Chicken Run Expansion

 We've had chickens for about 4 years and we have loved having these feathered friends around.  In the early days, we would allow them to free range to their own heart's content.  But then the fateful week hit where we found a pile of feathers left behind by Mr. Fox in addition to a dead chicken right in front of the coop- the work of Mr. Hawk!  We didn't change our ways, right away.  We simply got a little more attentive and present when the sun started to set.  But then again last year, we lost a few of our new hens to Mr. Fox and family.  We were enjoying the Kentucky Derby, when suddenly my step-dad saw a fox outside.  We knew we had a resident fox here, because we had seen it on multiple occasions.  But this day was different.  There were 2 foxes running around out back and heading toward the chicken coop.  Thankfully the chickens were enclosed in a temporary outdoor run, and we didn't loose any that day.  But ever since then, the Laird has felt pressed for something more permanent than the snow fence he staked into the ground around our coop.

   So with the current state of life at home due to the Corona Virus, we have been taking full advantage of the post-work-day-evenings and the can't-go-anywhere weekend days.  Two weekends ago, we built the new blueberry enclosure for pleasurable berry picking.  Last weekend we got down to work and started building an outdoor run for our chickens.  We finished it today.

Laying out the chicken run

   We used some old cement pavers that we picked up for free off craigslist 2-3 years ago to lay down the foundation.  So glad that "free find" wasn't in vain!  Whenever I find something that we could utilize listed for free on craiglist or fb marketplace, I hurry over and pick them up.  The load of pavers was a job I had to wrangle the Laird into, and based upon the crumbling shape of many of them, it may not have been the most worthwhile trip.  So we have used a few in our garden as a patio, a walkway, and simply weed block.  Well, let's just say the rest have been sitting in a stack waiting for their purpose.  For two.years.Maybe.three!  But the Laird is a gracious man, and he never reminds me of these impulsive needs.

Leveled the cement blocks for foundation

One wall at a time

  

So we used the best old pavers from the stack as the foundation.  It was a tricky location as it was located on a slope, but we did our best to level them with the slope so that the frame of the fence would lay stable atop the pavers.  Then one wall a day went up, until they were all up.  

    

 Finally while the Laird attached the cross bars, I started painting.  In an effort to save money, the Laird only bought pressure treated lumber for the base plate.  He regretting this attempt to save $50 after the fact, as we needed to paint the framing in order to help protect the wood from an early demise by way of rotting.  But with every old house, comes many partial gallons of old paint.  

The Laird learned many years ago, while working at a horse camp for the summer, that you could just mix all your left over paints together for a shade of brown to use for outdoor needs.  So that was his plan.  He didn't find too many outdoor paints to utilize for this purpose, but he did find an outdoor grey oil based paint... with the top completely rusted and the paper label worn off.  When he opened it, it was completely full!!!  So we ended up with a decent color run fence, that actually goes well with the chicken coop and nearby barn (same color red).  We were able to re-use some of the chicken wire for the door, but most of it was purchased new for the walls.

  We're all excited about how sharp it looks, in comparison to the make-shift fencing that was there before.  It was the chicken run that the Laird never wanted to build, as the design of our coop allows for the chickens to walk free down beneath the coop.  But of course you learn, and we learned that space wasn't nearly big enough.  We had expected to let the chickens range free on our property.  That was before we knew about Mr. & Mr. Fox living somewhere very close by.  So here we are.  Thanks to the Corona Virus and the time it has permitted us to be home, we now have a great chicken run.

We buried the chicken wire to keep diggers deterred

Hammer skills

Today we attached the upper wire to the walls of the run.  It was also the day to clean out all the poop from the chicken coop and wheel it to the garden.  "Stinky!"  The kids spread new wood shavings inside the coop and freshened things up a bit. 

Another project finished

This mandatory-time-at-home has proved very productive for us.  Now that the blueberry enclosure and the chicken run are finished, we are onto our next project:  A green house made of old windows.  We are both really excited about building this greenhouse.  But there is a lot of work to do clearing and leveling the land.  

HoneyBees- 1 week update

One week ago, in the dark of the night, we installed a swarm of bees into our Top Bar Hive.  Being new to beekeeping, we were not really sure what to expect.  Would they stay, or decide they wanted a better place?  Is the queen present or are we queenless?  It's been a week of observing and learning- and I have loved every day of it.  It's exceeding my expectations, as I have always been fascinated by the idea of beekeeping.  Homesteading, gardening, beekeeping, chicken raising... they all involve a level of keeping records of observations, and I absolutely love that part of it.  I love keeping track of what happens each day, as I know the notes will be very helpful this time next year when we're doing all of it all over again.  We think we will remember from year to year, but it's literally impossible- just the same as the first year of your baby's life.  It all blends together, though you do have a general idea of the memories of what happened, but the specifics get lost.  No matter how hard you try.

So far it seems as though our hive is doing what it should.  Each day we go out and check on them and based on my notes, it seems as though we have observed a new Top Bar of comb being built each day.  In 7 days, the bees have built up 7 bars of comb that we can see from the observation window.  They are "busy bees" and it's so awesome to watch.  We have been feeding them a simple 1:1 sugar:water syrup in a homemade mason jar feeder.  The Laird and I are growing more comfortable with the bees and opening the hive, which is also good news.  No bee stings yet.  No fear.

