My new Chicken Coop Episode 1

Since I hastily erected a make-shift coop in January 2011, when I was given Henny Penny and her ten babies, the time finally came in October 2012 for the up-grade of my chicken coop! it was long in the offing!

The current little coop was only 1.5m x 2m, with eight nest boxes and a couple of roosts, just big enough to move around in for cleaning and by no means totally weather-proof. It was supposed to be just for a week or two! I'm actually a bit ashamed to show it here, it looks so tiny in this photograph! But it'll be good to be able to look back and compare!

The old chicken coop looking lost and forlorn in the chicken run

Starting with the foundations for the new coop - pegged and squared and ready to be cleared for the new floor.

I'm also going to be landscaping the area in the chicken run, which is quite a nice big size, lawned and fenced. I'd like to put in shrubs and flowers that are pretty, hardy and chicken-friendly. I've got a Lavender bush given to me by a friend, obviously with much love in her heart because it has grown beautifully since I planted it, which I'll be transplanting to the chicken run (I'm not quite happy with where it is at the moment anyway) and I've just bought some nice Rosemary, Sage and Thyme bushes. A couple of Aloes, which don't need much water, might not be amiss either, as a great deal of the run gets full sunlight the whole day and the chickens don't touch them. And they provide beautiful colour during their flowering period in winter.

My young Lavender which I'll be transplanting

Beautiful winter-flowering Aloe ferox will really brighten up the chicken run

It was a difficult decision to make as to what materials to use. My first thought was wood, as it looks so pretty, but first of all, wood is an expensive commodity in South Africa and, secondly, none of us around here are carpenters of any sorts. My second thought, because of cost, was poles and metal sheeting, but that means very cold housing in winter.

The plan for the new chicken coop

So finally, I decided on a brick structure with a concrete floor and corrugated iron roof. Bricks are easy to work with (even I have built a few small structures!), cost-effective and very strong. It is also easy to decorate with the necessary nest boxes, roosts, shelves for storage and tools and secure and safe against the elements and predators. And a further cost-saving is the fact that I've already got two existing walls, so I only need to build two walls, the side and the front.

Ventilation will be window openings (but no window frames) covered with wire mesh for security. My materials list included 1000 bricks (for starters), cement, sand and stone for the concrete floor (4m x 4.5m - approx. 13ft. x 15ft), wood for the rafters (already in stock from decking removed from the patio) and about 6 or 7 corrugated iron sheets and a box of roof screws. Also a door and door frame and the hardware like hinges and door handles.

My plans include a corner with shelving to use as a storage space for food, buckets, baskets, brooms, rakes and any other equipment I normally have to fetch from the tool shed when I want to clean; ten nest boxes (double storey) and an area for roosts and food.

 Progress just after lunch-time on Day 1 - all cleared and ready to begin.

I'm sure my chooks were very happy in their old little coop (it always amazes me how they can make the best of what they are given, happily settling into their routine with no qualms), but my girls are long overdue for proper housing and they deserve it for all the happy hours they provide me with.

The trick is going to be seeing what they do when the old coop gets broken down and they return to the run late afternoon to find their whole routine disrupted. I might probably also have to herd them through the door for the first time and then leave them to sort themselves out. 

End of Day 1 and everything is ready to start mixing the concrete for the floor tomorrow. I put a generous layer of Diatomaceous Earth down before the sand and stone was added just as an extra measure to discourage ants and other pesky insects.

It's going to be fun watching the squabbling over the best perches or nest boxes and, of course, egg-laying will probably stop for a few days. But hey, small price to pay for the luxury of a beautiful new hen house!

Keep an eye out for Episode 2!

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Learning from the chooks

I've learnt so much over the past few years from Solly's chickens. His chooks free range all over our plot and my garden and I've seen them lay eggs, hatch their babies and then watched as they grow up into teenagers and then fully integrate into the community. Of course I have my favourites, especially the abandoned or injured ones I rescue, nurse back to health and most of the time introduce them back into the flock.

Too many roosters!

Can't actually speak about a flock - they always seem to form several flocks. Many, too many, of the newly hatched chicks turn out to be roosters. And you know what happens when there are too many roosters! As teenagers they start squaring up to test their strength and then, as they come into adulthood, the serious fighting  for the available hens starts.

