- May 17, 2011
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I recently inherited two more hens from a friend. One of these gals, Sugar, had an incident a few months before wherein the friend's other hens pecked her pretty badly. She's doing fine, but another incident occurred here with my girls that added to her trauma, and I'm not sure she's ever going to be willing to integrate with my (or anyone's) other girls again. I did, however, recently receive some excellent advice with regard to helping her and our other girls to change the dynamic a bit and get her accepted and even adored (yes, it has to do with treats! LOL), so we have some things to try toward maybe trying integration again within a few months.
Meanwhile, she needs a better home for winter. I'd love some advice/ideas/plans for a simple, inexpensive, DIY segregation coop for her. For the moment, she's been free ranging in a separate part of the yard during the day and sleeping in a dog carrier on our deck at night (with plenty of bedding, and with garden frost blanket wrapped over it to keep her warm enough). But I know she would prefer to roost at night, and I'd love to have just a little more room for her to move around while inside. She can turn around easily and stand upright in the carrier, but I know it's not a permanent (nor even semi-permanent) solution; especially since she can't roost in it, and since our winters here are very cold and snowy, so she'll need something that will be warm enough at night.
We've been tossing around ideas, but I'm afraid not much is coming to us, other than maybe looking at plastic storage containers (the big ones)...? We're not very handy with wood, but my husband could build something very basic if needed; but if any of you could suggest a DIY we could do from some existing article, it would be wonderful! Thanks in advance... we really appreciate any help you can give!
Meanwhile, she needs a better home for winter. I'd love some advice/ideas/plans for a simple, inexpensive, DIY segregation coop for her. For the moment, she's been free ranging in a separate part of the yard during the day and sleeping in a dog carrier on our deck at night (with plenty of bedding, and with garden frost blanket wrapped over it to keep her warm enough). But I know she would prefer to roost at night, and I'd love to have just a little more room for her to move around while inside. She can turn around easily and stand upright in the carrier, but I know it's not a permanent (nor even semi-permanent) solution; especially since she can't roost in it, and since our winters here are very cold and snowy, so she'll need something that will be warm enough at night.
We've been tossing around ideas, but I'm afraid not much is coming to us, other than maybe looking at plastic storage containers (the big ones)...? We're not very handy with wood, but my husband could build something very basic if needed; but if any of you could suggest a DIY we could do from some existing article, it would be wonderful! Thanks in advance... we really appreciate any help you can give!