Chicks In The Hen-House

Our friends Ruth and Martin did a sterling job of looking after the chicks while we were on holiday - all are fit and well, and appreciably bigger. We have picked them up from their holiday home this afternoon, and they have finally taken up residence in the chicken house and run which we built. We were worried about whether they would be warm enough, but they seem entirely happy out there pecking away, and will be completely under cover and enclosed at night. Fingers crossed!

Chicks On Holiday

As we're about to go away for a couple of weeks, our friends Ruth and Martin have kindly offered to look after the chicks - they have around 30 chickens of their own.

So, here they are in their very plush holiday accommodation. Hopefully by the time we get back at Easter it will be warm enough for them to live outside in their own house in the garden at last.

About A Month Old

Here are the chicks last weekend having a bit of playtime in the utility room. Starting to look like proper chickens, no?

Midnight in the Sunshine

It's a really sunny day today - not that warm in the shade, but in the sun it does feel pretty warm, so Ollie and I just took midnight out for her first view of the outside world - in this case the front doorstep.

Initially a bit uncertain, she soon warmed up and started pecking around - a little taster of the outdoor lifestyle she will have before long ...

I Can Fly ...

Here we have all five birds strolling about in the utility room. The way they move is starting to look very authentically "chicken"! They were also
starting to work out that they can fly, and seemed to be genuinely enjoying flapping about and running around. I think daily exercise is in order ...

Approaching Three Weeks

The chicks are definitely getting bigger now, in fact I don't think we'll be calling them chicks for much longer. This is Sunshine this morning - you can see a lot of feathers developing now, and she looks to be developing a classic Light Sussex pattern - white plumage with black flight feathers.

Our friends Ruth and Martin who have many chickens have agreed to keep our lot in their barn when we are on holiday soon - I expect they will change a lot while we are away.

Midnight and Pig

... and here are Midnight and Pig. The latter is so-called as she looks like a pigeon. Now there are five of them they certainly need cleaning out rather more often ...

We Are Family

So, we got 4 new chicks to make friends with Liquorice. Relations were a bit frosty for a few hours, but they have now decided they can get along. The new ones are 99% guaranteed female, although we're not sure what breed - they were described as hybrid.

I wanted to name them Sunshine, Moonlight, Good Time and Boogie, but the kids didn't. Here you can see Caramel on the left and Sunshine on the right ...

Lonesome Liquorice

Liquorice is about 10 days old now, and thriving well. However, we can't help feeling that he or she would like some company. Julie made some calls yesterday, and has found a poultry farm which has chicks at about the same age, so we're going to go and buy 4 more today. They will be sold as 99% certain girls, so if Liquorice turns out to be a boy we will still have 4, and if not, they can shuffle up a bit and we'll accommodate 5.

You can see proper wing feathers in the picture - if you give the chick something to fly at, like a hand in the brooder box, it will easily get a foot off the ground, which is why we have had to put some chicken wire over the top of the box.

Sad News & Glad News

Very sadly, our first chick Squeak died on Friday. It hadn't been looking very lively for a day or two, and just went downhill. There isn't much you can do for them, and it's very common I think. So, both Sussex chicks have died (Lucky never made it out of the incubator), and we're left with just ONE chick - Liquorice the Barnevelder.

The good news is that its leg hobble fell off on Friday, and it can walk very well now, when before it couldn't at all - much worse than Squeak. Here he or she is having a brief explore of the utility room. We can already see feathers developing on its wing-buds, at only 5 days old!

Meet Liquorice

Here is Liquorice, also on day 2. He or she is a Barnevelder, and as you can see, a totally different colour. This one has much more problematic legs, but as in this picture is able to stand with the help of its band-aid hobble.

I had a band practice last night, and returned at midnight to find a note explaining the hobbling procedure, and instructing me to check whether the plasters were still in place. Squeak's was not - what fun I had making another hobble and fitting it on my own in the middle of the night ...

Meet Squeak

Here is Squeak at about 2 days old, sporting custom-fitted hobble to try to correct the splayed leg problem, alhough his or her legs are not half as bad as Liquorice's.

Other news: Squeak has a second sibling. There was another egg trying to hatch yesterday and all last night. I expected it to be out this morning, but still not. Julie came home from work early and helped it out of its shell - it had all dried up as the shell had been cracked for over 24 hours. It was very bent when first hatched, although is looking more and more normal (for a straggly yellow thing) by the hour. It's another Buff Sussex, and is called ... Lucky.

Construction Complete

Yesterday we got the whole outdoor construction completely finished - adding the final section of chicken wire to the run and re-doing all the wood preserver which washed off when it was too cold to dry properly.

However, it will be some time before the chicks can take up residence, as they are not really hardy for quite a while yet. They need to live indoors for a good few weeks, so the next picture will be of the rudimentary brooder we have made out of a cardboard box!

