Our Chickadees

Well after a few weeks of hammering, drilling, gluing, swearing and cursing the chook house is now complete. I am extremely happy with how it has turned out, and mighty proud of myself for doing most of it! It was actually quite therapeutic taking all my frustrations out on the nails as I bashed them in. It's 3 mtr long, 1 mtr high and 1 mtr wide. Big enough for the kids to go into and have a play with the chooks, and also roomy enough that the chooks could stay in there most of the time and be happy.

I had one end of the wood propped up on the saw horse and the other on the outdoor table! With a lot of moving and maneuvering I finally got it to this stage by myself. Wendy helped me by amusing the kids and holding the wood in place if it got a little tricky.

It was hilarious and no doubt a very unconventional way of building a chook house, but it all turned out AND it seems sturdy. I started off drilling, but the drill was a bit too powerful for me and kept kicking back and throwing itself around, so I packed away all the drill bits and screws and decided to try nails instead.

Using the nails was alot easier, except the stupid wood had so many knots in it, which made it difficult to belt the nails into some places. So each time I couldn't get a nail all the way in, I just bashed it onto it's side. Didn't look that great, but I have embraced it as the "features" of my chook house.
The kids each had a go hitting the nails in and loving every minute of it. When it was just a frame I threw a sheet over the top and made a cubby out of it for them to play in.

Duane helped me with getting the hinges on and hanging the doors, you know the easy stuff!!

~~The kids laying down the straw~~

And here it is all finished:

Next step was getting some lovely little girls to go in it. I called around yesterday to see which of the hatcheries had point of lays available. I was told to get Lowman Browns as they are good egg producers and great for the kids. Unfortunately they wouldn't be available for another week or so, and me being the impatient person that I am didn't want to have an empty chook house for that long. So I found a place that had black Australorps available and they would be ready to lay within the next month. Sounded perfect to me, so once Duane got home from golf we headed out to pick 2 up. The lady selling them had them all ready for us. however on the car ride over Duane and I had discussed (ok, maybe it was just me!) getting some younger hens, so that they would get used to the kids and hopefully be better pets. I mentioned this to the lady and she told us that she had some 6 weekers that would be fine to go straight outside, but they wouldn't be ready to lay for another 5 months or so.

We wandered around and had a look at them. So, so cute! I had made up my mind by then that I would like a hen that would lay soon and also one of the cute and cuddly babies. I then mentioned to her that I always have wanted a silkie hen, well 'lo and behold she had a gorgeous little black one right there to sell too. Duane was getting a little nervous at this stage, after reluctantly agreeing to chickens in the first place and now being faced with me requesting 3. The chook lady chatted a bit and convinced him that 3 was a good number, they are easy to care for and much better to put them all together at the start. So it was decided, we were taking 3 chickens.

Here are our 3 newest little babies:
I did ask Grace what she would like to call them, she first suggested "Allah", I really didn't think that was appropriate though. She then suggested "Ballerina" for the black one and "Silky Oak" for the little Silkie. We had already decided to call one "Henny Penney", so that name is going to the baby. Duane being oh so funny suggested Red Rooster and KFC. I don't think so.

So at this stage the baby has a name and the others are nameless until we all decide on something that doesn't use 11 special herbs and spices or is a religious leader.

And here is how they all slept last night. I know it's hard to make out but the silkie is on top of the food container and the baby is on top of her. The black one has it's bum sticking out of the nesting box. Later on though they changed over and the baby went into the nesting box with the black one and the silkie hoped on the roost.

They are all eating and behaving nicely. The black one has taken to mothering Henny, not letting the silkie go anywhere near her and keeping her close. Silkie is a bit skittish and randomly just runs up and down the cage, crazy thing. The chook lady did say that if the Silkie gets broody to go back and get some fertilised eggs for her to sit on, then when they hatch to take them back. I know Grace would love to see baby chicken hatch, so I'll definatley keep that in mind.

So far I'm loving the chooks. We have spent the afternoon and morning just watching them and their funny little antics. Grace and Xav have gone in their house a few times and sat down with them, its great cause the kids aren't scared of the chooks and the chooks so far seem ok with the kids. Grace loves picking up Henny and giving her a cuddle. Xav pats them all, and is trying to get the courage to pick them up - except he giggles too much to do it!