Funky Chickenshttp://funkychickens.blog.co.uk/How extra small smallholdings and Rock n' Roll mixen-EUhourly82000-01-01T12:00+00:00Funky Chickenshttp://funkychickens.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/74/13143beadced35dd4193e7616317c7_160x200.jpgWeek 1 - To Babs or not to Babshttp://funkychickens.blog.co.uk/2008/09/01/week-1-to-babs-or-not-to-babs-4668452/2008-09-01T20:17:57+02:00 <p>This has been a fun week, after months of thinking about it and weeks of hard slog (well a couple of days of some work in between rain showers really) we've now got our chooks! We've been 'will we or won't we do this' for some time but after seeing a neighbour's do it yourself coop and three chickens, still alive despite foxes, badgers and local kids on Buckfast, we thought lets throw caution and our neighbour's wishes to the wind and do it ourselves.</p> <p>First step was to close off our garden to predators as much as possible, we're fortunate that most of it is enclosed by a 6ft fence already but we had to get some more wood to do the gaps and build a gate. At the same time I built an enclosure for them out of several lengths of decent decking timber around 12cm in depth which was then filled with bark. The reason for this is that the chickens will do their chicken thing and scratch away at whatever surface they happen to be on looking for food, if this happens to be grass then it won't be there for long and you'll end up with a dusty (or very muddy) mess. The coop and their 6ft run was then placed in the enclosure on top of the bark and they can scratch away till their hearts content without ruining the lawn. Yvonne had the idea of using a tarpaulin sheet (£3.99 at B&Q) to keep the run dry, this was doubled over on itself and tied together using the metal eyelets then tied to the bottom of the run, again using the eyelets, then one length of timber was put inside it at the other end,another length on the outside on top of the first piece and both pieces were screwed together through the tarpaulin,(if you can follow these instructions you can make it better than us)! This means we have a rain cover that is easy to lift off when (or if) it's dry, or when we need to do stuff in the run.</p> <p><img src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e215/buzzgroove/ChickenRun.jpg" alt="" title=""></p> <p>Our neighbours have been really interested in what we're doing and the promise of a few eggs when they start to lay has been gladly accepted. lots of people are keen now on freerange eggs, these chickens are going to have to work overtime to keep up with demand! The main concern was that they would smell real bad (the chickens, not the neighbours) but they really don't, pet rabbits might be smellier, and our kids definately are.<br> We bought four chooks,lovely 18 (or thereabouts) week old Black Rocks from a rearer in Bridge of Weir, near Paisley. They were very helpful with anything we needed to know, such as wing clipping and would appear to be the only rearer of Black Rocks in our area. Despite setting out to get three we ended up with four and named them Bridget, Stumpy, Roxy and Babs... more about Babs later. Black Rock is a hybrid breed, a cross between Rhode Island Red (see Rocky the Rooster in the film 'Chicken Run' for an accurate picture) and a Plymouth Rock. These have been bred to be hardy in our terrible Scottish climate and also lay a large amount of eggs, supposedly in the region of 300 a year. They also seem to be very friendly, though only to us, not each other, and after having them for a week will now come and eat out of our hand.</p> <p><img src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e215/buzzgroove/Roxy.jpg" alt="" title=""><br> Roxy</p> <p><img src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e215/buzzgroove/Bridgit.jpg" alt="" title=""><br> Bridget</p> <p><img src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e215/buzzgroove/Stumpy.jpg" alt="" title=""><br> Stumpy</p> <p><img src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e215/buzzgroove/Babs.jpg" alt="" title=""><br> Babs</p> <p>For the first few days of the week they were very timid, the slightest noise would send them running back into their coop and huddling together in a corner, they had only ever seen the inside of a barn so things like wind, rain, kids and the neighbour's new Greyhound really freaked them out! Only one of the chooks, Roxy, ventured outside on the first day, she had been in the run with the others for a few hours when a light went on in her little chicken mind, 'if they're outside watching me then I can be outside too!' She started running up and down along the mesh looking at us and I opened the hatch, she came out straight away and explored the garden around the coop, trying out a few of our plants for taste. This lasted for a while before she lost her nerve and headed back in again, to be pecked by Babs for her audacity.</p> <p>We expected there to be a pecking order established, but maybe in not quite such a vicious manner! Bridget is a few weeks older than the others and we expected her to naturally be the boss, but no, Babs had other ideas about that, quickly taking to dealing out swift chicken justice to any who came near her, Bridget who is very timid being on the receiving end of it more than the others. Babs started taking to pecking the others when they went in the coop, pecking them when they tried to come out the coop, sitting at the entrance of the coop to stop the others going in/coming out, pecking them when they tried to eat or drink and generally pecking them whenever she felt like it. Babs was a Bad Bird. Babs nearly ended up in the oven. What saved her was Bridget and Roxy deciding on a change of life. They seemed to decide between themselves one day to be freerange, worry free chickens, roaming the garden at will and eating plants where they grew. This freaked Babs and her second in command, Stumpy (sort of like the kid who would hang about with the school bully) out no end. Turns out that Babs and Stumpy are just big nervous fearties, trying to make up for it by acting hard! Seems familiar.</p> <p>Anyway at the end of the first week we have Bridget and Roxy, two bold, self assured chickens roaming the garden and Babs and Stumpy, two not so self assured, nervous and somewhat subdued chikens tagging along. Babs has a reprieve. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://funkychickens.blog.co.uk/2008/09/01/week-1-to-babs-or-not-to-babs-4668452/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>This has been a fun week, after months of thinking about it and weeks of hard slog (well a couple of days of some work in between rain showers really) we've now got our chooks! We've been 'will we or won't we do this' for some time but after seeing a neighbour's do it yourself coop and three chickens, still alive despite foxes, badgers and local kids on Buckfast, we thought lets throw caution and our neighbour's wishes to the wind and do it ourselves.

First step was to close off our garden to predators as much as possible, we're fortunate that most of it is enclosed by a 6ft fence already but we had to get some more wood to do the gaps and build a gate. At the same time I built an enclosure for them out of several lengths of decent decking timber around 12cm in depth which was then filled with bark. The reason for this is that the chickens will do their chicken thing and scratch away at whatever surface they happen to be on looking for food, if this happens to be grass then it won't be there for long and you'll end up with a dusty (or very muddy) mess. The coop and their 6ft run was then placed in the enclosure on top of the bark and they can scratch away till their hearts content without ruining the lawn. Yvonne had the idea of using a tarpaulin sheet (£3.99 at B&Q) to keep the run dry, this was doubled over on itself and tied together using the metal eyelets then tied to the bottom of the run, again using the eyelets, then one length of timber was put inside it at the other end,another length on the outside on top of the first piece and both pieces were screwed together through the tarpaulin,(if you can follow these instructions you can make it better than us)! This means we have a rain cover that is easy to lift off when (or if) it's dry, or when we need to do stuff in the run.

Our neighbours have been really interested in what we're doing and the promise of a few eggs when they start to lay has been gladly accepted. lots of people are keen now on freerange eggs, these chickens are going to have to work overtime to keep up with demand! The main concern was that they would smell real bad (the chickens, not the neighbours) but they really don't, pet rabbits might be smellier, and our kids definately are.
We bought four chooks,lovely 18 (or thereabouts) week old Black Rocks from a rearer in Bridge of Weir, near Paisley. They were very helpful with anything we needed to know, such as wing clipping and would appear to be the only rearer of Black Rocks in our area. Despite setting out to get three we ended up with four and named them Bridget, Stumpy, Roxy and Babs... more about Babs later. Black Rock is a hybrid breed, a cross between Rhode Island Red (see Rocky the Rooster in the film 'Chicken Run' for an accurate picture) and a Plymouth Rock. These have been bred to be hardy in our terrible Scottish climate and also lay a large amount of eggs, supposedly in the region of 300 a year. They also seem to be very friendly, though only to us, not each other, and after having them for a week will now come and eat out of our hand.


Roxy


Bridget


Stumpy


Babs

For the first few days of the week they were very timid, the slightest noise would send them running back into their coop and huddling together in a corner, they had only ever seen the inside of a barn so things like wind, rain, kids and the neighbour's new Greyhound really freaked them out! Only one of the chooks, Roxy, ventured outside on the first day, she had been in the run with the others for a few hours when a light went on in her little chicken mind, 'if they're outside watching me then I can be outside too!' She started running up and down along the mesh looking at us and I opened the hatch, she came out straight away and explored the garden around the coop, trying out a few of our plants for taste. This lasted for a while before she lost her nerve and headed back in again, to be pecked by Babs for her audacity.

We expected there to be a pecking order established, but maybe in not quite such a vicious manner! Bridget is a few weeks older than the others and we expected her to naturally be the boss, but no, Babs had other ideas about that, quickly taking to dealing out swift chicken justice to any who came near her, Bridget who is very timid being on the receiving end of it more than the others. Babs started taking to pecking the others when they went in the coop, pecking them when they tried to come out the coop, sitting at the entrance of the coop to stop the others going in/coming out, pecking them when they tried to eat or drink and generally pecking them whenever she felt like it. Babs was a Bad Bird. Babs nearly ended up in the oven. What saved her was Bridget and Roxy deciding on a change of life. They seemed to decide between themselves one day to be freerange, worry free chickens, roaming the garden at will and eating plants where they grew. This freaked Babs and her second in command, Stumpy (sort of like the kid who would hang about with the school bully) out no end. Turns out that Babs and Stumpy are just big nervous fearties, trying to make up for it by acting hard! Seems familiar.

Anyway at the end of the first week we have Bridget and Roxy, two bold, self assured chickens roaming the garden and Babs and Stumpy, two not so self assured, nervous and somewhat subdued chikens tagging along. Babs has a reprieve.

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