I don't know nothing about giving no shots LH, but wouldn't a shot in the thigh be better than a shot in the behind?
Good evening y'all! Been a very busy day here at the Blue Feather! [my little long time fantasy name for our place, if it had ever been big enough to warrant one of them high falutin' names!
]Morning came early as usual. By mid morning, I had the coop cleaned out and fresh shavings in place. Ooooh so much better smelling in there now! The only part of the entire coop to ever get to stinking is right under the roost ladder. I'm toying with a few ideas to make that situation better, but like anything else around here, it all takes time!
Left for town around noon for chicken feed and supplies. And of course, as luck would have it, I ran into three different folks at the feed store that I haven't talked to in some time!
Naturally we had to spend a little bit of time chatting and getting caught up with the events of the summer. It never ceases to amaze me how much can happen in such a little tiny town like Cheney. All the drama! All of the intrigue!
So, got back home around 2:30-3:00, to a DH who was in the process of putting legs on the dog house to turn it into a small coop!
This is going to be one awesome little coop! Denny had insulated it years ago when we had built it for Jasper, but that silly old mutt has never liked it very much. And now days, he's getting so old that no amount of insulation in an outdoor dog house is going to be enough for him. He sleeps on the floor at the foot of our bed every night. There's something so cozy about that!
But I digress, as usual!
Denny had cut out for and installed a small window in the back end of the dog house/ now coop, so the girls will have plenty of daytime light to see by. It made it seem almost twice as big inside. The legs for the coop give it about a foot and a half to two feet of headroom underneath. I'll close off the south and west sides of that to give any girls living in there a bit of a break from the elements. Knowing how our prevailing winds blow around here, that should be enough for that little area. I do plan on building them a much larger covered area within their yard, but the covered part won't be fenced off. With their entire yard area fenced off, I just don't see the need. It has proven itself predator proof several times already, from at least 4 footed predators at any rate. Hawks are always another matter. Hence the covered area. That will serve more as an area to get out of the rain/wind/snow than anything else.
So, now it remains for me to button up the front door of the coop, put a couple of nest boxes in there just for the comfort of familiar surroundings, and install a roost up off of the floor. Oh, and let's not forget the ramp! Must have a ramp, because ultimately, this coop will be for my old ladies. They've worked so hard for the last 4.5 years. They've earned a respite from crazy boys and their antics!
It should be just the perfect size for all four of them.
Now all I have to do besides finish off the little coop is to make the necessary alterations to my main coop to better accommodate the boys. I'm going to partition off one corner inside of the coop for the boys. They don't need all that much space as all they ever do in the coop is to sleep at night. The rest of their time is usually spent outdoors in the current covered run.
We're going to build them a much larger covered run behind the coop just for they and they alone. It will be nearly twice the size of their current area, so that should make for some much happier little men. Granted, it's not the 3 little coops with three little flocks of girls I've been promising them for half of forever, but it's a step in the right direction!
Anyhow, they'll have their own separate entrance to the main coop and I won't have to give them piggy back rides to bed every night any more! Not that I mind that at all. It's part of our snuggle time. But it makes it darn awful hard to find someone to take care of everyone if we should want or need to be away for a few days!
So keep hanging in there Kathy! We're still going in the right direction and making progress...slowly...but each day brings us just a little bit closer! I can so hardly wait to see Mama and the babies ensconced in their new temporary little coop! I just know they're going to be absolutely darling!
So Beth, what's for breakfast for Xander tomorrow morning? Scrambled eggs?
Just make sure Ultrasuede gets some too!
