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<\/a>The parts for our two sheds arrive<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The sheds start being put together<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The chicken shed<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The big shed is complete<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Inside the big shed<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The chicken shed<\/p><\/div>\n
We had a pop hole cut into the chicken shed ready to fit our automatic door closer to. We needed to do a bit of work to the chicken shed to get it ready for the girls. We got the guys to cut the top of the door off as the door wouldn’t open because of the concrete base raising the door above the chicken run.<\/p>\n
My husband then clad it with strips of wood to neaten it and to leave a slot for ventilation.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The chicken shed is in place<\/p><\/div>\n
You can see the ventilation slot above the door which I have made mouse proof with fine weld mesh. My husband made a fence of slats to the left of the shed as we have left a concrete path all the way round both sheds to allow us to check them and maintain them.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The automatic door closer is on and the ladder perches are in place<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Barley was intrigued and was the first to try the new ladder perches<\/p><\/div>\n
We used the four perches from the coop.<\/p>\n
<\/a>I have made the ventilation at the top, back, of the shed mouse proof<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>I have made the window safe<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The window now opens outwards<\/p><\/div>\n
We changed the window to open outwards so that I could clad the inside with fine weld mesh and keep everything mouse proof but leave as much ventilation as possible. I can either shut the window in winter or leave it open a little or in summer leave it wide open.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The girls investigate<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>They check out the inside<\/p><\/div>\n
The ladder is attached to the shed by a hinge and I can lift it up and hook it to the top of the shed when I need to clean in here.<\/p>\n
We then removed everything from the patio area. We took the coop to bits and removed the high perches, coop, store cabinet, little coop nest boxes and my boot shelf and box. We wanted to leave no where for the girls to go but in the new shed.<\/p>\n
We knew we needed to start the difficult process of training the girls to go in by themselves. We threw some sunflower hearts in the shed to encourage the girls to go in and investigate and propped open the door to make it easier to get them in.<\/p>\n
<\/a>We prop open the door to encourage them to go in<\/p><\/div>\n
We had already put a strategy in place. We knew that I must not pick them up and put them in or we could be back to them depending on me to put them to bed each night. We decided to herd them in instead.<\/p>\n
They started looking confused and looking up for somewhere to perch. They headed to the table in the run. We turned it over and used it to block the run extension which has other perches and closed the gate to the area with the other table. They perched on the table legs.<\/p>\n
<\/a>We need to find somewhere to perch<\/p><\/div>\n
We made a barrier from a few bits of the coop nailed together and let them get on the \u00a0chicken shed side of it with a few seeds. Then like police with riot shields we gradually moved forward towards the shed making their space smaller and smaller. When they had no where else to go they had to go in the shed. We quickly closed the door and the pop hole.<\/p>\n
<\/a>All in bed and an empty patio<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Bedtime<\/p><\/div>\n
I looked in and they were settled on the top rungs of the ladder. I returned after dark to connect the pop hole again so that it would open automatically in the morning.<\/p>\n
This morning I couldn’t hear them or see them in the run at six o’clock from our bedroom window and wondered if for some reason the door hadn’t opened. I went out to check.<\/p>\n
<\/a>This morning<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Toffee is the main culprit<\/p><\/div>\n
This was why I didn’t see or hear them. They were like children with a new toy. They were busy scratching the shavings out onto the patio.<\/p>\n
They have spent all morning playing in the new shed and scratching in the shavings. In hind sight I probably put in too thick a layer. I hope eventually the novelty wears off and they won’t make such a mess.<\/p>\n
We also hope that as they have spent a lot of time in there today they will know that that is where they need to go this evening. If it takes several nights of using the riot shields to herd them in we will stick with that until we train them to go in. After all the work and money spent we are determined to make this work.<\/p>\n
It must be so much nicer for the girls to have a large airy shed with high perches instead of the coop which they obviously didn’t like.<\/p>\n
It will be interesting to see how this evening goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At seven o’clock yesterday morning our two new sheds arrived. We had a pop hole cut into the chicken shed ready to fit our automatic door closer to. We needed to do a bit of work to the chicken shed … Continue reading