ニワトリの高級住宅

(English article [There are slight differences in the content] )

ニワトリの新居ができました！

ニワトリの新居！

新しい鳥小屋は古い小屋のすぐ隣です。

古い鳥小屋（真ん中）のとなりに新しい小屋が見えます。

ただし、内装（＝止まり木など）と運動場のフェンスがまだ完成していないので、ニワトリは後数日間、古い小屋にいます。

二つの小屋を人間の住まいに例えるなら、古い鳥小屋は築20年の１ＲＯＯＭアパート、新しい鳥小屋はプロのデザイナーによる新築の高級住宅です。

実際は、古い小屋は素人（＝信夫と私）がＤＩＹで作ったものですが、新しい小屋は日本建築が専門の大工さんがオーダーメイドで作ってくださいました。
その違いは見た目・機能性・強度とあらゆる面で歴然としています。

仕事中の大工さん

ちょっとやり過ぎじゃないか？と疑問に思う方も多いでしょう。
古い小屋でも十分だったのに、どうしてわざわざ贅沢な鶏舎を建てるのか、と。


確かに今は自作の古い小屋でも十分機能を果たしていますが、将来のことを考えると、ちゃんとした鶏舎を作っておいたほうがいいと判断しました。例えば、今はまだ夏で暖かいので、壁が4方面とも網でできている古い小屋でも問題ないのですが、今から２～３ヵ月後に寒くなると、このままでは小屋が寒すぎて使えなくなります。また、ニワトリは後2ヶ月で卵を産み始めますが、古い小屋には産卵箱が付いていません。
元々の予定では、古い小屋をその都度改造（板を張ったり産卵箱を付けたり）する予定でしたが、縁があってちゃんとした小屋をプロに建ててもらえる機会があったので、その機会を逃がすまいと、早速作ってもらいました。結果、予想以上に立派な鶏舎ができました。

新しい鳥小屋の中の様子

何が特別か

新しい鳥小屋はいろいろと工夫が施されていて、ニワトリからしても、ニワトリの世話をする私たちからしても、とても使いやすい小屋です。

その工夫を紹介します。

＊＊＊　空間　＊＊＊

新しい小屋は前の小屋より面積が大きめで屋根も高いので、古い小屋に比べるとニワトリが立体的に使える空間はかなり広くなります。（もちろん昼間は外の運動場も使えますが、寝る時や食事の時に使う鶏舎自体も広いほうがいいです。）

＊＊＊　屋根の断熱　＊＊＊

小屋の屋根はトタンで出来ていますが、トタンの下に断熱材が張ってあります。

トタンの特徴は夏の日差しでフライパンのように暑くなることです。トタンの屋根が暑くなると、小屋の中まで気温が上がります。暑さに弱い鳥には迷惑です。古い鳥小屋はまさにそうでした。

新しい鶏舎は屋根と上部の壁に断熱材が貼ってあるおかげで、夏の暑い日でも、中に入ると涼しいです。断熱材の驚異的な効果に私も驚きました。

屋根と上部の壁の断熱材

＊＊＊　水飲み場　＊＊＊

新しい鶏舎まで井戸水の水道管を引いて、蛇口を設けました。蛇口を常に少し出しっぱなしにして、ニワトリがいつでも新鮮な水が飲めるようにしました。ニワトリは特に暑いときは水をたくさん飲みます。そして（当然ですが）新鮮できれいな水を飲みたがります。古い鶏舎では水をプラスチックの容器に入れて、一日2回換えていました。それでも水が汚れるしぬるくなります。
新しい鶏舎では、ニワトリが常に新鮮な水が飲める上に、私が毎日水を替える手間が省けられるという、一石二鳥の工夫です。

蛇口と水の受け皿

水が鶏舎の外の排水溝に流れ落ちます。

＊＊＊　えさ置き場／作業場　＊＊＊

新しい鶏舎の北側には1メーター幅の通路が設けられています。飼料置き場と作業場です。
これまで使っていた小さい物置は常にパンク状態だったので、新しい収納スペースができてありがたいです。それに、エサを混ぜる作業や卵を集める作業のスペースとしても使えるのでとても便利です。

