Big News

coop west end

Well I know I have been a terrible blogger! I hope to be able to keep up a bit better in the future. Yay! The major part of the new chicken coop is done! Whew! Almost a year in the making. There is of course still a lot more to do, attach the gutter and set up the water collector, lots of fiddly trim work, a couple of interior partitions to finish, run some wire around on the ground to prevent diggers, a paint job, some shutters for the open side for really bad weather.... But the major structure is done, enclosed and hopefully predator proof!

In the pic of the east end you can see what look like patches on the front wall. Those are just scrap boards covering the openings for the pop doors. Once the area is fenced in, I'll build the sliding doors and take the boards off so the birds can go in and out when they want. In the meantime I just let groups out in rotation.

coop east end

And just in time. I am sooo blessed to have met my friend Cindy and I have been overwhelmed by her generosity and kindness. I have been drooling over these beautiful Buff Orpingtons bred by Vicki Dawson in South Carolina for a long time. I truly thought it would be a very long time before I would ever get the chance to have some of her birds in my coop. Well, Cindy purchased a pair, Claude & Claire and had them shipped. Everything was fine until Claude began to 'sing'. His singing was not appreciated and he needed to live elsewhere. Cindy has now asked me to partner with her and there are times when I still pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming!

Claude, 100% English Buff Orpington

That's Claire in the background, she was being very camera shy today and I could not get any good pics of her before it was too dark this afternoon. (It starts getting dark in my canyon about 3:00 this time of year!) Claire is not laying yet, probably another month or so. Then we will hatch some babies.

Behind Claire in the pic are the layers, checking out the new kids in the coop.

Almost Ready!

West end door

Well the new layers coop is almost done! While there are some small finish details yet to be done, like putting wire over the vents at the top of the walls, it is almost ready for occupancy.

Here is the west end, the door is hung, tho I still need to put a latch on the outside, it is nicely level and plumb and moves easily.

I do need to go dig around in the shed for a piece of plexiglass I have to put in the other window pane, but it's still pretty warm so I'm not going to worry about that right now.

Front of the layer's section with 2x4" weld wire

The front opening has 2x4" weld wire over it on the inside. I am still debating whether I will put my old windows on this wall or not. I"m really considering building a 4' awning style roof on the front  for shade and to keep the wind from blowing in the rain and leaving it open. If I need to this winter I can always staple on some plastic during the worst of our weather.

the roosts

The roosts run along the back, all at the same height so there will be no jostling for top hen spot. The entire back wall of the building and the first four feet or so of the end walls are solid except for a small open vent at the top. This will keep them from being in a draft while they sleep. In the lower left of the back wall you can see an opening for a pop door. I am making all the openings while I am building. Then I will board them over until I get the pens done on the outside.

nest boxes of recycled candy bins

The nest boxes started out life as candy bins. Some friends gave them to me and they were very rusty. I sanded, primed and painted them. The wooden leg supports are not fastened to them and the bins are not fastened to the wall. That way I can take them completely apart for cleaning if I need to. The wooden fronts slide out so most of the time I can just take them out and sweep the boxes clean. The slanted roof will hopefully keep them from roosting on top.

inside door handle

The door handle on the inside is made of a piece of aluminum I found laying around. I have no idea what it was before, I just beat it with a hammer until it was the right shape and screwed it on.

simple door latch, open position

The door to the next section inside is an old screen door with some fencing and chicken wire added onto it. It swings into the layer's section and I needed a simple latch to keep it shut. This is a small piece of board and one screw.

latch closed

Here it is in the closed position.

in the down position

The cool thing about this is that if the screw ever loosens up in the board allowing it to move freely and it falls downward, it will still hold the door shut.

Before the girls can move in I need to  put the latch on the outside door and put in some feeders and a water system. Maybe after lunch!

Earl Grey, Stud Muffin

Stud muffin Earl Grey being admired by one of the ladies.

Gosh can't beleive it's been so long since I posted. So much is going on with my job, it has been really crazy. Some weeks I have worked 60 hours, barely had time to sleep and feed birds let alone do anything else!

Here is my Easter egger boy, Earl Grey. His daddy was a Lavender Orpington and his mamma was an Easter egger. He has really filled out the past couple of months! You know he is so pretty I might just have to paint his picture!

look at that chest!

Check out that chest! That is a lot of meat on a fairly small bird. He gets that from the Orpington blood. I also love the coloring of his feathers on his chest.

Wide Load!

When he was younger he looked a bit narrow in the hips, but as he has grown he has filled in and is nearly as wide in the back as he is in the front.

Nice and wide, front to back!

Chickens should be wide through the back, for ease of laying eggs without problems. Some of my EE girls are pinched in the tail, so I'm hoping that their daughters from Earl will be wider than they are.

Remember back in March, when all those little chicks pictured at the top of this page hatched? Well here are some all grown up. There are 17 girls and about a dozen boys. The boys are destined for freezer camp and are still trying to grow some back and tail feathers; they are actually pretty ugly right now so I didn't take any pics of them today.

Lots of soft browns and golds, some of their mammas were Easter eggers, some were Welsummer or Welsummer/Leghorn crosses and this is the typical female coloration for those breeds. Some have the tiny pea comb of the Easter egger and clean faces, while some have beards and muffs. The pea comb is the best indicator that a hen will lay a blue egg. The gene for blue egg shell color is tightly linked to that for the pea comb. The girls that have single, regular combs could lay green or even brown. Only time will tell.

Love the beards & muffs!

Now those are some cheek poofs!

I just realized that there is a shadow from the chicken wire fence on that last girl! That's not a real pattern on her.

In other news I have managed a little of progress on the new chicken house. The first section is roofed and I should be able to get the second section roof done on my next days off. I lucked into some great pallets, a full 4x8 feet, exactly what I needed for the bottom part of the divider walls inside. Solid bottom walls are best to keep roosters from fighting with each other through a fence.