The hens watch, apparently unconcerned, from the side-lines, but one can't be fooled by their disinterest. Each fight is keenly watched and they have a keen eye for spotting the winner(s), who quickly claim their prize, with the chosen hens seamlessly falling into line with their chosen mates. Each rooster then has his own flock and they tend to group together and keep away from one another's territory. My heart always breaks for the losers, who end up all lonely, hanging around the perimeter, hoping for a hen to perhaps spot them. But beware them if they try to approach a specific flock's hen, she puts up one hell of a noise, alerting her rooster, who immediately puts an end to such daring cheekiness!

Soon after, the egg-laying starts, laying an egg a day until she feels she has enough to start a family and then serious business of sitting for plus/minus 21 days starts.

Mommy with her four newly-hatched babies

While the hen has her newly hatched chicks, she stays away from the flock, leading her chicks around, showing them them the territory and where all the very best tit-bits are to be found. During that time she even ignores her chosen rooster, solely concentrating on her babies and lovingly taking care of them.

But here comes the heart-break bit. When the little chicks are only a couple of weeks old, she starts showing an interest in the rooster again, with him leading her around, pointing out some lovely possible nesting places. She then totally abandons her babies (and they are FAR too young!), spending time with the rooster and even grabbing the little tit-bits I give them for herself, even pecking them and telling them to get out of the way. Then for days I have to listen to their pitiful little cheeps as they constantly call for her in their confusion, not understanding what is going on. Fortunately this unhappiness only lasts for two weeks or so and they soon learn to fend for themselves.

The four confused little chicks all on their own in the garden

 They would hang around the garden gate and as soon as I make an appearance, would follow me all over

Then, as soon as the hen is "free" from her chicks, it's a big happening in the community. Everybody will intently watch her choice of a new nest and when the first egg is laid, everybody, including the roosters, who stand watch over the event, will noisily cackle, crow and rejoice in the event, sending the little chicks scattering in fear from all the noise. And believe me, it's a racket!

One of the hens loudly voicing her discontent that her favourite nest is occupied by someone else

The intruder sits motionless, hoping nobody will spot her!

Choice of nest for any hen is another matter of contention. They all have a favourite nest and heaven forbid if anyone else dares to occupy it! Even though there are plenty of nests around, they will stand in line for that one nest, all the while trying to intimidate the occupier with insistent, loud cackling.

Another rooster standing watch as his hen searches for a perfect nesting spot

Solly's chickens are not to be confused with MY chickens living in my garden. They all originally came from Solly's stock, but never mix with their "wild" cousins, as part of my garden is walled and keeps Solly's crowd at bay. Just a bit on Solly - he is our general mechanic and handyman, living a couple of hundred meters away from the main house, where he has got his own little vegetable patch, flower garden and chicken coop, but for some reason, most of his chickens prefer to live in my back garden, nesting wherever they feel comfortable and following me around whenever I go into the back-yard. They seem to know that I know each of them and that each of them have got their own name. Or maybe it's just that they know that they are destined for the pot at Solly's place...

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Snoodles, a chick with attitude!

Camera : Canon EOS 550D 

Taken in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

This is Snoodles, the little chick I saved from the dustbin, took her out of the egg in November 2013 and she’s been living with me in my studio. She’s getting to be a big girl now and has already joined all the other girls in the chicken coop.

As soon as Snoodles was big enough, we’d go on field trips through the garden and my wildlife pond area, where she would investigate every nook and cranny, delighting in catching the odd insect. Here she hopped on a rock, chasing after a Dragonfly.

Good luck with that Snoodles!

 Snoodles standing on my computer speaker, taking a peek at what's going on outside

Snoodles taking some time out on the edge of Jacko's chair, much to his disgust!

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The benefits of free range eggs (for the chicken) Sensitive information

My girls supply me with 4 or 5 beautiful free range eggs every day and they are quite happy supplying these. They get to roam the garden, grazing, hunting insects and having lovely sand baths in stead of spending their lives in a 8″ × 12″ wire cage (the size of an A4 sheet of paper). They get to choose when to go to bed and when to lay their eggs, following Mother Nature’s natural daylight cycle in stead of their “daylight” being on a timer and being woken up 2 o’clock in the morning and being forced to lay another egg, giving 1½ eggs a day instead of the normal 1 egg every two days. They lie in the sun, spreading their wings and soaking up the sun’s Vit. D in stead of having Vit. D pumped into them via additions to their food. They exercise regularly by chasing insects (and one another!) in stead of being cramped up in those 8″ × 12″ wire cages with not even room above their heads to stretch their legs. They get to socialise and experience family bonds, something which a battery chicken will never know. My girls are not culled when they get to the end of their egg-laying cycle, but in stead get to live a happy, healthy and fulfilled life.

