Ducks and Chickens

Chickens and ducks!

I suspect that the dark grey Blue Langshan (center) is actually a rooster. From left to right: Delaware, Big Chicken, Freckles the Russian Orloff, both Blue Langshans, Partridge Red, other Delaware, and back there in the right corner, the Silver Leghorn. All are doing great.

Still no sign of any drakes in the duck pen, but they are growing up nicely!

Ducklings!

We just brought home 5 ducklings. The grey one is a Blue Indian Runner and the four yellow ones are Fawn Indian Runners.  The Blue is hatchery run so there's a 50% chance it will be a drake, the others should all be female.

 

Conan has named the grey one Bird. The yellow ones are named Ice Cream, Cake, Cupcake and Cookie. He named them after his favorite things.  He is very, very gentle when he handles them, so he got to take each one out of the box and put it into the house.

 

The baby chickens have sucessfully moved in with Chicken. We lost one of the Partridge Reds to some kind of predator, but the other 7 are doing very well.

 

Baby Chicks!

 

We got 8 baby chicks today!  They are super cute, and seem to have settled into their new home very happily. There are 

• 2 Partridge Plymouth Rocks
• 2 Delawares
• 2 Blue Langshans
• 1 Silver Leghorn
• 1 Russian Orloff
  

Chickenhouse: The Duck Wing

Today we finally finished the Duck Wing of the chicken house. We're planning to use it very soon (as in later this week) to house baby chicks, and once they are big enough to move in with Chicken* we'll get ducklings.

 There was lots and lots of hammering to be done.

 

Conan got his own hammer and Grandpa Dave gave him lots of opportunities to hammer nails, including some that possibly didn't even need to be hammered.  As if there's any such thing.

 

Papa helped with some of the fine points, like aiming the hammer at the nail. It's tough to hit those little things, but Conan is very determined.

 

It's loud inside the duck wing when there's hammering going on!

I'm particularly proud of the rope system we set up for opening the outside access door without having to go into the pen.  We'll have to build a gangplank or a step for them to get down into their yard, but that can wait until later. 

 

Here's the "finished" exterior.  Someday we'll get some siding on this thing, and it will look amazing.  For now though, functional, recycled and sturdy will do.  

 

We're all excited to have the duck wing finished, and looking forward to baby chicks.  Some of us might be more excited than others.  :)

 

Update: Monday we got a chick feeder, waterer, and starter feed, as well as sawdust for bedding.  We got the duckwing all set up and ready, including a heat lamp.  The last step is to monitor the temperature at chick level and adjust the light as needed to ensure we can maintain the correct temperature (95-100F) day and night.  Once I'm satisfied with our temperature control, we'll be off to get some peepers!

*Yes, our chicken's name is Chicken.  Like you could think of a better name. Sheesh.

Signs of Spring

Frogs are singing at night, the birds are back, and the first few new leaves and flowers are starting to appear. When it's not raining, it's a nice time to go outside an explore.Conan loves to feed his chickens.
Chick-a-dee-dee-dee!
Whoa, DOUBLE RAINBOW! Intense. :)

Chicken House

We've finally got chickens! I've wanted to get our own birds ever since we moved in, but I was also determined to wait until we had the time to really build them a good solid house. Every other time I've ever kept chickens, I've gotten the birds first and then cobbled together some kind of "temporary" shelter for them. The problem with that approach is that the temporary shelter is always needing maintenance to keep it from falling apart so there's never time to build anything permanent. On the other hand, building a good, solid, permanent chicken house was a project that had to wait until a few other things were taken care of, so it's taken us nearly four years to get to the point where we could bring home some hens. The new chicken house is not yet completely finished (the roofing, siding, and full yard enclosure are still incomplete) but I think it is WELL worth the wait. This isn't just an ordinary chicken house, it's a chicken palace!



This chicken house has all kinds of special features. It's got a cleanout door along the whole bottom of the north wall, and a piece of remnant vinyl flooring (in a tasteful beige tile pattern) tacked down over the entire floor and up the side of the nest boxes. Those two features should really help make cleaning out the house a much more pleasant task.

On the East side of the house, the lower roofed area is the future duck house. It's not finished yet, but it won't take much to get it closed in and ready for ducklings in the spring. The ducks will have a separate outdoor pen adjacent to the chicken yard when everything is complete.

There are three nest boxes with access from the outside, and there's a built-in storage cupboard underneath for keeping chicken food, egg cartons, and other useful items dry and secure. The roof has an extra-wide overhang on the south side to keep the rain off our heads while we do the chores. There's a window in the people door, as well as a window that opens for ventilation and light. The chicken door is actually a window as well, which adds a little more light and also closes easily and securely to keep the chickens safe at night. There's a porch on the west end so the ladies can go outside even in wet mucky weather, and where their water dish can be without getting muddy or full of straw.

Most importantly of all, it's a solidly built little house, which will keep them safe and warm and dry in all kinds of weather and for years to come.

We couldn't have done this at all without Dave's help. He had the lumber, the tools, the know-how, the willingness and the time to take my sketch and turn it into reality. We had to purchase some new plywood, the tarpaper, and the cement for setting the footings, but nearly everything else was used, salvaged materials from the ReStore and Dave's collection, and a few things left over from our house. Even the chickens are used! They came from our good friend Janet, who is moving soon and needed to relocate her flock.


Conan really enjoyed the building process. He helped a lot - hammering, measuring, and toting materials around. He is really, really, REALLY excited to have "bokkies" of his very own.

Our seven ladies moved in on Sunday, and we got our first egg yesterday. Once they get all settled in and adjusted to their new home, I expect we'll get 3-5 eggs a day. Mmmm!