We have a door

Our chicken coop is starting to look like a real chicken coop finally.  I built the door today, and we are going to attach the siding tomorrow.  My goal is to have it finished this weekend so that I can paint it next weekend (weather permitting). 

Also, we have decided to change the name of one of the chicks.  We have been calling her Lola (named by my husband's students), but that name does not fit her at all.  For now on, she will go by Maple.

I added the door today!  All that's left is the siding and the interior floating walls.

In addition to staples, I used several screws with washers all the way around the hardware cloth.

Layla, Tilly, &Yadi

Omelette & Maple

Pictures!

So I thought I'd do a mostly photo entry today.  Enjoy!

My beautiful family.

Progress was made on the coop today.
I was able to install all of the hardware cloth around
the outside of the coop.  It wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be!
All that's left is to make the door and add walls to the hen house.

Injured Hen

Poor Tilly had a small amount of blood on her right wing the evening of the storm.  We checked on he a little later and found that it had gotten worse.  The other girls were actually pecking at the blood!  Poor girl!  So we removed Tilly from the coop and put her in isolation in the garage.  She remained in the garage for three days to give the wing time to heal.  It looked like she scratched herself on a branch.  A few feathers were missing, but there were no deep wounds.  By the end of three days there was no blood, so we put her back outside with the other two girls.  They went about their business like nothing had happened.  It was scary to see her so uncomfortable, but we are glad she is okay.  I bet Layla and Yadi are glad to have her back in the coop too... the extra warmth will be welcome.

Poor Tilly

The First Big Storm

Well, it's the end of December, and Colorado Springs is getting its first big storm.  It was gorgeous out yesterday and this morning, so we got as much done on the coop as we could.  We also made sure to winterize the small coop's temporary location.  We were able to attach the roof, stabilize the coop, staple hardware cloth over the entire top, and put in all the floor supports and framing for the coop's inner door.  It's actually starting to take shape!

Putting up the roof.

The hardware cloth on the roof to protect the girls from flying predators.

Some extra support.

Looking good!

Temporary location.  This picture was taken around 1:00 pm. 

This picture was taken at about 1:30 pm.

The girls had been out free-ranging all morning, but they didn't head to the coop when the snow started blowing in.  We had to run around like maniacs in the blowing snow to catch our three hens and put them into their warm coop.  The silly birds were hiding in a bush and were covered in snow already.  I brushed them off and released them into the warm hen-house with fresh pine shavings.  They'll have access to their run until nightfall.  I made sure to throw in some extra scratch to help them stay warm tonight.

The girls are nice and warm.

And here's one of the "chicks."

Construction Resumes

We finally resumed construction on the big coop.  The big block has been the foundation of the coop.  Turns out that the ground in Colorado is pretty solid near the end of December, so we had to improvise a little bit.  We'll add more tomorrow!

We attempted the method in the plan, but even an auger couldn't go more than a foot into the ground.

So we opted for railroad ties to set the coop on top of.

There it is!  Exactly where the little coop used to be.

The girls are checking the progress.

Security Breach

We had our first attempted break-in last night.  When I went down this morning to let the big girls out, I found a small hole that was dug down to the hardware cloth we had buried when putting in the coop.  I'm really glad we took the time to do that.  The girls are safe, and the hole is now filled in.

The big girls are doing great.  We are still getting a dozen eggs a week even though days are short.  The chicks are not really  chicks any more.  They are awkward adolescents.  They are doing well in the garage and have come to enjoy scratch.  They will be eight weeks old on Wednesday.  We will leave them in the garage in the dog crate until the new coop is ready.

Chicks Stink

They really do, so we finally broke down and moved them into the garage and into a larger brooder.  They aren't ready to be outside yet, but they'll be fine in the garage.  They are in a giant dog crate and still have a heat lamp. They are five and a half weeks old now, and if it were warm out, they would be outside.  The dog crate gives them more space but still a secure area.  We added a few sticks so they can roost.  Within 30 minutes of setting it all up they were both perched closer to the heat lamp.  I'll be checking them frequently today to make sure they are warm enough.

Tilly is checking the progress of the new coop.  She's a good foreman.