It is sad what we do to our animals in order that we may eat and survive…

“I am battery hen. I live in a cage so small I cannot stretch my wings. I am forced to stand night and day on a sloping wire mesh floor that painfully cuts into my feet. The cage walls tear my feathers, forming blood blisters that never heal. The air is so full of ammonia that my lungs hurt and my eyes burn and I think I am going blind. As soon as I was born, a man grabbed me and sheared off part of my beak with a hot iron, and my little brothers were thrown into trash bags as useless, alive.

My mind is alert and my body is sensitive and I should have been richly feathered. In nature or even a farmyard I would have had sociable, cleansing dust baths with my flock mates, a need so strong that I perform ‘vacuum’ dust bathing on the wire floor of my cage. Free, I would have ranged my ancestral jungles and fields with my mates, devouring plants, earthworms, and insects from sunrise to dusk. I would have exercised my body and expressed my nature, and I would have given, and received, pleasure as a whole being. I am only a year old, but I am already a ‘spent hen.’

Humans, I wish I were dead, and soon I will be dead. Look for pieces of my wounded flesh wherever chicken pies and soups are sold."
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Read more about The Life of one Battery Hen. (Sensitive information - I cried when I read it...)

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A melt-down and a broken heart

I've had a melt-down. And I've got a broken heart. And so have my girls.

First, the melt-down. My girls have absolutely ruined my garden! In about two years they've reduced it to a barren landscape with all but a few of the hardiest plants gone. GONE! My prized Echeverias, which I started with just a few plants given to me by my dad shortly before he passed away in 1990, and which had grown into beautiful specimens which I had in various parts of the garden, are all but annihilated.

The same area as above before the girls arrived.

I've managed to rescue a few of my Echeverias and planted them in a basket and placed them in my bathroom court-yard garden. Hopefully they will recover to their previous glory.

Where there used to be a thick carpet of ground covers, now there's only dead leaves and a big mess. Not that Missy minds, she's quite happy to relax there with Artemis close-by, blissfully unaware of my melt-down.

Kiep takes time out on the rock just behind Missy.

Now for the broken heart part. I'm broken-hearted because I've banned the girls from the garden. Locked up in the chicken run. No more chickens happily doing what chickens do, scratching and foraging in the garden. Having gorgeous sand baths, chasing after grasshoppers and other bugs. One thing I must say, my garden is totally bug-free - no cut-worm, no fruit beetles, no plant lice. In fact, no anything. But I'm not so sure that's entirely a good thing either. I haven't seen a lady bug or a praying mantis for absolute ages. My lizard and frog population has also suffered tremendously. NOTHING is safe from these bug-devouring lovelies!

"Why, oh WHY can't we come out?!" In stead of scouring the grass for insects, the girls would spend hours at the gait, waiting for me to open up.

ChiChi and Snookums, who grew up in my studio, are totally puzzled with this new development. They've never been locked up and cannot understand what's going on.

A couple of months ago, I did start some landscaping inside the run and I presume that, shortly, there will also be nothing left of this.

Now, as I see the matter, I have three or four choices. One is that the girls stay locked up in the run forever. FOREVER! Or I can reduce the population and only keep three or four (that's not likely to happen!). Another option is that I adapt the garden to suit the girls - no beautiful, colourful borders, no tender Echeverias and give up my love for insects and all the other garden visitors.

Hmmmmmm... Decisions, decisions....

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Solly's dustbin chook

This is Solly’s chook, one of the dustbin chicks born last November 2013. He’s turned into a beautiful rooster, obviously of mixed blood as his feathers are like those of a Silkie. But what makes him adorable is the fact that he talks to me – whenever he sees me, he utters this whole repertoire of cackles and croaks all the while staring me straight in the eye. He’s also very tame, sitting down when I put my hand on his back and then allowing me to pick him up for a cuddle. Normally all Solly’s chicks that turn out to be roosters are destined for the pot, but I’ve asked him nicely to spare Mr. Chook. (Solly is our mechanic/handyman and he has all these chickens that wander all over our smallholding and usually end up breeding somewhere in my garden.)

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The way of nature

Nature - it is breathtakingly beautiful, it is life, it is death. Nature brings us great joy, but it is full of sadness as well. That is the way of Nature.

