TMO’s guest post of the week…Chickens!

Peck & Poke

It was too rainy today to do much of anything outside with tools, but we had a break for long enough to take a few pics.

The first is our two girls standing on their roost watching me. These chickens are called Red Shavers, and they are a Canadian breed developed somewhere near Cambridge. Their colour is sex-linked – the pullets/hens are red and the cockerels/roosters are white – so sorting chicks is really easy. At least we know we’ll be getting all hens when the chicks arrive next month! Poke is on the left, and Peck is on the right. It isn’t the sharpest picture, but I was hurrying since it was sprinkling.

Next shot is of the back of the coop. Poke is still looking out the window being curious. I always heard that chickens were a bit thick-headed, but these are very bright and curious. They aren’t budgies by any means, but they’re definitely friendly and interested in us, and not the stupid birds my great uncle had in his coop. Maybe it’s because he had 30 or more and didn’t see people as part of their flock, while we have only 2 who think we’re just funny-looking chickens.

The last 2 shots are the front corners of the coop. We’ve got a padlock on it because we’re a little concerned about a couple of neighbouring kids – one in particular who comes across the back field and climbs the fence. After all the work, we don’t want the chickens getting out and lost. The other shot shows the nest-box side. Our two girls are using an old kitty litter pan for laying eggs at the moment, but when we have more pullets we’ll need more space so I’m making a box which can be attached to the side for them to share. I haven’t made the pegs for securing the door/holding the box yet, so the blocks of wood will keep it tight.

The roof isn’t weather-proof yet, and couldn’t be done in the weather we had today, so the tarp is keeping the rain out a bit. Tomorrow, we’ll get the roof done properly and put the whole thing up on stilts (it’s currently resting on the base without the legs attached to the bottom.

Anyone wanna chicken-sit tomorrow while we finish?

SIT. I said SIT.

-The Mundane One