though i am still crazy about them, the chickens were really wearing thin their welcome inside the house.
first, nico had a small injury and had to be separated from the rest of the flock. but they all hate being separated and they screamed and cried and made so much noise! then, because they are getting so big (and possibly also because they were trying to get to nico) the big chicks figured out how to fly up and roost on the sides of their brooding pen! the pen is just made of sheets of cardboard. i'm shocked that they could stand comfortably on the very narrow ends of the cardboard, but they did. all night long. and they pooped all over my wood floor. so the time came for them to go.
the chicks moved into their super swanky coop on their 5 week birthday.
the coop is fantastic. you should come see it. andy built it with his own two hands (plus the hands, tools, and skills of a few of his friends who we are probably forever indebted to - thank you so much Scott and Jered).
we found the coop plans online at the garden coop. i chose this plan because the design is much cooler looking than i thought a chicken coop could be! finding this took a lot of the questions out of backyard chicken keeping for me. i didn't have to design a coop myself and hope that i got all the parts right. if you are interested in keeping chickens, check it out.
andy agreed to build the coop because the plans seemed doable, came with a shopping list for hardware, and he loves me. this coop is really the first thing he has ever built. i think it is empowering, for him and for everyone, to start with raw materials and end up with something. he would say the plans are easy to follow but he's not anxious to build another one, so don't ask him to help you (we know you are thinking about getting chickens...).
building the coop was a huge project. it took a large part of andy's free time this summer and we let a couple of the final touches get put off until we realized we had to finish or the chicks would never get to move in! now that it is finally done, we love it. we are proud of it and we hope that it and the chickens will be a great addition to the yard - a reason to spend more time outside.
coop building
greyson helping paint on the natural wood protectant
hen house with chicken door and people door
the perches in the run and hen house are driftwood
from my parent's land in canyon lake
the ramp rungs are cut from fallen tree branches from our yard
supposedly, chickens love watermelon. mine don't.
the view from inside the coop
proud boys after helping move the girls to their new home 
we don't let this guy hang out with the chickens yet. that makes him angry.
i think he's saying the 'f' word.
of course, these four are still in the house. for now.
*side note: i'm trying this "jump break" thing to keep the posts from being too long on the first page. do you like it?
s it weird that i love reading about my life so much when you are telling it like a story. thanks a lot for doing this. i think it is good for our entire family.
ReplyDeleteLove the coop design!! And I am WAY impressed with Andy for building it!! I do like the "jump break" with posts.
ReplyDeleteSuch lucky little chickens - Andy did such a great job! I like to jump post thing, too :) love you, Julie
ReplyDeletei love how your coop looks like a modern house! nice job, andy.
ReplyDeletei shared your blog with a friend who also has chickens, and he suggested putting rocks or logs around the base of the coop to keep dogs and raccoons from digging their way in.
thanks missy! the hardware cloth is actually buried 6-8 inches below the coop on all sides. we wouldn't have thought of that on our own, it was in the plan. hopefully this works, we do have racoons. thanks for sharing with your friend :)
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