At seven o’clock yesterday morning our two new sheds arrived.
The parts for our two sheds arrive
The sheds start being put together
The chicken shed
The big shed is complete
Inside the big shed
The chicken shed
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.
My husband then clad it with strips of wood to neaten it and to leave a slot for ventilation.
The chicken shed is in place
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.
The automatic door closer is on and the ladder perches are in place
Barley was intrigued and was the first to try the new ladder perches
We used the four perches from the coop.
I have made the ventilation at the top, back, of the shed mouse proof
I have made the window safe
The window now opens outwards
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.
The girls investigate
They check out the inside
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.
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.
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.
We prop open the door to encourage them to go in
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.
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.
We need to find somewhere to perch
We made a barrier from a few bits of the coop nailed together and let them get on the chicken 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.
All in bed and an empty patio
Bedtime
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.
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.
This morning
Toffee is the main culprit
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.
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.
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.
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.
It will be interesting to see how this evening goes.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
The new chicken shed looks brilliant!! So much space!
I am really pleased with it. Just a little matter of training the girls now! Note I headed Steve’s advice of “do not pick them up”.
Woah you actually listened to some of my advice! Good girl!
Is the pop-hole right at floor level or is it raised up slightly? If there’s no step down on the other side you might need to raise the hole and put a batten in the bottom to stop the wood chips from spilling out.
The sheds look really good – much better than the usual crap people put up in their gardens.
There is a step up to the pop hole from outside. The shavings are not falling out, the girls are scratching them out. By this afternoon they had calmed down though.
I meant, is there a step down inside the pop-hole? It might work better if it’s not flush with the bottom of the inside.
No there is no step down on the inside of the pop hole. There wasn’t on the old coop either. I am not too worried though because it isn’t shavings falling out, it’s six girls excited digging that spread the shavings down to the gate today. They always love the shavings when they are new and also we had thrown seeds in last night so they were having fun today but it should calm down back to normal soon. We didn’t use seeds at all tonight. Don’t want to start any more bad habits. Tomorrow’s post has photos collated ready and I will write it in the morning. Watch this space!
Also, if the chickens don’t get used to it and still want to perch in the garden you could put some longer perches at the top, like how it used to be (but inside obviously).
Tonight went much better but that’s tomorrow’s blog post. We have come to the conclusion that we need a shelf above the top rung so they can get higher without it effecting the ladder being lifted for cleaning. All will be revealed tomorrow.
Overwhelmed! Nothing more to say except …Don’t pick them up !
I am very firmly sticking to the rule of “don’t pick them up”. Trust me, this time I am doing this without any bad habits.
The coops look great, and the girls look very interested too! I love how they all are having fun with the shavings.
I am really pleased with the coop. I know they have always loved scratching in the shavings but I didn’t expect them to have this much fun with them. They have calmed down now though thank goodness as the first few days I was constantly sweeping the shavings back in.
Looks absolutely superb, Carol, and the girls – curious as ever – look to love it.
It is so funny because I think this whole process has totally entertained them. I can tell they have loved having me spend time in with them and they love seeing new things around them. They have stuck by me watching my every move.