A New Weird House for My Weird Chickens

so last night on the farm I did a covert operation I waited until dusk when my weird chickens got very sleepy and I started to steal them I took them two by two grabbing them and moving them from the home that they've had for the last six months over the course of the winter and put them into a new place I had to move them out of the brooder that they were living in because I had little goslings that had just hatched and they needed to move into the shed where the weird chickens were living and so because of the needs of the goslings my weird chickens needed a new home I scoured the internet far and wide for different options for chicken coops I wanted something that was easy to move around because I wanted to bring them around to different parts of the farm I wanted something that was easy to clean I needed a coupe that was going to be secure and protect against potential Predators like weasels and raccoons and I wanted something weird to match the weird aesthetic of my weird chickens and after looking high and low I think I found just the right thing now you guys I really hope my weird chickens like their new weird house foreign [Music] murder mittens how's it going [Applause] [Music] all right [Music] good morning large white Farm dogs how are you guys doing huh good girl yes that's what we like to see Kobe you marking your territory all right both dogs inside yeah it's a very rainy Mucky morning here today just because you got the rain and just because you got the muck doesn't mean you don't have the farm chores and I also can't deny that I have the most adorable Farm chore to handle this morning who's making all that racket whoa hey guys how's it going good to see you little ones do you have a good night last night yeah so they're living underneath their little brooders that's where they like to sleep but they are coming out to say hello because they're excited to see us Abby you're continuing to do a very good job of just observing these guys do not try to interact you try to interact I will grab you back don't try to snap at them or take a Chomp good girl Abby good girl that's what we like to see we like to see a lady Abington today yeah so they can jump up to the platform and get their water they got all their speed here yeah they know you're being a very good protector lady Abington I'm proud of you yes good job and these guys are like they're like fluffy is she your mother now one thing I'm doing a little bit different this year than in years past is you're going to notice these lights that I have up here I basically have them set up on a little bit of a timer and so when it's daytime the lights will go on and then around eight o'clock at night the lights will go off I've noticed in the past when I brewed birds in this shed that sometimes they seem a little bit skittish when they first get access to the outdoors on day one and so what I'm wondering is if they have more access to natural light will that make them a little bit more friendly and sociable and less freaked out when they do go outside for the first time it is Perfectly Natural to brood your birds indoors and I actually put them outside probably earlier than a lot of other folks do but they do still have that first week where it's just not good for them to be outside and I mean just for like comparison too right now right it's about 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside and it's rainy that is not good weather for baby birds like this they would die very quickly oh look at Toby he's so adorable with them yeah see with Abby I'm always little bit nervous and cautious with Toby I just have complete trust that he knows how to watch over these little ones yeah those are your those are your birds yeah okay that's cool man your birds are all over my phone I think they just pooped on my phone but yeah they're they're doing good including I think this one right here this little Galler guy do you guys remember in the last video when I was hatching out some of those eggs she was one of those little birds that wasn't hatching by herself but you can see she's made it and she's now happy and healthy and looks pretty much like her brothers and sisters class number one of goslings is doing good and about I don't know I think about another week or so eight days actually to be exact we're gonna have another batch of goslings that are gonna come as well what I'm debating right now is do I put them in here with these guys even though they'll be a week old or not it's still something I'm trying to figure out you can see they're getting cold like look at that one she's shivering they're gonna need to go back under the brooder plate pretty soon so I'm gonna close the door and let them stay warmer in here I'll see you guys in a little bit there is nothing more adorable on planet Earth than fresh Gosling yeah don't you agree yeah I know you do pal you doing abs not on your beef bone I was like please don't interrupt my gnawing this is my happy place and it's funny Toby's not a big chewing on things fan Abby she just can't get enough of it and actually I think it helps her be a little bit more chill and calm if she has something to chew on on the regular All Right Toby let's go check on your other birds good morning Birds how's everybody doing and this rainy dreary day and it's actually funny on rainy dreary days like today you'll notice that pretty much all of our chickens are inside the hoop coop but the Ducks most of them are actually outside staying dry there girl baby dogs marking that Nest is his see what we got here we're