We were generously given seven new chickens this week, a mix of commercial hybrids who are laying well. Unfortunately, they came without a coop (which will follow on later) so we needed to knock something together quickly. At first glance round the pile of scrap wood we didn’t have anything too promising ‘in stock’ but on a second look, we found enough to make a start.

The base was provided by an old crate scavenged from a building site. We added a simple pitched roof and clad the whole thing with board from the packaging of a spectroscope (obtained from outside the Cavendish physics lab). The interior was furnished with a pair of perches running the width of the coop and a low board dividing off a nest box along the back wall.


It was around this point, with the main structure complete, that we started to add the finishing touches of craftsmanship. Matt got to work fashioning the sliding doors for front (entrance) and back (nest box access) along with some smart handles. We struggled a bit to find the last pieces of cladding needed, in the end we had to demolish an old door to provide the final panel. As time ran out we carried the coop over to the corner of Dipper’s run and took a last chance to admire our work before letting the girls into their new home.

So much has happened since our last update here. Last week our broody hen hatched the first chicks to be born here outside of an incubator. She’s done a really good job and managed nine chicks from twelve eggs! Hanna and Ruby have taken the incubator home now with a collection of newly purchased maran eggs and some from our flocks here so hopefully they’ll have some chicks to show us all in another few weeks. We also started work on potting on some of the herbs and rhubarb plants from the polytunnel.

Meanwhile, we managed to finish off the duck house and run that we had begun the previous Saturday and moved the ducks and ducklings in all together. We only had two evenings of having to catch the ducks in the evening before they got the hang of putting themselves to bed in their new house made from an old table-tennis table.

On Saturday, we had another attack on the fruit beds out in the field. The existing beds got a good weeding and watering whilst we managed to build a couple more beds and clear some space for the surrounding fence. However, the big news on Saturday was that we have been offered two saddleback sows free-of-charge to start breeding our own weaners with so the next week looks like being a busy one!