New chicken door/venting

The chick/kids are out enjoying the warmth the sun puts into the low tunnel.

Dot and Auburn dig in for the afternoon.

 The low tunnel was at 105'f when I took them in this afternoon.  Outside it was in the 50's.  Since the whole thing is wrapped in plastic for maximum heating we usually vent it this time of year by just opening the doors on each side.  With the chicks inside I wanted to create a venting system that would protect them still.  So I made a chicken wire door that hinges on the opposite jamb from the plastic door.

New Chicken door!  Ginger looks out at the world.

 I figure this is pretty temporary as the season will change quickly, so I used what I had.  I had just deconstructed a shipping palette I had gotten from the scrap bin at the lumber yard and this seemed just right.

packing strap hinges work pretty well for this application.

I used some packing straps that I had also scavenged to make the hinges.  The door is kept closed by the frame of the opposite door.  When I want to close the plastic door for the night, I just open the one and close the other, simple.  Now I can check up on the birds from the kitchen window, and get in and out of the low tunnel easily.  Now if I can just figure out a good way to round them up when it's time to come in for the evening.

moving a mountain

I have several long term projects here.  One of them is moving the slope that is, or was immediately up hill of our house.  It seemed to me to serve the undesirable purpose of funneling all the rain water and moisture right to our foundation, thus making the kitchen and bedroom's poured concrete floors always full of moisture.  So I have been moving it away.
The thing about this place is that there is plenty of material here, it just has to be gotten at and sorted.  While digging I sift the dirt thru a screen, thus getting clean dirt, free of large stones, for the gardens, and rock for building walls and foundations and steps.

this slope used to run right into the back of the house.

 The work is, or could be hard labor, but the way I do it makes it just comfortable and pleasant.  I use only human powered tools.  A machine could come in and do the job in a day, but working that quickly keeps me from seeing what the affects of my work will be.  I know what is in the earth, bugs, worms, the different types of soil and root systems and rocks because I shovel every bit of it myself and actually run my hands thru most of it as I screen it and sort the rocks and organic matter out.
I get a little bit of exercise doing this work.  I don't try and do it all at once or more than my body can deal with in a day, or part of a day.  Since I started back at this work as the winter has passed I can already feel myself getting stronger from the work and activity.  I only work on this a few hours a day and it becomes good and meditative time touching and smelling the earth.
Seeing the progress made over time is deeply satisfying.  I didn't "buy" it, I did the work with my own 2 hands, and my energy.  I try and use the natural progressions of erosion to help me.  I let a winter season of freezing and thawing and the rains to help break up and move some of the earth for me, then I just collect it.

after the winter indoors our oranges are getting orange.

It is almost time for the orange to move back out of doors and get some good sunlight and rain.

2 weeks, 2 days

It seems like only yesterday that our little girls were all fuzz, but now they are mostly feathered, with only patches of fluff hanging on.  It seems to be that awkward "teenage" like time for them.

"Martha Graham, dancing her way around.

They got to spend hours in the "out of doors" today as the weather was just fine.

A day out in the low tunnel with room to roam.

close to 100'f in the low tunnel today.

Lots of pretty feathers on the Brown leghorns.  

 Gathering them all back together t put them back in the brooder for the night is a bit stressful for all of us.  I have to figure out a way to get them to walk into the box that I gather them in for transport, rather than having to catch them, as I am afraid to hurt them.  Once in my hands they calm down quickly and are rather nice to hold.

Chicken goose stepping

The Names

Dottie (Tetra Tint)

Betty (Red Sex Link)

Ginger (Red Sex Link) 

Martha Graham (Tetra Tint)

Auburn (Brown Leg Horn)

Chestnut (Brown Leg Horn)

It's been a week and feathers are replacing fuzz on the wings and tails!  They grow up so fast.

Day 5

Today we took the chicks out to the low tunnel veggie patch for their first outdoor (kinda) experience.  They seemed to like it.  The bugs on the kale haven't got a chance with these energetic and hungry little chicks around.  It was one of the best things we have ever done, just sitting with them in there, all warm   in the tunnel on a cool Early Spring day, watching them be chicks.  We talked softly but constantly to get them used to our voices and they seemed to be all right with us lying on the ground with them.   We have manually removed bugs from our plants before, they seem to love doing it and to not tire.  I love it when I find another step in my path towards living as a part of this place rather than fighting what it wants to be.

mmmmmm! Aphids!

 One chick, Betty, had a very nice and thorough dust bath!

room to roam!

They really are too damned cute!

Better Brooder

Had to build a better set up for the chicks.  I took a box we had been using to store winter veggies and converted it.

On the porch with the winter curtains up the chicks can be warm.

Limbs screwed to the side make a good roost.

Many roosting options.  Chicken wire for chickens.

Hot Chick Video!

don't know if you'll be able to play this, but here it is.

Chirp.

Chicks, Day 3

So this is the third day we have had the chicks.  I have been reading a bit, trying to find out what we should be doing, and what we shouldn't be doing.  So far, it seems that a few of the common opinions we have gotten wrong, but some right.
The chicks seem well.  They are active and they drink their water, and eat their food.  I am a little concerned that we might have been giving them too much food, as one source warns against, but in truth, they did seem to be self regulating when the food dish was in the brooder.  Just in case, I removed the food and will but it back in about mid day.

Feathers coming in on the wingtips.  I added this stick for them to roost on and it works!
Sometimes as many as 3 have been roosting at once.  All the wood chips are from my boat shop projects
and is yellow pine.

 They seem to be warm enough, even though the thermometer is reading only 80-85 degrees f.  I am using a  100watt R lamp about 15 inches above them and at one side of the brooder. The common consensus is that if they are huddling under the light for warmth, they are too cold.  They are some times under, usually one at time, but mostly they sleep in the middle of the brooder.  this makes me think that they aren't to hot, in which case they would be as far from the light as possible, but also warm enough, in which case they'd be right under the light.

Left to right: Tetra tint (back), Red sex link, Brown leg horn, Red sex link.

They are really cute when fuzzy, and their feathers have increased in number already.  The preen, or pluck at their fuzz and reveal more feathers as they do.  When I first added the roosting stick they just hurdled over it, then somebody stayed on top of it, then they all started taking turns.

I am completely rethinking my coop idea.  The one I have will probably work but I think I want something more incorporated into our existing buildings so that heating in the winter will be easier.

I will be sad to see all the fuzz traded for feathers but I will be glad to see them grow up a bit and be less fragile.

Day 1, Hot Chicks

 Day 1- Six baby chickens: 2-Tetra Tints, 2-Red sex links, 2-Brown Leg Horns.

A huddle of chicks, six to be exact.

after the heater got going they started to move around.