8/28/11

Chicks on 7-26 and a coop update

First of all, the coop. We've decided to keep all of our chickens. Part of the reason is because I can't pick and choose who stays and who goes. Also, my husband has promised eggs to several family members and 5 or 6 hens won't be able to keep up with that.

Since our coop is only big enough for 6 chickens at most, we decided to add onto it. Then when we realized that adding on won't be easy (with half the coop inside and the new part outside the run, so we can keep as much run space as possible) along with the fact that I'm tired of stooping over in there to clean the sand, we decided to just build a new coop. The old one will be kept for future batches of chicks to brood (so says my hubby). The new coop will be 5' x 10'. I'd love for it to be bigger but there isn't room in the area the run is in, and I'm not pushing my luck. I'll just be happy to be able to stand up in it.

We'll also be switching to the deep litter method, which means less work for me. I had planned to use it from the start but the prefab coop didn't allow for it because of how low the pop door is.

The floor is done so we need to buy lumber for the walls now and in the meantime I will get a nest box built (accessible from outside the coop AND run-yay). I'll try to post pictures of the progress as long as I remember to take them. Also, I went to the habitat for humanity restore shop today (two of them, actually) and picked up 5 storm windows for $35 total. Not bad! Now we'll have windows that will close in the winter but still let in light, and open in the summer to keep the breeze going. yay! The color will be the same as the old one.

And now the chicks. These pictures were taken on July 26th.

Everyone enjoying some cantaloupe guts:


Buddies Alice and Belle:


And another picture of one of them:


Cosmo, who is now crowing a little bit (sounds strangled, but it's a crow):


Juliet, looking pretty as always:


Everyone curious about the dog (and she is equally curious about them):

8/5/11

Chicks on July 15th

Unlike the last post, where I took hardly any pictures, this time I took too many. I weeded out a few but still have a lot. So here goes.


Cosmo-our rooster



Cosmo again. He's a ham.



This is Stella. Our freakiest looking chicken.


Pretty gold comet chick.



Our two gold comet chicks (on the right) are usually together-they're pals. So of course I have to keep both because I can't separate them. (We can't tell them apart yet-all I know is one is Alice and one is Belle.)


Stella with one of the gold chicks.


Juliet, cuddling with Cosmo.


Stella again. She's pretty in her own freaky way.