New Layer flocks arrived!

It's about 20 minutes until the chickens arrive. This is going to be the most logistical and the most concerning for me chicken delivery in the history of the farm. Win the pumpkins. So this one at this far end of the tunnel we've built a, the start of a little tunnel. We've had to lift this eggmobile up quite significantly on this side to get it level because we're probably, we're hoping this is going to sit for two or three weeks. Well, three or four weeks and then we're good to go. I've managed to get a bit more of a functional door. It's still temporary. The boys are going to be in this one, chucking birds in and scooting them along. This one's higher up nest so the birds have got room underneath but the roosts do get in the way. The girls are tackling the other egg mobile. I'm going to shoot chickens back and forth. Then we need to finish these structures. Now the birds are not going to come out the first day. We just rigged this together temporarily. We'll need to batten this down for rain, etc. But we basically covered tunnel that gets us into the main tunnel. Now people had some suggestions. Why don't we use caterpillar tunnels? Well, they're not really suitable for keeping chickens in. You need to do a lot of work to reinforce the sides. There's nothing holding the plastic down that chickens could be escaping etc. And we need them in the garden. So we just don't have that option. Someone said what about putting up a polytunnel in the field? Thing is you can't be moving the structure and we're not going to build another polytunnel because we don't have one and we don't have anywhere to put it and tie time wise, just not an option. The regulations don't allow you to have a movable structure because you're moving on fresh ground. The birds could have wild birds could have been shooting on etc. So we're very limited. That's why we're working with the polytunnels. The reason I'm a bit nervous is that it's something we haven't done before. Like normally when the old nests are in on the side, there's quite a bit of floor space and even then it feels tight to have all the birds packed in. Bearing in mind once the birds get used to life on the pasture, they're never sitting in there like that ever again. They're on their roosts but when the birds first come in, they're going to be a bit in shock and they're going to be sort of huddling together, freaking out a bit. So we just got to hope they don't get squashed. Boys have been working a bit on making a tunnel structure to get to this end that still allows us access. And again, we're hoping it's temporary, but you never know. It could go on for months, but hopefully it's just a few weeks. So we're just going to get the birds in now as efficiently as we can, close them up. We'll put some water in there. We'll come back after an hour or two and put some feed in and just hope they settle down. They're going to be super spooked whenever they hear noises. Even just building structures out here to finish the tunnels up is going to scare them a lot. So I'm nervous in a way that I haven't been before with the hens arriving, but we'll see. It's going to be interesting. That's Mama Jackdaw who's building her nest in the silo. She obviously didn't get scared away. Okay, he's turning around to see if he can get in here with the back end facing out that we can get the trailer and load it up. Last time he delivered, he had theft people, people screaming from him. He didn't know how many, But you need some. I would put some here. So. Okay, so that's the logistics. We've just got to basically pass them through and see how far we can get them on. Going to be a bit shocked, but they're always a bit shocked when they've just come out of truck and found themselves at Riddale. And then I'll come back and pick up the empties. Does that feel okay, Dave? Yeah. Good. And what about you, Malta? Is that okay? That's good. You're going to get itchy. The same height for me. Oh, you cut this, huh? Yeah. Is it normal year for you? You mean with the COVID or something? With, like, general, like, is it normal? And this is now the slightest. For. For us it's normal. Yeah. But for my colleagues it's not normal. Huh? Hey, chicken, How many is that? This is 18. 18. Same as last time. Is it possible get some more? Could be. We have three extra. Three more. Yeah, let's take. It. That's good. Psycho Dog is excited under there. How are you doing, guys? Yeah, just carefully. Don't start coming out the top here. Yeah. Are they Going to the front. That's good. Hopefully they don't crush too much in the corners. Nice that they're all. You're putting them on the roost, right? Yeah. Are you comfy now? You must be getting hot. But that's a good strategy, putting them on the roosts. I think you can get over the other side. Yeah, but they seem good. They're a bit bunched up in this corner, but they'll spread out soon enough. That's nice. No, good job putting them on there. That's definitely a good strategy. They look nice. Good condition. Birds. How did we. We'll have to tie it for now, but mainly at the bot. Okay. Easier to drop the crates when there's nothing in them. Okay, last group. So eggmobiles will be full very shortly. Okay, last batch words. So we're just counting out the crates that go into each eggmobile to make sure we get the right number in each. Obviously they can mix up in the tunnel. We don't mind after. Now we'll put up a chicken net and we'll. We can always count them out later if we need to. Hello. Okay. That's all for this lot. All right. Good luck, you gang. Second round. It's nice seeing them on the purchase straight away. Can't wait to see this wind, mate. Going green. Just see the spruce in between the owl there and the willow