The chicks we're raising in the brooder in the garage are getting close to big enough to move outside. Since those 13 chicks will double the size of our flock, we decided to give the chickens a bigger yard. I set the posts one day after work last week (hooray for longer days!) and spent yesterday pulling fence and hanging gates. I still need to pull up the old fence posts and put in some t-posts, but the new yard is basically done. Sometimes I think we spoil them.
The girls seem to like their new digs, though.
Looking at the front entrance (you can see the back gate behind the big pecan tree). The fence
to the right is the edge of our back yard. The new chicken yard also goes behind the back yard.
This is from the inside front (to the left of the gate in the first picture), looking toward the back.
This part is pretty much the 'old' yard. I built the coop over the winter, in anticipation of the larger
flock.
Looking diagonally from one corner to the other. The posts in the foreground are from the
original fence line / gate. I need to pull them up. The red coop is the original one. I'll be putting
some temporary fencing around it soon, to create a yard-within-a-yard. Then, in a week or so,
I'll move the new chicks out there so they can be near the big ones for a few weeks before I
merge them all. For a reference to the size of the new yard, the tractor in the center of the
picture is inside the chicken yard.
Looking across the lower part of the chicken yard. The gate on the far end leads out to our
garden. I'm a little antsy about getting the chicken yard so close to the garden, because our
rooster (McLovin) can get over the 5-foot fence without a problem.
Foraging and being generally content.
I figure that with as much entertainment and as many eggs as they provide, they deserve a nice big yard. We weren't using the space for anything else.
The girls seem to like their new digs, though.
Looking at the front entrance (you can see the back gate behind the big pecan tree). The fence
to the right is the edge of our back yard. The new chicken yard also goes behind the back yard.
This is from the inside front (to the left of the gate in the first picture), looking toward the back.
This part is pretty much the 'old' yard. I built the coop over the winter, in anticipation of the larger
flock.
Looking diagonally from one corner to the other. The posts in the foreground are from the
original fence line / gate. I need to pull them up. The red coop is the original one. I'll be putting
some temporary fencing around it soon, to create a yard-within-a-yard. Then, in a week or so,
I'll move the new chicks out there so they can be near the big ones for a few weeks before I
merge them all. For a reference to the size of the new yard, the tractor in the center of the
picture is inside the chicken yard.
Looking across the lower part of the chicken yard. The gate on the far end leads out to our
garden. I'm a little antsy about getting the chicken yard so close to the garden, because our
rooster (McLovin) can get over the 5-foot fence without a problem.
Foraging and being generally content.
I figure that with as much entertainment and as many eggs as they provide, they deserve a nice big yard. We weren't using the space for anything else.