6 Visible Top Bars of comb

The Laird took lady genevieve & lord alastair to the zoo with friends last weekend.  Lady genevieve's friend spotted a bumble bee and started to squirm in fear--- to which lady genevieve responded in confusion:  "We like bees.  They are our friends!"  Very cute, and definitely demonstrates to me how much she is learning alongside us as we walk this journey of beekeeping.  Where we have no fear- she has no reason to fear.


CHICKENS:
The Queen Mother & Diana have spent the past 2 weeks cooped up in the coop- as is recommended with chickens that will free range.  This past weekend they got to experience their first days outside the coop and they did awesome.  They pecked and hung around in proximity to us while we worked to get a little more finished on their coop.  It's a beautiful thing to see chickens roaming around our yard.  I love it!  We love checking the nesting boxes every afternoon to see if we got any eggs.  With 2 layers, we're getting "just enough" eggs to keep us going.  In 6 months, when the chicks are ready to start laying, we will have eggs coming out our ears!  And I can't wait.
The chicks got to have some outside time in the baby gate area.  They are so friendly.  The chicken coop is coming along.  The roof is about 90% shingled.  We hung trim and an adorable window box on the southern side of the coop (fixed window).  We still have to hang the other 2 windows with their cute shutters- build a cupola- fence in the run below the coop- and cut the interior door to the run.  Hopefully we can get these things done and the chicks can move out of my dining room- sooner than later.  They are quickly outgrowing their cardboard boxes & my house is smelling like a barn.

Chick-Inn Coop Progress- Part 2

Stats: 6 Chicks here.  We are adding a few Copper Maran chicks to the bunch this weekend, in addition to a couple laying marans to give us some eggs until the chicks start laying (in about 6 months).  The chicks are currently living in our dining room while we work on the coop and while they grow their feathers and get big enough to move into their coop.  But we've been in "finish mode" with the coop this past week since the laying hens we're borrowing won't be able to live in our dining room.
Here's our progress:

 The Laird installed plywood onto the roof, in addition to cutting the southern window out.  Unfortunately we had a few days of rain, and failed to cover the roof with a tarp.  We discovered some substantial warping of the plywood when we went back to work.

Next the Laird laid felt roof underlayment on the roof, and hung the final piece of siding.  In the midst of all the work on the coop up to this point, we tore apart the pallets and pulled nails to build the coop entry door.  We finished it with a coat of tung oil- and it looks AMAZING!  I love the different wood colors, mixed together.  I absolutely LOVE making barn doors.  I will be building little pallet shutters for the 2 small Western windows, and hopefully a nice window box for the Southern window.  I am undecided about how I feel about working with pallets- it's a TON of work- pulling pallets apart without breaking the boards.  The great aspects are the unique and weathered appearance, and the fact that they are free.  They are truly perfect for the chicken coop or play house application- where you're not striving for perfect.

In addition to building the coop, the Laird decided to do a Garden expansion- which involved re-building the fence (3rd fence in 3 years!).    He expanded it upwards to include the top tier, and be right along the raspberry row.  He also expanded it on the Southern side towards the woods.  His intention for expansion is in effort to grow hard corn and sunflowers to supplement the chickens feed.

 Next up was to cut the 2 western windows.  Yesterday, I was able to paint the entire coop during nap time! Yay for good kids.  Last night the Laird built the soffits and started working on the nest box roof/ door.

The trim is drying with first coats of paint.  With the chickens arrival, we really need to hang the entry door and nest box door, hardware cloth on the windows.

More to come your way!

 We painted the coop to match our barn

Building our Chicken Coop

Future location of the chicken coop, foundation laid

We're getting ready for chickens!  We've been reading up on bees and chickens all winter, and now that Spring is finally here, we're finally getting to DO something to move forward in our goals.  The Top Bar Hive was set up a few weeks ago.  Last weekend we began the construction of our chicken coop, or maybe we'll call it the "Chick-Inn" or something else that would be fitting of Redwoodshire.  Any suggestions?


We've gotten a bunch accomplished, but are still a little ways from being done.  Check out the photos:
The Laird had some help- and as the old saying goes: "Many hands, make less work."  The first day, they built the floor, the walls, and put it all together.

The Laird designed the coop as a 4 x 8 ft, raised coop.  The chicken run is located below the coop.  We intend to let the chickens free range in the yard most of the time- we will see how they fare with the wildlife.  If the wildlife is winning, we may have to build a larger run to keep them more protected.

 This was accomplished on the first day of building.  So much gets done when you have lots of help.  Grateful for all the help we had.  The original design was shorter than the actual version.  All the hired help (friends/ family)- suggested and convinced the Laird to make it 5ft tall so that it would be easier to walk into and clean out.  He heeded their suggestions, but isn't convinced it is better.  I like that I can walk in without ducking.

 The next day, the Laird built the rafters and installed them.  He really enjoyed building them- and they looked really cool installed.

