Cluckingham Palace

It all started with my modest little coop that I ended up adding on to.

(because of chicken math- you go to get 2 chickens, end up bringing home 4).

But our modest little coop was turning 8 years old,

and it just wasn't in good shape any more.  

Wood began to rot, and it was time for a replacement.

So we headed over to the local big box hardware store,

and 3 large carts later, we started the new 8x10' shed for the chickens.

Big E and I spent some time checking out some of the sheds at a local retail shed lot.

We took measurements and made notes on what we liked and didn't like.

Mostly I took notes on what I liked and didn't like.

And then the work began.

We used pressure treated lumber for the pieces closest to the ground and

put those on top of cinder blocks to help prevent rot.

One the floor joists were done, we laid out the floor.

Then we started the process of putting up the walls

and the roof trusses.

It was a whole family effort.

My son in law, grandson, son and mom all helped get it completed.

We had a deadline of the beginning of November

because I already had 3 new Guineas coming and had purchased 

early bird tickets for a local chicken swap

hoping to score some more birds.

 

Wasn't too long before we had the T1-11 siding going on

and the plywood being put on the roof.

Once the shingles were on, we only had to build a door, 

nesting boxes and roosting bars to be fully functional.

We used the 2 small windows from our old coop to put on the front.

We have plenty of roosting space and nesting boxes for additional birds.

I now keep 50 pounds of feed in a metal trash can in the coop.

We also used the old PVC feeders from the old coop only now they are completely inside the coop

instead of being on the outside.

The waterer made out of a 5 gallon bucket with side nipples is also kept in the coop.

We have a sliding door that we can raise and lower without going into the coop or run. 

It works on a rope run through eye bolts that can be tied to a cleat on the side of the coop to keep it open.

We weren't able to build the permanent run before the weather changed, 

but we've utilized the existed fencing, some netting and T-Posts 

from a temporary run we had to make a run they can be safe from 

most predators during the day.

At night they're all locked up tight in the coop.

We still have some finishing touches to do.

We plan on installing 3 more larger windows (18"x22") 

on each of the other walls to provide more natural light and ventilation in the summer. 

I'd like a small loft built to provide an area to store the 

bales of shavings and straw to keep them up off the floor.

I also want to install linoleum on the floor to protect the wood from moisture

and make it easier to clean and disinfect when needed.

And of course, we need a secure run.

We finished just in time for all the new birds.

I call the shed

Cluckingham Palace. 

So far it houses 3 Guineas King Richard, Beatrice and Eugenie,

the 4 original hens- 2 Barred Rocks Louise and Bertha, the Light Brahma Daisy and the Naked Neck who is still unnamed.

I've added a blue laced red Wyandotte, a standard white silkie,

an orange and white Satin Silkie named Beaker, a bantam silkie named Fuzzball, 2 Salmon Favorelles- one named Jaws the other nameless, an Ameraucana still unnamed and a black bantam cochin my friend had to rehome who we think is going to be called Raven Lucretia.

She's kind of a bad ass. 

I have 3 more pullets coming in a couple of weeks:

another Ameraucana, another Light Brahma and a Blue Rock.

I'm sure there will be many more chicken posts to come in the near future along with some updates about things around the house.

We've been pretty busy around here!

Winterizing the Coop

Tuesday I finally managed to get the chicken coop 

ready for winter.

I had already put the heated waterer in the coop, 

but I hadn't managed to get the plastic sheeting up.

With a deep freeze forecasted for today and tomorrow, 

it was important to get the run covered.

I left some areas open to offer some ventilation,

and to allow the chickens to see out.

If there is a bad storm forecasted or some seriously cold weather,

I'll cover up these areas temporarily.

I only have 2 chickens left, 

so they don't have the ability to generate as much warmth

as, say, 10 chickens.

This is the only pullet I have left from the 4 I ordered online.

She ended up pecking her fellow pullet coop mate to death.

It seems that my Jersey Giant hen was preventing 

the two pullets from getting to the food.

I've named this pullet Donner.

As in the Donner Party. 

I'm not going to bother with any more baby chicks.

I'm just waiting for April to roll around so I can head out to the Poultry Swap

and grab some more pullets ready for the coop.

New Feeders

A few days ago, 

my chicken feeder decided to crack.

I kept it together with some baling twine, 

but it eventually just ended up breaking apart.

You can see the broken feeder in the above photo lying on the ground.

This is the before photo.

The new PVC feeders are going to be attached here.

We removed wire and replaced it with a piece of plywood.

This provides a weather barrier for the feeders,

and for the chickens.

