We had all the supplies for a few days but the weather and our schedule was not cooperating until Thursday! But’s that’s okay, we managed to get the post holes dug and posts set the day before and then we got to work. We all three worked on the inside to build the hen tunnel, and then while Maggie finished it up, Jessy and I got the fencing up around the yard. It’s a lovely size, 10 foot wide by 35 feet long. It will give the egg flock a very nice area to hang out, sunbath and scratch for bugs. I might dig up a few of the tiger lillies, but then I might not, we have them ALL over the place and I’m hoping that the chickens might leave them alone. The free range flock and the sheep are not interested in them… they would be pretty blooming in there!
Inside, we just constructed a rectangle, with supports and a solid floor. We covered the sides with chicken wire and secured it against the sides of the coop and the sides of the building. It’s very sturdy and does not move, so the hens will feel secure. It’s at the back of the area, so it won’t interupt the flow on the west side of the building as much. The east side is completely free of any hen tubes… haha… We also made it so that just a couple screws and if can be moved if need be for any thing like concrete laying or whatever we might like to do that would need access. But right now, I can’t think of anything!
I think that we pretty much exhausted all our jokes about going into the light and crossing over and ah, whatever other funny thing you want to add. Oh yeah, walking the chicken plank… haha… we were quite amused at our cleverness for sure.
But of course, the chickens did not embrace the hen tube at all, and in fact they were not thrilled at all and pretty much huddled in the far corner. So, once more Maggie climbing in with her babies and began selectively catching and shoving them down into the tube. We figured if you got enough hens to go through, they would catch on pretty quickly. They are pretty smart, really, and we knew they would love to be outside.
Jessy build the little ramp outside and at first it was too steep. So she added the block. And it was still a wee bit too steep for most of the ladies. Instead of a ramp it was more like a slide with bumps. We’ll be adding a few more cleats to make it less theme park oriented for the ladies. And painting it purdy too… But this little hen was the first caught and the first pushed through to the other side.
In the end, she opted to jump off, rather than use the slide! Poor lady! But once out, she immediately began scratching and eating grass and just wandering about, a very happy hen! So Maggie sent a few others through… and the roo brothers, Argent and Flipper!
Who promptly voted that it was too high and scary. But finally took the jump and got out into the sunshine and did a little chicken stuff. It’s hard to retrain vampire chickens that live in the darkness! (haha….) Okay, it was only partial darkness for awhile, the sun does shine inside there pretty nicely in the late morning and all, but until we get a few more windows and such in there, it is fairly shady.
Well, about half the flock made it out for a little while that evening. And hopefully, they will tell the others all about the adventure when they got pushed back through the hole. We would have liked to let them come and go at will, but we still need to get the hawk netting up to keep undesirables out and also to help keep these ladies in. Already Bucka figured out that he could fly over the fence and entertain the new ladies with his little dance of love, but we shooed him out. These girls are working girls, but not that kind of work. They have a job and it’s laying eggs for Maggie’s Empire!
We just bought the netting tonight and hopefully, if it’s slightly warm and not raining… we will install that and then they can be free to come and go to their hearts content. We want to add a few more finishing touches over the next few days and make it uniquely Windhaven! This year is going to be the year of finesse! The year to dress up the place and give it a fun touch of whimsy and personality. We’re just about got all the major MUST DO fixes done… (yeah, water… last issue! Should be soon….) but after that, we are working on making the place cute and fun, not too frilly, but with a touch of whimsy and fun. Maggie wants to get a couple metal poultry signs to decorate the side of the poultry barn and I want to plant a few bushes and such that chickens and sheep don’t eat around it. And we just want to do that all over the place… I can’t wait to start adding perennials to the courtyard!!! That is going to be fun.
And in the end, Cody pony approves…
And that is good enough in my book!
Phase Three is going to be reestablishing that wall behind Cody. All that wood framing was rotten and nasty, so the plan is to replace the footing boards and put up new 2 x 4 supports. And Junior has a couple nice windows that we’ll frame in there for some light and breezes and if we can, we’d like to add some of those greenhouse clean panels to let in lots of nice light. But first, the framing so the roof doesn’t fall in! First things first, you know…
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