北側からのビュー。開いたドアから通路（置き場／作業場）が見えます。

新しい鳥小屋の中からのビュー。開いたドアから通路が見えます。

＊＊＊　産卵箱　＊＊＊

正面から見ると普通の産卵箱です：

産卵箱：個室を12個設けました。

後ろ(通路側)　から見ると、扉が付いているのが分ります。

産卵箱の後ろの扉

卵を集める時は、ニワトリの空間に入らずに後ろの通路側からできます。ニワトリが人間に邪魔されずに済みます。ニワトリも私たちも嬉しい工夫です。

＊＊＊　腐葉土のカーペット　＊＊＊

平飼い／放し飼いのニワトリは、鶏舎が土間になっていることが大事です。土の上の糞をすると、糞が腐ることなく乾燥して土に戻るので、鶏舎は臭くなりません。しかし雨の日が続く時など糞が乾燥しにくい時は、やはり少しは臭くなります。そこで、教えてもらった一工夫は腐葉土のカーペットです。というのは、鶏舎の中の土の上に、籾殻と米ぬかを混ぜて醗酵させた「腐葉土」を敷くのです。醗酵の力でニワトリの糞もきれいに分解されるそうです。
近くの農家さんから籾殻と米ぬかをたくさんいただいて、それに場所もお借りして、腐葉土を作りました。今醗酵中で、後ほど新しい鳥小屋に運ぶ予定です。

教えていただいた腐葉土の作り方：籾殻と米ぬかの層を重ねて、
水をたっぷりかけて足でたくさん踏んで、数週間そのままにします。

発行中の腐葉土。

以上、新しい鳥小屋の工夫の紹介でした。これらの工夫を経験に基づいて考えたのは、近くにお住まいの、うちらの養鶏アドバイザーの小島さんです。いつもありがとうございます！

最後はペンキを塗って新しい小屋は完成です。ペンキは防腐剤としての役割です。

ペンキ塗りに夢中の信夫、その１

ペンキ塗りに夢中の信夫、その２

鳥が速く引っ越せるように、今は運動場のフェンス作りを急いでいます。

沢登の旅行とニワトリの特別な朝食

(English article is here.)

ここ5日間、青森県の白神山地に沢登の旅行に行ってきました。最高の仲間と一緒に過ごした最高の旅でした。その上骨は一本も折れてないので大成功です。

(写真をクリックすると拡大します。.)

探検隊リーダーのマーティンが撮影した写真です。

5日後にニワトリに再会すると、ニワトリが明らかに大きくなっていました。5日間だけでこんなに成長するものかと、驚きました。
特に雄鶏は体が大きくてびっくりです。

不思議なことにニワトリは大きくなっているのに、食べる量が減っています。その原因は間違いなく暑さですが、私はもう一つの理由があるのではないかと思います：ニワトリはいつもの餌に飽きてしまったのです。いつもの餌とは市販の配合飼料とくず米と米ぬかを混ぜたものです。

ニワトリは人間と同じく雑食で、雑食の動物はいろんなものを食べたいのです。.

そこで今朝のニワトリの朝ご飯はいつもとは違うものを用意しました：軽くゆでたくず米、おから、かぼちゃ、きゅうり（近所の人のお庭のあまり）を混ぜたものです。
ニワトリはこの朝食が好評でした。動画からも伝わります：

それに久しぶりに空が曇ってきて雨が振り、気温も少し下がりました。（29度はまだまだ涼しいとはいえませんが、先週の35度に比べたら随分楽です。）

以上、簡単なアップデートでした。ニワトリの食べ物（なるべく地産地消） はもっと研究すべき課題です。

River trekking trip & Chickens' special breakfast

（日本語の記事はこちら。）

I went on a 5-day sawanobori (= river trekking) trip to Shirakami Sanchi in Aomori prefecture, northern Japan. It was an awesome trip with awesome people, and we even didn't break any bone!

(Click on picture for enlargement.)

Pictures by our expedition leader Martin

Seeing the chickens after 5 days of absence, I was surprised to realize that they were clearly bigger than when I left - and it was only 5 days!
Especially the roosters are huge:

The strange thing is that chickens are growing bigger but eating less. The main culprit to blame for their loss of appetite is of course heat, but I suspect there's another reason: chickens simply got fed up of their usual food (= chicken feed mixed with raw brown rice and rice bran).

Chickens, like humans, are omnivores, and omnivores want to eat various things.

So I prepared something different for them this morning (boiled brown rice, okara, pumpkin and cucumbers - leftovers from neighbor's garden).
Chickens liked it, as you can see in the video:

We also finally got some clouds and rain and slightly cooler temperatures (29°C is not really cool, but it's a welcome improvement from 35 °C).

That was a quick update. Chickens' cuisine (locally sourced when possible) is a topic worth more research.

Chickens and goat(s) update: heat continues

Here's an update on our chickens and goats.

Chickens

Hot weather continues, except it's about two degrees hotter and there's less wind than before. Chickens use their cooling strategy more often than before. At times you can see almost all of them panting and lying on the ground. Fortunately none has gone really weak or sick, and on cooler parts of the day, they're just as active as usual. 

Chickens lying on the ground, panting.

More chickens lying on the ground and panting.

So many chickens keep their beaks open (to perform panting) that I feel like I'm the only one with the mouth closed. It makes me want to open my mouth too, just to fit in.

A chicken landed on my leg in search of new pecking material (buttons and birthmarks will do).
She keeps panting even then.

Another cooling activity I see more often recently is spreading wings away from the body. Obviously letting some air under the wings helps chickens feel cooler. I can relate - If I was wearing a thick coat and couldn't take it off, I would at least unbutton it and let some air in to cool myself.

Wings spred away from body.
This is not a take-off position before flight. It's a semi-permanent pose as a part of cooling strategy.

Wings spred away from body, from different angle.

The only thing I can do to alleviate chickens' plight is to make sure their water is fresh and cold all the time, that is, to change it often.

We tried one more heat-beating strategy: mist! Cool mist should help lower the outside temperature, so we put a water mister in chickens' yard.

The blue pole in the lower middle part of the photo is water mister.
Can you see the rainbow?

Water mister from different angle. 

The result of the mist experiment: Mist did help a little, but not significantly. It did work well as new object of curiosity for the chickens. They liked to peck at it.

Goats

Two baby goats Natchan (girl) and Kaakun (boy) used to graze at our power plant, but these days only Natchan comes.

This is Natchan and Kaakun on a walk two weeks ago.

These days Natchan comes alone because Kaakun got an assignment elsewhere (He's attending an event for families with children. I hope he's doing well, not overwhelmed by the children.)

So Natchan comes alone for a few hours every day. She copes with the heat better than chickens. Shade from the panels is helpful too.

Natchan grazing in the panel shade.

I sometimes take Natchan for a walk. She always enjoys it - being able to go wherever she wants. But for me, walking a goat has at least two challenges (other than people giving me strange looks):

1. Goats don't make a difference between weeds and hedge trees and vegetables. Natchan's most favorite leaves are our hedge shrubs, soybean leaves and green pepper leaves, and she's perplexed when I don't let her eat those. I feel bad, it's like denying a child an ice-cream without explaining her why.

2. Goats are very curious creatures. I thought goats are into grass, but Natchan likes to sniff and chew everything. I don't mind here chewing on my trousers, but when she starts chewing polystyrene foam boxes and metal screws, I have to pull her away and she gives me the"why are you denying me the only fun thing around?" look.


This is Natchan on a walk:

I thought goats like grass. In fact they like everything. 

So that was a quick update. In other words, everything's great!

Find a frog

Frogs at our power plant taught us a new game called "Find a frog."
It's very exciting game so I thought I'd share it with you.
(Caution: not recommended to people with ranidaphobia)

Rules are easy: Look at the picture and try to spot a frog.

1.

Can you see a frog?

 If you can't see a frog on the first picture↑, try the next picture↓:

2.

Any frog there?

Can you see a frog? If you don't spot the frog until the second picture (above), you lose the game.
You need more training in frog-spotting.

