Country Mouse

The chicken coop has new birth with a new mom.  One of our Americana hens went broody 3 weeks ago, and now the eggs are beginning to hatch, last night we were up to 5 little ones.  New birth is a miracle, and a special time of bonding for the baby chicks and the new mother hens.  We also have 9 chicks running around that are about 6 weeks old.  The moms have recently decided that the're old enough to snuggle together, and have resumed perching up high with all the other hens and rooster at night.  It won't be long and all the chicks will begin to move upwards too.  I am happy to report this year, now that the chicks are in the upper part, we finally have a totally predator proof coop. It can take years and many losses to get to the point where you realize, every wild animal wants to eat a baby chick, or small chicken.

We've had to learn the hard way to keep predators at bay.  Last spring it must have been a weasel or small rat that got more than half our baby chicks.  This took place in the bottom of the chicken coop that has a dirt floor.  I dug down and put the smallest hole stock wire to keep out all rodents, somehow they still got in.  We have literally had to create Fort Knox to keep the chickens safe.  If they are let loose outside, there is chance for a hawk to fly overhead and snag a baby chick.  They are vulnerable, and we don't let them run loose unless we are right their with them.  As the chicks get older and don't peep quite so much, they don't seem to be as vulnerable.

Rats can reek havoc on your farm.  I always wondered why old farmer Al used rat poison and not traps.  Now I know, it's the most effective way to get rid of them.  We've set traps, we've lived with them, we're finally resolved to have a rat control program in effect.  Particularly during the warmer months of summer, when their numbers seem to swell.  I buy the peanut butter flavored rat poison and put it out at night, by morning it's all gone.  You have to keep doing this for 7-10 nights until they don't take it anymore.  I can tell when we have rats because of the holes in the chicken run.  When I do put it out, I make sure none of our pets can get into it, or the chickens in the morning.  This is the time to be double checking.

Why do I have a rat problem?  Well, probably because I feed corn and grains in the chicken run, the coop is also where I have all my feed stored.   It's stored tightly in bins behind strong doors but inevitably some of it drops out of the bag, goat food, rabbit food, and chicken feed when I'm filling feed bowls. The rats and wild birds stick around where there's food.  I don't like setting traps for mice or rats, but set them I have. 

A house in the country will also be a welcome place for the country mouse.  They like to be dry and well fed too, just like we do.  Indoors we use mouse traps, and sometimes will catch several mice in a night.  We set traps every month or two, and go in spurts until we know they're all gone.  You don't want to put out mouse poison inside, because they may go crawl in somewhere and die, then you will have the most horrible smell ever and will have to find it to get rid of it. 

The farm cat is very useful in rodent control, but they need to live in the barn to be the best control, our cats are at the houses, so they are not effective in keeping the chicken coop and run rodent free. 
Rats are a serious issue that you should look at as the primary killers of baby chicks.  I am on night four this evening for being the exterminator.  Today I will buy more rat poison, if I'd been thinking I would have bought the bucket, rather than the package that is small and cheap.   So I say all this to myself to keep it up, and our farm and animals will be glad for it.

the coop ~ new stairs and the chicken run

This picture is the back side of the coop, already finished, except for the windows, notice it's 2 story, the chickens go through the bottom door when we let them out to pasture.  The picture of the stairs below is the front of the coop still unfinished. 

We are still working on our chicken coop, it has been a work in progress, to see the process go here.  Back in February over several nice weekends J built the simple rectangular forms and poured the concrete stairs.  We let them cure for a couple weeks then assembled each stair with drilled rocks in between (just for looks) we also put special smaller rocks embedded into the ends of each stair.  If you wondering why we do so much concrete, ie decks, fence posts, stairs, etc,  it's because we live in the rainy NW and wood rots quickly here.  This way the stairs won't get slippery and will last for years with no maintenance,  concrete is an easy medium to work with, and lasts for a lifetime.   He also found a rooster mold at Goodwill and cast that into one of the posts for fun.

The chicken run is the safe zone for the chickens, this is their yard that we built to give them some freedom, but still keep them safe.  We dug down almost a foot to lay the wire and prevent dig ins, and then filled in with gravel.  All the posts are metal t-posts, and the corners are several posts forming strong corners.  We put wood around the top to staple the top chicken wire onto.  The top is fenced with chicken wire that I sewed together 4 long pieces of the wire and is held in place with several long cables pulled tight and metal posts pushing the middle up (kind of like a circus tent).  It's rugged and doesn't look the prettiest, but it works.  Someday I envision climbing roses and plantings around it to add some beauty.  For now I'm just happy that no racoons can climb in to get them, and no owls or hawks can make air raids.  One thing if I had to do the chicken run over would be not putting gravel on the inside around the base, only big rocks they can't move with their scratching.  I have been raking small rocks and gravel that they spread everywhere with their scratching, looking for bugs.  I am slowly gathering big rocks from around the property and putting them around the inside and outside of the base of the chicken coop.  We also made sure to situate the run to have morning sun, and to be able to drain off excess water, it is on a slight hill, with all the rain we've had so far this spring, we could have ended up with giant mud puddles.  They're all running along beside me in this picture asking to come out and play, so they can run around.

