Beginners Chicken Keeping

[tommy the cat]

Good thread. I've been toying with the idea for a while.
My mate offered me a coup for £30 just yesterday so I had a look today.just can't decide if I should or not......
Another friend has got to get rid of his two pet pig's and has got an electric fence going begging....hmmmnnn

 

[British Red]

At that price Dave you'd be mad not to try it - you could sell the gear on for a profit if it doesn't work out.

 

[tommy the cat]

Thought that Hugh. It's a small coup would think four girls but it's in good nick and cost him £100... The problem is where where to site them???
We've got a bit of ground but it's in smallish patches. They could go in the allotment but I'm setting a hammock up in there near to where they would go and was wondering about smells?

 

[British Red]

Got a bit more done today on "Red & BBs chicken emporium"

I wanted to run mains cables to an outside box so that I can use battery chargers, lights in the hen house and anything else I might need power for in the future.

I also want the ability to run the electric fence directly from the mains if I choose to. To do this you need to site the electric fence energiser (transformer) indoors and run underground cables (High Voltage lead out wire) to the fence and earth bond from the house. So I needed three cables (one mains cable an earth lead out wire and a power lead out wire).

I used armoured cable for the mains - the only sensible choice for exterior wiring

Armoured Cable by British Red, on Flickr

High voltage lead out wire

2.4mm Underground cable by British Red, on Flickr

I dug a sixty foot trench to the post where the mains power will go

Trench by British Red, on Flickr

I've laid in the cables and marked the earth and live lead out cables - but that's as far as I got when the rain came down - more tomorrow

I did find a nice horse shoe from this place's working farm days - not from any kids pony this one

Horse shoe by British Red, on Flickr

I think I may clean this up and hang it on the barn wall

 

[Toddy]

There's luck

Very tidy 60' trench too ....try that here and I'd be as well cutting it out and firing it for bricks

atb,
M

 

[Clouston98]

Good stuff mate! That horse Shoe is gargantuan!

 

[British Red]

Very tidy 60' trench too ....try that here and I'd be as well cutting it out and firing it for bricks

atb,
M

I'd never make a Navvy though - I'm far too slow

I wish I had one tidy, contained area of clay - useful stuff - every good homestead needs a clay pit!

 

[Fraxinus]

Enjoyable read this thread 'cos of memories it brings back.
Found some old pics of my chicks while on Crete.

Delivery day, oddly ahead of stated due date! Hence cardboard boxes and planer shavings..

some time later the dark coloured chick was mauled by a dog, the feathers and skin on her back left hanging off and I had to put her down, first time I killed something that would not be for food. Was a very hard day.
One of the chicks had trouble with her legs, advice from the agrotico (agricultural supplier) was to kill it.
Some TLC by way of keeping her in the house and feeding with crushed sweetcorn mixed with olive oil got her running around with the rest and one of my best layers.

I only had one cockerel in my brood who protected "his" girls even against me when I opened the coup each morning to let them out and top up their water and some kibble for breakfast, fair play, but he got the sole of my boot/shoe/sandal or flip flop in his beak to fend him off and remind him that I was a bigger ..erm.... that could be taken two ways.
Cocky devil being nice, not long after my hoolie dog (bless him) learnt that chasing a Cockerel up the drive and skidding to a halt with tail feathers left in your mouth was not good behaviour....watching a dog try to spit out feathers is really funny, just don't tell the dog.

Of course Chuck was a quick learner and often maintained a watch over the girls while they roamed around the olive groves

I miss the little devil

Chickens will eat most anything, caught some of mine with polystyrene that some numpty had buried in the olives, half expected pre-packed eggs
The odd wiggly lizard tail was also not uncommon!
Rob.

 

[British Red]

Great piccs - and a handsome hound

 

[British Red]

Laid the cables, back filled the trench and made good today

Trench filled by British Red, on Flickr

The high voltage lead out cables have been marked as live and earth and have been coiled up ready for connection when the earth stake and fence are fitted

Mark Lead out wires by British Red, on Flickr

The main lead has been sealed and taped to the post where the power box will be fitted

Armoured power cable by British Red, on Flickr

So thats the cables in place....

