Finally chickens!

We spend a lot on eggs. The boys can go thru 2-3 dozen a week and we have been meaning to get some laying hens. Llast year we got an old run down trailer for cheep and thought it would convert easily into a great little hen house. Easy peeasy! NOT.

August and I scrape out old cracked caulking to try and make it waterproof. And don't even ask me how I feel about tube #2 of silicon that turned out to be faulty and DID NOT DRY, so I am now in the process of RE SCRAPING OUT AND RE CAULKING......

Hubby tears out the insides,

ripping more and more and more out as he

discovers a lot of water damage and rot.

He frames in new walls...and a new floor....

Insulation....

August got to work and built a ramp....

August and I put up wiring (look behind him) to stop the chickens escaping!

I cut some alders down and Don Fashioned a roost. It's on hinges so I can lift it up and clean underneath it. The floor is lino and the walls painted with latex bullseye 123. You can see a home made feeder waiting for my girls. We use pine shavings as bedding. They are stored in the toilet area.

The girls spent a week in our pony trailer waiting for their new home. They got out and flapped and flew.....we decided some wing clipping was in order! You can see the upside down bucket-homemade waterer in the background! (and August's ramp!) They are busy eating grass and chickweed and dust bathing. So far (knock on wood) we have no escapees!

The fence is a cheep Electric netting with some plastic chicken wire attached. We need to fence them as they can't wander our strawberry patch during strawberry season!! We bought the wrong sized netting so had to make do......We will be moving the hens around so we need a portable fence. In the background you can see the pig house!

Hubby even fashioned nesting boxes under the counter for my girls. I figure I can put some boxes on the counter if I need more!

The boys and girls frolicking in the field!

Happy Hens exploring their new home!

The first night when we closed the girls in all 15 were jammed in the nesting boxes. They'd never seen a roost before!!! I had to block the nesting boxes off and we had to place the girls on their roosts for a couple of nights. Now we have 13/15 sitting on their roosts to sleep!

It's a nice portable hen house, but it would have been faster and easier to start building it from scratch. However, the end product is easily moved and warm, it has electricity, and will do nicely for the girls over the winter!

Did I mention hubby was at the feed store today enquiring about turkeys????