Building a Portable Chicken Coop

Before we got our chickens, I looked at literally HUNDREDS of coop designs and photos online.  There's such a variety!

I thought that I would probably wait to get chickens until I had a chance to repair and rebuild the dilapidated old chicken house that was here on the property when we moved in.  After all, it's very large and spacious with an excellent design and great location.  Unfortunately, it also needs some foundation repair and is covered in peeling clapboards that I suspect to be coated in old lead-based paint.

So obviously, fixing up that chicken house is going to be a good-sized project.  NOT one we could undertake when, last weekend, we decided on the spur of the moment that we needed to buy the gorgeous blue Orpington chickens we saw offered for sale on Craig's list.

The day we saw the chickens, we told the lady we'd be back in one week to buy them.  Then we rushed home and started building a pen.

It needed to be simple, cheap, and light enough to be portable, so that I could drag it to a new location every day myself.  Here's what we came up with:

Ken, planning the coop design.

Getting started

Ken doesn't have very advanced carpentry skills, so he compensates by using angle brackets.  Lots and lots of angle brackets.  Whatever works is fine with me!  I'm just grateful he's willing to build it.

The skeleton of the coop comes together.

Adding the chicken wire.  As you can see, Ken has lots of helpers supervising everything he does.

Adding the plywood walls.  To keep the coop as light and portable as possible, we used very thin plywood.  Because 1/4" plywood is not very strong, we included chicken wire on all sides, even the sides that have the plywood.

I added two coats of paint.  Now I think it looks like a big white chicken Winnebago!

The back "window" is where the nest boxes will go, so we can collect eggs from the outside.

Sterling the cat decided to run under the wet paint and got a stripe down his back, exactly like in a Pepé Le Pew cartoon.

The coop, now with feeder, waterer, roost and door (but no door latches yet) is inspected by our Quality Control Dog.

The coop now has chickens in it.  Everyone is fascinated!

The sheep are deeply suspicious that SOMEBODY has food in there!  Fortunately, the door does have latches on it now.

Blue Orpington Chickens

I've been wanting to get chickens for a long time now.  I've had my breed of choice picked out, literally for years.  But things just never came together for me to feel ready to get some.  Until last week.

 Even though I wasn't planning to get chickens right away, I do sometimes still look up information about them online.  I wanted to get Buff Orpingtons because:

1.  They're a good dual purpose breed that you can use for both meat and eggs.
2.  They are docile, heavy, and not flighty.
3.  They are quiet, and when they do make noise their voices are low and pleasant, not shrill and screechy like some breeds.
4.  Unlike a lot of modern breeds, they will set their own eggs, so the moms can raise their own chicks for me without the need for an incubator.

The only minor drawback I saw with them was that although they were a pretty color, they were all the same solid golden color, so they all looked alike.  I like to use pretty farm animal photos on my farm's website, and the Orpingtons were just not as showy as some other breeds.  Yes, I knew the breed also came in solid white and solid black as well as the buff, but all of those looked like each other too, so that didn't exactly solve the problem.  Sure, it's a very, very minor drawback, but it did cross my mind.

So anyway, two weeks ago I happened to be browsing online for information about Orpingtons and suddenly I discovered that I'm apparently not the only one who had this thought.  People are now breeding Orpingtons in all sorts of different amazing colors.  Check out all the varieties on this page.  And this one.

Unfortunately, many of the fancy colors are extremely rare, and some exist only in Europe.  Also, many of them are being bred for show qualities rather than utility.  But I discovered that the Blue variety was one of the original Orpington colors (with the buff, black, and white), so that is at least one of the heritage varieties.

I mentioned some of this info on my farm's Facebook page.  And just one week later, one of my farmer friends who read that comment noticed some blue Orpington chickens advertised for sale---in my area---on Craig's List.  She forwarded the ad to me and, since Ken and I just happened to be driving out in that direction anyway last weekend, we stopped by to look at the chickens.

The lady only had a few young adults available for sale, but the ones she had were gorgeous.  There were a couple of blues, and a couple colored in a beautiful blue/buff mix, which answered my question of what happens if you cross breed the different colors to each other.

To make a long story short, we fell in love.  We told the lady we had to go home and build a chicken pen, but we'd be back the following weekend to buy the chickens.  And that's exactly what we did!

