree

We finally got her down though after threatening to clip her wings and poking her with the blunt end of a pole pruner. 😀

Oh, I also had to repair the coop some yesterday. Both doors to the run had boards that had broken which was causing the doors to not be able to be propped open easily. Both are fixed now, though I sure wish they would break in warmer weather next time.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On January 6, 2015

Whoa! Tonight and tomorrow night are going to be interesting nights around the homestead with regards to the chickens. It is supposed to get down to the low temperature so far for the season, a bitter cold 6 degrees F. WHOA! I have read and read and read on this, and the experts say to not worry about the chickens. If they have a draft free coop, they will be fine. Furthermore, the experts mostly advise against heating the coop, which I have already done once this year, as it is a tremendous fire hazard. I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little bit worried. Two things I have read give me comfort though. First, the wild birds make it without the conveniences these birds have. Second, each one of these birds basically carries a down filled coat at all times. I guess I feel better about 16 degrees F after the last couple of bitter cold spells, and after this one I will feel better about single digits.

There are several changes coming up with the chicken pen. The next one, which might happen in as little as two weeks, is an extension on one side of the run. This will serve a couple of purposes. First, it will give the chickens more area to move around, but more importantly, it will allow me to attach a chicken tunnel to the run. A chicken tunnel, or a chunnel, is basically a small semi-circle that runs wherever you wish it to run in your yard, allowing the chickens easy space to stretch their legs and beat boredom. It also gets them out into the grass more, which allows them to supplement their diet with more bugs and greenery, both of which are important for healthy eggs.

Speaking of eggs, I am so ready for the days to lengthen where the Easter Eggers will start laying regularly again. They are producing almost nothing at all, and the four Rhode Island Reds are having trouble keeping up with the egg demands of this house. 😀

Oh, speaking of eggs, I thought I would give an overview of the laying for 2014:

Easter Eggers (6): 313/2.07 a day/3.28 eggs per week, per bird
Rhode Island Reds (4): 425/2.81 a day/4.92 eggs per week, per bird

So basically our flock of ten produced 61.5 dozen eggs since August 3, when they started laying. Not bad.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On September 2, 2014

The ladies have really stepped it up this week. Their previous record on eggs was 25 a week, and this week they layed seven more, upping that record to 32! The most interesting thing is the Easter Eggers are hardly laying at all yet. They are only averaging 2.3 eggs a week per bird, and once they are laying at full capacity this should be around 5 eggs a week per bird.

Oh, I do have an egg pic to share this week. This is from their record day of SEVEN EGGS!

Seven eggs! This is the most we have gotten in a single day to this point.

Even though the run is secure, we have always locked the ladies in their coop at the end of the day. I figure that this is an added layer of security if a raccoon or opossum gets into the run during the night. Well, about a week or so ago we found two birds hanging out below the coop in the run when we went down to let them out in the morning! These two ladies had presumably suffered all night outside of the coop. Determined this would never happen again, we have been diligently watching for this at night. Well, on Saturday night when we went down to shut the door, there were two of the Easter Eggers sleeping on a roosting pole in the run! Those silly ladies! We ended up leaving the door open that night, but going forward we will pull that roosting pole out toward the end of the day to prevent this from happening again.

The ladies are getting more brave. I might have mentioned this last week, but I will say it here again. In the past, they would stay all together and relatively close to the run when we let them out to stretch their wings and eat some grass. In fact, let me back up. In the beginning, we would move them from the run to a dog cage, where they could get fresh grass, but be protected. As soon as we were confident that they could take care of themselves, we began letting them run in the yard, but what did they do? They ran to the dog cage! Finally they got past that, and then they would all hang close to the run together. Then they started wandering a little further away, but generally together. Now they are going all over the back yard, and sometimes they are going solo. It’s nice to see them getting more brave, but it also makes it harder to round them up to go back in the run.

All this typing about them running around the yard is making me long for the proper homestead property even more. One day …

365 Days of Me