Day One — before the Extreme Makeover

The fence in the foregound and all along the side where the goats are went in on Monday

 

Days 2 and 3 — Repainted the Hen House and added the rest of the roof framing and wiring

Day 4 — Framed and Wired the front of the hen pen enclosure– added the first sign

This is the entryway for humans and the gate that (when left open) lets the hens into the larger hen field beyond.

(The gate still needs to be stained to help weather-proof it.)

 

Whew!

 

With Jackie laid up with a knee injury (a torn meniscus), I was the main builder of this hen pen, so it took four days, off and on, probably about four to five hours per day most days. It also took several trips to McLendon’s and Home Depot, because what I got from McLendon’s (at first) wasn’t going to work, and because I changed (minutely) the architecture I had planned, so I needed different length boards, and not all of them would fit into my van in a single load…

 

I was at Home Depot three times one day!  Luckily it isn’t far away but it was pretty funny, because when I walked in the third time I was greeted with, “Back again!” and responded, “Yes. I think you should put me on staff.”  I decided to get a half sheet of plywood to create a door where I did because the original spot would have required me going into the goat pen and walking the long way around, and I didn’t want to do that, so since I had to make an access door for the hens to get from the protected nighttime area to the outer pasture, I decided to make it large enough to get Jackie and me and other adult humans in, too.  That will save me precious steps during inclement weather…

 

I plan to replace the funky hen pasture door with plywood, too, because what’s there now is a real eyesore. I patched it together out of recycled cabinet doors that were removed from Jackie’s side of the house during our remodel a couple years ago, and the gate looked like hell. It won’t for much longer!

 

Yes, most 2x 4 and 1 x 4s get placed on their edges when framing…

 

My dad would have something to say about the way I framed the structure to  support the chicken wire “roofs”. My dear friend Cooper did, too. But chicken wire weighs next to nothing, and the boards are well nailed in, so there should be very little sagging, because weight-bearing won’t be an issue. Snow and rain will fall right through the wire. I don’t plan to throw a tarp over the structure at any time because there is a tarped shed in the larger pasture beyond and the hens will have the hen house itself as shade and shelter when they’re locked into the hen pen.

 

Predator-Proof?

 

Another friend, Sue Eshelman, said she worries that raccoons could chew through the wiring if they get desperate enough.  But I will lock the hens into the hen house at night after they have come home to roost in it, so raccoons won’t be able to get to them, even if they decided to chew their way in. (They would have to climb the fence 48″ high to even start to chew through, though, because the perimeter fence around the base is solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.)

 

Plus I have a feeding station on my property where opossums, raccoons, geese, ducks and other wetlands wildife partake, so they won’t be desperate enough to break in, I don’t think. We’ve had chickens here before (without this kind of setup, just with perimeter fencing that keeps the goats in) without incident EXCEPT when a raccoon got in and killed a chicken in the hen pen before I got a door for it to lock them in at night. So, I feel quite confident that I have discouraged predation and put out of harm’s way these chickens.

 

And we have crows here during the day; they drive hawks and eagles off (coyotes, too!); we’ve never lost a chicken to an aerial predator or to a fox or coyote.

 

Suffice it to say, I’ve done all I can to make my chicks as safe as possible in a hobby farm-type of environment.  I feel confident they’ll be fine!

 

Passport Submitted

 

Those of you in New Zealand, Germany and Australia will be happy to hear that I got my passport photo and paperwork submitted for acceptance, and the fees paid ($130 and $35), so in 12 to 14 weeks, I should be the owner of my first ever passport. This means I will be able to accept offers to appear at conventions to talk about De, if I get invited to them.

 

I will also be able to fly to Costa Rica to see if that’s really where I want to end up if Jackie and I ever sell this place and relocate. (Jackie will never leave this region. Her son, DIL, and grandchildren are all here.) I’m pretty sure I will leave here, because it’s getting too expensive for me to remain here, given my small Social Security income and puny pension.  So, for the past several years I’ve been looking into international locations that won’t bankrupt me before I croak. I subscribe to International Living Magazine (have for five years now) and Costa Rica, Vietnam and Portugal are on my short list of options, but I’m leaning toward Costa Rica because of it’s ecological ethos and because I speak Spanish and have always loved the Hispanic people I’ve met, known and befriended, and I love the culture and people. I would just have to locate in the Highlands because I wouldn’t do well in tropical heat near the beaches long-term. I dehydrate easily. It’s not far to get to beaches for visits, but I need to live where the temps are mid-70’s to low 80’s in the summer most of the time.

 

Another option is Ecuador, but the elevation there might not work with my blood-clotting issues. I have to research that some more. Cuenca and surrounding areas sound very attractive!

 

Chicks Are Growing, So I’ve “Grown” their habitat 

 

The chicks are twice as tall as they were a week ago, so I’ve placed shelves higher in the ferret habitat I’m keeping them in so they can fly/jump/climb up higher into the cage and spread out.  I’ve also introduced earthworms, a clod of dirt and some greens and vegetables in small amounts, as recommended by chicken raisers in online forums.  They are doing well.  I have to refill their chick feeders twice a day and have had to put in a taller dish of water to keep them from kicking pellets into it and fouling (fowl-ing!) it so often. They’re having a ball in there, when they aren’t sleeping. I’m going to miss their little voices in my den when it’s time to put them out, but that won’t be until they are fully feathered in about three weeks…

 

 

Guess that’s all the news that’s fit to print for this time!