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Latest on the (not so) wee sprogs A very Irish coop. |
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‘Is there a god Daddy???yup you’re lookin at him‘Where do babies come from???birds and bees have sex (or so is my understanding) But this one -“Daddy can I have a pet??I have feared this question much more than any other. We were on holidays recently in the UK and we stayed on a farm in Wales. Oisín was down every morning looking at the pigs. Chickens, running around, goats donkeys etc all doing their thing. It was quite a good start to the holiday, with the pleasant sounds of nature. The moaning of clients started to ebb as a distant memory. From our cottage, I took a walk to the owners?house and got for myself (and to share a little with the kids and missus) a few of their eggs. Nice. Aoife and I watched a lamb being born and she was amazed in the way that one animal came out of another. She was of course a little less confused than her cousin who when told that he was in his mothers tummy, he asked his mother why she had eaten him!!! I am a wee country bumpkin myself, I went for milk in the mornings and for every holiday that my dear loving parents could get rid of me, I was hoisted away to a small holding, out in the sticks in the beautiful county of Waterford. An uncle that I still aspire to be like introduced us to farming, gardening, self sufficiency and fixing (as opposed to renewing) things that are broke. After the farm on holidays, we moved to England’s south coast and had our camping trip. There were tanks and helicopters also, plus a lot of monkey noises, but of course the camping site didn’t mention the army training ground next door; but monkey world on the other side did make up for that. The point is that we were once again on a farm. This time with wild deer, bunnies as well as chooks. The kids loved it and Aoife holding the duckling in her hands was amazed as Oisín looked on with Envy. I asked the guys there about chicks and what was involved in keeping them. I could see her good self look at me as the creaks and groans of my hamsters wheels turned ever so slowly and gentle puffs of smoke protruded from my noggin. Mental note, she has not started walking backwards away from me, muttering ‘no, no, no?as of yet. What do you think? ‘Maybe not one of your most hay-brained? I’ll take that! On our return to the emerald isle, we went surfing (nerd wise of course) in researching chicken coops. Her-good-self has many years experience in this, but mind you, all was not of the Gulus Domesticus habitat type (most likely). The coops in Ireland we saw are very small and the cost was in excess of 300€. My goal is to make one much bigger and stronger for under that price. A site we found included free plans in the form of a video, detailed plans. Cut an angle of 38 degrees 373/4 inches and nail to the beam 12ft6in.... Hmmm, I don’t do the inches thingie. I took all the measurements and changed them to metric. Then with bits of cane bound off to the garden to get an idea of size. At this point the plans changed. ‘It is for chickens and not donkeys? Now I understood that but if we are keeping chickens I did not really want them cooped up ?ah that is where that saying comes from ?I want a bit of space for them, but herself did have a point. When the coop is bigger than the house... 3 meters of a run was agreed. After deciding then on the main dimension, I calculated most of the others so I could decided on what amount of wood to get for the frame and for the panels (box and roof). Away I toddled to the builder providers. ‘What lengths do they come in the 5 *10 cm lumps of wood so I can get 30 meters? ‘huh, you mean the 12ft lengths of 2*4??br> ‘sweet mother, we joined the EU in 1973 and went metric then?br> ‘do you want the wood?br> ‘errm, yes please?br> ‘You will need 10?br> ‘OK chipboard please?br> ‘Panel board, the 8*4 sheet, what thickness??br> ‘A furlong... errm, an inch??br> (raises eyebrows), ‘we have the 9 mill?br> ‘Yeah sure?br> Total for the wood and wire mesh is 150€, not so bad, under budget! OK everything on the roof of the car with my new workbench, saw, nails etc.  The missus assembles the workbench for me and the kids are asking about the wood. I explain that it’s my new jigsaw. Right 12 foot lengths, change to plans, recalc, let’s see, if I do a 4th wide by 3 foot high, then I can get four 3’s or three 4’s, no waste. I run the tape alone the 5*10 (woops 2*4, forgot we have gone back a millennium). OK I have been stiffed the length of the wood is only 11ft 8 inches, to my horror, I see the other side of the tape, 3 meters exactly. Agghh, plans in the bin. So meter wide, meter high by 3 meters. After the frame was done the kids and mum and I paint the top of it, about 4 coats before we turn it over. The kids loved their new climbing frame. Next came the box at one end. I placed I meter lengths on each of the long ends half way up and then one across to make the base of the box. And made a floor from it from the 8*4 board, which was funnily enough 8*4. Lengths of wood in Ireland are metric, whereas boards are not. This is also the country that had until recently signs on the road of 30MPH for the next 2 KM. I did miss Ireland when I was away. Thankfully I had the plans thrown, so it was only my head being messed up now. The kids now had their shop. Walls, pitched roof struts (now they were fun), nesting box with doors, felting the roof, wire mesh and a few perches. Cost of hinges, bolts etc are 50€, was not expecting it to be that much, so now the total is 200€. My tools have also cost me 100€ but of course they will be used again. Aoife is in the coop, climbing in the box. I looked in, her brother is with her with his dinosaurs, football, her dolls and a very large balloon. They run, ‘the evil chicken catcher is after us? I can have this, so I catch them and place them back in the coop, over and over again. It is a month since we placed our first 4 chickens into the coop and we are getting the first eggs already. Chickens (hybrids that are vaccinated) cost us 12€ each a water bowl (feeds water as needed) was 10, feeder 10 and bags of food, layers pellets 12 quid for a 20 KG bag. So another 80. Bill so far is 280€. Still under the 300 and we have chickens and feed.  My family are gone for a weeks holidays to her folks in UK. No sooner was she gone than the first egg appeared. A double yoker too, which I had the next morning to sooth a hangover (the wife and children were gone away!) We have had an egg with no shell, tiny eggs, double yoke eggs and smashed ones (tip don't leave really really high percehes in the laying area, eggs don't bounce too well! Who knew!) The kids named the chickens, so Fiona's ideas of "Princess Layla" and "Hens Solo" and my "Mrs T" for the black one with the gold neck feathers were all over ruled for 'Chicken Licken' from Oisín and 'Deidre' for the white one (Aoifes input on her hero blonde teacher from Creche). So that left only two to name. Granny Breda is having her bithday (70th!) and Aoife mentioned that the grey chicken that was eating all the food might be appropriately named as said Granny as she looked really, really old. There is no way that I can allow that to happen, my own mother, the lady I obviously owe my existance on the planet to have a chicken named after her, no... Rang granny Breda and she thought this was a fantastic idea, so we have another named. Well if there is one called granny Breda, the mother in law has to get a shout in also. "Dad, Granma Cath is stick out her chest and running at Granny Breda, but its ok cos Granny Breda bit Granma Cath". I am sure I saw a neighbours finger tips over the fence trying to see what is going on. The kids links page has more info on life for the lads. |
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Kids's link page, or backup to the main page at Feicim.com |
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