New chickens ... new routines ... added fun!!

Hello Everyone - I'm sorry it's been a while since my last blog.  Life is pretty hectic here near the lake and much has happened since my last entry.
Over the intense heat of the summer we lost a few of our white Leghorns to heat, dehydration and probably old age too.  Six of the original eleven have survived and are doing very well.  They lay beautiful jumbo size white eggs .... well I thought they were jumbo - until today .....
Last night we brought home 7 new girls to join the flock! They are a mixed bunch of sexlinks, wyandotte's and Reds .... and one of them laid the biggest egg I have ever seen - it looks like an ostrich egg!! So last evening has been spent introducing the new girls on the block to the "oldies".  There was some chest puffing initially but then all settled down again until roosting time began and so we created a new perch for some of them to roost on for the night!!

And here's the girls ...

Ok - so I'm off now to tend to my flock before I leave for work.  Have a great day everyone.

Snow has arrived in Belwood!

Hello Faithful Followers and welcome new followers too!

Temperatures dropped in our small part of Southern Ontario and hit minus 5 celsius - not bad for a start but we know it will become much colder still than this in a few more weeks.

We set about adding additional straw and bedding to the chicken coop to keep them warm during the cold nights but freezing water troughs has been a constant annoyance!  If the "girls" don't drink enough then egg production slows down - so several trips daily to break off the ice and pour warm water onto the water station .... and I was ready to scream! luckily our neighbour gave us his water heater to use and a bigger trough too so the girls and Mother Hen are happy again!

Egg production has slowed a little as temperatures have dropped and the girls are scratching around less in the snow - but I'm still collecting around 7 or 8 eggs each day - some double yokers and most extra-large sizes!  Their diet now consists of two bowls of layers mash per day and a bowl of flax seeds with oatmeal daily; on the weekends they get a bowl of sweetcorn and chick-peas too! No wonder they lay the best eggs!

My husband has taken pity on the girls and the current weather and has decided to build them an extension so they can still scratch around in the dirt but be protected from the snow and ice!  Watch this space for pictures of the extension in the coming days!

Home improvements!

This weekend the weather turned chilly and the girls had an extension to their coop! The coop, being a first attempt, requires some adaptations and the attic space is a little small for nesting, roosting and scratching in all at the same time!  But to be fair I did tell my hubby we'd be getting 6 chickens and that turned into 11, so not really his fault.

Today we protected the lower sides of the coop with clear plastic wrapping - this enables light but also provides protection from the wind and rain.  It will also stop the feed trays from becoming water-logged and soggy.

Then we bought 168' of chicken fencing and created a fenced in yard all around the coop which the girls have absolutely loved all day! They have foraged through leaves, fallen tree branches and explored the surrounding areas to the coop .... so much more fun.  In fact they've been so busy today that only 3 of them stopped long enough to lay eggs!!

I am learning their favourite foods - which right now (apart from the layers pellets they get every day) they love a pumpkin, a bowl of oats and a real treat is whole flax seeds ... yes these girls are spoilt rotten!!  Tomorrow I will try them with some corn and see how that goes down.

I baked with the eggs today and was very surprised how bright yellow the yolks were! Some of the eggs are jumbo size with double yolks and others are on the small side ... but all taste yummy scrummy!

That's all for now - check back later for more news.
Mother Hen

Chick, Chick, Chicken - lay a little egg for me ...

One week since we brought our lovely feathered girls home to roost and what a fun week it has been.

The egg production is improving and increasing and I'm now collecting 7 or more eggs daily ... which means at least 4 of the girls are still in "lock-down" mode!

I'm feeding them twice a day with layers crumbs and I mix in oatmeal and flax seed too.  They get any scraps from the house and peelings from the vegetables too - and I've discovered they also like the end of the loaf, so the occasional crust is thrown in for good measure.

We had two escapee's who thought they would give my Hubby and I the run-around trying to catch them and prevent them from a short-lived destiny.  We yelled "coyotes" at them a few times and in no time at all they were running back towards the coop for security!