The third day he started with the siding.  Here's the first wall board hung on the back side.  He also built and installed the nesting boxes.  We intend to have about 6-9 chickens to start- as this will be more than enough eggs for us to handle!  It is large enough to expand to about 16 chickens if we ever grow that ambitious.  It's suggested that chickens have about 2sq. ft. each.  3-4 chickens per nesting box.

Initially there was going to be one horizontal window on this side, and one on the South side- but once it was built, I decided it would look better to put both windows vertically on this side.  That day I found another window that fit perfectly on the South side.  The matching windows will be hinged and the Southern window will be fixed.  The more windows = more light during winter = maintain egg production.  The chickens egg laying is determined by the number of daylight hours.  In order to keep getting eggs through Winter, when the days are shorter, we may have to install a light within the coop.  The extra window will hopefully help.

I have to take some more photos of what else we've done.  The roof plywood is installed.  The door and 1 window are cut open.  We were contemplating what to do for the door.  The easy answer would have been to attach some support boards to the siding material.  But I absolutely love making doors- and since this is the part of the coop we will see all the time, a nice looking door is important.  Last night the Laird and I worked on tearing apart pallets and pulling nails to build our coop door.  It's going to be a similar design to the door I made for our bathroom.

  I am really excited to paint the coop, hang the trim & windows, and build some cut little window boxes/ shutters.  It's going to be a cute chicken coop- which was my main hope in this whole process!  I am quite impressed with the coop thus far- the Laird is doing a great job!

Lots of Getting Started

Quite over due for an update at the happenings here at Redwoodshire.  Part of the reason for my absence is that earning gift cards on swagbucks.com has a better return on my time than updating the blog (sorry! to those who actually follow here).  In less than 2 months of swagbucks, I have already earned four $25 gift cards to amazon.  We were able to use some of them to get a new convertible car seat for the little lady, and now I am onto saving for my dream refrigerator. It never hurt to dream big, right?!

The dining room floors are at a standstill and have been since the prior post about applying the Tung Oil finish.  We loved the idea of using a natural oil, because it was the dead of winter and there were no toxic VOC fumes.  Unfortunately, the oils didn't dry or soak in smoothly and the floor looks ... not so good.  So we've just been waiting for the weather to warm up, to get back in there and start over.  We're likely going to need to sand down the oil, in order to finish with good old polyurethane.  Eventually we'll get there.  This was a disheartening situation, but now that spring is finally here and we can start working outside again, it feels less disappointing.  We will eventually finish that room, it's just going to take a bit longer than we had thought.  But in the end, we want it to turn out nice, so we must push through this dip and not cut corners.  The floors have come a long way, and we have a long way until that room is finished in it's entirety.  And that's ok.  Such a First World problem.

THE Hundred Acre Wood Bee HIVE- In other news, we finally set the Top Bar Hive up on a stand last week.  We decided to use a saw horse kit to stand the Hive up- and so far it seems to be working well and withstanding the strong winds it's been up against.  We chose this location in order to expose it to as many hours of sun in the day, and also to have protection from the North Eastern winds. 

Now we're just waiting for some bees.  Originally we had intended to order a 3# package of bees from Georgia.  But the Laird's boss and friend also happens to have a happening homestead, and offered to give us a swarm.  We weren't sure we wanted to take the risk of the possibility of not getting a swarm, but he has 3 hives and is quite sure he will get one.  This fine friend is also going to be getting us started with an incubator and fertilized eggs from his Copper Maran flock.  What a nice friend and resource!

THE CHICKEN-INN:  A few weeks ago, we broke ground on the long awaited 'Chick-Inn" here at Redwoodshire.  We've read lots of books, studied different designs and finally settled on what we want in our chicken coop.  After drawing up and estimating the potential cost of our coop ($600!!), I decided that we needed to do better than that- we're trying to live by a budget and be resourceful.  We found a free source of pallet wood (8ft. long pieces), and picked up a few loads to build the structure out of.   We decided to build our coop near the barn, on the walk to the garden.  We started by digging a trench, and filling it with rocks from the rock pile near the barn.  The rocks will give the foundation added strength.  We are currently collecting and buying the other materials we need to build our coop- plywood, chicken wire, windows...etc.  Thanks to my dad- we inherited all of his old chicken feeders, waters, heat lamps...  We are doing amazing at keeping the costs of our chicken/ egg venture to a minimum.  The Laird informed me tonight that his friend's eggs would be hatching this week, which means that the incubator will be available for us by the end of the week!!  The Laird is taking a few days off from his day job to build as much of the coop as he can- and hopefully he will have good weather to do it!

The Chick-Inn will be located a little to the right of the pile of pallet wood

Free 8ft. pallet wood!!

    Pallets are a wonderful free resource for building.  The wood is hard and very strong because they are used to hold/ move freight and heavy items.  And this is what makes them wonderful for so many projects.  Though they are great in theory, we will see how well they work for building our coop. 

The beginning- the foundation covered with dirt/ 4 corners exposed

And that's the update from Redwoodshire!  Getting our hands dirty and started on the many projects that we've been researching all winter.  Thrilled to finally start putting the book knowledge to use.