It offers a wind break and protection from storms, 

as most of the nasty weather and wind comes from the west.

The ends of the feeders are made of a 90 degree 

and a 45 degree attachment.

The added 45 degree piece prevents the food from spilling out on the ground.

We measure the PVC pipe making sure to leave room

to be able to easily remove the cap at the top to refill.

Inserted the bottom portion of the feeder into the precut holes in the plywood

and glued the PVC pipe into the pieces

(I have no idea what they're called).

Once all the pieces were glued together, 

we used attacher thingies to attach the pipe to the side of the coop.

You'll notice that we placed a piece of scrap wood

(it was a garden stake)

between the upper portion of the pipe

and the coop wall.

This kept the pipe out away from the wall so the cap could be taken off easily.

The finished product

(minus the caps which were put on after filling the pipes).

The two pipes hold almost 1/3 of a bag of feed combined.

We had enough pipe left that we can add a third feeder

once we get all the attachments we need.

I also plan on adding a PVC oyster shell feeder as well, 

but I'll (or more accurately, Big E will) be using thinner PVC.

My overall opinion is that we should have done this sooner.

It is a fairly inexpensive feeder system

(we spent about $30 for the PVC pieces)

and it only took about 20-30 minutes to get it all put together.  

It holds more food than the feeders you purchase at feed stores,

and the food isn't wasted since the chickens can't scratch it out of the tube.

They also can't get the food dirty. 

It also frees up floor space.

There was no problem with the chickens finding or figuring out the new food system either.

Definitely something I'd recommend!

What's Going On

Things have been busy.

I say that, and part of me doesn't even know what I've been doing to feel so busy.

All I know is, one minute it was May, 

 and then suddenly it's the middle of July and my summer is nearly gone.

Things have been so busy that our garden has been neglected.

It looked more like "The Garden of Weedin"

than anything that might actually produce edible vegetables.

It might surprise you to know that this photo was taken only a few days after Big E 

and I weeded the left half of the garden.

It took 2 days and a total of about 6 hours,

but we finally got the thing weeded!

I also found my nemesis: squash bugs on some plants.

This year my plan of attack is to use diatomaceous earth combined with

using duct tape sticky side out to pull eggs and bugs off plants.

It's best to try to do that every other day.

Yesterday I found Squash bugs, cucumber beetles and squash beetles on the squash, cucumbers and

whatever volunteers we have growing in various places 

(possibly pumpkin, watermelon and cantaloupe, it'll be a surprise).

Hopefully I can get a handle on things so they don't get out of control.

You'd think these chickens would like to eat some plump, juicy bugs out of my garden.

But all they want to do is dig up my beets so they can roll in the dirt

and eat the leaves off things.

I'm not ashamed to say that I take pleasure it squirting them with the hose while I'm watering.

This little guy was the first ever baby chick hatched the old fashioned way at the homestead.

Unfortunately, he didn't live longer than a couple of days.  

I had a total of 3 chicks emerge from eggs and none survived.

I'm hoping I get to the bottom of that problem 

as I would like to add to the flock when needed

by letting my hens do the work 

and not having to bring babies into the house in the brooder.

If anyone has any advice, that would be great.

We also now have a bunny.

This is Harvey.

He's named after the 6 foot tall invisible rabbit in the old James Stewart movie.

James Stewart played a man who talked to the invisible rabbit.

He was thought to be insane.

Draw your own conclusions.

Harvey's only job is to amuse me.

He also likes to torment my 2 year old grandson 

by chewing on and stealing toys.

Here he is resting amongst his spoils of war.

I haven't been able to take photos of the bathroom.

That's next on my list-

really, I've resorted to lists of things I need to update on the blog.

Problem with the bathroom is that there is no longer light in there now that the old window opening has been boarded up. 

But, we do have the wires run for the outlets and lights

(and I just thought I might ask the hubby to add and outlet along a wall I don't think I told him I wanted before he ran the wires.... ooops).

So hopefully in the next day or two, 

I'll share the bathroom updates that have happened.

Making Hay

I haven't actually been making hay,

but the saying "make hay while the sun is shining" refers 

to getting stuff done- in my case literally when the sun is shining.

In May I think it rain about 85% of the time

making outside work impossible.

Big E and I installed a new sturdier, taller chicken run in the rain.

l to r: Royal Farms, Louise and Vader the Roo

The girls (and the roo) aren't very happy about confinement of any sort

even if it's a very large grassy area.

I guess it's one of those

"The manure is better on the other side of the fence" deals for them.

