MJ's little flock

[BDutch]

Look what I just purchased! My colleague is going to make me a nest.

View attachment 3971346

Do ask her to make a pullet too. With a small pink comb.

 

[Grammy60]

Look what I just purchased! My colleague is going to make me a nest.

View attachment 3971346

Those are adorable

 

[MaryJanet]

Look what I just purchased! My colleague is going to make me a nest.

View attachment 3971346

Oh that's cute!!

 

[LozzyR]

Oh that's cute!!

Those are adorable

Do ask her to make a pullet too. With a small pink comb.

Aren’t they gorgeous?! I didn’t realise they were there when the craft people were setting up shop, then one of my colleagues showed me a whole basket with two hens and a bunch of chicks, and I’m like “OMG I NEED ALL THE CHICKENS!!!” Unfortunately, I couldn’t justify buying all of them, so I just got one of each.

 

[MaryJanet]

There was a new broody poop by the lavenders when I got home from work today and Mary has altered the position of the nest, which is now central in the roosting compartment.

So it seems all's well.

 

[MaryJanet]

Here's the old lady, steady as a rock.

There was no poop to be seen today, which makes me think she spent the day on the nest. Yet she's in a slightly different spot, so maybe she got up for a quick break?

 

[MaryJanet]

She's up.

And she still has four intact eggs.

That's just a bit of Mary's butt fluff on the Welsummer egg.

AX is the one that rolled down the ramp and went cold a few nights ago.

 

[MaryJanet]

Just checking my list.

• Rake the run
• Sweep with the magnet
• Take the ramp from the old little coop and put it in Mary's Hatchery Make and install a wide ramp
• Clean up the chicken fencing panels and get more if needs be
• Start setting up the Peggy exclusion zone
• Place water and food for Mary in the Peggy exclusion zone
• Assuming Mary's nest is in the roosting compartment by then, place a sheet of ply in the nest box Make a 6cm deep, lightweight, non-slip insert for the nest compartment
• Prepare a feeding station in the nest box
• Get chick crumbles
• Set up some form of shade over the nesting area.

Can someone suggest the weight of chick crumbles required? Would 20kg be excessive?

Today I anticipate making the ramp and the nest box insert. Tomorrow I'll rake the run and sweep with the magnet. That doesn't leave much to do before hatch date, which would be Nov 5ish? I need to double check the dates.

 

[MaryJanet]

I've just about decided to put this shade sail

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...on the pergola and get a narrower one for the run.

The pergola needs a shade sail. It always has.

Just following up to say I made this change yesterday. The narrower shade sail still wasn't narrow enough, so I put it on an angle to clear the post.

Then I realised having the shade sail on an angle would provide even better sun protection, so that worked out really well.

If I'd known shade sails were so affordable, I'd have put them up years ago. I should've checked, but then again, my schedule is quite hectic - sometimes months in advance - and things like that just don't get seen to until there's a strong motivation.

 

[MaryJanet]

The wide ramp and nest box insert were made today, but neither are installed yet. I'm going to do that when Mary's off the nest tomorrow. I'll have to remove the handles from the tray of the new coop because that's the best place to attach the ramp. It's 50cm wide and 90 long for an easy slope.

Hopefully I'll also get the run raked out and swept with the magnet.