still getting goose eggs that's a good sign so this lady and then this lady continue to sit on their nest I don't know I'm wondering if something's starting to happen underneath her from a timing perspective something should be hatching very soon I'm not gonna freak you out hi Jeremy hey Greta how's it going you can see our seasonal stream has finally dried up and so very soon I will probably start the process of moving the chicken coop out as well as moving the birds actually entirely out of this area probably in the next week or two they're gonna all go up into the permaculture Orchard I'll probably keep a couple of the mothers that are sitting on nests in place but the rest of them are gonna all go speaking of mothers are sitting on nests I don't know what happened to my duck that has been sitting on this Nest she's been a really good mom so far though so I'm gonna continue to let her do her thing brushes this egg no this one's going to the pigs and now let's check in with our Farm's oldest bird Jemima Puddle Duck hello Mother Puddle Duck how are you doing you good looks like you're about ready to lay an egg you know even though I think she's gosh maybe six almost seven years old she still lays eggs occasionally not as much as she used to but she'll still lay an egg you know Jemima Puddle Duck actually features pretty prominently in the new Toby dog book that's going to be published this fall and the illustrator actually just finalized some of the illustrations for the different chapters like each chapter has a separate illustration that goes with it even though it's like mostly a prose book and the one she did of Toby dog chatting with Mother Puddle Duck there is absolutely adorable and yeah I can't wait for that book and if you guys want to check it out I'll leave a link down below for our mailing list when you're going to get all the news including when exactly the pre-order date opens up and the different formats you can get as well as just updates on what I'm going to be doing to produce it because there's going to be a print version there's going to be like a Kindle version and then there's going to be like an audiobook version I'm super excited about all of them I am optimistic that if this new weird Chicken House Works come the fall when I'm moving the birds back into the hoot Coop I will probably end up bringing that over here and stashing it much like I do the big chicken coop somewhere in here as well and that way the weird chickens would get access to just more space I think the one downside is your weird chicken moments of Zen might not be as zenful or the other thing I'm thinking is maybe I just like put some fencing up segment off a portion of this so that the weird chickens can just have their own space because I always worry about the much bigger chickens bullying them because that's a very likely scenario and that's how they can get hurt isn't that right Mr Toby dog three more Runner duck eggs all in a row one more juice egg sounds like the rain's starting to come down pretty hard again all right time [Music] pigs are like why aren't you feeding the pigs Toby's just like they are the strangest beasts never in my wildest imagination did I ever dream I would have sons like this for those of you guys wondering where our weird chickens lived last year before they moved into the brooder it's actually in this house here it had this enclosed run so they could stay protected as well as their little babies could stay protected The Coop itself was a good size and it's good construction I actually think I'm gonna probably sell this to somebody the downside that I found with it was it was just harder to clean out which was one negative but that's actually not the reason I really didn't want to use it this year the bigger reason is because it's just impossible to move easily like I have to use the tractor to move it and this year my plan is to actually move the weird chickens more regularly particularly around this area you know this part of the farm which used to be just sort of free-range space for the ducks and geese and chickens to do their thing in the summer months is actually going to be segregated from the old birds like they won't have access to it and instead what's going to happen is it's going to be for baby birds as they grow up and for them to like work in a nursery and then I'm also going to start to do some more I don't know call them permaculture style plantings around here as well and so to have the weird chickens who are relatively low impact in terms of what they do to garden plants not no impact but low impact I think it would actually be a good space for them as well and so that's actually the longer term plan for this area and that's why I want that like easy to move lightweight Coop like the weird chicken house now is and in case you're wondering about dog configuration as I've covered in other videos Abby's going to be working with the cattle and the chickens up on the top of the pasture Hobie dog is going to be here though in this space still minding this area but given how just gosh darn gently is with all these birds I feel really good about that plan all right it's now time to feed the pig slop today's piggy breakfast is going to be a combination of spent Brewer grains some cracked corn and a few eggs that were rejected when I was packing hey you guys hi Phil good to see you hello Artie hello little Paulie oh yeah you guys want the eggs these are your favorite yes the Piggly wigglies as my wife Allison likes to call them are doing really good they're still in this area they'll still probably be