Thank you Father Christmas!

I

Icemaiden

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After several years of asking, the girls & I have finally received a new coop for Christmas. No more getting wet in the night when it rains & the old wooden coop leaks. Hooray!

Now I have a very heavy plastic jigsaw puzzle with 170 parts to play with! Good job I've always loved a good jigsaw :roll:

Will keep you all posted.
 
Oh, how lovely! And you have the joy of watching your chickens not knowing to go in the new house, and stand around looking confused at bedtime! :)
 
Lovely present. My husband bought me a mobile phone in case I fall and fracture my hip! They are a bit of technology I hate. I'd have much preferred another chicken house.

LadyA raises a good point. Chickens have a remarkable ability not to recognise change. So if your new coop has a window then I would keep them shut in for two or three days. I once moved a coop about six feet because it was getting muddy around the pop hole. The chickens seemed unable to recognise their own house.
 
I read the comments before Christmas about hens leaping up in the air where their old coop had been, so I'm ready for the confusion!

Out of interest, would you put a new coop on the same spot as the old one or a few feet away on fresh ground? I'm conscious that I've not had access to poo pick under the old coop for years, but on the other hand it's on the flattest spot in the run & is handy for a short dash into the greenhouse when it's raining...
 
Well I got a really good Christmas present, daughter walked through door and announced she was leaving the waste of space she has been living with. His idea of work is playing computer games all day.
OH just about managed not to punch the air with excitement at the announcement, she got the Ospreys in Wales book so was more than happy especially as someone else bought her the Rutland Ospreys book also, that should keep her quiet until said birds start wending their way back.
Great present Icemaiden looking forward to the updates on building progress.
We moved a hen house to a more sheltered position and the end result was confusion for half the birds, the rest worked it out eventually. Of course the one brave soul that ventured inside first made sure everyone knew what a hero she was
 
Ah, hens egos, bigyetiman. I retained just one pullet this year, a Jersey Giant, and put her in with the Dominiques in September. She got bullied unmercifully. Now she thinks she's Boadicea. I'm expecting her to invade Mercia come the Spring,

But a really good present was a book called 'The Fundamentals of Colour Genetics in Canaries'. Nearly had an orgasm!
 
Icemaiden said:
I read the comments before Christmas about hens leaping up in the air where their old coop had been, so I'm ready for the confusion!

Out of interest, would you put a new coop on the same spot as the old one or a few feet away on fresh ground? I'm conscious that I've not had access to poo pick under the old coop for years, but on the other hand it's on the flattest spot in the run & is handy for a short dash into the greenhouse when it's raining...
Click to expand...

If it's in the best place for a coop, why not remove the old one, rake up the old poo and soil soil from underneath, treat the ground with sanitising powder and then instal the new coop?
 
Marigold's suggestion sounds like a good one. As it turns out, it's not too late either...

I'd naïvely thought that today would be spend unpacking, checking that we had all the bits & then building the coop in the run.
However, when we unpacked it I was really disappointed by the quality of the manufacturing. The machinery used can't have been sharpened since it was first commissioned. It's clearly normal though, as the instructions tell you to use a sharp knife or sandpaper to remove all excess plastic before assembly. Each plastic component had lots of small peckable bits of plastic left by the cutting process which I'm sure the girls would peck at, fill their crops with and poison themselves with. (See photos.)

roof as unpacked.jpg
sanding rough bits off front panel.jpg
one of many panels before tidying.jpg

I'm really surprised that Green Frog ship out coops in this condition, especially given what they cost. My husband and I have spend the whole day cutting & filing off bits of plastic that shouldn't have been there and are no closer to getting the thing built.

Do Solway coops arrive in this state? It might have a bearing on people's choice of new coop in the future. Green Frog really need to get their act together.

Hmmphh.
(Gets off soapbox...) :cry:
 

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That's very surprising, Icemaiden. Mine certainly wasn't like that. I shall be interested to hear what their customer service has to say about it, when you send them the photos. If mine had arrived like that I would have sent it straight back.
 
I would have sent mine straight back to. That really is bad workmanship
I have done the same as Marigold when replacing a coop just given a good clean out under the coop, sanitised the ground and put coop back in same place
 
For Xmas I got a dead bird and due new year, another. Down to three now.
I think my auction rush had gotten me a load of birds carrying something that ain't good. Funnily enough they don't all die at the same time.
The ones I have left were labelled up as vaccinated. Against what i dunno. If these three die I may well give up chicken keeping and get a lurcher.
 
Very sorry to hear that, bigjim. any idea what's wrong with them?
It's always a big risk, buying birds at an auction. Nobody sends their best stock to auctions, and you don't know where the birds have come from or how they've been kept. At the auction they're in cages which may have infectious germs fro previous birds, and the whole process is so noisy and high-stress for them that its not surprising so many go down with illness.
In a way, it might be for the best if the other three did die, as then you'd have the option of disinfecting everything and then starting again in spring with some young, healthy birds from a trusted breeder, where you can see how they've been kept before buying. It would be a shame to give up, when your next experience would be bound to be better.
 
Sorry to hear this to bigjim, we had a friend who bought various fowl at auctions and had no end of problems.
Don't give up, try getting some hens next time from a reputable supplier and see how you go
 
https://ibb.co/fzE846
Well the three I've got left have started laying. Looks like the marans have a green egg laying father. Pic may not be the best but they're an olive colour. Quite surprised and I'm pleased as punch.
 
Was putting them away last night and saw the biggest hen hadn't got and feathers underneath her, moved her to one side and that leg was bold too. Thought, great I've got a feather pecker. Tonight, the little one had a bold bum. So I think we've found our feather pecker.
I wouldn't mind but they're kept in a nice big run and they have plenty of food to peck at and keep themselves occupied.
I've taken action and hopefully after a week of it not doing it, it'll forget and they can go back to normal.
 
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