The Hen House, aka, "Cluckingham Palace"

This is it, the very long post that I've been working on, literally, for several months. The Hen House reveal! Warning... this is a long one. You read below that I started work on the Hen House back in April. Well, the short version is that we now have three happy hens in a bright and Happy Hen House and on most days we get two eggs between them!

Ha! I can do this! I said. I built a workbench, how hard can a chicken coop be? Ya, right! It was a mighty challenge, especially with little building skills. But hey, I have watched so much HGTV that I felt that DIY skills had infused my system. There were a few tears, but mostly there was triumph, one little step at a time. 

My drawings...

The initial plan - modified a few times during the build

The Hen House would be 5' wide, 4' high (excluding the roof) and 3' deep. The whole thing stands over 6' from the ground to the top of the roof. The wood and wire panels would be 3'x5' each and would be assembled together piece by piece also allowing relatively easy extensions as time goes on.

I don't have fancy tools but I'm grateful for my various saws! I need a second cordless drill/driver, - the electric one is very heavy after a while.

I am VERY worried about how my little Hens will survive the bitter winters here (Southern Manitoba!!) Winter temperatures regularly plummet below -30C sometimes with a windchill of -40C. Most of the time we're hovering between -12C and -25C (normal winter temps). I insulated the Hen House and roof with thick blocks of styrofoam. I'm still worried.

I was very excited to get to the painting stage. I chose a lovely egg-yolky yellow outside and white inside. 

I was very pleased with how the run panels turned out! I took inspiration for them from here. Oh, I have to say that I collected lots of ideas and made several boards on Pinterest. Lots of clever people out there - thank you! I used concrete deck blocks to hold the legs of the Hen House. Levelling those little babies was not the easiest thing I've ever done... The other very hard thing in this whole project was getting the roof right. Blimey! My calculations were out and I made a few mistakes, but thankfully I was able to work with them. 

Yay! Then came Chicken-day! Peggy and I went to the Poultry Auction in Beausejour (MB) on 2nd May. It was a hairy affair for me and I was anxious for all the poor creatures in their cages. But I was determined to be a big girl and come home with some hens. I waved my bidding card around and after paying much more money than I should have we came home with Isobel (Plymouth Barred Rock), Dolly (Columbian Rock) and Henrietta (Ameraucana). No I didn't know their ages, their past or their story...but I was so damn keen and I was determined to make it work. I did really want four hens, (still do) but I was happy to come home with three that day! We made a temporary home for the hens in our Growing Room. We separated them from each other but soon enough they were all in one compartment and did not seem to want to kill each other...all was well. 

We had some roof shingles left over from when they built our house. Really glad to get them used! Let me say, insulating and finishing the inside of the roof was probably the most awkward and difficult job (there were some tears). 

After doing alot of research I decided to put sand in the House. It's so easy to clean. I mix some diatomaceous earth with the sand to keep the coop bug free and the sand nice and dry. The heat was really on for me to get the Hen House complete... they were stuck in our Growing Room and our plants were all over the place. 

Moving day was a delight! The little hens seemed to know exactly what to do! They went up and down their ladder and soon found the nest boxes to lay their eggs. I put a roost in the house and one in the run. 

Since the initial build I have made two major alterations to the run... The first run was "L-shaped". I have no idea why. It was awkward. I reconfigured the shape to a square and it was immediately altogether better. Each panel is screwed to the other and attached to the house. I stapled hardware cloth to the top to prevent predators from coming in and I also placed heavy-duty plastic on the "roof" of the run to keep it dry. I put wire panels under the house as well to give the hens a bit more outside space. It turns out that they love to have little naps under the house. 

The nest box works really well. It has a little lock on it so cannot be accidentally opened by little racoon fingers. I put paving blocks around the Hen House to help contain some of the mud when it is wet. We have black sticky mud here! When the inside of the run is damp I put some fresh straw down to make it easier for the Hens. 

The second alteration of the run included an extension. I built more panels and attached them. The run space is now 6'x9' plus the space under the house, 3'x5'. I will make it bigger as time progresses. We also had another project...putting up a three-bin compost area. We used fence-posts and boards to create a large contained composting site. We also did significant landscaping in the area, - laying down crushed rock over an underlay to keep down the mud and neaten up the whole area. The Hen House gets some lovely sun, and when needed the shade from the many Oak trees provides well-needed relief. 

