Confined
March 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Today at 12:30pm the chicken run was finished and the hens were closed in. Much to their annoyance, I might add. They spent quit some time exploring possible exits. Even flying up on the hutch and trying to get to the outside from there. Unfortunately the setup is fool proof, so there’s no escaping the run. The remainder of the afternoon you could hear them busy clucking about probably wondering why they can’t get out.
It remains to be seen whether this has any impact on their layers capabilities. The run is roughly 4×4 meters, which is not too confined. We’re already enjoying a reclaimed patio area with no poops scattered around. An added bonus is that we can send out Jingles for his toilet stops without any worries for the hens…
Last hours of freedom…
February 28, 2008 | 2 Comments |
A while back we decided to restrict the freedom of our chicken and build them a reasonable sized run. The reasons: the large numbers of poops around the house, their destructiveness in the garden and the upcoming summer when the poops will attract loads of flies. Also, a dog and chicken don’t mix very well together. The temptation was just to big for Jingles and every now and then he managed to snap at one of the hens. Having been completely docile, they have no fear for Jingles at all!
Today the weather was not too bad and I started out with the timber structure. This was set up in about two hours. Tomorrow the netting will be installed and the hutch will be moved partly inside the run, effectively retaining the chicken inside the run.
Infestation?
January 8, 2008 | 1 Comment |
We might have another infestation of mice. We had one about a year ago and I managed to kill 8 of the little buggers with the standard mouse trap, aptly called “Little Nipper”. You could actually hear the traps snap then. So, today I prepared 4 traps and strategically placed them in the loft area and they’re ready to reap havoc among those unfortunate rodents. If lucky, the local birds of prey will have a couple of snacks tomorrow.
Question remains: How do they get into the house? I’m pretty sure all possible entrances have been closed off. Although Jamie told me that they are capable of walking up the rough cast of the outside walls. If that’s the case… well, then it’s a thing we just have to live with and we have to reset the traps every now and then.
Watch this space!
Six pack
December 27, 2007 | 1 Comment |
We have top hens, I might say. Even during cold winter days they supply us each and every day with eggs. And all are contributing, so we can pick up six fresh eggs of various sizes each morning. This is of course way above our consuming capacity, so we were starting to get a massive egg supply in the fridge. At first a bit unsure what to do with all those eggs, we now bring them to a someone down the road and trade them for meat from his livestock.
Also, when all hens finally did lay eggs they would lay them more or less during the day. So we picked up a few in the early morning, another one after an hour and then a couple in the afternoon. Now, the girls have decided to synchronize their efforts and the “six pack” is ready each morning at 8:30. Good girls!
It’s really small and black…
December 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
If all goes well, we’ll have another member in the family by the end of January next year: we decided to add a black Labrador puppy to the household! We did quite a bit of investigation over the past weeks. Most of the litters were located in England, the closest some seven hours by car from our house. However, yesterday afternoon we found a good looking litter advertised in Glasgow.
We emailed back and forth with the breeder and upon confirmation that a male, black pup was still available, we’re heading for Glasgow next week Wednesday to check them out, and if all goes well, we’ll confirm the reservation with a deposit. We already got some pictures by email and I think they’re totally adorable. Both mother (brown, see picture) and father (black, see picture) have a KC pedigree.
Saving…
December 10, 2007 | 2 Comments |
The cold days are upon us and you do notice it in your wallet. We had a refill of oil on the 1st of May this year and it took until the 7th of November to reach the 50% mark. That’s over 6 months on less than 700 liters of oil, which is not too bad.
Read more
Houston, we have eggs!!
November 27, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Tribute to the unknown hens… Hurray, hurray, hurray!!! This morning - with the rain steadily pouring down - I found our first two eggs in the hutch. I must say I had not expected them to start laying already. We thought that we had to wait until February next year but no, there are at least two serious girls in that bunch.
After the reading we’d done about hens, I was prepared for little, tiny eggs, but I found these quite acceptable. They’re not a huge eggs, but it’s definitely acceptable and they would not look odd in those boxes we get at the Co-Op supermarket. Compared to the eggs we get from the local farm here down the road, they’re a bit smallish. But hey, it is a first attempt… In fact, if you think about it that a hen can produce something out of her body which is relatively big compared to her body mass, it’s nothing less than a miracle of nature. We’re proud of our girls!
