The pig shelter

 










We are finally working on the pig shelter now the snow has melted. Here is a picture of the floor. The pallets sit on old roof beams. The floor area is 8ft x 8ft (2.4m x 2.4m) which will give the pigs plenty of room to sleep.  

The walls are going up. Securely screwed to the floor and screwed to each other, they should be strong enough to cope with pigs rubbing their backs. Fingers crossed!

The gaps between the pallets are filled with cut down strips of pallets. The quad in the picture is a useful work horse, pulling a trailer to move pallets, tools, roof beams and sheets. Amazing what a kids quad with a tow bar can do.

 

Great day to be working on the pig shelter. Walls are up now. Roof will hopefully be tackled tomorrow. Just hoping the weather stays dry until the roof is on.












Some old roof beams that were collected for firewood seem sound enough to make a roof structure. I also found some pieces of old corrugated metal sheets that should cover the roof.












Beams spaced out and at different height to facilitate water runoff. I might even add some recycled guttering to collect rain water for the pigs. Any ideas? Empty squash bottles spring to mind.

The sheets I found were different colours, so we'll end up with a striped roof. Green and blue. I am going to screw them directly onto the beams.

  










A little silicone will prevent rainwater from seeping through the hole that I drilled for the wood screw.

The roof is finally on although I didn't have enough sheets for the overhang by the door. If I get another sheet sometime I will add it to the roof. For now the roof is finished and keeps the rain out.

Next I am building a ramp for the pigs to get in and out easily. I have cut down a pallet to the width of the entrance. Next I need to add some counter battens as the ramp will be slippy in wet conditions.

The battens are screwed onto the ramp and then cut to size. A job less to worry about. Our first volunteers have joined the project and are enjoying a light breeze (28mph) and a lightly scattered sky (rain every 5 minutes).

Nevertheless they quickly get to work and help me finish the pig shelter as the pigs are arriving today, unexpected but most welcomed. Just a few gaps to close. Will these fit?

Maybe I leave it to daddy, he seems to know what he is doing, I could maybe manage the electric screwdriver but I certainly can't stand like that at the same time, so best to leave such jobs to professionals.

The gaps are just overlapped with whatever wood is lying around. Once cut to length it's screwed on top and bottom.

Nearly finished. Now we just need to add some boards where the roof is higher to make the rainwater run off to make it nice and cosy inside.

There, all done. What a good team effort. Thank you very much, neighbours!

The doors are still missing but they can be built after the pigs have moved in. There will be two doors, one at the top to keep the rain out and let me in, and one at the bottom to keep little piglets in and daddy out, if we ever get any.

Looks warm and dry. Totally irresistible, to a pig, not me. And here they are, nameless and nameless, a fine pair of rescued black kune kune pigs. Any suggestions for names?

Willow Plant Pots

Rather than planting some of the willow straight outside in March we have 50 cuttings in water that are rooting nicely. They are inside so need to go into soil soon as the roots are getting long. It's too cold outside so we are making plant pots from newspaper to sit them on the window sills until April or May.

For instructions on how to make plant pots look here (youtube video). Ann is making small ones and bigger ones to sit the smaller inside the bigger one. This will make it stronger as willows like a lot of water.

The pots are placed into one of the recycled cardboard boxes that we pick up when we go shopping, instead of plastic carrier bags. An old fed bag, compost bag or bin bag goes into the box to form a waterproof tray.

The pots are lined up and individually filled with compost to get the willows off to a good start before they are planted out.

The trays can now sit on the window sill in a cool room until April and then go outside until they are planted at the end of April or in May, depending on the weather.

Winter in Halkirk

Can you spot the two dogs in one of the pictures?

Laying hens

Our local egg producer is clearing out one of his free range chicken sheds to make room for fresh stock.. We have decided to get some of the hens and Ann is frantically building a larger hen house, as the one we have is just about big enough for the three chickens we have.

We are picking the girls up on Saturday and there will be 20 of them. So I have to get transport boxes ready and sort out some extra feeders and drinkers.

After making the walls Ann is now preparing the base for the new hen house. The timber from the top of the pallet is taken off and then nailed back on with the same nails, leaving no gaps for the chickens to fall through or vermin to enter.

The walls have been screwed onto the base, now the gaps at the sides are filled and the door assembled.

Men Ann at work... looks more like a five star hotel.

...or a very oversized planter. Could fit loads of willow in there...no, only joking.

Door fitted now, which leaves roof construction and internal perches and nest boxes to be done. With 2 days to spare we are on time and will have it all ready for the girls when they arrive.

Roof construction under way. Again, all timber taken from pallets.The only problem left is how to waterproof the roof as the timber leaves enough room for rain to seep through and get the poor girls wet. In good old recycling style we are considering feed bags. Well, we have to sort it tomorrow so will see what we decide in the heat of the moment.

Raining today so I have been doing paperwork / phone calls and sourcing rare breed hatching eggs instead.

In good old recycling fashion Ann is waterproofing the roof with feed bags and an old trellis that was falling apart. The trellis was taken apart to use the timber for edging and the feed bags cut open and turned inside out to make a waterproof layer. I hope the hens will appreciate Ann's hard work.

The hen house is ready. Just in time. Inside Ann has fitted some perches for the girls to sit on. We have also added some nice eco friendly recycled bedding. We make our own bird bedding from junk mail and any paper that would otherwise be thrown away. We haven't added nest boxes as the girls aren't used to using them anyway. The bedding should be comfy enough to lay some nice eggs for us.

Now all there is left to do is to fetch the girls and get them into their cosy new home. I am sure they will appreciate the nice warm bedding as they will, no doubt, be bald from living in a shed with a few thousand other girls.

The girls are here. A little flighty and feather pecked but otherwise they seem happy enough.

After the first night in their new home they have already been busy filling their crops and laying eggs. I found 7 at 8:15 this morning, scattered all over the floor.

Amazing how they still lay after the stress of being chucked into the back of a trailer and left to wake up in a brand new home. Egg sizes are a bit variable this morning but that was to be expected. I shall go now and have my first fresh egg of the year.












 The girls are very shy and have hardly been outside. Having bare bums and heads doesn't help in this weather. I have started to feed them outside to encourage them to leave the shelter of the hen house.for at least a short time every day.

The lack of food and water inside the hen house has convinced the hens that it's quite a good idea to see what's happening outside. However, their droppings look a bit like paper mache and the bedding is getting less and less... not sure if that is good for them but maybe they will stop this habit when they start enjoying being outdoors.

They seemed fine with the dogs but haven't ventured to the grass yet. It is still early days, I am sure they will peck at the green stuff in no time.

It's one week in and the hens have started to adapt to the "normal" life of a chicken.  Every morning there is a rush to get out the door.

First they make a run for the feeders filling their crops like there is no tomorrow.

Then they realize there is a dog looking at them and decide to get scared. (You have to click on this picture and look at it full size to see one of the hens in mid air!).

Shortly after that all goes back to normal, crops are filled, water sipped and the the garden scratched up in the never ending hunt for that one worm.