We wanted to do something to allow them some freedom and space 

without offering them up as a fox buffet during kit season.

So far (knock wood) it seems to be working.

Nutsy enjoying some watermelon

I try to keep them happy with special treats

like watermelon rinds.

Still, the minute the treat is devoured,

they're back to demanding release from the prison yard.

In the nicer weather, 

Big E and I have finally been able to get the veggie garden tilled.

Because we are also busy at the house, we are keeping this year's garden smaller.

I have beets, radishes, cukes, beans, peppers, squash and tomatoes.

There is room for something else but I'm not sure yet what I'll add,

possibly just some additional tomatoes or peppers.

We also managed to finish digging out the new garden beds at our house.

Now I just need to get some stuff planted in them.

A local new-to-me nursery was having a BOGO sale on plants,

so my mom and I headed out and loaded up the car.

They're still sitting by the garage at the moment,

because I have so much that needs getting done I haven't gotten to them yet.

I'm hoping that I can find time to get that done,

so I can share the progress on the gardens.

I'm happy to report that I was able to get the rest of the milkweed that I needed,

and I can start the Monarch Waystation Certification process.

In other news, 

the bathroom is nearly completely gutted.

I haven't managed to get any photos of that process since it has mostly happened

during the day while I'm at work.  

Thanks to my dad. 

The Hen That Wasn't

This is Vader-Vulcan,

my supposed Brahma Hen.

A couple of weeks ago, Big E mentioned one of the hens making loud

weird noises.

I suggested perhaps she was doing the egg laying song

(known to be much louder than typical hen clucking).

Days after that, 

my mom tells me that one of the hens is making weird noises

that sound almost like a rooster.

I suggested it might be a rooster,

and my mom assured me that it wasn't.

Then I went down the barn.

For now, the rooster is staying.

He hasn't shown any mean tendencies, 

and so far my parents haven't complained about the crowing.

Apparently, he's not a morning rooster.

I'm hoping that he helps with protecting the flock.

Snowbirds

I went over to take care of the chickens yesterday evening.

They were in the coop until I showed up, then they wanted to hang out with me.

We took a stroll down to the barn.

It cracks me up how they follow me around.

Mostly they stuck to the grassy paths, 

except Royal Farms.

She opted to go where no chicken has gone before.

Before leaving, 

we noticed Louise never left the coop.

Seems the leg band she had slipped down and had cut her leg.

So we had to do some emergency first aid.

She was quite content to lay in my husband's arms.

I imagine not having to put any pressure on the leg and being warm had something to do with it.

After some antibacterial ointment

and blue camo vet wrap, she was ready to go.

I'll have to keep an eye on her leg,

but I'm sure she'll be fine.

Calm Before the Storm

Not sure if you've heard, 

but there's a big snow storm bearing down on the East Coast.

Snow totals keep changing,

I'm expecting to measure snow in feet.

This morning on the way to work,

the sky was red and I thought of that old mariner's rhyme

"Red sky at night, sailors delight,

red sky at morning, sailors take warning"

It's been all about preparing these last few days.

I've pulled out my hand crank weather radio, 

washed blankets

and stocked up on bread milk and toilet paper.

Last night was all about prepping the chickens.

I finished covering the run in plastic sheeting

to prevent it from filling with snow

and to offer protection from the winds.

The food and water were filled and the

coop was cleaned and filled with shavings and straw.

I also put straw in the run to offer something to scratch around in and some insulation.

They have 3 suet blocks for added calorie intact and sunflower seeds.

I also hung a cabbage to offer a boredom buster.

Hopefully all these preparations ensure the girls will be safe and secure

through the storm.  

Sign of the Times

The Hubby went to get a bag of chicken feed 

and Purina was giving away tin signs with a purchase.

So he picked this one for me.

He thought it was going on the coop.

It's going in the kitchen.

Then There Were Six

 Sadly, we had another chicken fatality last week.  Poor Pansy the blue laced Barnevelder succumbed to the fox.  There was some confusion as to who exactly became fox food.  I was concerned it was one of the two left that I had raised this spring.  Luckily, those two survived (which is a minor miracle as those two tend to be the most adventurous of the bunch).
While I'm disappointed I lost Pansy, she was not very friendly and was quite difficult to catch. Not to mention her skittish nature, which is how she earned her name (because she was a pansy not because of anything related to the flower). 
Just means there will be one more chick in the brooder in 2016.

And in other news, I'm slightly closer to being able to share The Big News.  I'm hoping to be able to share with everyone all the new developments by the end of the week- if things go the way I want them to.  I have no patience and keeping this news to myself is killing me!