We have 5-1/2 acres in the country about 25 miles southwest of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
We have another page on the internet at http://www.omanopa.com
Here's my coop - unfortunately, we changed paint brands half way through the process and the front looks a little blotchy.
On June 17 our chicks arrived - 10 Buff Orpingtons and 5 Welsummers from Bancroft, Iowa. I split an order with a co-worker.
Later, July 11, I finished the run. This a picture of it under construction. The poles were cut out of our timber patch, and now have 4-foot chicken wire strung around them. The fence is, frankly, more of a suggestion than a fence. We tentatively plan to free-range the chickens when they are large enough, but want them to put a little size on, first.
12 July 2009 - lost our first chick - unknown illness - had done poorly for a couple weeks - thought it had responded to vitamin and electrolyte treatment earlier in the week, but died on the weekend.
23 July 2009 - we set the waterer up on 2x4 blocks to keep them from kicking ti full of shavings every day. Mostly successful.
25 July 2009 - today we put up the hanging feeder as they were almost emptying the little plastic one every day.
25 August 2010 - Wow - it has been 13 months to the day since my last post. We still have 11 hens after eating the two roosters and losing on other hen to illness. They survived the winter quite well with a water heater warmer and keeping the air flow through the coop to a minimum.
Last spring we enlarged the pen as it became obvious that we would have no garden at all if we allowed the little rascals to run loose.
We started getting eggs last November and they just are coming back from taking a break from laying in early August. They are also (finally) growing feathers back in their bald spots that are still left from when we had roosters. So - they must have gone through a molt.
We have another page on the internet at http://www.omanopa.com
Here's my coop - unfortunately, we changed paint brands half way through the process and the front looks a little blotchy.
On June 17 our chicks arrived - 10 Buff Orpingtons and 5 Welsummers from Bancroft, Iowa. I split an order with a co-worker.
Later, July 11, I finished the run. This a picture of it under construction. The poles were cut out of our timber patch, and now have 4-foot chicken wire strung around them. The fence is, frankly, more of a suggestion than a fence. We tentatively plan to free-range the chickens when they are large enough, but want them to put a little size on, first.
12 July 2009 - lost our first chick - unknown illness - had done poorly for a couple weeks - thought it had responded to vitamin and electrolyte treatment earlier in the week, but died on the weekend.
23 July 2009 - we set the waterer up on 2x4 blocks to keep them from kicking ti full of shavings every day. Mostly successful.
25 July 2009 - today we put up the hanging feeder as they were almost emptying the little plastic one every day.
25 August 2010 - Wow - it has been 13 months to the day since my last post. We still have 11 hens after eating the two roosters and losing on other hen to illness. They survived the winter quite well with a water heater warmer and keeping the air flow through the coop to a minimum.
Last spring we enlarged the pen as it became obvious that we would have no garden at all if we allowed the little rascals to run loose.
We started getting eggs last November and they just are coming back from taking a break from laying in early August. They are also (finally) growing feathers back in their bald spots that are still left from when we had roosters. So - they must have gone through a molt.