After re-laying the paving stones around the Hen House along with edging the whole place looks much neater. I placed some pots of flowers and herbs around the house along with some night lights. I am delighted with the result and ever so proud that I managed to build this all by myself. I got some (expensive) transparent corrugated roofing to place over the run to keep it nice and dry. I am also happy to say that the roof of the house is leak-free. It works for us! The house is well ventilated and insulated. I'm still worried for winter but our little Hens will be brought back into our nice Growing Room as soon as the temperatures get too bad. We do all we can to keep our little Hens happy!

Free at Last

23rd March 2015

It's Gone! It finally disappeared on April 13th  It went a week or two earlier in town but at the back of our house, between the deck and the flower bed, there was a snow mountain that did not and would not melt. Not surprising when it stayed below freezing but it warmed up a lot the last week in March and it was still there.  For some days the day temperature rose to double (positive) digits and did not go below zero at night. The snow mountain started to subside but didn't go and didn't go. No good trying to use the snow blower as the snow was impacted and crystallised. Digging trenches across it by hand helped a bit. We knew it was melting because the ground was mud where the lawn should have been but it was depressing to see it still there day after day. Only Molly the Dog was sad to see it go. She loved rolling in the snow. Now the snow has gone the Spring Rains (hopefully), muddy paws and  wood ticks will come and Molly the Dog will know Winter is truly over

25th March

1st April 2015

13th April 2015
The very last bit to go!

11th April 2015

Of course we have had more snow flurries since the 13th of April but the temperatures are close to or above zero so it doesn't stick like back in the old days of -25 deg C. On Sunday morning we woke up to the wonderful sound of gentle rain and the grass is beginning to turn green and yes, the veg patch is free at last too......it's just been a tad on the windy side this week with gusts up to 90km per hour so I haven't done anything up there yet but one rhubarb has survived and the gooseberries and blackcurrants are beginning to unfurl tiny green leaves. Such a joy to the heart!

April 22nd 2015

Chicken Mania

We have to have chickens. How can we live in the country and not have chickens? Urban chickens may still be against the law in many Canadian Cities but we are in the country where chickens are supposed to live. We have always wanted chickens but haven't quite got round to it yet but this could be the year. Actually Suzanna wants chickens more than I do but please don't tell her that........

Plans are afoot. We are spending endless hours discussing where to put the hen house (palace). It's not easy.....there is very little flat ground in/on our yard ("Yard" is Canadian for garden and surrounds of the house. "Garden" is Canadian for a veg patch  This can get very confusing for little me, especially as a yard to me is a farm yard, a lumber yard or a builder's yard or three feet)

We finally took last year's recycling to the appropriate place and so freed up the trailer for a trip to the lumber yard and bought the timber for the chicken house, coop or hen house as I prefer to call it. Plans are not only afoot but they are also sort of down on paper as I follow in my Father's and my Grandfather's inspiring footsteps. They drew up plans for ships and houses and never anything as humble as a hen house but I am a late starter.








Suzanna has started construction and at the time of writing we have a upside down floor and legs in the garage and concrete blocks where it will go. Yes one of the concrete blocks is broken.....it bounced off the trailer on the gravel road and broke in bits. It was so heavy I thought it would be fine on the trailer but yes it bounced off! Luckily no-one was behind us.


We have already bought a rooster.
He is black and white with a bright red comb and feet and he is very beautiful and very quiet. That's the way we like our roosters. He is also a bit static..I cannot say wooden as he is metallic.  However he stands as a challenge to us to get the hen house and run done very soon so we can get some chickens.....

The names of the chickens will be Isobel, Harriet and Henrietta with a fourth one whose name eludes me just at the moment. They will be speckeldy and very winter hardy.

Please do say: "How is the Hen house coming on?"
Don't say:"Are you raising chickens for food?"

