Installing the Last of the Chicken Run Panels and Shopping for Chick Stuff

Thursday June 21, 2018 Guerneville CA.

Finishing up the chicken enclosures

Today my goal was to get the last four roof panels installed as I got all the construction of them done yesterday.

This is the enclosure that needs some ceiling panels to keep the hawks and awls out from eating my birds.enclosure1

 

Panels up

I worked the panels into place and wired them up.roofup2

 

Another view of the roof panels in place and the biggest part of the chicken enclosures is done, although there is still a bunch of little stuff to do, like making sure there are no places the little chicks can get out.roof4

 

Grower panel up

I also installed one of my grower panels. I mounted it on the fence with wire so the wire works as hinges and I can fold it up and out of the way when I want to plant stuff in it. It’s to be supported off the ground a few inches to keep the chickens from eating the roots of plants as they destroy them.  They can hop on the chicken wire and eat the tops, but not get to the roots to kill the plants. Now I need to dig it up under there and plant some seeds. It’s already getting watered everyday with an automatic timer.growpanel3

 

Shopping for chicken stuff

I changed clothes and headed over to do some shopping. I needed some water thingies for the chicks and a feeder that keeps them from throwing feed everywhere and this is what I bought.feeders5

 

New feeder

The feeder seems to be working real well as they went right over to it.chicks6

 

Chicks get more space

I rearranged the chick area by removing the wire and putting a smaller piece across the door way. I figure the chicks can have all the floor space but when they start getting up on the shelves, they get moved outside for good.coop7

 

Getting through the wire

In a few days I plan to start letting them outside during the day, as soon as I know the smaller ones can’t get through the one inch by two inch wire. Some of the little black ones can still just barely squeak through the wire.

What kind

Ken asked what kind of chicks did we get. 15 Dominique’s and 15 New Hampshire’s and one surprise rooster they throw in.

Patsy wanted to know who would take care of the chicks if I go on a trip. I took care of that early on. I realized I’d need a partner. Dominique my brother’s girl friend is my partner and will get most of the eggs, all the ones I don’t eat which will be most of them. She’s a Pastry Chef so can use a lot of eggs. Anyway she seems to like chicks and has been out in the coop reading to them. She’s the one that noticed we had more chicks than we were suppose to.

Done for the day

I wasn’t much in the mood to do much work after shopping so I chair hopped around the yard and made some plans to do some more work on the chicken stuff. I still need roost and nest boxes, but the chicks won’t need them for a bit yet.

That was it for me today. Nice day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Installing the Last of the Chicken Run Panels and Shopping for Chick Stuff

Doing the Last Panels For the Chicken Runs and Too Many Peeps

Wednesday June 20, 2018 Guerneville CA.

Still working on the chicken stuff

Yesterday I worked on the chicken run but was too warn out to post a blog last night.

Today I planned to get the last four ceiling panels wired up if I could.

Checked out Ray’s truck

But first I went to Guerneville to get some stuff to eat and then stopped to shot the bull with Ray and his wife on the way home. Ray had me take a look at his new truck he bought. It looked in real good shape and I couldn’t see anything that needed some attention. It looks almost new which is good as the truck is a 1990 with only 41,000 miles on it and was kept under cover all this time.

Laying the wire out

I started by laying the wire out in the four panels ready for clips on two sides.wired1

 

Handy little clips make the job easier

I used these hog or pig clips to fasten the two sides of the wire, but the cut ends I have to bend over, each little piece. You can see the clips and where I have one clipped on the rebar there if you look closely.clips2

 

More than 31 peeps

My brother Tom tells me that my chicken partner, his girl friend counted thirty yellow chicks in a picture of my chicks and said I had some of my bother’s chicks mixed in with mine, but which ones. I was 100 percent sure I only counted 31 the other day. Later I counted them and found her to be right, there were 15 of my brother’s chicks in with our chicks.

No one caught me on that.

So which ones are my peeps

So later in the day we went over to have a look at my brother’s chicks to see if we could tell them apart. His checks seem to  have white wings and my chicks have dark wings.
Here’s his chicks, more than a hundred of the little peeps.chicks3

 

1 2 3 4 yes too many peeps

Here’s our chicks, 46 of them.chicks46

 

Working smarter gets the job done

As evening approached I hadn’t finished fastening the cut ends of the wire to the rebar yet and figured I’d be lucky to get a couple of them done before dark as they are hard on my back. I set up a couple chairs to get them higher and was able to sit in a chair to do them, so easier on the back and by persisting I was able to get all four of them done and hauled to where I will install them. I could of installed them but I was just happy to get the wire on all of them as these are the last panels for the chicken run which is what I’ve been looking for.

Panels ready to install

Two panels ready to install in the roof here. You can see there is no wire in the roof yet in this spot. I have the other two panels here too ready to install tomorrow.panels5

 

Sleeping chicks

I checked on the chicks just after dark. I have a heater on in the left bottom corner so the peeps huddle up in this spot just away from the fan breeze. 46 not 31.sleepytime6

 

Trip planning

I still had a little more time before dark to do some chair hopping so I did. I’m thinking I need to get away for a trip soon so I’m doing some thinking on that.

Nice day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment