The little touches that count and just give the Hen House a feel of home.
It's day two and the Chicks have still to try out their new home. Now the foundations are down I'm hoping all will go well. The big question you may be asking is how do I know all my workshop fabricated kit will fit together? Quite simply because whilst it was pouring down with rain outside and there was no chance of erecting it, I did this....
Set the whole thing up in the Kitchen! It's something I did before, though not indoors, when I made the roof structure for the Tiny House in the Garden. It's a really good idea if you can just do a trial run fitting a project together somewhere you can easily get all round access rather than waiting until the project is in situ.
It also means I can check the alignment of bolt holes in the corners and mark them up for ease of assembly. After all, who knows how long the dry spell of weather will last.
The pallets are laid onto the prepared foundation blocks. Providing they are standard pallets, all four should be at the same height.
The rear wall and one section of the side wall are assembled to make a self-supporting structure, to which the other walls may be attached.
To get the roof panels up through the forest garden without causing damage to trees and bushes and for ease of manoeuvre. I made this simple pallet wood bogey. I used wheels recuperated from an old lawn mower.
It also means that the project can be handled by a person working on their own.
As the night comes down, two roof sections form a temporary cover, secure enough to allow the hens to spend their first night in their new home.
The time was ripe to build this new house because this year Sue has launched us into Cochin Pekins (twelve new babies in all) and seven of them have just been left by their Mother so they are ready to enter a group. As chicks with a mother hen, they have had the right to pass throughout the garden but left alone they need to be attached to a house so as to establish territorial rights. A brand new house, which is new for the whole group makes it much easier for the established flock to accept the chicks because territorial possessions such as the house and perches have changed. If you want to see the new chicks in action:
The next part of the assembly is quite involved so needs a post to itself to complete and it can be found here
Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.
All the best, Andy
© Andy Colley 2014
It also means I can check the alignment of bolt holes in the corners and mark them up for ease of assembly. After all, who knows how long the dry spell of weather will last.
The pallets are laid onto the prepared foundation blocks. Providing they are standard pallets, all four should be at the same height.
The rear wall and one section of the side wall are assembled to make a self-supporting structure, to which the other walls may be attached.
Andy's Handy Handling Hint
To get the roof panels up through the forest garden without causing damage to trees and bushes and for ease of manoeuvre. I made this simple pallet wood bogey. I used wheels recuperated from an old lawn mower.
It also means that the project can be handled by a person working on their own.
As the night comes down, two roof sections form a temporary cover, secure enough to allow the hens to spend their first night in their new home.
The time was ripe to build this new house because this year Sue has launched us into Cochin Pekins (twelve new babies in all) and seven of them have just been left by their Mother so they are ready to enter a group. As chicks with a mother hen, they have had the right to pass throughout the garden but left alone they need to be attached to a house so as to establish territorial rights. A brand new house, which is new for the whole group makes it much easier for the established flock to accept the chicks because territorial possessions such as the house and perches have changed. If you want to see the new chicks in action:
The next part of the assembly is quite involved so needs a post to itself to complete and it can be found here
Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.
All the best, Andy
© Andy Colley 2014
