BDutch's bantam flock & natural breeding projects #5 🪺 🪺 and #6

[MaryJanet]

Another benefit of having two coops: if I have a broody , I can close the broodies favourite laying nest. The other hens still have other laying nests to lay their eggs.

Katrientje is broody now. She keeps nagging (asking) to open the pop door to the nestboxes. Poor lady. Unfortunately for her I cant have more chickens.

I like the flexibility of multiple coop options too.

 

[BDutch]

Issues on the playhouse coop after 9 months.

The playhouse is not as sturdy as I thought. The wooden slats in the playhouse are loose slats in a framework. In the back panel there are gaps because the playhouse is not placed neatly level. Fixed it with hammering and a larger screw.
The small door broke. I got it out of the hinges to repair it. Easy fix, only a screw was missing.

4 of my 8 chickens like to sleep in the playhouse. There is another coop where the other 4 chickens prefer to sleep.

Last night I had another issue with the playhouse. The Chicken Cozy automatic pop door (CC-door) closed before it was time to roost . I had to reset recently bc it gave a failure message. Last evening it was a cloudy day and it closed too early. The hens were locked out. I opened the window for them, and soon after these 4 ladies all went in to roost.

Today’s plan is to clean the CC-door and reset/reinstall the moment it closes. Hope the weather is a bit better today.

We had a lot of rain yesterday which was a good thing bc we had a long period of wonderfully sunny and dry weather previously.

 

[LaFleche]

The Chicken Cozy automatic pop door (CC-door) closed before it was time to roost . I had to reset recently bc it gave a failure message. Last evening it was a cloudy day and it closed too early.

We had the same issue with our automatic coop doors and switched to a preset closing time to avoid the chickens being shut out of their coops.

Of course, we have to adjust twice throughout the year as it would stay open way too long in the winter, but we found it works better this way with our flocks.

 

[BDutch]

We had the same issue with our automatic coop doors and switched to a preset closing time to avoid the chickens being shut out of their coops.

Of course, we have to adjust twice throughout the year as it would stay open way too long in the winter, but we found it works better this way with our flocks.

I can adjust the moment it closes. Sensor setting is standard 6. Setting 1 closes/opens with less brightness, but I forgot how to use the buttons to set it to the right closing moment. In the manual are instructions how to adjust it.

From the manual:

 

[BDutch]

It been a weeks since I posted on my own thread.
Not very much to tell about. No sick chickens or changes in the flock. A broody (Katrientje and Pearl as follow up) for a few days/a week, this time of the year is normal too. Still getting 4 eggs a day on average.
In the Netherlands they say: “No news is good news!”

There have been some changes in free ranging. I wrote about it in Shads thread.

If you have been reading the post about free ranging you can skip until after the photo. . :
If my 8 bantam chickens free range they wont use as much space anymore as the did a month ago.

I’m sure they don’t need so much space if there is chicken feed available in their run the whole day. The chickens only walk in our garden and on part of the municipalities green strip lately where we mow the grass without permission.

Until recently the chickens went to the neighbours too. Counting 3 gardens and the green strip they have been roaming on about 2000 m2. They walk on way less ground now bc one of the neighbours added chicken wire at their side of the ivy hedge. The other neighbours often have their dog outside. And on the green strip there is mainly high grass and wild blackberries now. The chickens don’t like to go into that*.

That leaves them about 400m2 to walk around. But the chickens still have lots of different vegetation and soil to eat from and seem as happy as before. And personally I like it that they stay within eyesight if they free range. It easier now to call the chickens to come home (to lock them up again).

Hiding for the sun or hoping for a piece of a sandwich?

*I have noticed that chickens like to see where they are going. The chickens probably know the area with the high grass and wild blackberries is dangerous.

I lost a few chickens out there in summer/autumn before it was mowed by the municipality. Maybe it was the dark striped tomcat who was the murderer. Maybe another animal we never saw.
Anyway, the tomcat moved to another part of town after a divorce.

Kwekky, sister of Katrientje (2022 1yo).
Abby and Chef the 2 young and tiny Dutch pullets (2023).

Very happy the 2 Amrocks pullets are doing great. In 3 days on June 20, they are no longer pullets.

 

[BDutch]

Photo bombing with last month photos.

At the More museum
Tom Pucky

Wall painting

Garbage art

In our garden:
In the shade on a hot day last week.

Gin or Tonic whit a dark spot (from the heat or just dirth?)

Janice on top of the coop

Black eating toast

My new avatar Janice.

Gin in action and Kraai wondering where the pot with flowers came from.
(Bday present )

Ini mini before self-trimming her beak.