in this area I'm gonna guess for a month because they're not doing nearly as much impact as I thought they would they seem very happy I can already see them growing like they're getting a lot bigger than they were when they first arrived here even I don't know three weeks ago I guess it was you can see they're starting to make an impact on some of the area around here it's a lot less dense with brush it's starting to turn things over a lot of the small plants and weeds aren't growing which again is a good thing this doesn't quite cleaned out as many of these canes as I'd Wonder wondering the difference between say pigs and goats is part of what this experiment's all about you can see like their little pig goes ring happening through here in certain areas though they've definitely gone to town and you can just see a big difference like for example this actually used to be a spot that we did you know some on Fires you know in summers past and they have like completely turned it over I think they really like the charcoal for some reason to see like a burnt log that they pushed over there a lot of this has been getting cleared out you can see they're digging and burrowing through here and this wood pile which I'll probably keep adding more wood to this over the course of the summer and then have a bonfire in the winter or at least when we get our first snow this whole area here is like almost completely overturned so they've been doing really good work like I can see the impact but yeah like I said I'll probably give them another three maybe four weeks in this area before I continue to move them further down that way and I will say I know a lot of people people think that like I just don't like the pigs now because of some of the comments I made in earlier videos and honestly they're really growing on me at first I wasn't loving it with the fence training I don't know just not feeling their Vibe speaking to me nearly as much as other animals on the farm but the more time I spend with them the more I enjoy it and so I don't know if I'd ever become a full-time hog farmer but I am genuinely enjoying having these pigs on the farm and it is exceptionally satisfying to watch them eat it's just that they do it with such Gusto and excitement and enthusiasm makes me very happy it's very relaxing to watch the pigs eat out of the trough and yeah this trough is actually working out perfectly you know that was one of the Leaky barrels that my last waterer is made out of I'm still working on building a new better waterer for them but I'm exceptionally happy with my trough set up here first the one thing that happens is they get my clothes very dirty like I'm always finding I have to change my pants after farm tours because the pigs like to nuzzle up against my legs and spread all their slop all over me it's a little gross what's the matter Phil what's the matter yeah don't try to use my boot that's exactly the behavior I was just describing for everybody at home please take a step back come on Abby dog help me move your cows huh yes that's right it's actually time to do the very first cattle pasture move of the year for those of you guys tracking the days and continuity in our videos today's video is actually being recorded 48 hours after I put out the video that I put out two videos ago so the one about putting the cattle out into the grass I know the timing probably is all funky and weird because what's happening is you know I made a video that took me like 30 days to record with hatching the goslings and so that happened in between but yeah it's been only 48 hours since the cattle first went out to pasture as you can see they've pretty much munched it down isn't that right Ariel are you about ready for some fresh grass and so what I'm gonna do right now is set up another grazing cell for them for them to spend another 24 hours in and then now this is basically just what happens every single day on the farm from now until I don't know November at some point whenever bring them in trick is just finding where it's not too swampy I actually think I can get two days worth of grazing out of this area it's always tough judging this time of year like how much space to give them because of a lot of things but mainly because of uh like the grass growth is a little bit different than in other times of year Toby dog always hanging out with the cattle too there you go I thought she was right behind me all right Ariel and can you go over there I gotta cut this pasture off that way come on Ariel you too oh you just want me to Pat you on your rump I can tell Ariel come on Ariel is my friendliest and favorite cow and uh sometimes though she can be a little stubborn and that's what's going on right now because unlike the other cattle who I can just kind of walk right up to and shoot him away hey Belinda can you back up back up please back up Ariel needs to make the decision on her own okay the Lane's clear for you girl Belinda don't get any ideas all right let's see if we can use this as a tool maneuver these fencing reels are maybe my favorite Farm tool at this point can you go there we go that's what I want to see that's the stuff yeah like look how powerful that is I have this whole idea for a video game based on being a farmer who just has a fencing reel yeah I think someday it's gonna be a pretty cool game of course you can just add that to the list of never completed projects and ideas that I have in my brain now I can just detach this rope here the boys are crying off in the distance they are a little bit jealous but I'll probably take them out for a walk