 

[Kadushu]

Nice to see things done properly. So many people round here underestimate and will not take advice on how artful foxes are. They will dig like a badger, climb like a cat, scratch through ordinary chicken wire and kill every chicken. The only thing that stopped foxes here was an electric fence or a dug in, completely enclosed weldmesh cage. They have all night every night to find a way in!

 

[British Red]

Given that Spring is around the corner, I decided to finish up the chicken enclosure over the next couple of weeks.


Yesterday I terminated the high voltage lead out cables. This allows me to power an electric fence from inside the house directly from the mains with no battery involved. If look at earlier posts you will see that, as well as putting in an outside power point, I laid two High Voltage lead out cables into the house.


2.4mm Underground cable by British Red, on Flickr


Mark Lead out wires by British Red, on Flickr


This week I terminated the ends of both the cables inside the house into marked loops


Interior HV Cables by British Red, on Flickr


You will notice they end right by a (new) double socket. I can plug a mains based Energiser into that socket and connect the red (live) and green (earth) cables to run high volt, low current out to the fence.


At the other end I drove a meter long Earth bond into the ground by the post. That's the silver thing you can see by the post. If you look carefully you can see the other end of the earth cable connected to it.


Earth Bond by British Red, on Flickr


If you look at the back of the post, you can see that I have attached a red heavy duty crocodile clip to the live cable. This clip will be clipped onto the electric fence. If a chicken touches the fence the current travels through the wire, through the croc clip, into the fence, through the chicken, through the ground, up the earth bond and down the earth wire completing the circuit, given the chicken a (safe but startling) zap.


Later in the week, I will cover setting up the energiser based on a battery.

 

[Robson Valley]

I'd like to vote in favor of a couple of chicken tractors.
An edible lawn mowing service!
Your property is so flat you could have wheels.
Lift out the water bucket and move them every few days.
The birds can't get away and the cage offer good protection from predators.

 

[British Red]

Right the fence is up, thats 50m of mesh plus a gate that can be opened when the fence is live...


Electric Fence by British Red, on Flickr


I have the battery box installed at the "power post". You can see the post and a second red bulldog clip leading to the fence (the battery box is also connected to the earth bond)


Battery Box by British Red, on Flickr


The battery box opened looks like this


Battery Box by British Red, on Flickr


It contains four things


The grey thing at the top is an outdoor socket, this is plugged into the "power pole".


The blue thing at the bottom is an intelligent battery charger. It senses when the battery is low and charges it.


The black thing on the right is a 12V Leisure battery, constantly charged by the charger.


The black thing on the right is the Energiser. This is powered by the battery and steps up the voltage to > 10,000 Volt and charges the fence. When someone touches the fence the (tiny) current comes out of the fence, through the person, into the ground and back to the earth bond, completing a circuit and giving a zap.


The plan for this arrangement is that I won't have to keep swapping batteries over, but in the event of a power cut, the fence keeps working.




We are now ready for the chickens which we hope will be ready at the end of the month.


It seems like a nice large are for the initial six chickens

 

[British Red]

Made the chooks a little shelter box to hide in during the day if they are inclined - or climb and perch on via the ladder


Chicken shelter by British Red, on Flickr


Also built a feeding tree that they can climb, perch and feed from


Chicken shelter by British Red, on Flickr


Chicken feeding station by British Red, on Flickr


Added an auto opener and closer to the main coop (the grey box holding the pop hole open)


Chicken guard coop opener during day by British Red, on Flickr


Chickens should be ready for collection in eight days

 

[milius2]

Stunning! You always impress me with the DETAILS!!!!

That is properly wired system! But, can you explain in detail the "intelligent charging system"? I'd guess that the charger is also supplying power to the energizer at the time it is charging battery? Is this so and how much electricity it uses to charge a battery let say per day... is that reasonable question or not? Because I'd be afraid that this circle is loosing power somewhat but I'm dummy in electrics....

 

[British Red]

Its as nothing compared to your building work, but its better than watching TV!

 

[milius2]

I just edited my reply, please edit yours! My building would not go nowhere if I was not impressed by people like Yourself!

 

[British Red]

An intelligent / smart charger monitors battery state and only applies charge when the battery needs it You can leave it hooked up for months and, if nothing is drawing power, it draws (almost) no current.

As time goes by, I plan to replace the charger with a solar panel and associated circuitry.

 

[tommy the cat]

Looking fantastic sir.