The Coop Addition

We have a new addition to the Chicken Coop Palace.

I didn't want it - I didn't think I would like it.

To be blunt, chain link anything screams hillbilly to me.

But... hubby scored this chain link dog kennel type structure from a friend for FREE. Usually these things can be quite pricey. So FREE is good :) Being FREE made me give it a chance.

The back of the chicken coop, if you recall, had an old wooden enclosed-with-chicken-wire type structure for chickens to hang out in if they wanted to be outside the coop and still out of harms way.



Back of the chicken coop - pretty unshightly...especially in late winter/early spring when this photo was taken :)

Even though this couldn't look any more 'hillbilly' itself, if I had decided, I would have voted for hubby to buy some new wood and spruce it up. It would have looked good as new. But new wood and chicken wire isn't FREE!

So I gave the chain link dog kennel contraption a chance. I told hubby for sure though, the brown weaving would have to be removed. I thought it was hideous and made grand plans to plant something like Morning Glories around it so they could grow and climb fast up the fence to hide it!

But now, when I look at it, I am thinking, I guess it isn't so bad.

It kinda blends in, right?

Hubby fashinoned it up all nice with pieces of sheet metal to attach it to the actual coop so it doesn't blow away. He tidy up any parts that would allow predators - aka, Savannah - to get in.

He cut a hole in the chain link and fashioned more sheet metal to fit it around the doorway for the hens to go in and out as they please.

We left that small tree in there because the ladies like to stand on it!

This definitely gives them much more room than the wooden structure did too.

View from opposite side - and yes, that is the former structure laying in a heap on the side destined to be bonfire

So, I guess it isn't so bad. It faces the back of the property, looking into the orchard. So when I am looking out the kitchen window, it isn't like I see this huge dog kennel type thing sitting in the yard.

We do let them free range as much as possible, but when they can't, having this outdoor enclosure for them is the next best thing.

But, I am still planting something around it that will climb up it and make it look like a huge bush ;)

The Chicken Palace

Hubby added new roosts to our Chicken Coop Palace this past weekend.

There was one in there from this coop's previous life, but it was old and decrepit!

We have some nut trees that need a good pruning, so hubby went to work pruning - for the roosts!

And you know, his girls don't just get a stick.

The get two nice, large roosts.

And a third stick acting a a ladder from the ground up to the other two roosts.

The gals aren't quite old enough to fly themselves up on the roosts yet, but they can walk up to them. And they do seem to enjoy them!

I must say, I never thought watching chickens would be, well, so interesting!

My help transforming the coop to palace that day was pampering the nesting boxes - which won't even be utilized for 10-15ish more weeks! - with some nice, fresh straw.

Next on the palace to-do list -- a ladder to the nesting boxes. 

And don't you think hubby won't go all gang busters building that for them too!

Moving Day

It was moving day this past weekend for the chickens. 

Yep, time for them to fly the coop out.of.my.bathroom! YAHOO!

They seem to be adjusting quite well with all the extra open space they have to roam, run and peck!

And flap and squak and dirt bathe....

I couldn't resist, I picked them some fresh herbs and threw them into the coop for them. 

Later, when I was cleaning out old flower pots, I had clumps of dirt loaded with bugs.

I think the were in heaven!

And this is an 'heirloom' chicken feeder. It was Allen's grandpa's.

I think that is pretty neat!

I was having a tad difficult time taking pictures since I have a 14 month old glued to my hip.

And these metal walls - the ladies are fascinated with them. 

They peck at them, and peck and them, and....peck at them?

The Coop Remodel

Our farm had a 'semi-dilapitated' poultry-of-some-sort coop in place when we moved in 4 years ago. We have heard stories from neighbors that all kinds of things from chickens to pigeons have been housed here.

So this past weekend, hubby got to work on fixing it our for our ladies since I want them out of our spare bathroom ASAP :) In the process of discussing the 'remodel', we also discussed how an outdoor brooder can be set up in the coop barn to accomodate any future chicks welcomed here on the farm - thus not to share my spare bathroom with poultry any more.

The coop is housed at one end of a metal barn type of structure. In the past we've used it for hay storage, atv storage and anything else that was homeless :)



View from inside the coop -- you can see it's pretty nasty!



Hubby raked out the old nasty dirt and bedding and then he and our niece and nephew shoveled it into the tractor to be disposed of.



Hubby assiting our niece off the tractor.



He then had to elevate the ground and fix some of the foundation as their were gaps making it way to easy for a hungry coon to stop by for a snack. Once he took care of that, he brought in fresh dirt and filled the coop floor, tamping it all down. We'll lay down shavings for bedding before the ladies move in.

Shamless Child Labor

He's been busy ever since working on additional renovations, such a a skylight :) Stay tuned for more Coop Updates.