We got the chickens yesterday afternoon:  a blue hen, a blue rooster, and two blue/buff hens.  They're about 4 months old right now, so they won't start laying eggs for another couple of months.  We'll eventually want a larger flock, but we wanted to start small for now.

I've been looking up chicken color genetics online and, while it is a very complex subject that I am far from grasping fully, I THINK that I have determined that our multicolored hens are the genetic pattern called "Blue Patterned Buff Columbian" (the "columbian" being the part that gives them the black heads and black speckles on their necks).

I realize that there are probably lots of Orpington breeders somewhere who have worked long and hard breeding strains of buffs, blues, and other colors that come out a pure, clean, solid color.  But personally, I LOVE the weird color variation on my two-tone hens.

I have no interest in taking my chickens to shows.  I just want a healthy, hardy bird that has good qualities for a small homestead-type farm.  Over time, as I get more chickens and get my flock established, I'll be breeding and selecting for utility traits like build, hardiness, growth rate, and egg production. 

But as a matter of personal enjoyment, I'll also try to encourage a variety of interesting colors!

New Guinea Hog

I haven't been posting much here lately, because not much has be going on except the heat.   Hot, Hotter, HOTTEST!  Temperatures this weekend are supposed to be 106, with a heat index of 122!  No rain in sight, and the pastures are withered to dust. 

With weather this brutal, there's not much we can do but hunker down and try to wait it out.  It doesn't make for very interesting blog posts!

However, I do have a bit of news today.  Because we've gotten such a lot of inquiries from people interested in buying Guinea hog piglets, we decided to invest in a second boar now instead of waiting until next year.  This way, we can breed each of our sows to a different boar, and be able to offer buyers unrelated pairs (or groups) of piglets for sale.

Our sow Cerridwen is already pregnant by Magick.  Our younger sow Circe has just turned old enough to breed, and today we just brought home a new 5-month old boar to be her boyfriend.  His name is Jack.  He's still young and quite a bit smaller than her, so it may be another month or two before they successfully mate.  But at least Circe has company now.

I think she's feeling smug about finally not being the youngest, smallest pig on the farm.  She ignored her new beau for quite a while, then launched into the "Let's just get one thing straight right up front" and "While you're living in MY pen, you're going to live by MY rules" routines.  She chased him around a bit, not in a vicious way, just letting him know who's boss.  He's smart enough to keep out of her way, but he's not actually scared of her.

Young Jack also met Cerridwen and Magick through the fence.  Magick is so mellow (and Jack is so much smaller) that he didn't even really bother to posture and get all masculine and territorial toward the newcomer.  Which is nice.  That means that I don't have to worry about them sharing a fenceline for now.

Fresh Pastures

We moved the sheep to a new pasture today.  The temperatures are climbing close to 100 degrees already, so the sheep will be very grateful not only to have fresh forage but also to be in the pasture with the most shade.

Our weedy pastures don't provide the richest grazing, but they do make for some pretty sheep photos.

How to Wash a Wool Fleece

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I raised sheep---and sold their wool to hand-spinners---for four years before I tried washing one of the fleeces for my own use.  I'd somehow gotten it into my head that washing fleece was HARD, that in my ignorance I would inevitably ruin the precious locks of wool, and end up with an ugly, matted mess.

Eventually, after my flock had grown large enough that I had surplus fleeces piling up, I figured that it wouldn't be a tragedy even if I did ruin one when I washed it.  So I gave it a try.  And here's what I discovered:

WASHING FLEECES IS EASY!  What a revelation!

So, just in case you, too, suffer from wool-washing anxiety, let me show you an easy method for doing it. 

You will need:

• A dirty fleece
• Plenty of hot water
• Two big dishpans (or a double sink)
• Dawn dish washing liquid
• Borax (optional)
• Wooden spoon (optional)
• Towel
• Drying rack (more about this later)

Now you're ready to begin.

1.  Lay out your supplies so you'll have easy access when you need them.

2.  Fill one large basin with very hot water.  Once it's full, squirt in a generous amount of dish washing liquid and, if desired, a sprinkling of Borax.  Borax helps get the fleece cleaner, but too much can be harsh on the wool fibers, so don't overdo it.