A Golden Egg

I remember well our first egg, we had all been watching for it, knowing it would be any day that our young chickens, called pullets would begin laying their first highly anticipated eggs.  This was a year and a half ago, and the hens were still in the basement of the coop, since the upper floor had yet to be finished.  We created a couple spots for them to be comfortable enough to lay an egg. 

It takes a hen about 5 months to begin laying, so when you get day old chicks in the Spring, you'll begin to get eggs around the first part of September.   The first egg your hens lay is really special, there has likely been a lot of money spent with no return, until now.  Those first five months, I remember well all the hard chickens lessons we learned.  No one can quite prepare you for it, as every situation is different.   Because we went through losing some right before they began laying, I was extra careful to make sure the 7 we had left were guarded closely.   

Raising chickens makes you aware of their vulnerability, and total reliance on your care.   They need to be fed, watered, and cleaned up after.  They also need to be guarded when you let them out to eat grass and free range.  They need a safe place to sleep on perches, and a good place to lay eggs and  make a nest.  If you have broody hens, they need a quiet corner to sit for several weeks, and baby chicks need to be protected from rodents, and kept extra safe at night.

That first year, we had to crawl under and look for eggs in the basement, we always kept it clean with fresh shavings or straw.  This is Tessa that first day she found an egg.

Ruby getting ready to lay an egg, in her nest box.

Kaley with our first egg, we were all so proud that day of our chickens, and that we had managed to keep some alive through those first 5 months to actually lay an egg.

Timber frame chicken coop

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The construction of our chicken coop has been a slow process, as good things take time.  I never imagined when I brought home day old chicks that my husband would want to make a timber frame chicken coop, or  that it would have a basement, or that it would turn out so nice. We've had a couple friends who've said they could live in it, I guess set up with a kitchen, deck and fireplace it could be cozy. 

The size of the coop is 10 feet wide, by 12 feet deep. The foundation is  6 piers, 2  pairs are connected with an arch.  The piers are 4 feet into the ground to the hardpan, with cages of rebar within the concrete.  The foundation is then bolted to the wood structure.  Most of the wood we used was salvage, and some from trees off the land, most of it was what we had on hand, so there was a lot of mix and match, and seeing what sizes  we had that would work. 

A note here worth telling, is that with some forethought and  chicken knowledge, we would have done things differently.  We would have dug out the basement and poured an entire concrete foundation, bottom and sides.  I had read an old timers book about chicken coops, and she said that her chickens love the dirt under a chicken coop because it stays dry in the winter, and the chickens can take dust baths.  Well the first winter that they lived in the basement was fine, we didn't begin to have troubles until spring with new baby chicks arriving.  Something began to dig under and steal a chick every few nights.  So I proceeded to spend a couple long days in the cold digging out the dirt a section at a time to a depth of about 1 1/2 feet, and laying rabbit wire to prevent dig ins.  I then refilled the dirt so they could have their dust baths.  This would have been so much simpler to do at this stage, rather than bent over digging where a full size shovel wouldn't fit.

The 7 hens we had left in the Fall, out of 20 chicks we started with in the Spring, shows the learning curve we've had with chickens.  Do not underestimate how many things want to eat your chickens.  They will come by air, ground, and even underground.  The need for a strong coop becomes paramount to keeping your flock alive. 

 The first winter we got the chickens all set up in the lower level, with perches and the aviary/chicken run.  Before the aviary was finished, we were just letting the chickens out to free range during the day, I had this dream of free ranging chickens that could run around the property.  After several fatal attacks from neighbor dogs, coyotes, and hawks beginning to fly overhead regularly, we realized the seriousness of keeping them safe in a coop and chicken run.  We also set up dog protection in the form of a zip line for Sierra and a tie out spot close to the coop for Summer.  We still put the dogs on chicken duty when we let them loose, this has been effective.  We try to let the chickens out several times a week on dry days, for a couple hours.  I notice a difference in the amount and quality of our eggs when they can free range.

When I first brought the chickens home, we kept them in a large stock tank with a light, and I would bring them out to the garden to run around while I worked.  I hauled them back and forth from the barn to the garden so many times that summer, a year and a half ago.  The coop has been done in stages, because we have other projects and work going at the same time.  It's still is not totally finished, we have plastic up where the windows should go, and we still need to put the final siding on the front and sides, along with building the overhang and landing at the entrance.  These will all get done in time

The bottom doors open up to get inside the basement, and allow access for food and water, and cleaning.  The panels on the basement have strong rabbit wire to keep out rodents. 

One of our Rhode Island Reds cruising through the arch from outside, you can kind of see the ramp that goes upstairs in this picture. 



Chicken Coop