Also the heavy rain today did not stop them from ranging about in the bushes next to the house. Hens appear to have some grease in their feathers that normally prevents them from getting wet. But today there was so much rain that they were truly soaked. When I went out to bring them their afternoon snack they looked completely soaked and very skinny…
Taking a bath
November 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
This afternoon I found one of the hens laying in what used to be our pot of herbs. I write “used to be” because as soon as the hens had shed their fears for being outside their hutch and started wandering about, they soon discovered this little pot. And made a complete mess of it… all herbs have been eaten and a fair amount of soil has been removed. It now looks more like a comfortable bed. And is indeed being used as such. One of the browns was literally lying in it on one side, wings spread out. Really, a weird sight, but it appears to be normal behavior…
To my surprise - or should I say irritation - I also saw sheep roaming about the lawn. How did they get there? I had repaired the fence with the neighboring croft during the summer and I was 100% sure that it was impossible for them the crawl under it. I also was pretty sure that I had closed the gate. So I carefully started to walk towards them and luckily they choose the right way: towards the fence at the road side. There I saw the gate fully opened. Then it dawned to me… yesterday some student from Poland had come by the house trying to sell his artwork and he probably had not bothered to close the gate, maybe because I wasn’t too interested in his work. Anyway, the sheep were easily driven back to road.
The above picture shows one of the browns coming out of the pot. Unfortunately I was not in time to shoot her in “bathing mode”, bit I’m sure you get the idea…
The mystery of the big poohs
October 20, 2007 | 1 Comment |
One of the things we did this summer is fencing off the east side of the “garden part” of our plot. The reason was the sheep, as they were all over the place. Not only do they destroy every attempt to a garden but they also leave massive poohs. The place looked like minefield and you had 99.99% chance of placing your feet in sheep droppings.
Well, that fence was a success. However, lately we’ve been seeing big poohs again in the garden area. They were different from the ones from sheep. So we wondered… what animals are producing these droppings? Last night I found out. I had forgotten to bring back the bin from the road side. As it was a beautiful night, I got a flashlight and walked up to the roadside. Just about 10 meters in front of the gate I heard a rustling to my right and suddenly a group of 3 - maybe 4 - large deer crossed the access road and made their way to our neighbor’s plot. As you can imagine, I was startled!! My heart was pounding in my chest… That was quite a scare…. I had not noticed the animals at all, due to the darkness and they had been very quiet. They crossed the road so close to me, that I could actually feel the movement of air when they ran past me.
At least now we know which animals are producing those big poohs…
Ladies from Struan
October 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
This morning - while heavy rain was slashing down - I went out to Struan to pick up our hens at Donald MacDonald. After a 15 minute drive I arrived at his house with an old carton box in the trunk of the car, as instructed. Donald grabbed the hens - the way to this is to grab them at their feet - and put them in the box. This maneuver was accompanied by annoyed rattling of the hens, who did not particularly appreciated Donald’s swift handling of their feet.
Anyway, with the hens loaded I got into the car and drove back to Skinidin. I was expecting a lot of rattling from the trunk but to my surprise they were completely silent. Probably scared… Once back home, I put on my rain gear (it was really pouring down now) and took the box from the car and brought it over to the hutch. Well, this was it… Now I had to do that same take-them-by-the-feet trick as Donald did… I was prepped with some garden gloves, to be able to push the hens back into the box if they intended to flutter away. But no, when I opened the box they just sat there looking a bit sad actually.
I decided to give them the careful treatment and picked them up, one by one (not at their feet but with two hands around the body) and placed them inside the hutch. The first they did was releasing a very big (!!) pooh and then sat down and looked around for a bit, the way chickens do… with that funny abrupt movement of their heads. After a couple of minutes they started to explore a bit, however still very careful and obviously still a bit stressed out by the changed environment. I closed the hutch door and decided to leave them for a bit. They should stay inside for a couple of days after which they can be released. Before the sun sets, they have to be back as this area is roamed by foxes, weasels and other riff-raff, who’re keen on having chicken for dinner.
Donald told me the name of their respective breeds, but unfortunately that piece of information got lost between his Scottish accent and the heavy winds. The only thing we know now is that they’re brown and black…
-
Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys