This was our second coop to make, and we did it in a week ! (there are still somethings I have to do before I put the girls in...but for the most part its done)

We had to hurry cause DH was leaving.

My one and only concern is the ramp, its too steep and I havent created a cover for that pop door.
I also need to finish painting the nesting boxes.
Be nice, but be honest please.

Run is 8x4x36in tall,
Coop is 4x4 (tallest point) + nesting boxes

Here are the photos:

Access Door, locked up, and 5 year old proof.


View, its up next to the house, figured I wont want to move it on my own next winter, and thats probably least draftist spot.


View of the front of the coop, with ventilation.


View of the too steep of a ramp.


Nesting boxes, not complete. I tried spray paint...its not going to cut it.


Ventilation above nesting boxes.

Sick baby! Awe.

What a crazy week its been.
One of the little black chicks, a "black sex linked" girl. Has a yuckie butt. Gross eh? Her little vent is swollen, red, and sticking it. It appears she is "backed up" for some reason. I soaked her little behind in caster oil and she pooped shortly after. I also added Apple Cider Vinegar *with the mother* into her water, and separated her from the flock so she could recover. 24 hours later she was still chirping away, appeared to be pooping, but her vent is still red and swollen, sticking out. I put her back with the flock, if it hasn't killed her yet then its probably not a virus or disease. I'll just keep an eye on her. The poor thing thou, it seems that Caster Oil is not the easier stuff to get off a chicken! Her behind is still oily and wet looking 2 days later!

They are getting big ! Wow! I'll have to post new photos tonight. Lance and Cornbread are HUGE (to me anyways) and are very alert, they just stare at me while I watch them all hustle around in the brooder box. They all appear to be a little timid of me still...but in another week I'll handle them more. I don't want to stress them out or make them sick! So next week we will continue chickie play time....maybe even with crickets! :) I'll have to video tape that one. LOL

I did end up bringing the box in the house one night. My dear sweet hubby approved the idea. They made it until about 1am when we couldn't handle the chirping anymore, they got moved to the bathroom. Then the next day I put them back out in the garage. They were wonderful to watch thou! Such cute and interesting little things. And its not like they were "loud" it was just a constant "chirp" noise.

Chicken chores this week: changing the pine bedding, fill feed and water twice a day, check for pasty butt, take extra care of the sick black sexlink, give them a stuff animal to roost on, and adjust the heat lamp down 5 degrees...they are now at a comfy 95 degrees F.

Getting big girls getting big! Soon you will be making me yummy fresh eggs, and I'll give you kisses everyday for the eggs. Yay! :P I hear I have an "awkward teenager" stage coming up, where their feathers look funny and they are all silly. haha I cant wait!

**Hunny

But I want to !

I want to bring the brooder box inside SO bad.
I just LOVE watching the chickies, and I reallly want them to imprint on me. I wonder if
1) I can keep the cats out of my bedroom/bathroom and 2) If they will be loud?

hehe

Now its time to discuss with DH. I'm thinking he will tell me sure. Afterall he did built a mini-roost for the chickies today. Its about 2 inches tall and 4-5 inchs long, he used a piece of wood trim. I want to go spy on them and see if they are climbing on it. Ohhh I hope they are!

(And its almost midnight- I dont think my Husband is going to like this request tonight, maybe tomorrow?)

Yikes! I'm a bad Momma!

Woke up, and first thing I did was go check on the chicks.
The temp was 80 degrees and their water was cold *YIKES* I'm sorry little guys.
They weren't huddled together, but they were def staying under the heat lamp.
I moved the light a few inches lower, cleared the water tray of pine shavings and moved it closer to the lamp. Gosh I didn't know it got that cold last night.

I'll have to keep a better eye on the temperature out there today. Don't want the little ones to catch a cold!

Picture Heavy!

This is the group right after we brought them home.















Fancy, named after Rebas song. Shes going have to make her living too someday ;)
















<--- A group of them. Chickens are social little birds, they would be sad all alone.





















These two crack me up, they are clearly my favorite, but at least one of them is a Roo. These two are BR, or Barred Rock. They will grow up to be black and white speckled.
































Cornbread and Lance. Geesh I cant belive I let our 4 yr old name one Lance.

The chicks, and things I've learned.

So many new terms! I am such a newbie!!