Check the next picture.

3.

I'm here.

The frog is subtly smiling. She just won the game.

4.

The winner.

Here's next round:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Did you win?

Final round:

1.

2.

3.

This was an introduction to "Find a frog" game.

Once you master "Find a frog", you can move to the next level "Catch me if you can."

Chickens' cooling strategy in summer heat

After a streak of rainy days we have a nice heat wave.
With temperatures over 34 °C and 60 % humidity in the past week, it's Japanese summer at its best.

Our chickens are torn between the feeling of being happy about the sun and being too hot because of that sun.

Chickens don't like hot weather, and it's not just some subjective feeling. There are at least four reasons why chickens are disadvantaged when it comes to really hot weather.

1. Chickens have high body temperature  - about 40-41 degrees. They maintain their body temperature by losing heat into the air around them. But when the air around them is already hot, how can they lose their own body heat into it?

2. Chickens don't sweat. They don't have sweat glands to help them regulate the body temperature.

3. Chickens have a thick feather coat that makes for great insulation in winter, but inhibits heat loss in summer. It's like people wearing a thick coat on a hot day. It must feel terrible.

4. Chickens usually don't have access to air conditioning.


In other words, chickens cope with heat worse than people.

But they have a cool cooling strategy!

The first point of their cooling strategy is quite obvious: hide in the shade.
Here you can see our chickens hiding. Not a single one is outside on the sun:

Once in the shade, they lie down on the ground and take a nap. Sometimes they spread wings and do some magic that makes them feel cooler.

Second point of their cooling strategy is again similar to humans: drinking a lot of water.

Third point is panting. Chickens open their beaks and pant.
Panting, or "gular fluttering", is a cooling mechanism of many birds. If I understand it well, birds rapidly flap membranes in their throat. This vibration makes water in the throat evaporate. Evaporation helps dissipate the heat and reduce body temperature. In other words, it's birds' way of sweating?

Here are our chickens performing their cooling strategy: hiding in the shade, drinking water and panting:

The best time chickens have these days are early mornings and late evenings, when it's sunny but not hot yet. That's when their new perch gets busy:

Overall, our chickens are coping with the heat with exemplary stoicism. Who taught them that?

The effects of rain

Another rainy day.

Past 10 days were the rainiest time I remember in my 9 year history of living in Japan.

It's rainy season so rain is to be expected. But even a rainy season usually has the decency of letting a few sunny half-days break the monotony. Not this time.

So how does the rain affect our power plant and its inhabitants?

Thanks to the rain, our power plant turned into a pond.

The reason why there is a pond is because the power plant is built on clay. I have dug many holes in order to plant 60+ hedge trees, so I know that when you start digging and get through a thin layer of topsoil embroidered with weed roots, you hit a layer of crushed stone (which is itself extremely fun to get through with a shovel). After that, you find a fine layer of heavy clay soil. On dry and sunny days, it's hard like stone and impossible to dig. On rainy days, it's gooey and you can carve it in slices and make shapes like playdough. This clay soil is virtually leak proof and helpfully keeps all the water for the weeds. Two days of rain and we have a nice pond.

Chickens don't like rain either. In fact they don't care, but if it lasts too long, the ground gets muddy, their poop gets smelly (I'm sure they find it smelly too) and generally it's not fun. You can see it on their faces.
What's worse, because of the rain, we can't work on the fence to enlarge chickens' playing area.
As expected, the 20 square meter plot we opened for them 2 weeks ago is by now completely void of grass.

Chickens' playground two weeks after opening.
 No grass left, only the one I bring in.

The only greenery is the one I bring in twice a day . Chickens devour their portion of salad in minutes and in the next moment are hungry for more.

Not much fun outdoors - chickens spend more time indoors:

Their favorite indoor activity is meditation on perch:

Fortunately, there is one group of inhabitants that is thriving thanks to the rain: frogs. Another name of our power plant could be Frog Paradise. Here are some frog siblings having siesta before breakfast:

Weather forecast says the rainy binge should end tomorrow. Sun will prevail!