Chicken Planter

[Suechooks]

Well I thought 3, but OH only wants 2, she thinks we'll have too many eggs with three. Personally I'm hoping she'll make some more cakes which she is a dab hand at, as you can see below. Besides spare eggs make good legal tender.

Lovely cake!
It's recommended that you get hens in 3s as if one dies you don't have a solo hen. The BHWT will only give a minimum of 3

[Mikey]

So its a bit like plants then, odd numbers work better, 3's and 5's!!

[RichmondHens]

Lovely cake!
It's recommended that you get hens in 3s as if one dies you don't have a solo hen. The BHWT will only give a minimum of 3

Mmmm lovely looking cake. Yes three is recommended as a minimum number, but 'tis not writ in stone and TBH just two is fine; even if one dies as long as you get a replacement within a few days then the solo hen will not suffer unduly. Just get whatever you think you can cope with, you can always add more - and I bet you will!

[chris]

*bump*

How'd you get on with it all Mikey? Do you have the chooks yet ?

[Mikey]

Well the frame is up and waiting to be covered which I should get around to over the coming week, weather permitting. We are planning to get some chooks over the weekend, aslong as everything is ready. Some picks attached to see where we are.

I've still got to lay the slabs around the frame aswell!!, busy busy busy.

My DD has been laying eggs in the eglu classic, she spent about 4 hours in it over the weekend, I couldn't get her out. Its sat in the lounge at the moment, extra image attached!!

[polo]

It looks great Mikey. Love the pic of your DD in the eglu!

[Mikey]

I've been looking out for birds, and we have found a local supplier we are happy with. DD has decided on the following three hybrid birds a Warren, a Sussex Star and a Bluebell. We should be going to pick up the girls over the weekend, its starting to get egg-citing!

[chris]

I love the look of the bluebells!

Couldn't find any when I was looking for chickens bleh! Well I did, but in Bristol, wasn't driving all that way for some!

[Mikey]

I found three Chris, The Poultry Mill in Brynna, Robbie's Roosters in Wick, and Blackrocklayers in Ferndale. Though Blackrock call them Rhondda Blue.

I'm probably lucky because of the time of year I'm looking.

[chris]

Aye, Robbie was all out when I phoned, BL layers had nothing available for weeks. Not heard of the poultry mill, cheers

[julesapple]

Cracking job, Mikey, you have worked hard!

Jules

[Mikey]

Couple of extra pics for you guys, including a couple of close ups. I didn't manage anywhere near enough over the weekend as I'd hoped. I lost 3 1/2 out of 4 days to parties and travelling to visit family, so I've only managed to fix a couple of panels.

As you can see from the first shot all the panels are removable as separate components so this should allow me to replace parts of it if I need to at a later date. I've tacked the wire onto the battens and cut off the excess wire with a hacksaw, I think this gives it a nice clean edge.

I'm using the timber frame on the outside with the mesh internal as this means there are no sharp edges in the coop frame for my girls to catch themselves on. All cut edges are concealed within the panel junctions.

If it stays dry over the next couple of evenings I should manage to get the roof and back done, and build a door for the front. Whether my DD will let me have the eglu back to go in it will be another thing.

[Mikey]

Well I finally got there, enclosure is complete and we have three lovely ladies tucked away inside. I've attached some pics of the final job, as you can imagine I'm very pleased with myself, and my girls.

We have a bluebell who is the boss, well bully really, a white star, and a Cotswold legbar. So we'll get brown, white and blue eggs top banana.

[Mikey]

And a few more pics, as I have too many to mention. The girls are not too photogenic yet, they are still quite scared of me, I'm sure they will settle down shortly.

[Mrs Dobby]

Love it, now, wonder if I can persuade Mr D to build me one! )