another newbie saying 'hello'

[b.hromada]

and

from S. Florida! Glad you joined us!

 

[DallasDad]

Well I'm supposed to pick up the pullets tomorrow at 11:00 and I'm not finished with the coop! I got a little more done after work today, but had to stop--I know my neighbors wouldn't appreciate hammering and the power saw this late...

I'm hoping to get an early start and finish enough to have it functional tomorrow. I have most of the hardware cloth up, just one little rectangle left above the door. Also need to trim the wire where it overlaps the angled sides of the a-frame--any tricks to this?

I need to hang the door (and sand it a bit for better clearance. It swelled up with all the rain we've had).

I need to get the siding boards up on the coop section and the plywood up on the back. May be too cold to finish painting, so that may have to wait.

Need to decide on position, cut, and attach clean out door and nest door. I haven't built nest boxes yet, so I may wait on this last part. The girls won't be laying yet anyway.

Roost. Looking at my options for this too. I was thinking a bar above a shelf (with poop trays) at the back of the 'a'. Nest boxes under this. Have to confirm dimensions to make sure it is wide enough for all the chooks. Alternative would be a lower roost that runs the length of the coop and run, both covered and uncovered. I might start with that and see what they like and maybe move to the higher roost as they grow? Wouldn't have poop trays though. Hmmm...

Going to be a busy morning, but I will have a 6 year-old helper! So far it has been all me.

 

[DallasDad]

Quote:
Thanks! My best friend worked one summer in Ishpeming. he came back tired. I think it was his first summer of honest-to-goodness hard work! He said it was beautiful though.

 

[DallasDad]

ray's two cents :

Quote:
Oh, I've always been weirdly attached to the idea of going to both Dallas and New York, for some odd reason.

Maybe it's to do with the airports, American ATC is awesome.

I live in the city too. Suburban chicken keeping is a real blast, it's always been so much fun! It seems the smaller the garden, the more places my chooks have found to hide...

Good choices now that I think about it. NYC is one of a kind. Great city. Dallas is the perfect example of American suburbia. Hope you make the trip one day!​

 

[DallasDad]

Quote:
Oh, I've always been weirdly attached to the idea of going to both Dallas and New York, for some odd reason.

Maybe it's to do with the airports, American ATC is awesome.

I live in the city too. Suburban chicken keeping is a real blast, it's always been so much fun! It seems the smaller the garden, the more places my chooks have found to hide...

Good choices now that I think about it. NYC is one of a kind. Great city. Dallas is the perfect example of American suburbia. Hope you make the trip one day!

Forgot to mention--they have been filming the new "Dallas" TV show around town, so soon I guess you'll be able to "visit" via bad TV. I have a feeling it is going to be a little embarrassing for us real Dallas folks!

 

[Lbreznai]

I am also a new member and received such warm welcomes. It seems more like a family. I am looking forward to being a member also. So a very warm welcome to you.

 

[GreenMeadows]

Howdy! Glad ur here!!

 

[chickenlover91]

Always is so nice to meet new ppl!

!!

 

[DallasDad]

Thanks everyone.
Well, I got the coop mostly done and we picked up:
Buff Orpington (Buffy or Bossy)
Polish (Skitty... She's skittish)
Black Austrolorp (Cocoa)
Brahma (Cookies and Cream aka Cookie)

Hopefully they they like their new home and are on time with their rent (yummy eggs).

I'm happy to say that they have outsmarted me already. I built a "high" roost bar above a poop tray shelf at the back of coop. I set a couple of them up there and pretty soon all of them were up there giving us the stink eye treatment. Perfect I thought--they all fit nicely and they seem to like it. Little did I know they were quietly eyeing the tiny little cross bar in the middle of the a-frame. No need to worry about that little thing I thought. Sure it's higher than the roost bar but there is no way they would fly up there and one would barely fit... I just went out and peeked in and sure enough all four of them are mashed in up there asleep!!! Chickens-1. Me-0.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Quote:
Good choices now that I think about it. NYC is one of a kind. Great city. Dallas is the perfect example of American suburbia. Hope you make the trip one day!

Forgot to mention--they have been filming the new "Dallas" TV show around town, so soon I guess you'll be able to "visit" via bad TV. I have a feeling it is going to be a little embarrassing for us real Dallas folks!

Sounds great. The only part of Dallas I've ever really seen anything of before is the airport, so that should be great.

(And even that was just on Google Images

)

Glad your chooks are settling in well! We had to totally renovate our coop too a while ago, it was old and the rain pretty much made the wood on it fall apart.