later today when the weather clears up I have missed running these fence lines so much it's easily in my top five things about farming that I love well I hate building permanent perimeter fencing even though it's oftentimes very necessary I just love and can't get enough of putting out temporary fencing it's it's an activity I enjoy which is a good thing because this time of year it's an activity I do every single day now given how long it took them to eat that grass over here and how much space they have this way I'm gonna divide this Paddock into two so this will actually give me two days of grazing and so to divide I'll just make this little cross fence here for the longer runs those bigger reels are nice the shorter runs I actually prefer just using like cheap electrical spools that you can get like at the hardware store so much easier and more effective to use for these short cross fences all right Abby dog we got our fence line set you ready to move the cattle let's go I think you girls know exactly what we're going to be doing here hey girls come on girls fresh grass come on hey girls come on cows fresh grass come on hey guess fresh grass come on Fresh grass come on let's see Audrey remembers the drill they all remember what to do [Music] yeah they love getting access to that fresh grass and then as soon as they get into that new Paddock they just start eating away foreign what do you think is that a good move yeah I thought so too [Laughter] all right let's see how our weird chickens are settling in you guys doing well yeah enjoying the new space and the new digs I know you guys are probably dying for a little bit of a tour of this thing so let me show you what we got so what I like about this Coupe is that it is entirely plastic which most people would say is a negative but I see it as a positive because chicken coops are often the most frustrating and annoying things to clean and so something like this I can just you know pressure wash most of it clean it's got a nesting box in here so here's the nesting box I can pop open this door if I want to get the eggs I can also exclude their access by sliding that door open and shut at night so that gives Rosie and Rosie's daughter plenty of space to lay some eggs got this Nifty little handle for the door it's latched shut and like a raccoon or a weasel couldn't try to slip their way through that flip the switch again it's now open and then this entire back side flips out and so yeah you can see there's the nesting box side there's the sleeping side got this plastic graded floor that I can take in and out and easily just hose down whenever I need to also there's like a little latch system so that this tray slides out so I can change the bedding really easy and just dump it out again particularly if you're not doing large scale chicken keeping which when I think about the number of little weird chickens I have it's not large scale access to easy cleaning is maybe the best feature you can give to yourself for how you design it and then this door can slip right back on it was relatively easy to assemble this thing it took me I don't know maybe a little over an hour or to pull it all together the directions weren't horrible if you could do Ikea furniture you can do this it also is raised up in these skids slide really easily so if I wanted to slide it the company also makes a wheel kit which I think I might buy they also make an automatic door kit which I also might buy and yes if you guys are wondering I bought this whole thing I don't know I'd seen people like do videos about this and the company even approached me about sponsoring videos in the past but since I'd never tried it I didn't really want to make a video about it and so I just bought one and figured I'd test it out if I like it I might end up doing something with them but for right now this is just me experimenting trying to find a better way to keep weird chickens and so yeah so far so good um we'll see how they settle in over the next couple of weeks and who knows I might hate it in a couple weeks but we have the weird chicken coop for weird chickens one thing I wanted to do because people are always sending me these and I just want to put the call out if you want to send me stickers I'd be happy to start billboarding the sides of the weird chicken house like this thing already looks kind of weird but I want to make it look as weird as possible and so I think a bunch of viewer stickers would be great the P.O box for our farm is right down below in the description of this video and if you send me a self-addressed stamped envelope with your sticker I will send you back a sticker of my own so it's like sticker trading but yeah I think that'd be fun what do you think of this weird Chicken House Little Jenny I know it could probably also make for a pretty good cat house too like I was actually thinking about it as I was putting this thing together this would not be a bad insulated cat house if you were ever trying to think of a structure for an outdoor cat that's weatherproof this would not be a bad option hey get out of the chicken food not cool girl not cool [Laughter] foreign

Channel: Gold Shaw Farm

Views: 113,715

Keywords: gold shaw farm, duck farm, goose farm, vermont farm, farm vlog, homestead vlog, homesteading vlog, farmcore, weird chickens, backyard chickens, white house on the hill, chicken coop, raising chickens, backyard chickens 101, backyard chickens coop, chicken coop design, chicken coop ideas, chicken coop build, chicken coop diy

Id: FHTVpPURro0

Length: 20min 25sec (1225 seconds)

Published: Mon May 29 2023