3.  Stir the ingredients so that they dissolve fully in the water.  Use the wooden spoon if the water is too hot for your hands.

4.  Lay the wool on top of the soapy water, then press it down gently with your hands or spoon until it is submerged.  DON'T STIR OR AGITATE THE WOOL or it may begin to felt.  Depending on the size of your basins, you will probably only be able to fit about a pound or so of wool in at a time.  The wool will come out cleaner if you don't pack it in there too tightly, so split your fleece up into as many batches as necessary.

5.  Once the wool is completely submerged, let it soak.  The exact amount of time isn't critical, but it's best that you don't wait until the water has cooled off a lot.  I usually let mine soak for at least 15 minutes, but probably no more than an hour.

6.  Push the wool gently to one side.  Drain the dirty water from the basin and refill with more hot water.  If necessary, you can add a little more dish washing liquid.  DON'T LET THE WATER POUR DIRECTLY ONTO THE WOOL or it will begin to felt.  Let the wool soak again for about the same amount of time.

7.  Once more push the wool gently to one side.  Empty the basin and refill with more hot water.  Don't let the water pour onto the wool.  This is your pre-rinse, so don't add any more dish detergent this time.  You also don't need to let the wool soak.  Just press it gently down into the water to start letting some of the soap rinse off.

8.  Fill your second basin with hot water.  This is your rinse basin.  One handful at a time, lift your wool out of the pre-rinse basin and dunk it into the rinse water.  Then lift it out, let it drain for a moment, and lay it on your towel to sop up some of the excess water.  If I'm going to be washing a lot of wool, I drape my towel over a rack (something like an oven rack will do) placed over a basin, so that when my towel gets completely soaked, the water with drain down through the rack and be caught in the basin.  That way I don't have to stop to change towels.

9.  When the rinse water gets cloudy or soapy, empty it and refill it with hot water.  While it's filling, you can transfer your wool from the towel to your drying rack (more on that in a moment).  Keep refilling the rinse basin, dipping your wool into it, and laying the wool aside to drain until the whole batch is rinsed.

10.  Once your wool is rinsed, lay it out on a drying rack to dry.  A drying rack can be anything that will hold the wool and let air circulate over and around it.  You can use an old screen door or window, a baby gate, an old sheet stretched over a wooden frame, etc.  My favorite is to use these stackable sweater drying racks.  They are inexpensive, don't snag your wool, and the stackable option lets you dry a lot of wool in a relatively small amount of space.  I use four of them for one fleece.  If you stack them in front of a box fan turned on high, you can dry your entire fleece in 24 hours.

For another great idea for a convenient tool to help you wash your wool, check out what this blogger does with cat litter boxes.

If you're a hand-spinner, washing your own wool can save you money, since raw fleeces are the cheapest form of wool.  If you'd like to give it a try, we have lots of lovely Icelandic fleeces available.  Mention that you saw this article, and I'll even give you a $2 per pound discount!

New Foal at Siberia Farm

 Even though I don't have any horses of my own anymore, I still get lots of horse talk from my sister Donna (http://www.siberia-farm.com).

Today, her mare Serenity gave birth to this super cute and flashy Paint/Welsh cross colt.  He'll probably be large pony sized when he's grown.  His name is Captain Jack Sparrow, and he's definitely going to turn heads in the show ring someday, don't you think?

He'll be for sale when he's old enough to leave his mother, so contact Donna (siberiafarm@ainop.com) if you're interested! 

And the Winner is...

After more than three months of suspense, more than 300 name suggestions, and more than 40 lambs born, we finally have a Grand Prize winner in our Name That Lamb contest.

We had 82 successful final entries.  With the help of Random.org, I selected #78 as the winner.

Elizabeth Brockman, you've won the Grand Prize!  Click here for a list of what you've won.

The lambs and I thank ALL of the contest participants for helping us find so many "X-cellent" lamb names this year.  We couldn't have done it without you!

Name That Lamb Contest: Grand Prize and Finalists

As I promised back in March, everyone who submitted a winning name to my Name That Lamb contest gets one entry (per name) into my grand prize drawing at the end of lambing season.