A Construction Special

Stage one: The workshop workbench. (WW)

"It will never work," I remarked gloomily in the Thrift Store. (I use Eeyore and Marvin as role models far too often)  "The legs are too short, the top is all bowed and it looks old and horrible and it won't fit on the truck, AND it will probably fall off the back of the truck and kill somebody." Suzanna said: "But I need it and it's only $30" So that was that. We found a ratchet strap and tied the old desk on the truck and set off for the lumber yard. It was 4:45pm and they shut at 5pm but we managed to get various bits of wood all apparently vital for the projects Suzanna had in mind. Within 24hours the old thing (the desk) had been transformed into a very usable movable workbench with new legs, a fresh coat of gray paint and castors with brakes.





Stage Two: The growing room workbench. (GRW)

This could not be constructed until Stage one had been completed as we didn't have a WW (see gray thing behind S)
 available to us and S needed one to help with the huge sheets of MDF  she had to cut and the general construction of everything. Yea!!!!!!!!  After years of promises the GRW could become a reality now that;
a) there was a growing room (created last year)  to put it in;
b) S now has a table saw as well as a chop saw, a circular saw, a hack saw and a cunning little cordless drill/screwdriver;
c) We now have a WW
d) S had downloaded a set of plans for the GRW from the internet.


All was going very very well. S had cut all the pieces of wood as indicated in the plans except we were going to have a six foot long bench instead of an 8 foot long bench. All was well until P comes along to check (criticise)  progress and remarks that the legs look a bit short. We check the plans and the legs are indeed correctly cut to the right length according to the plans but when we double check how high the bench will be when everything is fitted on...it's 30 inches high. Now that's ok if one is sitting down, or if one is  young, or if one is, unfortunately, in a wheelchair or physically challenged heightwise but its not ok for me or S to stand at, work at, lean on or  have a general chat with the plants so they don't feel intimidated. The legs were set aside for another project and new ones cut......those extra 6 inches make all the difference!

    



The GRW was wheeled ceremoniously  into place after removing the makeshift bench made out of sawhorses and plywood) . Yes, the GRW has castors with brakes too. (My Daddy always recommended putting casters on any heavy furniture that might have to be moved). IT IS BRILLIANT!


Important messages from the Editor:
The pictures with the saws were posed. No saw or Suzanna was hurt, damaged or abused during the taking of the pictures. Yes Suzanna did wear protective goggles, and no she did not wear the scarf, while sawing so there was no risk of an Isodora Duncan type incident. (You have to be cultured to understand some of the references.......haha!)

Meanwhile I have been trying to catch up on seed sowing, especially those needing to be started eight -10 weeks before the last frosts hit at the end of May. You see some of the packets spread before you......I had marigolds last year and have no idea why I didn't collect seed from them. I'll be planting them on into the veg patch as companion plants to be sacrificed for the good of my veggies. Mind you we seem to be lucky and don't see too many naughty flying things up there and I have never seen a snail or slug in our veggies.....but we do have burrowing creatures..ground squirrels who eat  tuberous plants underground including carrots, and of course the gorgeous Manitoba salamander family living in the compost.( In Surrey England I couldn't use the compost in the bin as it was full of slow-worms and here in Manitoba the compost is home to the salamanders. If you want to see the salamanders, (as I have mislaid the photo I had of one and it wasn't very good anyway,) just use the link, Blue spotted Salamander ) Other visitors to the patch include bunnies, various birdies, deer, racoon's and quite possibly a Sasquatch on holiday from the neighbouring province but enough of these ramblings.

We sow the seeds in potting compost in trays or pots on heat pads to start them off and then when they germinate they get put under the lights. This year we are trying to prevent leggy seedlings by getting the them really up close and personal  to the strip lighting we are using and it seems to be working but I must go off this morning and buy some more light fittings as more and more germination takes place.
I was worried about my special comfrey seeds from the UK. Nothing happening yet and they have had a whole week in the soil and lots of TLC....but I checked with online "experts" and it can take at least 10 days and up to 30 for germination so I have put off despairing for later. Suzanna has planted lots of flowers and we are even trying to grow snapdrago
ns, pansies, geraniums and mallow bushes from seeds and they are all doing their very best but they get a bit scared when they look out of the window and see all the snow.





So, finally, to the weather.

LastMonday we saw the WIGs startled by a sprinkle of
snow but it didn't come to much and the mild weather continued for most of the week, or at least temperatures were just above zero. I began to rake up acorns and leaves I had missed at the end of the year and then Sunday evening the weather turned and this is what we are looking at today. There is a violent something coming this afternoon and tonight with loads of rain and wet snow an winds according to the weather reports but we are hoping it misses us.


And here is a sunrise picture from two days ago. Old tales tell us that red in the morning is very bad news for shepherds, and, presumably, sheep. It's often very red in the morning.....perhaps that is the reason there are so few shepherds and sheep round about here.

Is it?

Thursday: I woke up three nights ago in a terrible state, moaning and crying  with a severe pain in my arm. In the dark I established I was probably not dying but what was it? Well, I must have rolled onto a cat who probably also woke up rather squashed and surprised and a bit angry and who must have  proceeded to defend herself by scratching my inside forearm, leaving a 5 inch sore and bleeding mark. Then yesterday I developed a cold sore  as big as a plate in spite of Cold-fx, aycyclovir, and polysporin, and to make number three injury I have just stabbed myself with the sharp end of a pencil as I was organising myself to write some seed labels. Hopefully that is it for the week as far as injuries go.




On the plus side: the temperature has soared above zero for the past few days so the  snow is melting; the WIGs are totally exposed; and the additional excitement is that  the geese have arrived early,  I always get  a cold sore as the seasons change from Winter to Spring and Summer to Autumn so it's a sign and another sign was Suzanna finding a baby pansy growing in the driveway. It's +9 degrees C outside and I have just heard and seen the first honey bee.

The Canada Geese announced their arrival very loudly and we gave them a rousing cheer and a chorus of Welcome Home. I will spare you the photo of the one straggler I managed to photograph as it takes skill and imagination to actually see the bird. It's not characteristic to see just one. They tend to come over in groups of 30-50 flying in what I like to call a "V" but they are far too busy chatting and telling each other the "goss" to keep a perfect flying formation but, they are obviously quite good at the flying thing as I haven't noticed many of them plummeting to the ground after bumping into each other.

Saturday: And now its already two days later and the thaw is continuing......we had breakfast on the deck this morning and we are out for  the first BBQ of the year in an hour or so. The little flower bed (The Eye) above the big flower bed (BFB) is slowly melting revealing shrubs a bit battered and bent by the snow and wind, but full of buds.It would be so nice if the snow just melted away leaving lovely cleanness and fresh green grass and little budlets bursting into the glory of crocuses and daffodils and tulips but alas the melting snow reveals loads of last years oak leaves and plant stems and stuff we didn't get to clear before the frosts and snows came and above all the stuff that has accumulated over the past four months of winter that used to belong to dogs and of course as the snow melts all is revealed, almost as fresh as the day it was deposited. Poopy patrols have to be carried out.


The BBQ was fun but anxiety provoking. Conversation with two proper gardeners revealed they already have started seeds which are spouting and I/we am/are falling way behind and will never catch up, and they will have growing rooms full of wonderful plants to plant out any minute now, and by the time we get going the first frosts will be back. I have planted broad beans (They call them fava beans here)  in egg shell pots. They don't seem to do broad beans much  but I like them so grow a few each year. These are "Broad Windsor" which is about the only variety commonly available here. We use the egg shells as it's a happy way of recycling and a good source of calcium for the beans and for the soil in general and may prevent blossom end rot in our tomatoes and their rellies. (Relatives!)

Sunday: It has been hotter here than in most of the UK. We had 18 deg C for a while and a warm strong wind. Lots more of the snow has gone but there is still a bit of a mountain behind the deck and in the veg patch. We have to keep telling ourselves this probably is a false start to Spring and the forecast for this week is back to about zero temperatures and snow flurries and freezing rain so I would hate to get too excited about the end of winter yet.

By the way.....we turned the sweet potato upside down in the water and there is one rootlet visible.
The flower rocket seems to be stalling but there are a few seeds germinating.
More daffs are on the way.

Monday 8 am and my goodness it's snowing.....................Bah! Spring is probably over.If you look closely the WIGs now have a slightly startled expression as they experience an unexpected sprinkle of the white stuff.

Four Down, Max Two to Go

Hooray! February has disappeared at last after what seemed like an 8 week month and it's March already. Looking forward to 18th/19th March when the first geese will arrive honking away, looking for food and heralding Spring even if it does take another 6-8 weeks to actually arrive.
It's definitely not quite there (Spring that is....) with the temperature still -17deg C with a few less degrees minused on for wind chill but "They" are promising -4 deg C tomorrow and even +4 deg C next week but it may be a ploy to try to cheer us up, and spur us onto, and into the Great Gardening Adventure that will be 2015!








The WIGs look almost the same as last time except that the prairie winds have blown more snow on top of them so only the  tip of one hat is showing. They also had their own adventure this week when the( possibly) 30kg Molly the Dog got excited and was bounding about and sat on top of them They appear to have recovered but who knows what is going on under that lot. They are very brave.

Due to increasingly itchy and frustrated gardening fingers  I used the last of last year's multipurpose compost to plant the Flower Rocket Suzanna found in one of the local shops. The box assures me that there are 1000 seeds on a roll of felted stuff and I will have flowers all Spring, all Summer, and beyond.  I have planted according to instructions and am awaiting results. Nothing has emerged yet. Note I did plant the felty thing in the soil. So far I am very unimpressed but it has only been four days.

As much as I like looking through gorgeous seed catalogues I like going to choose seeds even more, so on Monday I went to Winnipeg (Or Winterpeg, as some like to call it) with an urgent need to buy seeds. There are Garden Centres here, but not as we know them Jim (Alas poor Leonard.....a moment's silence please) . Most Garden Centres shut up and dig in for the Winter by August and re-open at Easter. There are a few exceptions and one very posh one with a coffee shop and clothes and high end things........that's where I found the Borlotti Bean seeds and the tomatoes I wanted and had a nice cup of coffee and a healthy salad (Except for the bacon and the Mayo and the salt therein.)   but for the rest I went to the explosive sounding T&T seeds and had a very happy time wandering around picking up little packets of seeds and shaking them and putting some of them back again.  Driving home the temperature was falling, the snow was blowing across the road and the sun was setting pretty much in my eyes but it was all worth while. I had pastel pansies, zinnias, a candy stripped cosmos, and a whole field of veggies and other goodies on the back seat of the car.



However, one thing lacked of course.  No more multipurpose compost! So today I went and rectified the situation by buying a compressed block of 107litres of the stuff most places round here use for seeds and potting on. Of course not only is it compressed but it is also frozen as it's been outside at the nursery, so it's now in the growing room thawing out before use. Hopefully this will give us time to get everything ready ........music, lights, water, more heating to get everything started in the next few weeks so everything be planted out before the end of May.






I cleaned up the potatoes which have overwintered very well in a container, in the growing room which has been kept at 10-14 deg C with a small oil heater. This contrasts favourably with last year when I lovingly cleaned, and carefully packed, every potato in dry sand in containers so they were in the dark and then the winter came. The temperature in the garage, where they were, dropped to -15 deg in November and they froze and all had to be thrown away and I cried and cried as all my Summer hard work ended up at the local composting dump..........anyway it's a different story this year! We haven't got a lot left and they have been very yummy.




                                                     


 ( yes I know the thing in the middle is a carrot.)

There were three varieties of potato:
Pontiac......Red;
Yukon Gold.......Yellow;
Viking................Red with very white flesh, stores well and was bred here in Morden MB for the climate.

I don't think they do Earlie's, Second Earlies and Maincrops here.......just small and big potatoes but my goodness Manitoba Potatoes are The Best!

Morden has a world famous Research Centre which has bred Roses and Potatoes and other veggies and grains for the prairies and now concentrates mainly on breeding and testing crops like Canola. (I think but I may be wrong)






And talking about potatoes I know its not going to work but I cannot help myself hoping that it will.
I am going to try to grow sweet potatoes again. Last year I managed a lot of leaves but this year will be different . I bought the potato from a local shop, stuck skewers in it and balanced it on a yogurt pot full of water, put it on a heating pad  and now am waiting to see if anything happens.  

Still waiting......................................................................
I think I need to have more of it in the water so off to do that now.............................................