Girls chicks are called Pullets, adult females called Hens.
Boys are called Cockrels, adults males are Roosters (AKA Roo, or Roos)

Hens lay eggs without having a Roo, if there is a Roo present the eggs may become fertile.

Hens that want to hatch an egg are said to go "Broody". I understand that to mean, they dont want to get off their egg, and plan on attending to it, for the 21-25 days it takes for an egg to hatch.

There are SO many different foods, flooring/bedding options, nests, and ways to raise chickens.

For example, some ONLY feed scraps and leftovers. Some only feed grains, some only free range (allow to be loose on a farm/yard), some do all the above!

Different kinds of coops. There is a "Tractor coop" in which it has an open bottom so that chickens can scratch, feed, and basically "rotitile" the ground. The Hen house is typically placed above the open ground, with a ramp for chickens to use. We have decided on a chicken coop that is moveable, so I can put it in the garage. And we are going to build a moveable chicken run. We will leave the bottom open, with all sides covered in hardware mesh. (Oh! Ya...so chicken wire is cool and all, but I'm told its easy for other critters to get into...and I dont care to find a racoon in the chicken run eating my girls!).

And this is just a start! How crazy is that.

Today the chicken chores included; checking the chicks for pasty butt (basically the poop dries over their vent, and they will die because they cant poop), changing feed and water (adding antibotics to their water), upgrade their brooder box (I can not BELIEVE how big they are getting already!), and paint their coop.
We are almost done with the coop, still missing a light fixture, and I will ahve to go back and paint the white trim, I didnt want it to end up being pink with drops of barn red on the frame etc. :) Should be COMPELTE tomorrow! YAY! Next project will be the chicken run.
We also did chickie play time. I brought them all in, put them on spread out newspaper, and basically offered them treats (yogart and string cheese), and spent time holding each one. I'm hoping they imprint on me, so they are easily handled as adults :) Their personalities are starting to come out.

Okay enough ramblings. Here are the chickies ! :D



These two are my favorite, but I'm betting at least one of them is a Roo ! Yikes!

Plans for a coop.

"A chicken coop is a building where chickens are kept. Interiors usually have nest boxes for egg laying, and also perches for the birds to sleep on. Coops for meat birds often have neither of these features."

I have seen, read, and been told of everything from a dog style "igloo" being used as a coop, to buckets screwed into a barn wall. Obviously I don't have a barn, so that was out, and when we went to price the igloo, it was $99 !

We immediately starting thinking up ideas. First, we want a coop that I can easily move in and out of the garage or around the yard if I need to. So it must be skinny, and probably tall. We ended up with 48in long, 24 inches wide, and 48in tall.
DH installed two heavy duty wheels on one end, and a stand made of 2x2 wood on the other end, with a handle for me to use to get it around. The reason for the mobility, is to accommodate for cold winter nights and being able to bring them inside.

For laying hens, which is what we wanted. You need to have one "nest" for every 2-3 birds. Our plan originally included 2 nests, but quickly went to 4 :)
Hens sleep on a "roost", and I hear they tend to poop alot while sleeping. So we put two broom handles cross wise in one end of the coop, one about 18 inches up and one 12 inches higher than that. I will be using newspaper or pine under their roost, so I can easily compost and reuse their droppings (which is supposedly VERY good for compost!).





Next problem was the feeder and waterier. There are SO many options. We are still REALLY new to this, so here is hoping we did something right. Here is a photo of the feeder we came up with. We used 3in PVC pipe. I'm hoping it a) stays dry b) is easy to refill, and c) that the ladies will like it ! We tucked it under a nesting box, so that it will be safe from droppings. I also put .20cent vinyl flooring squares down, so that I can easily clean the coop. (Especially if an egg drops, EWW!)

DH worked really hard on the coop! What a trooper, I changed my mind SO many times. :) We still have some things to do to it! We purchased the paint, and have plans to install a light fixture, so I can provide the hens with lighting in the summer, and a heat bulb come winter. Check out the pictures :)




The Hen Door


I plan on adding more photos! We have yet to paint, and "clean" it up. I'm really excited to see how it turns out. We also just ordered the galvenized roofing. It will get here early next week. :D 'Also a shout out to www.BackyardChickens.com their users and forums absoultly ROCK! There is even a chat room for chicken nerds. Its perfect for me. :D