Well, after months of being crammed into a hutch made for two chickens, my girls finally got a new home! I spent a lot of time researching, thanks to the folks at Backyardchickens.com, and came up with a design that should work well. Then I hired my carpenter to build it for me. Here it is.
It's got three nest boxes (no more screaming because someone else is using the box!)
And a roost conveniently located near the windows:
I think they like it!
Why didn't I try to build it myself? Well, because I value my marriage. Ramon got started around noon last Sunday, and within a couple of hours had more done than Matt and I could have done in weeks. There would have been hundreds of dollars of ruined materials, several extra trips to Home Depot, tears, recrimination, divorce papers, etc.
As of this writing I have the girls locked into the coop so they have time to settle in and get that it's now "home." But once I let them back out, they not only have the run, but an additional 20 sq feet of extra space under the coop to stretch out in. This is a good thing, because after a couple of weeks of letting them free-range around the yard, I've now decided they really need to be confined. Not only do they dig huge holes on my hillside in search of tasty bugs, but they just poop EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I knew chickens make poop but I was truly stunned as to the sheer volume of this poop. We literally couldn't step outside the kitchen door without stepping in it. So, for now, they will have to make do (no pun intented) with an hour or so of free-ranging in the evenings.
3 comments:
I am amazed you do this in our city!
Oh, that is just gorgeous!
We really need to build something more permanent for our girls and hope to do an addon when we put up our new barn this spring. The tractor is more suited to a country lot and we're in the city trying to keep the girls on the down-low (they're illegal where I live).
OK, seriously, their new house is bigger than mine!!!! I hope they appreciate it!
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