Cheryl's Hen House...

[Finnie]

It reminds me of when I built my 4' x4' coop, and I painted every piece of wood pretty much before I assembled it, because I didn't want to try to be crawling inside the small space and contorting myself to paint the interior.

I can't wait for Saturday! The chickies can move in!

 

[TerryH]

@Finnie It's the usual chicken parent double edged sword. On one hand we are ready for them to get out of the house. On the other it'll be strange for them to not be in the house. Going to be interesting to see how the 2 groups integrate. Pretty sure we have at least 2 roosters that I'd like to cull right now but I'll wait a couple more weeks to be for certain.

 

[Finnie]

My guess is they will integrate just fine. In my limited chicken raising so far, I've found that the younger ones mix and match pretty well. Besides, if you put them all in the strange coop at the same time, they will be so overwhelmed by the new setting, that they probably won't even realize there are more birds than they are used to. Well, your group anyway. I'm sure your mother's two will notice!

 

[TerryH]

Got all the freshly painted things back in the coop. Going to make the feeders tomorrow night and get them installed. Should be ready for the babies to move in Saturday for sure. I'll be removing the nest boxes until they are needed but couldn't resist putting them in for a pic.

 

[aart]

Can't wait to see the babies in there!

 

[TerryH]

It's beginning to look a lot like a place for chickens to live.

I got the poop board filled with 3 bags of PDZ. 3" or so of pine shavings on the floor. Horizontal nipple waterer is in. Still finishing the PVC feeders but they'll be done in the morning. I think we are going to really be ready tomorrow!!

I didn't want to use a ramp to the roosts. @aart suggested that I use a concrete block for them to just jump up on and go up from there. That got the wheels turning...always a dangerous thing...and this is what I came up with. Clueless if they will use it or not but I figured it was worth a try. Its a wall mounted chicken step.

I kinda like it. We'll see if the chicks have the same opinion.

 

[Athaid]

wow fancy, looks like a room from an Ikea magazine

 

[aart]

Ha!! I knew you'd have to build, and paint, something! Just pickin' on ya ;-)
Why the 'cleat' on the surface of the step?


They're gonna have a ball dust bathing in the poop tray!!
I'd take about half of that out of there, you only need about a half inch, or they'll fling it onto the floor.
How do you plan on sifting poops?

Have they been drinking from the HN's already?
Might be a learning curve, I find it helps to mark the bucket at the water level to monitor consumption if 'training'.

Can't wait to see today's updates.....you're gonna have fun, and maybe a little anxiety, experiencing this milestone!!
Best of cLuck!

 

[TerryH]

wow fancy, looks like a room from an Ikea magazine

Thanks...I think.

 

[TerryH]

Ha!! I knew you'd have to build, and paint, something! Just pickin' on ya ;-)
Why the 'cleat' on the surface of the step?


They're gonna have a ball dust bathing in the poop tray!!
I'd take about half of that out of there, you only need about a half inch, or they'll fling it onto the floor.
How do you plan on sifting poops?

Have they been drinking from the HN's already?
Might be a learning curve, I find it helps to mark the bucket at the water level to monitor consumption if 'training'.

Can't wait to see today's updates.....you're gonna have fun, and maybe a little anxiety, experiencing this milestone!!
Best of cLuck!

The sanded and painted wood seemed pretty slick on the step. Thought I'd give them a little something to hang on to.

Hmmm... I didn't think about the whole dust bath thing. Dang it. Guess I'll shovel some back out. Got a big cat poop scooper to start with. Guess we'll see how it goes and modify the plan from there. Note: scooping the poop is not my responsibility.

They have not been drinking from the HN. Marking the bucket is a great idea. I'm sure they'll catch on. Cheryl is in charge of teaching them.