My Grandson Eden wasn't content to just see them from outside the coop so he had to go inside and touch them! His face was a picture and a memory I shall never forget as he looked at the freshly laid eggs sitting nestled in a straw bed.  We carefully placed them into a basket ... and then subsequently broke two when Eden thought he'd try tossing them into the basket instead!!

I found myself inwardly smiling and then laughing out loud at my Hubby and I as we dutifully don our wellie boots and jackets to go across the garden to the coop at 6.30am each morning and let the girls out.  Somewhere in my destiny I am meant to be a farmer's wife!

 

Move-in day ...

Well today was moving day - our hens arrived to their forever home with us .... all eleven of them!

Is it possible to be instantly in love with these girls? I know I'm feeling rather protective and a bit broody over them - is it enough water? Is the feed tray in the right place? Is it too cold for them? 

Tipsy, Milo and Bella are fascinated with them and once they stopped their barking they actually found the hens quite fun to watch - up close and from the patio doors inside the house! 

We boxed up the Chickens to transport them from the farm to our house - a somewhat traumatizing event for them I'm certain.  However an hour and 40 minutes later we arrived home and discovered that two freshly laid eggs were left for me in the boxes! 

Bethany has offered to make them each a braided name tag to wear .... yes we need to come up with 11 names .... please send me your suggestions!

The girls in their new home

They haven't worked out the upstairs yet!

Two eggs - already!

The dogs meet the new arrivals

The 5 star coop ...

So today began bright and early with a fresh chill in the air and the smell of vanilla biscotti coffee!

Our friend Rob arrived to continue with the coop building - and in no time at all the best laid plans were cast aside in favour of "another style".   One that is more sturdy and solid than the directions were indicating .... and two minutes later the sound of drilling, sawing, hammering and debating alerted me to the fact that my day had well and truly begun.

As temperatures dropped more coffee was needed and sausage rolls at lunch time hit the right spot to stop the stomachs growling.  By mid afternoon the sky looked like it might snow but it rained instead - cold, wet and windy and much like the British weather I'm all too familiar with!

So 7 hours later and the said structure has been ceremoniously placed in the assigned area of the garden - a few feet from the house and behind existing sheds - but not too near my rhubarb patch!  The nesting boxes are built, the perch for roosting and the ramp to descend from the penthouse suite to the lower decks is in place.

All that's left now is the metal run to build,  the roof to cover and tarp and the red paint to the walls.  I'm so excited to be welcoming the girls home very soon.  Let me tell you how I found the chickens ....

Christen rescues chickens at Cobble Hill Farm Sanctuary, she rehabilitates them for a few months with the help of some very special children between 8 and 13 years of age and she re-homes the chickens to adoptive parents like us!  Here is her website: http://www.cobblehillsfarmsanctuary.com/

Here are the coop pictures from todays efforts:

constructing the penthouse pieces

The roosting perch

Coop in place

The roof going on

Before emigrating to Canada some 11 years ago, we kept 4 chickens in our converted dog kennel and in a built up urban housing development - or estate as we Brits call them!

Now we are about to welcome 10 new clucking girls to our new home (and theirs too) and it's on 10 acres of beautiful peaceful, calm country-side property.

We moved here during the warm Summer leaving the busy city life and arrived to a beautiful English-style cottage with many rooms and doors on all of them .... no open concept idea here!

Once the boxes were unpacked, the closets full of clothing, the walls freshly painted and the pantry stocked with food .... something was lacking.

So my doting hubby coerced his woodworking expert friend into the planning and implementation of none other than a chicken coop.  It began with just the intention of 4 chickens - one for each daughter - but that idea got laughed at seeing as I only have one daughter left at home! So then it increased to 6 or 7 but grew to 10 when I found a farmer preferred to give me a minimum of 10.

Watch this space for more news and pictures as the "girls" settle in. Here's a picture of their future home.
Mother Hen