Hens are ready for their permanent house and we are behind schedule.

[Mutt Farm]

WOW! Happy chickens! Love the design. Thank you for posting pics. Waiting for more!

 

[3baymares]

Yes they are still in the basement. But now they have a 12' by 40' area of the daylight sectioned off for them. It's large but
a mess down there. They are laying eggs (one of them at least) in an old office chair.

 

[Mutt Farm]

That's quite funny! I'm laughing with you if you can laugh. I purchased my first babies in Feb. My hubby (newly retired and very handy) had fair warning and was on board to build my dream habitat. Well, it's July. In May, I had to get creative. Their "coop" is a barn stall, the "run" is a paddock with chicken wire. Not what I dreamed of, but working, sort of...
Here's my "run" as of today.

Here is my custom almost made nest box

Chickens are 5 mos. I'm going to buy an office chair!
Thank you for your posts! Which came first: the chicken or the coop?

 

[JanetS]

In our case, the chickens of course. Then the coop.

 

[3baymares]

Your are very funny Mutt Farm! I loving every minute having our chickens even if they are destroying the basement. We have bonded (or at least I have to them) . I hope our girls will switch over to nesting boxes when they are in their house and I will not have to have the old office chair in there. I wonder if I am creating a problem? And one of my hens thinks that I am the rooster apparently.

 

[PapaChaz]

great thread, love the coop and run!

they'll acclimate pretty quickly actually. Chickens are a lot smarter than we give them credit for, for the most part anyway. I wouldn't worry about the one(s) laying in the office chair, once they get in there, a couple plastic eggs or golf balls in the nest box will get them pointed in the right direction! This batch of chickens we have are now aged 17 weeks through 20 weeks. No egg layers yet, but we should be close.

keep us updated, love the way your place looks, and I know they will as well


also 3baymares, I'll invite you to the Yo Georgians thread, several of us all from GA who post regularly. We actually had a meet and greet the first weekend in May at one members house, had a blast! you'll enjoy it I'm sure. We have some very knowledgable folks close around!


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/121387/yo-georgians/31400#post_15548982

 

[21hens-incharge]

LOL Now I know what to do with the old office chairs in the laundry room.

Mine are 16 weeks old and I am expecting eggs soon so I will keep a look out for them lol.

 

[PapaChaz]

LOL Now I know what to do with the old office chairs in the laundry room.

Mine are 16 weeks old and I am expecting eggs soon so I will keep a look out for them lol.

I guess that's appropriate for when they wanna 'get down to business' huh..............

 

[Mutt Farm]

I'm laughing again. Me thinks they will be happy as the dickens with a nest box or wherever. I've found that chickens do what chickens do. Kinda good that you spent extra time bonding. LOL you're the roo! Can't hurt!

 

[Mutt Farm]

I showed Hubby your plans...he's back on the job! If you decide not to go with office chairs... The nest box we built has a slanted roof to discourage becoming a hangout as it will be inside the coop for a while (I'm on Hubby time). We painted it with porch paint for EZ cleaning too. It's hinged for outside mount in the future. We drilled holes for ventilation as it's very hot here (but it's a "dry" heat LOL). Also put a landing bar on the front to keep the gals from jumping in on the eggs or roosting on the edge. Here's some pictures.