homechickens.co.uk

I finally have chickens!

Today has been a really stressful day but everything is sorted out now.  I had the chicken coop ordered to arrive before 12:00 today and it arrived at 11:55.  When I got it I realised it was going to need a bit more construction than I had anticipated – I had to put the legs on and attach the nest box.  I thought I could just about pull it off in the 15 minutes before Robert was due to arrive to give me a lift to the farm.

I got a phone call from Robert just after 12:00 asking where my house was but it was difficult to give him directions because I was unfamiliar with the place he was parked.  I ended up spending about 5 minutes on the phone to him so I didn’t have a lot of time left.  I quickly attached the legs to the coop when he rang me again telling me that he was lost.  In the end I ran down the road to meet him.

I couldn’t really keep Robert waiting so I decided I would have to finish assembling the coop/run after picking up the chickens which wasn’t ideal.  We set off in the van towards Bottisham to pick them up.

Lots of Chickens to Choose From

Even More Chickens!

We got a bit lost in Bottisham and had to ring for directions but eventually we found the place.  When we got there, there were lots of chickens!  The girl who sold them to me was really helpful and helped me pick them out – in the end I went for a Goldline, an Amber and a Blue Belle.  We put two of them in the large box and one in the other box and drove back to Cambridge.

When I got back home, I put the boxes containing the chickens in the garden under a tree and started work on the chicken coop again.  The first task was to remove the legs and put them on the correct way and then all that was needed was to attach the nest box.  The whole thing took about 15 minutes to assemble which wasn’t too bad.

After I had assembled the house I quickly put in some wood shavings and filled the feeder and drinker up and put them inside the house.  Then I had the job of getting the chickens out of the boxes and into the coop which wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be.  Then, whilst the chickens were getting used to their new home I assembled the run and had some lunch.

After leaving the chickens in the house for about an hour I opened the pop-hole so that they could get out and into the run, and I moved the feeder and drinker out of the coop and into the run.  I tried to entice the chickens down the ladder by putting a trail of food down it and into the run but that didn’t seem to work.  After another hour I decided that they had been in there long enough and tried to encourage them into the run.

I pushed the roof off so that I could see the chickens and they were all huddled together and pecking at the wooden floor of the coop – they didn’t look particularly happy!  I decided to push them through the pop-hole so that they could go and eat and drink – I didn’t like the idea of them staying in the coop all day as I won’t be around tomorrow to make sure they get out then.  First I pushed the grey one out through the door – she went out pretty easy.  Next I tried it with the ohters but they were having none of it.  I decided to leave them to it for a bit and see if they would follow by themselves.  After another half hour or so I decided that they were never going to come out by themselves so I went back in and literally lifted them onto the ramp.

After they left the coop they seemed a lot happier – they were pecking at the grass and moving around (in the coop they just kind of sat there looking miserable).  They seemed a bit nervous of me and every time I came near they would cower under the coop.

The Chickens Finally Leave the Coop

They were pretty calm and quiet up until Yu Lee cam home.  I took her outside to meet the girls and their behavior had changed completely.  The grey one kept doing this nasty, sloppy yellow poo and was making a massive racket.  At one point she did a poo, then stepped in it and proceeded to scratch it over her face!  Nice!

We sat inside and watched them for a bit and the grey one was getting really agitated which was setting off the other ones – they were running round in circles and knocking stuff over and generally looking unhappy.  We left them to it and had some dinner, and when we came back the chickens had all calmed down.

I spent most of the evening watching them – much better than watching tv!  Once it started to get dark you could tell the girls wanted to go to bed – especially the white one.  She kept going in and out of the coop – it seemed as though she was trying to get the others to follow.  After a while they all started climbing the ramp but they didn’t seem sure whether they wanted to go in or not.  Eventally they all went in and I went out to shut the pop-hole.  I couldn’t resist taking a quick peep inside the coop and looking at them all roosting before I came in for the night.

Blue Belle

Amber

Goldline

Overall I think today has been pretty stressful for me and the girls.  I must admit I don’t really want to leave them to go to work tomorrow.  Also, I am already thinking about extending the run – I don’t think that the run I have is really big enough for them.  Eventually I would like to let them out into the garden but I have read that I should wait at least a few weeks before I do this.  I also need to think of some names…

Anyway – I have rambled on for long enough!  Now I’m off for a beer!

The Run - a bit on the small side...

When I first let them out they loved it under here