Chickens Incoming! We did it! A few months ago I found (Facebook Marketplace) an old, sturdy, used, well-built hen house and run for $50 (and the guy delivered it!). Then we asked around, and got 4 laying silkies (hens) from friends of ours who needed to trim their flock (I like free!). We went over to our friend’s house last night (because if you get them at night, you don’t have to chase them!), put them in a small box, brought them home, put them in the coop that we’d had sitting around for 2 months while we looked for chickens. They went in the coop, roosted, then came out this morning when I opened up the door at about 8:30 a.m. (The sun had been up for about an hour).
We put the coop and run inside a former goat pen on our property. I’d spent a few weeks repairing the run, trying to make certain there was wire around it, no gaps in the wire or board, and that it had boards which extended below the ground. When I got the run and coop, I just placed the run on top of weeds, grass and undergrowth in the goat pen (which hadn’t been used in several years), and trenched around the wood bottom of the run, so the boards would sit in the dirt, below ground level, and not have gaps.
I’ve been told the hens will scratch and peck the weeds away (not to mention the bugs!). We threw some muskmelon seeds and rinds in there, put some water in, and got some old stale bread, which is what the mamma hen (my wife) is throwing to them now. We’re getting some feed this afternoon at Tractor Supply. (Update: We got 50 pounds of cracked corn and 50 pounds of feed crumbles (with calcium added). Later that day our neighbor/nephew came over and said “We were cleaning out our garage and found these crushed oyster calcium scratch my parents had from before. We don’t have chickens any more; you can have this bag!” (Once again, free is good!)
For the inside of the coop, I took some tall weeds and grass that I mowed several days ago (it’s not fertilized or sprayed at all), layed it out on the top of the coop to dry for the last 2 days, and put it in the coop before the girls got there last night. It got down to about 40 degrees last night, but they seem to like their new digs okay. This morning Bertha, the black top-knotted one, ran around the perimeter, checking it out. Then she cluck-clucked, and one by one, the others came out.
My neighbors have 2 dogs, a blue healer and a golden retriever, and I introduced them to the silkies this morning. The girls got a little agitated, but the dogs seemed to get it: “Your job is to protect these ladies and be nice to them. Gooood dogs! Niiiice chickens!” A few days later the dogs started jumping on the run, so now they stay outside the fence (goat pen).
The plan is to put a solar electric fence on the outside (goat pen) to keep the critters out, and to put some netting above the goat pen, to keep birds of prey out, and then let them semi-free-range in the much larger goat pen. And yes, the play house will go away eventually. Just wanted to provide a little shade. We’re in NW Georgia, 20 minutes south of Chattanooga, TN. Stay tuned!
Update: The next morning we had two eggs! They were GOOD fried (and the yolks were amazingly orange.)
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