A Hen House

Tricksy our rooster loves to pose for the camera.   

Our simple chicken shoot = freedom to the fields. 

Quite a few of my friends have been asking me about getting some chickens. I think it's a great idea. I recommend meat birds if you are someone who travels a lot and laying hens if you are always  around. We are always around, specially when Noah is milking twice a day.  We have about eight laying hens and one rooster. We get about 6-8 eggs a day this time of year. Whatever the farm is producing, naturally, we eat more of that. Right now a lot eggs and greens. Yum! Eggs are so diverse and easy to consume.  Especially when your three year old can sit down for breakfast and eat four, your husband five and my pregnant self three, for second breakfast. Plus there is fresh pasta, breads, pancakes, frittatas, homemade ice cream and the list goes on.

Both sides of the hen house open so we can easily clean.

What I really love about our laying hens is the coop and why even on a rainy day I still don't mind cleaning our coop.  I have cleaned lots of different hen houses in my life and this one wins. We got the design idea from our friend Marnie and an image in the River Cottage cookbook (just goole River Cottage Hen Houses). To clean you take a large shovel, park the wheel barrow under the side opening and within about four sliding scoops the coop is clean and you just throw in clean shavings.  The four laying boxes lift up so you can easily clean under them and the roost sits in the middle of the house. The coop is off the ground which helps the coop stay dry in our damp climate. You can have a stick instead of a ramp but we wanted something that would be easier for small chicks to climb. We also want our hens to eat as many greens as possible so I had Noah build what I call the chicken shoot.  We close it at night and our smart rooster ,Tricksy,  seems to keep our laying hens alive during the day. Tricksy is from Disco Thisle Ranch,  I tease Robyn that she should sell her extra roosters as specially trained guard roosters. He is great at spotting eagles, hawks and ravens and chases (or calls) the hens under the trees or back into the covered pen. We always lock them up at night due to crafty racoons and minks.

"The girls" out forging. They do an excellent  job cleaning up cow patties.

Etienne came back from camp and brought over a bucket of tools, more working on the bailer. I know they are working hard and challenging their mechanical knowledge, but  it just reminds me of watching boys play with lego. 

Learning how to work a socket wrench and wear a fancy dress at the same time.