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Well, I'm behind the 8 ball to find a place for Atlas. He has set his sights on my 6 year old barred EE hen, Panda, and it isn't pretty. She refuses to submit and she fights him like any rooster, but she's a small hen and he's huge so I'm afraid he's going to hurt her, or go after Amanda, who is completely defenseless against him. I was dreading this day.
Can't put him with Rex's group because Rex will kill him. Can't put him with Isaac, I don't imagine because Isaac is not amenable to sharing his hens anymore than Rex is, plus he hates barred hens and will loathe Atlas as much as he does Deacon.
We are thinking about a very small coop on the back side of the old hens' extension pen, which has a gate between it and the main pen of that coop. That way, even when we build our coveted barn and tear down the old hens' coop, it wont disturb the new little coop. And when Atlas moves into the coop where Ike lives, after Ike is gone, the little coop can be used for my bantams or any other use we need at the time. And the pen is already in place, just need to cut a hole through the chain link to attach the coop to the pen at that side.
And another brainstorm: with a 4x6 or 4 x8 coop and covering that extension pen, the 9 Belgian D'Anvers could move into it, the old ladies into the super nice bantam coop, which is lower to the ground and has nice big windows and Atlas, Ro, Rachel (and maybe even two or three of the Stukel BR hens) could stay where they are until such time as Isaac has left us. That would solve all my issues for the time being.
Here is the area the coop would go directly behind this pen, with the 6' side running along the pen so as to not intrude out into the "walking alley" between it and our squash garden area.

Where the coop would go against the fence:
Actually, now that we have walked that area, I think we'll do it at the end of the pen rather than the back of it. That makes a more logical area for the human door to be and is on slightly more level ground. It would be behind that long outside roost bar you see in the first picture.
Almost forgot Atlas's 21 week photos! Now that he's found his voice, he's using it... a lot!




Can't put him with Rex's group because Rex will kill him. Can't put him with Isaac, I don't imagine because Isaac is not amenable to sharing his hens anymore than Rex is, plus he hates barred hens and will loathe Atlas as much as he does Deacon.
We are thinking about a very small coop on the back side of the old hens' extension pen, which has a gate between it and the main pen of that coop. That way, even when we build our coveted barn and tear down the old hens' coop, it wont disturb the new little coop. And when Atlas moves into the coop where Ike lives, after Ike is gone, the little coop can be used for my bantams or any other use we need at the time. And the pen is already in place, just need to cut a hole through the chain link to attach the coop to the pen at that side.
And another brainstorm: with a 4x6 or 4 x8 coop and covering that extension pen, the 9 Belgian D'Anvers could move into it, the old ladies into the super nice bantam coop, which is lower to the ground and has nice big windows and Atlas, Ro, Rachel (and maybe even two or three of the Stukel BR hens) could stay where they are until such time as Isaac has left us. That would solve all my issues for the time being.
Here is the area the coop would go directly behind this pen, with the 6' side running along the pen so as to not intrude out into the "walking alley" between it and our squash garden area.
Where the coop would go against the fence:
Almost forgot Atlas's 21 week photos! Now that he's found his voice, he's using it... a lot!
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