Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Henspa Update

Here are a couple of pictures of the henhouse, which Keith has been working on very hard despite the heat.

Remember, we are moving the laying hens into this house... and away from all the roosters except for Butch and Fancy, the adult porcelain D'Uccle.  I hope to be able to find all the eggs from then on out, and find clean eggs to boot.

The big henyard hens will lose their access to the pasture, but someday, when Lilly and Ranger have crossed the Bridge, we'll let the hens out in the yard. 


The trim will be white, against the chocolate brown.  I like this so much, that I am thinking of painting our interior this color.  My son has it on the walls of his house, and I have admired it very much.


But this is the really exciting thing... the electric, which was stubbed out underneath the front of the building, was brought in today and four of the outlets hung.  Tomorrow the electricians will be back to complete the job.  We'll have an outlet to hang a chick light (or run a fan in the summer)... and three others for whatever we need.  We'll have an overhead light, and Keith has started the steps up into the building.  We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Tomorrow after work, Keith will do some research about netting... we were warned today that even one inch net over the yard will trap wild birds in it.  We don't want to go out daily and find 20 birds trapped and in trouble, so we are looking at other options.  Does anyone have advice?  We would be glad to listen.

5 comments:

  1. Hi my friends.
    There is some stronger netting that birds cannot get tangled in. We use it to keep deer out of our garden. And we use it to keep me from running off too.
    It resembles the bird netting but it is thicker - almost like plastic.
    You might check around...and see if you can locate any. Some of the netting at stores is misleading,, it says Deer Netting, but its that flimsy stuff that birds get caught in.
    I hope you find something that will work.
    We got ours years ago at Coastal Farms.
    love
    tweedles

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  2. Good morning Mary Ann,
    the chicken house is looking really grand. It will be great for the chicks and the hens..
    and you wont loose as many, with the extreme summer heat.. your H ..has done a fine job.
    Your friend Tweedles has the right idea.. I also use netting for the animals.. mainly as a wind breaker, but its ideal ..first put your fencing around..small chicken wire fencing the strong type.. its green..
    then measure your netting and secure it to the fence... it works brilliantly.
    good luck..thanks for all the nice stories
    Happy days
    val

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  3. Hi Mary Ann...
    SO exciting, getting so close to being done with the chicken spa :)

    Looking forward to seeing everything done, and seeing what you come up with for safety.

    Have a good day..
    Kerin

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  4. Your henspa is looking good! How I wish I had electricity in mine!

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  5. how much do you need to net off? those mesh tarps at harbor freight are kinda expensive, but we've found they last a very long time

    keeps flys and birds from coming into the barn

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