Building a new run

[Castara]

Perch, Not to sure if this is to narrow will see , I can always make a bigger one

 

[Castara]

One for the window seat a bit lower than the other one

 

[Castara]

I've added a resting bar and some arches to the nesting box

 

[Castara]

 

[Castara]

 

[Castara]

On a mission

 

[Castara]

Meet the Space Chicks

 

[Marigold]

Wow, that's amazing, you got there at last! Congratulations! Looking forward to hearing more about the new girls.
How far from the wall are those perches? Remembering they will roost facing outwards, do they have room for their tails to not touch the wall? You'll soon find out if they crap down the wall behind!

 

[chrismahon]

Don't think they will use your perch Castara. I have 240mm minimum between the back of the perch and the wall for tails overhanging and general manouvering. I've reduced the figure from 300mm but won't be going any smaller.

Great to see it occupied.

 

[Castara]

They did last nite , But their still small , so might have to make another , Although they seemed to like the steep up into the perch best had to shoo um to bed last nite , Oh and 'Flighty' White star 'Leia' Tried to fly outta the mood window !

 

[Castara]

Whoooa , talk about baptism of fire :shock: So I had a moment alone with the chooks just sittin , chillin , watchin them do their thing . When all of a sudden , they go ape , flappin sqauking , barberella goes clear across the run up onto the step. I look down at my side theirs a cat , Hunched down , looking a little confused , maybe all the noise, maybe cause it had only just noticed me right next to it, I said, on reflex " I beg your pardon " like I do to the kids when their naughty , Funny what springs to your mouth when your surprised, Any why I hissed the cat , it shot off , and the chooks stood their in amazement , so they froze for a bit then started lookin around and Barbarella starts with this new sound , the normal cluck sounds like the last post , first 4 notes, any way , Shes barking so I go in the run and they calm down. I go in to tell the family the funniest thing just happened, That took no more than 5 minutes , I look out the window their barking intermittently. But the coast looks clear? So I made a cuppa and I hear all this barking getting louder and squaks . The cats back I think, I look out the window . What do I see? A bloody fox :shock: Quick pacing back and forth around the front corner of the run lookin for a way in . The chooks are going mental, they still haven't worked out the coop bit , so were just flappin around in the run , It took a moment to figure the fox wasn't in the run , then I was off , down the stairs , shoes on keys, out the front door , round the side , open the side gate , through the neighbors garden ( ours is at the back) , I picked up a rake as I was movin , just got through into ours and I saw him and he saw me , he turned and bolted for the little hole in the bottom of the garden fence , as he squeezed through , I squared up and launched the rake , he slipped through just as the rake hit the fence and the pole part went through the chain link about a foot above his head , Man, i tell ya they move fast Any way 10 seconds latter I hear the dog 2 gardens up start barking, The chooks were a little upset . So I whent in the run . Strangest thing they all huddled around me , let me stroke um and went back to a soft clucky noise . So in the words of the bard Let the battle commence ' :evil:

 

[Margaid]

Wow Castara, you're obviously a natural with a spear!! 17 Gosh it didn't take fox long to discover the potential take away :shock:

We're having to review our fencing - 17 cows and heifers, 9 calves and a Limousin bull ended up where I intend to put the chicken enclosure at 9pm yesterday. They had obviously been spooked (a footpath runs through the field) as they had demolished a section of fence and had been up and down the (300 metre) drive at least once. Looking out the window of the mobile home and seeing all these cows and the large bull just outside was a bit disconcerting. They aren't ours, we let the grazing to a neighbour.

So it was all hands to the pump - call to the owner to tell him they'd escaped, call to the neighbour up the lane to close their (illegal) gate across the lane so they wouldn't get out onto the road, then herd them all into another field then try to repair the fences. They had got into another field through an open gate, but then got over the fence and broke the top wire - that now has barbed wire on the top.

We've been out all day and they were in a different field when we got home - and the repaired top wire was broken again.

They didn't do any damage apart from depp pockmarks in all the "lawns" and a flowerbed. They didn't knock anything over so I'm hoping if it ever happened again the electric netting might stop them and/or maybe they woudn't knock the coops over. By the time they were wandering around outside they were fairly calm but we can spook them as they don't know us.

Ah well, the joys of country living.

Hope you've given the fox a good fright.

 

[Marigold]

SO GLAD you both escaped essentially unscathed!
And that this record-breaking thread didn't end with pics of very short-lived chickens, Castara. Wow, what a story, though. Sounds like you're going to have a busy day on your boundaries today. Are they all present and correct this morning? I hope so.

 

[foxy]

Lordy this was supposed to be a relaxing thread to read with a morning cup of coffee!

So glad you are all alright... the chooks all accounted for and the Limousin bull where it should be! :shock:

 

[Castara]

Roll call and Report: All, present, n correct , Sahh ! Wife gone awol, last scean in coop with tub of raisins , kids got up @ reveille n dressed themselves so they could get 1/2 hour in coop before school.. All's well

 

[MyPlantsDie]

Ive really enjoyed reading this thread i hope you carry on adding to it ,im in process of getting chickens myself ,well if work would stop getting in the way :roll: .I hope you figure a way to keep the fox away .

 

[Castara]

well a few alterations here and there :ugeek: , I tried 2 perches different widths 2" and 3" they seemed to prefer the 3" to perch on so I changed the other one but they wont use it , they seem to prefer the lower one by the window ??? I thought they always go for the higher one??? . saying that tonite I thought ~I'd let them sort themselves out for bed as Ive put in a new gangplank up to the pop hatch With nice little D shape beading every 4". they wern't getting on with the steps too well . but as soon as the new gang plank when't in ( at less of an incline than the steps) They started going up and down , Come dusk the white star , starts with the go to bed cluck and keeps going in and out and even tried to push the Colombian brown in the door, she gets a bit frantic at bed time . Any way after dinner we thought we'd check on um , They were all on the roof thats about six feet , And there's me worried they couldn't get up the steps or onto the higher perch At 12" So I turfed them into the coop and they settled on the lower perch, Not the higher one :roll: were I'd carefully laid out some newspaper on an old window box drip tray in an attempt to catch the nites droppings :roll:
New development in the nest box About lunch time the Colombian starts acting skittish , pacing , shes normally very chilled , then she goes in the copp and i hear rummaging in the nest box , 10 minutes later I look in shes made a hollow in the Auboise almost up to her back and shes picking little bits up and placing them around her , It was like a David Attenborough show. she looked well the cliche Hen on nest , Then 10 minutes more out she came. No egg , maybe shes just practicing

 

[Castara]

Ive really enjoyed reading this thread i hope you carry on adding to it ,im in process of getting chickens myself ,well if work would stop getting in the way :roll: .I hope you figure a way to keep the fox away .

What a nice thing to say , people uaually tell me to stop goin on :lol: So Untill I'm told to stop . As for gettin chooks . If works in the way . give it up , sell everything , move to the country and start a chicken farm , I rekon its the way too go myself, now hedge funding's gone kurput. what's a gardener to do :lol:

 

[Castara]

What It's all about

 

[chrismahon]

Yes she's just practicing Castara. She knows there are eggs developing inside her and is sorting out a place to lay them. Could be this morning or tomorrow.