Ribh's D'Coopage

[BY Bob]

Good morning Bob enjoy your day

I will give it my best.

 

[Ribh]

It was raining on my head when I took this photo.
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Stunning. I love getting the sky pictures on this thread!

 

[Ribh]

I was out by the beach at sunset and it was so lovely I thought I'd take a snap to share with the online chicken chums. Can you see the moon?

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Wow. I love the moon! It shows up really clearly. So beautiful ~ but I suspect very cold.

 

[Ribh]

I was wondering how your sunset was tonight @BY Bob ! We had a glorious 2 hours of a gentle rain tonight. We didn't have many leftover clouds, but the overall colors were stunning!!

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You're right. Lovely colours.

 

[Ribh]

I think that @Ribh run is simply amazing. I am still not sure i understand the full layout. Add to that it has a view! Her ladies are not suffering from boredom. There is plenty to explore and do. I need to improve mine a lot to get close to her's. They are lucky ladies.

I will do you a sketch & try & get a picture that shows the layout better, Bob. It only looks complicated because of the angles I take my pictures from.

 

[Ribh]

We are having odd weather. The girls got a morning run & one later in the day. It sort of showered in between. That's when the lad & I made chocolate crackles because he could do pretty much everything himself except the copha.

I also took the lad for a late afternoon walk & while we were admiring someone else's chickens through the fence the owner arrived home & invited us in & the lad got to collect some eggs from her chickens. He was thrilled beyond words. If he stays much longer my girls will be the epitome of the jolly fat lady. He would feed them all day is allowed.

 

[MaryJanet]

Wow. I love the moon! It shows up really clearly. So beautiful ~ but I suspect very cold.

It was cold but not chilly. We both agreed the exercise was harder in the cold air.

 

[MaryJanet]

We are having odd weather. The girls got a morning run & one later in the day. It sort of showered in between. That's when the lad & I made chocolate crackles because he could do pretty much everything himself except the copha.

I also took the lad for a late afternoon walk & while we were admiring someone else's chickens through the fence the owner arrived home & invited us in & the lad got to collect some eggs from her chickens. He was thrilled beyond words. If he stays much longer my girls will be the epitome of the jolly fat lady. He would feed them all day is allowed.

I'm glad he's being a little more outward in his attitude!

 

[Ribh]

I'm glad he's being a little more outward in his attitude!

It's been a big adjustment for a little boy. Whenever I have him I try to make sure he has as much outside time as possible but I'm getting older & a bit short on stamina ~ & patience is not one of my virtues. He *watered* my garden for me yesterday so thank goodness it also rained!

 

[Ribh]

Here is a rough coop layout @BY Bob.
Basically it is in an L shape.
The coop is the blue square. It is raised about 4' off the ground so the girls can use the space under it & have extra shelter if needed. I have put sand @ this end for dustbathing. It is a favourite area with all the girls.
The red is raised garden beds. I have a passionfruit @ the end opposite the coop. This area is fully covered. The passionfruit is doing well & should be shading the roof area come summer, when it is really needed.
The gate leads into the run with the trees & bushes. The green is roughly where the run extension will go.

This was the coop in the building process.
The coop run goes to the edge of the drop off on our hill & that is as far as our run extension can go too.

It's almost impossible to show the entire layout in one shot.
We could do with more space, as Shad pointed out ~ but that is almost always the case with backyard chickens.
We've done the best we can with space & terrain limitations & tried to keep the run as interesting as possible. I will be adding some low roosts when the extension is done.

The coop could easily take another 15 chickens but there is not the run space. I really can't squeeze any more room out of what we have. We did consider enclosing under the verandah but if a chicken died under there I'd have terrible trouble retrieving her so we ditched that idea.