Lovely Hubby chose the windiest of windy days to erect the new hen house last weekend. Gales blew all around our area and indeed over lots of the country on Friday and Saturday, whole trees were blown across the road near us stopping all traffic during the night while they were cut through and moved.
But a little matter of gale force winds didn't stop my man!!
With the base all in place and the wheels on there was enough weight in the bottom to keep it firmly on our hillside, but that wasn't enough to keep the roof on.
Twice he chased it across the grass before he finally got enough screws in to hold it in place.
It's a lovely house, really well made and obviously well planned out. After having our other henhouses, some bought and some designed and built ourselves, we knew exactly what to look for in the chickens new house and this one fitted the bill perfectly.
It's large enough to hold up to 35 birds so our 29 with a percentage of them being Bantams will fit in easily with a bit of space left over for the potential patter of tiny little feet next Spring.
We bought it from HERE, and I'm adding a link to them in the sidebar as I've decided that any products we use and are pleased with, will be listed on my sidebar to save answering so many emails about where do we get this or that, not that I mind but sometimes it's nice for you just to be able to see the suppliers of things we use rather than have to wait for my answer. Here's a link to their Facebook Page too
I must re-iterate that I do not use products that I am asked to endorse, I only advertise for companies that I want to advertise for. (I am currently being swamped with offers of goods and services and spending some time each day batting the emails back, this is not a blog for advertising on.)
While all the henhouse erecting was going on outside and I was busy painting inside Rosy took to her bed by the Aga ...
... and Suky watched proceedings from the conservatory door.
(Note the brand new cat flap!! Gosh our moggies are spoilt, we had to have a whole new double glazed unit installed in the door to be able to fit it, I am telling LH that to make it more financially viable we really do need a couple of extra cats, that way there will be much more usage and therefore it will be better value for money!! :-)
But after a while even watching your Dad run round the field chasing roof panels gets a little bit boring.
Especially when he eventually decides to hide inside the house fitting the perches!!
I'll take some more photos of the henhouse next week when the girls themselves are in residence and we have the temporary fence around it. We intend to have an outside covered area, a dust bathing area under the house and access to two different halves of the grass so that one can recover while the girls run on the other.
We've learnt a lot of lessons in the five or so years we've kept chickens and it's nice that we can finally put them all into action on our very own bit of land.
Sue xx
Hi Sue I've just discovered your blog and am loving reading your updates on how you are getting on. My husband Chris and I are finally moving to our country cottage permanently in January after using it as a weekender for nearly 4 years. We are in South Australia and hope to live a simpler life with our two dogs, two cats and some chickens. I finally get to have my Rayburn after dreaming of one since I was a little girl. I hope my pups find a nice warm bed near it like your pups are next to your Aga. Keep up the good work. Susan McGloin Adelaide South Australia
ReplyDeleteHow exciting, it will be a wonderful start to the New Year, a simpler, calmer life with your furry and feathered family all around you. Thank you for reading and for taking the time to comment. xx
DeleteYou have both been so busy lately I'm sure you are looking forward to some rest. I'm going to take a look at the link as I'm allowed some chickens next year.
ReplyDeleteSmiths, Flyesofancy and Eglu are all the very best. Eglu if you want a completely easy to clean, easy maintenance plastic house and the others for wooden houses or arks. I'll be looking out on your Blog for lots of chicken stories :-)
DeleteWe've used Smiths Sectional too( for a goat house back in the day when we kept goats) Really good quality. To save delivery costs we met them in a supermarket car park 60 miles away with a trailer while they were on their way to somewhere else!
ReplyDeleteWe opted for delivery as we are so busy, and the guys that brought it were brilliant, laughing off being sent halfway up a steep Welsh hillside by their Sat Nav (while everyone else that has ended up there has had a good moan at us when they finally phone for directions and then arrive).
DeleteAs it is a new area and you might not know what wildlife you have, will your temporary fence be good enough to keep out foxes, badgers and deer?
ReplyDeleteDon't worry we've asked the neighbours. The caravan park further down the road has free ranging chickens and they've never had problems, our nearest neighbour, set back on the hill has said she has only ever seen two foxes and she's lived there for 28 years, there are badgers further along the valley but no setts that are too close to us. It seems to be an area with very few, if any deer, so it will be strange for us we are used to them literally peering in our window while we watch tele. There are a few Red Kites gradually coming to the area (we think they are following us, they were so common in Oxfordshire when we lived there, then they came over to the Reading area where we are now and there has just been sightings of two females and a male over our new valley, what a coincidence!!
DeleteWe are not daft enough to let our girls out without protection, our temporary fencing is electrified so any animal chancing it's luck will have a tingly nose to send it on it's way, once the permanent fencing is up we will run electric strands around at the top and bottom as a deterrent and our henhouse will have a wire enclosure built around it with a wet weather run and a fox and rodent proof skirt. :-)
Hi Sue .. there is a Red Kite centre near Machynlleth .. which as the crow flies/Kite flies proberably is not too far away .. they have done really well with their breeding programme and I imagine they are spreading throughout N Wales.
DeleteWe have a lot of Buzzards here .. but never had any trouble with birds or foxes .. I think the smell of people and the dogs maybe puts foxes off. Now Rats .. thats another story!
x
I've just discovered your blog too and I'm enjoying it. You quite often comment on the same blogs that I read. I am another Sue, the one who cleared the massive amount of debt through living simply and frugally. I continue to live like this and have found peace and happiness through doing so. It's a pleasure to read the blogs of similarly minded people.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of us Sues around :-)
DeleteI've noticed that I've commented after you on a couple of Blogs, people must think we are all in a gang!!
Good name isn't it? We seem to have a lot in common as well as the name. Nice to meet you at last!
DeleteI do envy you your woodland - all that free fuel! The new house is looking wonderfully cared for already. Will you be in for Christmas?
ReplyDeleteI know, it's brilliant owning all that wood, although folk keep knocking and asking for bits of the oak that we've cut down, it's still lying on the hillside on the tree surgeons instructions to let the rain and wind wash out the tannins in the wood before it's tidied and stacked.
DeleteWe WILL be in this weekend .... YAY!!
Ooh, very exciting! I bet you can't wait to see your hens running around your very own piece of land :) Any news on the new blog challenge? I eagerly await that post :)
ReplyDeleteNews coming soon I promise, I've been dithering a bit ... can I do it, can't I do it ... you know what it's like!!
Deletegood for him & you!
ReplyDeletethat sounds like a wonderful design!
Thank you :-)
DeleteThe design has been learnt through five years trial and error, sometimes only learning through making mistakes in the past helps you.
As a fellow dweller (and former poultry keeper) in rural Wales, I must mention that it's a good idea to add Polecats to your list of potential predators. They used to come across our paddock in broad daylight - not good when you have a free-range flock - and managed to get through the tiniest gap and slaughtered 8 of our 10 remaining ducks one night. Foxes we had no problems with, but Polecats are a whole different ball game. We're in Carmarthenshire, but I've seen dead Polecats on roads across Wales. Hope this helps but as your neighbours haven't mentioned them, perhaps you're OK where you are.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up on this one, no-one has mentioned Polecats but I'll ask specifically next time I'm chatting to someone. I imagine they are much harder to protect the flock against from what you are saying, but we'll do our best. Thanks again.
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