The Chicken Chronicles

Well we have been down at the chickens working more on their yard. John has been needing an extra set of hands to put up the roofing, so we try to work on it while Allie is napping. Thankfully we were able to find a monitor that reaches to the barn! Asher came down of course too and we were able to put up more of their tin roof. Ash was on the ladder and doing fine and then out of the blue he must have leaned over and BOOM he and the ladder went tumbling. John saw it happening and rushed over and I was right behind - all I saw was Asher trapped in between the ladder (A-frame) and hit the ground! Amazingly I kept my cool - no surprise that John always does - asking him was he OK and what hurt. He said his knee, back and finger hurt. He was sniffling a little and scared but otherwise alright. Within 5 minutes he was asking to climb back on it! We said NO! John is such a trooper with the chickens. We haven't added it up yet how much we have spent but we figure it will be close to a grand by the time we are done completely critter-proofing it. Today for the first time John was a little frustrated with the money spent and the time it is taking to get it all done. He is committed though to completely the project and I know he will be glad that our investment is safe. Thankfully the hen house itself is completely secure - after the massacre on Dec 3rd that was our main priority. Trench dug, small fence mesh, concrete, boards, reinforced door, latches, etc and we feel they are very safe in there. The problem is the hassle - until the yard is secured we have to let the chickens out every morning and round them up at dusk to lock them up for the night. They finally know the routine and if they aren't already roosted at dusk in the house, know to come on in when we go in there. It helps to have a little treat of birdseed for them! We have also rigged up two lights for the hen house. They are on a timer and come on at 5:30 am and turn off at 7:30 pm. We have ordered new baby chicks to be delivered the 3rd week of February. We ordered around 75. It will be COLD and who knows if they will all survive. We will brood them in the adjunct tobacco stripping room of the barn. Our first flock of 43 all survived until the massacre of the mink which killed 34. If all of our new ones survive plus our older ones we will have close to 90 chickens. When the roofing is done it will be mostly covered with the tin and then partially open for lighting with close-knit fencing as the roof covering. We still have to dig the outer trench along the entire fence line as well as install the new close-knit fencing and make sure there aren't any holes in the construction where pieces merge that a rascal could get in. This afternoon when we first went down there were THREE eggs in one of the nesting boxes inside the hen house. Each one looks different so we are assuming three separate hens laid them. They also still like to lay in the "outhouse" when they have access to the outside. All of the chickens are waiting for us to open the hen house door when they hear us calling to them as we are coming in the yard. Our Rhode Island Red, whose name is "Red" (original!), is such a talker. She just clucks and trills for about 5 minutes every time we go down. One of the Dotty's also follows us all around clucking and talking to us. T-Rex, the rooster, is usually quiet at first but then will get on a crowing spree, then sometimes starts to make a funny growling noise. What-ever! Today I measured the hen house and they have 200 square feet in there. That is more than enough space for the flock of 9 we currently have. Inside, chickens only need 2 sq ft of space each, so technically we could house up to 100 chickens inside! Wow. Outside measurement is 640 sq ft. IF all of our new chicks survive then that will be a little crowded for our outdoor run area since each chicken is supposed to have about 8 sq ft each. However, IF they all survive we have already talked about expanding the chicken yard. Not to mention before we mix the old and new flocks we will have to put up a temporary fence for them to get used to each other. Allie is starting to fuss, so must go!