there. First butterflies are out. Birds are singing, but there's no green buds yet. That's all coming. Turns around quickly here. Very quickly indeed. Spring is over and summer's on straight away. Glad the trees didn't show up today. Although they still could, actually. But I better not jinx it. Hello, chickens. Hey. Yep. So you're getting the rest of them now and then. They're exactly the same, but you have six more. Yeah. Birds seem remarkably relaxed, which is a good thing. All my fears gone away. They can sit on the roof here. Yeah, they will. On the mat, like, completely. But they won't normally sit there. I think it's just a bit stressful for them. They'll be on their roof slowly. Hey, buddies. So Johanna noticed some are actually sitting on the top of the mat. The nest mats. Even though the nests are closed, I think it's partly just, you know, the stress of moving in. And I imagine they're all just gonna avoid doing that and sitting on the roof. So I think this is obviously an extraordinary time. But we'll go and have a look in the other eggmobile, see if they're doing the same there. One thing we noticed is they are. They're sitting on the top of the nest. On the top of the nest map in the other one, which is really bizarre. When I look up in here, up at the top of the map, you can't. Then they're not sitting there. I think it's just in the other one they're a bit squished in. So they're sitting right on the top of the action desk. Oh, are they? Yeah, it's kind of bizarre. And another thing is they. Yeah, they definitely can access the lower conveyor belt. Certainly in the other eggmobile. In this one, it doesn't seem to be a problem. That's easy. We can either tighten the belt or we can put another of those green rollers underneath holding it up. We'll figure all that out. I mean, they're not laying eggs for the next three or four weeks, so we've got time to iron out kinks. But really nice. Malta did a great thing putting the birds actually on their roofs. And you see there's a lot of space for them all. So it's, it's working out nice. I think this is actually quite low stress and they're actually just settling in really good. Good looking birds. Well, that went much better than I thought. It was swift, quick and the birds seem really relaxed. They're gonna. I'm just gonna open up to show you, but they are gonna freak out when I open the door here. So slowly does it. They're gonna make a mess on top of the boxes, but that's fine. It's metal. There we go. They're settling in and it's nice that there's so many up on the roofs already. So all we're gonna do now is give them water and a bit of food in the corner and just let them chill down over the night. They will calm down. Then we can start opening up the boxes. Just going to see if there's any nesting up on the tops of the mats. No, it seems fine. You can see there's a lot up in the roofs. So my concern was just the lack of space and they would freak out because they normally spend the first period on the floor. You can see some clinging onto that second nest mat. That will be an issue if they keep doing that longer term. But I think that's just a temporary stress and space issue. You see, there's never normally this many up on the roosts. So that's a really great start because hopefully that will imprint them. So it's good. I'd say overall Very successful. They don't look too cramped that they're squashing each other, so that's really nice to see. It's much better outcome than I was anticipating. Very nice. Sakura, you're very interested in all these chickens, aren't you? Yeah. Let's go and see. Please don't shock them. Let's see how this ladder doing. Gently does it. Big sounds definitely spook them, but they're looking pretty relaxed too. These were a bit more huddled in this corner, but they seem fine. There's definitely a lot more space under the nests, which really helps. I'm not concerned about it. In the other eggmobile, I think they will soon be acquainted with the space and sitting up on their roosts. I think it's just the shock of being relocated somewhere else in the country. But they seem fine. They're relaxed. It's nice and cool in here. Even though the sun is on them, there's a lot of airflow. They seem really happy. That's great news. That was intense. Few days to get ready for the birds coming. Feeling like we're just totally behind. But then really smooth transition to the farm. Let's see how it goes in the next days. It's new territory for us, bringing a new flock into the tunnels as well as the new nest set up in the eggmobile. So I'll keep reporting on it. Very interesting outcome. This eggmobile is the one with a lot more space. Much more easy to get the birds in. But because the nests are lower to the ground, the birds getting up inside the nest because they just can't get through. So easy. Whereas in the other eggmobile, they are totally relaxed and in really nice, even spread across the eggmobile. That makes us think that we should raise the nest boxes in this one. That's easy enough to do, but we need to wait till the birds are regularly going outside into the tunnel so that we can get in there and move it about. And yeah, that's interesting reflection because we thought the other one was going to be a nightmare, but it turns out it's actually a much better configuration for the birds. They've got water now. We're getting the sauna on for early sauna before dinner signing up. So that's it for this video, folks. And don't forget, as always, check out the links below for our book, online trainings, etc. And the Kickstarter that's running right now for the Ridgedale Builds book that I've talked about in the last few videos. Amazing folks. 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