Chicks Away!

Well it finally happened. When we got up this morning all doubt as to whether we could hear noises in the incubator was dispelled, as the clear sound of cheeping was audible in the next room! One of the eggs was cracked but no chicks were visible.

I had to leave for work, and assumed that the chick would emerge minutes later, but in fact a different chick hatched 11 hours later, and the original cheeper didn't come out until nearly 14 hours later. It looks a bit worn out!

The first to hatch (Squeak) is a Buff Sussex, and the second (Liquorice) a Barnevelder. They are quite noisy - I'm now wondering whether they will keep me awake - they are certainly noisy enough! We're now hoping that they keep hatching, as there are still 13 eggs in there.

Finishing Touches

Today we completely finished all the construction and painting of the chicken house and run. Thanks to Steve Thurlow I found a time lapse mode on my camera so we filmed this video of adding the last chicken wire sections to the run, and Amy finishing the painting of the wood preserver.

Gang Plank

I think that finalises the construction of the chicken house itself - today I made the ramp that the birds will use to get in and out of the house. Thanks to Clive for the inspiration to fasten the cross-batons at an angle - this means that the chicken droppings are more likely to be washed off when it rains! Julie and Amy have been out with their paint brushes re-doing the wood treatment which washed off, and treating the run.

Still no sign of any chicks in the incubator, although Amy and I are both convinced that we have heard tiny sounds of movement from in there. It's getting tense around here ...!

Chicks?

Well, the incubation period is nearly up. There are still admittedly no signs of life at all in the incubator, although I might have heard a little scratchy noise earlier, or maybe it was my ears playing tricks on me. The 21st day of incubation technically starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 3pm which is 20 days exactly since the eggs went in, so let's see ...

Totally Wired (Well, Nearly)

Today I put the chicken wire on the sides of the run - a bit laborious as I had decided to put the wire underneath the cross-pieces for a neater finish. Not sure it was worth the extra effort!

Next time I'll need to sort out the end - obviously there will be no wire on the other end ...

The Run

In a brief window in the winter I did a bit more construction today, finishing the frame for the run. It is 1.8m long as the chicken wire we bought is 90cm wide, so with a strut half way that will make it easy to add the mesh. I made the top cross-pieces a bit longer so they can be used as handles to pull the run around. I found that I needed to add some corner struts to give it a bit more rigidity. I will probably remove the cross-pieces when I put the mesh on for a neater finish. The last piece will be to make the ramp for the chickens to walk up into the house.

The eggs are still incubating - we're about a week in now - nothing notable has happened yet, although Julie's Dad warned us that any eggs which were not fertile will be pretty bad after 3-4 weeks at 37.5 degrees! Apparently they are prone to exploding and have an extreme bad egg smell. Oh goody.

Let It Snow

As things are going to go quiet for the next 3 weeks (unless we drop an egg while turning them), here's a picture of the "chicken chalet" which has resulted from the recent weather conditions, specially designed for the fun-loving ski-chicken. The nearest lift is about 10m away (the trampoline) and the road outside is a black run. Excellent nightlife with many foxy visitors!

Let Incubation Commence

This afternoon Amy and I marked all the eggs with a "X" on one side, and a "O" on the other and placed them all X side up in the incubator. We've made a chart for the next 21 days so that one of us can cross off the turning every 8 hours - 7am, 3pm and 11pm. When the X is showing we will turn them to the right, and when the O is showing, we will turn them to the left. This is apparently to avoid the membranes which hold the embryo being constantly twisted the same way and tightening up. The picture is taken through the "port-hole" in the side of the incubator which is covered with perspex.

Amy and I also did a bit more building later this afternoon - we have measured up the right size for the trapeziums which will be the frames for the run. All those pieces are now cut, but we ran out of screws, so it will be a fairly quick job to fix it all together next time.

Chicken Wire

We're still allowing the eggs to chill out today - I think we'll put them in the incubator this afternoon. In the mean time Amy and I started with the chicken wire, putting on the "panels" at the side of the main house. We took off the bottom roof timber and the cross-piece at the bottom so the wire could be fixed to the frame neatly, and then put the cross-pieces back on for a rather professional finish! It was snowing lightly as we worked ...

The rest of the wire will go onto the run which is the remaining construction challenge.

The Eggs Have Landed

As the incubator arrived during the week, we set it up today and calibrated the thermometer. Against two others it seemed to be 2 degrees under, so we have the heater set so the thermometer is reading 35.5 centigrade, which is really 37.5 - the ideal temperature apparently.

We then went to Perfect Poultry in Lightwater where they had loads of birds - lots of beautiful varieties. We came away with 15 eggs of various types, so we'll just have to see what comes out!

The man there took us to see his hatching shed - we saw chicks in their brooders, and then he opened an incubator and pulled out a couple of eggs which were just starting to hatch. The kids held them in their hands, and you could feel them wriggling about inside the egg, and if you held it to your ear you could hear them cheeping.

