New Chicks, New Pen

New Chicks, New Pen

The  day old chicks I ordered from Mt Healthy Hatchery  were mailed April 4th  and I was ready for them.  I had ordered 25 Araucanas (the ones that lay blue/green eggs) and 25 Golden Comet (for big brown eggs) pullets to supplement my old laying hens  and they are including 25 free heavy breed roosters.

25 Each of Golden Comet and Aracauna Pullets, Plus 25 Buff Orpington Roosters
25 Each of Golden Comet and Aracauna Pullets, Plus 25 Buff Orpington Roosters

I figure I may as well grow my own chicken to eat. It is bound to be healthier than store bought.

A couple of weeks in advance I set up the two small bitty pens I use out in the barn with brooder lamps, waterers and feeders and fresh hay on the wire floors. When the bitties arrived I split them into two groups, each with a Mama lightbulb. It was still getting below freezing at night so I stapled plastic up partway on the sides and opened it some on warmer days.

Second Bittie Box
Second Bittie Box
Tight Quarters With Mama Lightbulb
Tight Quarters With Mama Lightbulb

Then I started working on the rest of the barn. I had to tear off the 6 mil plastic I had stapled up for snowstorm Jonas this winter. It really helped to keep the wind and snow out of the barn and Mara and the chickens were much warmer and dryer than they would have been without it.

Barn with new plastic wind guard
Barn with new plastic wind guard

This photo was earlier this winter after the Jonas storm.

A couple of years ago I built a new metal roof over my chicken pen with three clear panels for sunlight. I was supposed to finish the job by taking down the outside chicken wire wall and ceiling and instead extending the wire all the way up to the roof. The roof was originally eight feet tall and made of flat chicken wire. Since I now have some time at home, being unemployed since January, I am finally going to complete this job.

Happy Chickens with plastic windbreak
Happy Chickens with plastic windbreak- Old pen

At the same time, I also needed to do the entire spring barn cleaning   and haul the mostly composted chicken manure to the garden.

Hauling Out the Chicken Compost
Hauling Out the Chicken Compost

It  has always been a little difficult to get to the inside of the chicken house because the doors into the yard and the door into the interior roost are both narrow. I remedied this by demolishing a wall between the chickens and a storage room, which has a nice big door. I turned this added space into new roosting, feeding and laying quarters for the laying hens.

New Roost for Layers
New Roost for Layers

I recently bought and set up two 160 foot rolls of electric poultry netting from Premier so my hens would be safe from our outrageous foxes when I am not here to watch them.

Woven, Electric Chicken/ Fox Fence
Woven, Electric Chicken/ Fox Fence
320 Feet of Electric Poultry Fence
320 Feet of Electric Poultry Fence

I had also cut them a little chicken door to get outside. All of this was dirty work and required a mask.

Dust Mask
Dust Mask

So, after the laying hens were all re-situated, I tore down all the old wire, pulling out each and every staple and piling up any reusable wood.

Salvedge Pile for Chicken Pen
Salvage Pile for Chicken Pen

I had saved some super heavy duty, expanded metal mesh from some old greenhouse bench tops to use on the lower half of the new run. The upper portion of wire is heavy gauge, green painted, tennis court wire which I salvaged from a garden client many years ago. It was old when I got it, having been used to fence in a wooden floored tennis court that I think may have been made in the 1950’s. It is still going strong. I have  also been using some green painted lumber from that same tennis court, along with two doors.

I built a travois looking roost in the new pen.

New Roosting Poles
New Roosting Poles

It took me about three days just to do the demo and cleanup, then another three to build it back. It looks so much better now and I built  a cleanout door into the covered run as well, so it will be easier to clean next time.

New Chicken Pen
New Chicken Pen

The chicks are three weeks old in this photo and have just been moved into the big pen from their little cages. They still have Mama lightbulb and a nest box though.

Morning Sun in the Bittie Run
Morning Sun in the Bittie Run

And yes, I finally broke down and brought home three baby ducks from the feed store too. I resisted for years.

Sun Glow Duckling
Sun Glow Duckling
four weeks old
four weeks old

All the babies are growing, although I am now in the process of dealing with a rat problem that I did not realize I had. I also had no idea that a rat would eat a baby chick. Now I know and things are getting buttoned up even tighter in the barn. It has never seen such cleaning. I am now digging up the dirt floors in the main part of the barn and redoing all that as well. When I get done, it will all be good. This is one of those jobs that had been put off for all those years I was working too hard for somebody else. Now, it gets done right.

-Wendy lee, writing at Edgewisewoods

 

3 thoughts on “New Chicks, New Pen”

  1. Now I know why you don’t have an ounce of fat on you! You certainly work hard WendyLee. It is exhausting just reading about what you do in a day! I am so proud of you my little cousin! You are a true pioneer woman! It’s not the lifestyle for me…haha,but I sure do enjoy reading about it…thanks

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