- May 18, 2007
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These are our "ladies". We have a Barred Plymouth Rock, a Buff Orpington, a Silver-Laced Wyandotte, and an Ameracauna.
This is our henhouse. It wasn't quite finished in this picture. It sits in the garage, and has an old kitchen cabinet mounted on each side for a nesting box. They've been roosting in there at night instead of on the roost, which I hope they quit doing before they start laying. The whole bottom of the henhouse is accessible, making it very easy to clean. It is pretty funny to sit in the garage and hear the hens clucking as our twin 2 year old boys play on their train table. We did that this evening, and every few minutes, both boys would run over and look at the the hens and say "Hello, ladies!"
This is the inside. The box you see there is the framed opening to the outside run. The RIR, one of the four we picked up on Sunday, had some possibly serious issues with her feet, so we actually brought her back and exchanged her for a different bird (the Silver-Laced Wyandotte) the next day. She was also quite loud, prancing around and going "bukbukbuk buuuuuuuk!" I sure hope they don't all do that so loudly when they get a bit older. Our youngest 2 are still peeping, so I don't know for sure what we're in for.
This is the run. It is made from a 6x6x6 dog kennel. The birds are learning to get in and out, and are doing a pretty good job of it so far. Next summer, we'd like to add a couple of panels to the run to expand it and raise a couple of chicks. We'll probably put a nicer roof on it then too, and enclose it in lattice so we don't have to look at the kennel walls. We'll leave a cutout for viewing, though, because watching them is proving to be a lot of fun.
Our boys are very excited and sweet with them so far. The dog is quite interested, but not stressed. The Buff Orpington and the Barred Rock are the youngest, and they were hatched together 11 weeks ago. They are very tame, quite sweet, and will sit in our laps or even on our shoulders (though we'd best not encourage that for much longer). We let them into the yard in the evenings. The Ameracauna is 15 weeks old and the Wyandotte is almost 19 weeks. They are both quite a bit more cautious, but will let us hold them and don't peck. I dont quite trust them in the yard yet, as they arent easy to catch. We hope to have our first eggs by the end of the summer. I'd love to get feedback on our set-up!
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