The picture shows the eggs resting after their transit next to the incubator. They will go in tomorrow, and then we have 21 days of turning them every 8 hours.

Chicken Furniture

While Amy was painting away, Ollie and I made the nesting boxes and the perch. That's pretty much all the building done for the house itself - the run is the final step.

Julie is planning to buy an incubator on ebay, so hopefully we will get some eggs very soon ...

Weather Proofing

The weather has been terrible this week, so we took the brief opportunity yesterday to put the sealant in the ridge join and get some fence protector onto the wood. It has been very cold since, and started raining in the night, so I think some of it might have been washed off again!

The Final Door

This picture shows the human access end with both doors complete. The doors both slot down into "holders" and then require a simple fixing at the top to secure them. The holders and the door handles are all made of short sections of the same timber-with-corner-cutout used for the chicken door runners. With complete foresight we would have worked out the total length of this required and made it all in one circular saw run.

As a slight modification to Clive's design, we fixed two extra vertical timbers between ground and floor height, so that the outer pieces of the lower end are fixed ply, and only the centre section is a removable door. This was mainly because we couldn't get a single piece of ply big enough for the bottom section out of the remains of our 8'x4' ply sheet, but also makes the lower door lighter and a less awkward shape to handle.

It went dark again by the time we finished on the Sunday, so some end-of-day-two pictures will follow.

Chicken Access End

Ollie fixed on the chicken access end of the run. This includes another vent, runners for the door, and the door itself on a pull cord. We also realised that we needed a cross-piece underneath the door for it to close down onto rather than falling unceremoniously to the floor. The runners were made from 2x1 timber, with a corner cut out using 2 cuts from a circular saw to create the slots for the door to slide in.

Human Access End

Amy screwed on this fixed top part of the human-access end of the ark. Note the pleasing soffit vent for intruder-free ventilation! You can also see that we attached the roof timbers slightly asymmetrically to allow one to butt against the other - the join will be sealed with some exterior joint seal if it stops raining ...

Day Two

As it was dark when we finished construction on Saturday (!), here is a Sunday morning picture of where we got to - essentially A frames, floor and roof. You can see that the carrying handles are made of two longer pieces of the roofing timber, with some minor shaping with a jigsaw.

Stage 1 Complete

Here is the end of the first stage, with the floor in place, and 3 A-frames in place. The whole thing is an exactly equilateral triangle, with all internal angles at 60 degrees.

There is an extra cross-piece at floor level on the end A-frames which is flush with the side pieces as well as the one screwed on from the back, as we will need this to fix the door latches onto.

There is also a cross-piece quite near the top on the (human) door end, as this part of the end wall will be fixed, but the rest will lift out.

Construction Begins

As Julie's parents are staying with us this weekend, it seemed a shame not to get started, so the sawing and fixing began. First we made 2 A-frames for either end, both with a cross-piece around 50cm from the bottom onto which the floor of the house would be fixed. We then worked out the length of the floor from the shiplap roof pieces which I'd had pre-cut by the timber yard at 110cm.

Having made some cut-outs in the floor piece for the A-frames, we then joined the floor to the A-frames. The third A-frame (no bottom cross-piece) was then constructed "around" the floor so that the floor would have support in the centre.

Before starting to put the roof on, we used the now-assembled structure to mark out the pieces of plywood we would need for the end walls.

A Delivery ...

OK, so now I've caught up with the present. I ordered the timber for the construction a couple of days ago (note the excellent combination of imperial and metric measurements!):

2 x 1 timber: 55m

4 x 1 timber: 6m

6 x 1 timber: 1m

22 m 150mm wide shiplap for roof (2 x 1.5m; 18 x 1.1m)

An 8' x 4' sheet of 9mm hardwood ply

2 x soffit vents

I guess I will update on whether this turned out to be the correct order.

All of this came from Champion timber in Edenbridge, and cost £124. I guess the eggs will pay back in about 20 years. I don't even like eggs ...

Anyway, today the wood was delivered, disappointingly left on the drive, so task no.1 was to carry it around the back of the house - the kids were keen to join in which was an encouraging start!

Making Plans

Last Saturday, Ollie and I drove down through a beautifully frosty Ashdown forest to visit Clive, Jill and family in Newick for me to take pictures and measurements of their chicken house which Clive built last year. Clive revealed that he studied technical drawing for a while, and I went away with some most excellent hand-drawn plans and accompanying measurements.

Here is a picture of their chicken house and run ...

Chicken House

I am starting this blog as my wife Julie has persuaded me to get chickens, so as a post-Christmas present I have decided to construct a chicken house as a project with our kids Amy and Ollie. Huge thanks must go to my friend and co-musician Clive Saunders who inspired me with the design for the construction ...