Well, guess what?  It's the end of lambing season now, so it's time to announce the finalists.  Just to add a little bit of suspense, I'm going to wait until Monday to announce the grand prize winner.  But I don't have to wait that long to announce what they will win!

One lucky participant will win the following assortment of fun sheep-and-lamb related goodies from our farm:

1 bar of Sheep's Milk Soap

1 bar of Felted Sheep's Milk Soap

1 pack of "Sound Asleep" lamb notecards

1 "Peekaboo" lamb magnet

1 pair of Ear Tag earrings

1 pair of needle felted Fortune Cookies

Total value of the whole collection:  $45.50


Now for our list of finalists (including the number of entries each one earned:

Beth at www.cotondogs.net   (5 entries)

Carol at http://plumpfairy.etsy.com (1  entry)

Carol Volker of http://loafkeeper.com (6  entries)

Catherine Sanchez (no web link given)  (1  entry)

Channa at http://www.ohsewnice.co.uk (2  entries)

Chris Conrad of http://www.facebook.com/chris.conrad (3  entries)

Cindy of http://www.etsy.com/shop/mommysdream (1  entry)

Debra Chase (no web link given) (1  entry)

Donna Chase of http://siberia-farm.com (1  entry)

Elizabeth Brockman (no web link given) (4  entries)

Jeanne (no web link given) (3  entries)

Laurel McGilvery (no web link given) (29  entries.  If that seems like a lot, it's because Laurel earned it.  She submitted more than 300 name suggestions!)

Molly Bailey of http://www.baileygirl5.blogspot.com (2  entries)

Monica of http://crazyhousequilts.wordpress.com (1  entry)

Pat at http://www.patelliottpaintings.co.uk/ (2  entries)

Robin at www.mommymommyland.com (3  entries)

Rowena at http://cherrypik.blogspot.com (1  entry)

Skye (no web link given) (2  entries)

Stephen Pappas  (no web link given) (7  entries)

Tika at http://theyellowjournalist.blogspot.com (7  entries)


Stay tuned on Monday to find out who is the winner!

Last Lambs of 2010

It's taken me a while to catch up with everything that's been going on here, but here at last are photos of the last of this spring's lambs.

True to her attention-seeking personality, Ultra (aka Ultra the Fairy Sheep) had her lambs two days early, just so she could have them in the middle of the school field trip that brought 15 kindergarten students to our farm on May 7.  Even though it was Ultra's first time having lambs, she did it all without any assistance, and without being at all concerned about the VERY enthusiastic interest of so many children.

Ultra's lambs (by Scimitar) are a moorit gray girl named Xahara and a black gray boy named Xaeran.  Both of these names were submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by Laurel McGilvery (no web link given).

Here's Xahara:

And here's Xaeran:

Finally, the very last lamb of the year.  On May 14, Rhonwen had a moorit badger mouflon girl, by Scimitar.  A super-cute, fast-growing lamb with very fancy coloring.  Her name is Xantara.  This name was submitted to our Name That Lamb contest by Laurel McGilvery (no web link given), although I'm also giving credit to Carol at http://plumpfairy.etsy.com, for suggesting the almost-identical name, Xantera.

Here's Xantara:

Now that all the lambs are here, I just need to compile a list of all the successful entries for the Name That Lamb contest.  Everyone who submitted a name that I ended up using for a lamb will get an entry into the drawing (or more than one entry, if I used more than one name they submitted). 

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!  I would never have had such an easy and fun time finding this many "X" names without your help.

I'll announce the winner on Monday, so stay tuned!

Cerridwen's Guide to Wallowing

Sometimes a gal just needs a spa day, a little time to herself to relax and rejuvenate.  Here's how our Guinea hog Cerridwen does it.

Step 1:  Chase your boyfriend out of the wallow.  Ignore his pleading, hopeful looks, no matter how hot the afternoon.  You know he just wants to hog the entire mud bath.  He IS a hog, after all.

Step 2:  Inspect the wallow.  Rearrange and fluff the mud as necessary.

Step 3.  Climb in, lie down, and relax.

Step 4:  Ahhhhhh, bliss!  There's that smile you've been missing!

Step 5:  Mud packs are good for the complexion.

Step 6:  Looking for a pick-me-up?  Try a new hair color.  Red is always fashionable!