The great debate is whether one should interfere with nature or not, whether to help or 'rescue' an animal in peril or not. The problem is that it is human nature to rescue things and my take on it is normally to let nature take its course. If you should find a baby bird in your garden, it is best to leave it alone as the parents know it's there and will continue feeding it. That is how it learns to fly, how it gets to know its territory and learns all it needs from its parents for survival. If you have dogs or cats, this could present a problem, so, if possible, try and get the fledgling back to its nest or at least up into a tree. It's a myth that the parents will abandon it if they 'smell human contact' on their baby, they will still keep on tending to it.

But sometimes one is presented with a situation where it is impossible not to interfere or to help, like finding an owl entangled in a barbed wire fence or finding an animal with a serious injury that requires medical attention. And living on a smallholding in the country, I am often faced with scenarios like that.

On the home-front side, it's terribly hard to watch when a hen decides it's time for her babies to make their own way in the world. But that's the way of nature. Solly's hen (above) had 8 of the most gorgeous babies and she was a really wonderful other, tending to their every need, finding them succulent insects and protecting them and keeping them warm.

But when they were the tender age of 7 weeks, she decided it was time to go back to Mr. Rooster and besides, nature was calling and she wanted to lay an egg. She started pecking and chasing them and generally being nasty until they were too scared to go near her. She then took off in search of Mr. Rooster. They clumped together, walking around the property, constantly calling for her, absolutely breaking my heart.

One of the chicks, forlornly standing at my studio door and constantly calling for mommy

They soon found solace in my garden where they kept close to me as I went about my chores. They knew me very well, as from birth I would take them snacks and seeds which they eagerly took out of my hands. They even allowed me to pick them up, trustingly sitting in my hand while I cuddled them. 

Now they are almost 4 months old, just about fully grown and quite independent, joining the rest of Solly's chickens when I feed in the mornings and afternoons and often looking for me in the house, hoping for a snack of minced meat, their favourite.

Yesterday I heard a strange, forlorn call in my garden, and not recognising it, I went outside to investigate. There was this 'unknown' bird sitting on my internet aerial, so I got the binoculars to have a better look and soon realised it was a juvenile Red-winged Starling, therefore I never recognised it's call. I have never heard a young Starling calling for its parents and it sat there for a half an hour, calling and calling, with no response from anybody, until it eventually took off to search somewhere else. So, so sad...

Many a time I have also watched as the Mynah's lead their off-spring out of the garden, taking them to another area to fend for themselves, returning alone a couple of days later. That is nature's way of protecting the food source in an area and from over-population. However, Laughing Doves do not seem to adhere to this law of nature - I have hundreds in my garden - where they breed, they feed! Smile!

 Laughing Doves early watching and waiting as I prepare the feed tables at 6am.

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We all have one

Everybody that I know that keeps chickens has one. You know, one of those chickens that's a totally peculiar character and virtually NOTHING like all the other chickens.

And I certainly have one. Or two. We all know each hen (and rooster) has their own character and is unique in their own way, with their peculiar little habits and ways that endear them to us so.

But Chicky-Boo certainly tops the lot. She has bright, intelligent eyes and a lovely loving nature, but she is the 'glutton' of the family. When I'm dishing out snacks, she's always first in line, snatching. Snatching from my hand, snatching mid-air, snatching from the other hens' mouths and running around in a frenzy, picking up as many snacks as she can.

Chicky-Boo (on the left) risking even the wrath of the normally placid Doris, who never interferes with anybody. 

In the garden she will follow somebody closely and as they get ready to zoom in on an insect or some tasty morsel, she would fly in, getting there first and gobbling it up.

A stunned and amazed Artemis watches as Chicky-Boo rushes off with the bread he was busy eating. 

This behaviour has not endeared her to the other chickens. She's ended up at the bottom of the pecking order, often having to flee as one or other hen attacks her.

But maybe she was at the bottom of the pecking order all along, learning that she's got to be quick if she wants to get any food at all. As a baby, she was one of the hens with Fowl Pox that I was treating inside for a few weeks. She recovered really well, and once I returned her to the flock, maybe her absence for such a long time caused her to be the 'outsider'.

Even with her crop filled to bursting, she keeps a close eye on me for more. 

And sometimes I'd get worried as she would just keep on eating and eating. As long as there is food, she would eat, until her crop would be huge and extended. Can't be good...

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