Chad76's Chicken Coop

About me:

I'm an accountant for a telecommunications company. My wife was laid off a while back (at a full 9 months pregnant) and we decided that it would be best for her to stay home with our girls anyway. That was something we had talked about before. I guess we just needed someone to push us into it!  To help pay the bills I turned my photography hobby into a side business.

I have been married to my high school sweetheart for almost 10 years and we have 2 beautiful daughters, one 4 yrs old and the other 1 yr old. The 4yr old thinks she's an expert on everything including chickens.

I have never owned or even been around chickens until my dad got his four earlier this year. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to chickens!

The chickens:

We picked up our pullets on April 19th. We bought 1 barred rock (the last one they had) and 2 RIR's. The barred rock is 5 months old and the RIR's are 4 months old.

The barred rock's name is Cruella and the lighter colored RIR is Yella. I'm supposed to name the darker colored RIR and can't ever decide... so my 4yr old suggested I name her "The stupid one that won't go in the coop". But she goes in the coop now, so that won't work.

I hope to update this eventually when they get a little older.

The Coop:

I knew I would only be able to own a small number of hens (I live in a subdivision), so I built a small coop just big enough for 3 hens. They didn't want to go inside the first night, but figured it out by the 3rd night. The first night they were really restless trying to find a place to roost. I shined a flashlight in the coop and Cruella went inside immediately and was settled in. The RIR's tried to fly out of the run (covered in chicken wire) and also tried to roost on the feeder. I finally got them to go in the coop, but it wasn't easy.

The second night, only "the stupid one that won't go in the coop" gave me trouble. She finally gave up and went inside... but just sat on the floor. And finally by the 3rd night, they all went inside without any assistance... all roosted and settled in for the night when I went to check on them.

I got a little side tracked on the chickens... here's the coop:

The window on the left is for ventilation; the one on the right is for access to the nest.

Still working on the run a little... those bricks were pulled from another area in the yard.

Inside view. You can see the nest and pull out tray. I plan to work on the roost a little more... maybe lower the front one and add steps to the higher one.