Building new coop, 2nd ever

[HollyKMS]

FYI hardware cloth is pure evil incarnate. It's like wrestling with a porcupine on springs. I think I might've created new cuss words. Maybe.

 

[HollyKMS]

Got the rear and front frames about done, even with first coat of paint!

Not much to see until they're up though. Plan to do that Friday when I have help to move them. Can't wait!

Got part of the house finished this weekend & today. It's 37" x 41"- odd I know but that's what fit the space I had, and since I'm good with the saw, I don't mind cutting for off-sizes.

I found some 1/2" R13 flat insulation. An 8'x4' sheet was $10.15 @ Home Depot, and that was more than enough to outline the house. I like the way the height and depth are panning out. My 7.5-yr-old daughter is even a good ht for it...

And just because she was following me around, I snapped a pic of our Welsummer. Her coloring & wattles are filling out beautifully! Guess all that shredded cheese & chopped spinach is working!

 

[HollyKMS]

Hello again everyone!

We (I and my sister, who was visiting for Thanksgiving) finished the house/run yesterday, and the chickens had their first evening in Casa des Pullet last night. The inside run area's about 11'4" x 32". The house's about 40" x 32". The front (human) door is 6' x 32" & the rear of the run is 8'H so there's adequate slope for rain drainage and a simple makeshift gutter on front so it won't drip on my head.

Since I noticed the girls REALLY enjoy wallowing around in sand, I put a thin layer of sand in the run for them. (Sand is cheap.)

The way the run sits, the rain always comes in at an angle from the left to the right (from the NE generally) around the side of the house, so I enclosed the left side but not the right (except the left-side rear door, because it's under the awning anyway). We get so much rain here for half the year!

The non-fluorescent bulb in the house has a 60W ceramic heat bulb in it, for the nights when it gets below freezing. I put the 2 fluorescent lights (there's one under the house as well) and the 2 reg bulbs over the run on a lamp timer from 5-5 every day for the winter. The lights, screws, some of the wood, etc, were recycled to keep costs down...

I'm VERY happy with it and the sand makes it uber easy to clean up every morning (I just use a cat litter scoop to remove the poop and it takes 5 minutes). What a great idea!(which I discovered on a thread on this site!) The only thing I didn't consider was the weight of the roof of the house with the shingles on it. I can lift it without a problem for cleaning & such but I definitely wouldn't want to have to hold it up for 20 minutes at once! ha ..Yet another learning experience

The reward of completion was short-lived--tonight when I went to put them down for the night, Wyandotte was gone.

I looked everywhere. No feathers or evidence of foul play that I could find but also no sign of her and no sounds. I'm harboring hope that she'll reappear tomorrow unscathed but it's suburbia--cats galore (among other things). Keep your fingers crossed for her!

Since I previously managed to recover RIR after a couple of days absence, I'm going to try not to obsess about her and see what tomorrow brings...
I knew it'd be disruptive to change their housing overnight but I didn't expect a runaway!

DANG! Poor thing...out there, all alone...

In other news, I acquired 3 (standard) leghorn pullet chicks over a week ago. They've been raised in the house but now that they've gotten quite a lot of their adult feathering (and noticeable chicken smell), I've moved them to a warm corner of the garage with a couple big lights and room to run around. I'm already anxious that one might be a rooster, since they said they had a "90% guarantee" on sexing.

WTH. 90% is NOT a guarantee. A 'guarantee' by definition requires it to be 100%. That's what 'guarantee' means- Am I right? I mean, if I come in and say "1 of the 3 is a rooster!" they'll say "Well, you're one of the 10%" which equals NO GUARANTEE AT ALL. I was annoyed but got them anyway. I'm just throwing to the wind and hoping for the best. (What happens in Vancouver, stays in Vancouver HA!)

I guess worrying won't do a darned thing for me either way, but I'll have to get rid of any male(s) as soon as possible, if we have any. 'Can't have a rooster in suburbia- I don't hate my neighbors, after all

Hope all of you had a turkeyliscious Thanksgiving!
Holly

 

[The Sheriff]

Wow, I think you did a great job. Please tell hubby I said so!