Building another hen house

As the population of chicken grows more hen houses are needed.

We have made a simple frame for the floor from pallet wood.

We found some laminate flooring in the outhouse, cut it to size and taped the underneath to prevent moisture from entering. (We later get told off by Ann, as she had the flooring earmarked for another job.)

The laminate flooring gets screwed onto the base. (Note: Chris is working ;-))

Rather than taking pallets apart we then cut out the boards with a circular saw (thanks to the invention of petrol generators and the founder of "Praktiker" in Germany).

We end up with a nice pile of boards which are free from nail holes and cracks.

Using a tabel saw at a 45° angle the boards are cut either side.

These "rain screen" boards can now be screwed onto the house. Which reminds me: we need a frame first.

First post, cut at a 45° angle at the top.

 The bottom frame is done.

The roof is taking shape and the first boards are up. Due to rain we are working inside the van.

The front boards are going on. There isn't much room in the van so it's difficult to take pictures.

More boards on the front and the roof frame is finished.

The front is all filled in, now to the back.

Day 3 and the sides are now being done. Both will be hinged to allow easy access.

Sides are done and the roof has been covered with odd bits of board to support the roofing felt.

Time for finishing touches. Ann is painting whilst I am working on egg laying boxes and Chris, who lost interest and motivation on day 2, is sleeping.

Branches from our garden make some excellent perches.

Egg laying boxes are in. Ann finishes the felt before the house is moved into the field.

After fitting the automatic door the chickens move in.

Rearing pens

We have chicks everywhere and are running out of space to house them. Thankfully we have some pallets that are lightweight and not much use for anything else.

The pallets are put together like a tent. Two strips of timber are nailed to the bottom to determine width, then the top is simply screwed together.

After that screws are added to the bottom of the pallets to hold the netting in place.

The netting (fruit cage netting) is stretched over all sides and held in place with screws. Nails would do the same job.

A branch adds some interest to the rearing pen. Job done. Note that an extra piece of timber at the back keeps the sawdust inside the sleeping box.

The chicks are happy in their temporary runs.

Piglets

Our weaners have arrived. Hans (coloured) and Ulla (black) came up from Brora and are both birth registered. They are 8 weeks old and although they are friendly enough they are a tiny bit vary of people.
Gretel came from Stoke-on-Trent and at 3 month old she is bigger than Hans and Ulla. Gretel is the most relaxed piglet you can think of. She doesn't mind being touched at all and has a very laid back character.

What else has happened ?

There has been plenty of other things going on in the background.
After putting up the rearing shed and moving the laying hens into a 6th of the space we ended up with a mud puddle. Chris (family) spared some of his precious time away from his beloved xbox and made a gravel path.

The pigs have been busy producing fertiliser. Loads of it.

After separating Doris and Boris I spent some time collecting all their droppings and adding it to the compost.

I also planted 25 alder trees that Nancy (helpx) was going to plant but left abandoned.

First I dug a whole large enough for the roots to fit in and about 30cm deep.

Then I put the tree inside the hole and filled it with soil. Simples ;-)

Just need to add a mulching mat now to keep the grass from growing. Some of the trees had started to wilt but hopefully they will all recover.

Whilst there was no volunteers at the project I started building an outdoor wood store. First I took the bottom off three pallets.

Then I filled the gaps on one of them to use on the weather side to keep the rain out.

Then I stood the three pallets up, braced them together and added a roof.

Chickens love it and are using it as a shelter. With a bit of roofing felt it will make a good outdoor store.

Building a Pig Ark

The pigs, now named Doris and Boris, have had their quibbles but recently Boris has been bullying Doris and not leaving her in peace at all. Separation seems to be the answer which means building a pig ark for Doris.

Andy (helpX) quickly gets to work, taking pallets apart. until there is nothing left of it.

Broken bits are discarded for now and the cross bars are freed of nails.

The pile of timber is graded into thickness and the remaining nails taken out.

We end up with a nice neat pile of timber, so let's get to work.

First the timber is nailed back onto the cross bars, but this time evenly spaced out. One of the cross bars sits neatly in the gap whilst the timber is nailed on, then moves to the next gap...

Quickly enough a new structure is made that looks like a neat version of a pallet.

To make it all waterproof another layer of timber is nailed over the gaps.

After making two of those overlapping boards they are screwed together at a 90 degree angle to form a triangular pig ark.

The front needs a door and the back filling in completely.

First Andy (helpx) thinks about the how and why.

Then Chris tries his hand at measuring, marking and sawing...

Getting there... just a few more and the back will be finished.

The next day Chris (family) fills in the front. Doris will be thankful to him as she had to move in swiftly last night.

Chris does a rather good job and the ark looks brilliant. Doris agrees and after inspecting the new door she goes for a snooze around the back.