Utah!

[MoriahQuilts]

Sasha, I'm so sorry that one duckie didn't make it. :-( The surviving ducks are so cute, and I'm glad you're seeing improvements in the leg and the yolk sac.

delarooshens, thanks for the suggestion!

Happy, those guys were actually at Peterson Farm, not IFA. I'm glad you like the names, I've been giggling a bit myself. I suspect these guys are supposed to have coloring like a golden laced wyandotte, which means they're lacing is pretty awful, but I still really am thrilled with them. I can't wait to see what they look like all filled in.

I think I'd call them "Golden Splash" just for kicks!

 

[Whittni]

Oh, that does look awful. I liked it better when the feathers weren't growing back...*shivers*

 

[happy2bhere]

Ok, I finally found what file my husband put all of the pictures in of the "Tour de Coop" in Salt Lake City so I can show you what I got to see yesterday. I took a million photos so I will try to cut them down to the ones that best show what each one looked like. I am going to have to post some of these seperately because of room, I hope it doesn't drive everyone crazy.
The first one we went to we knew right away which house it was because of the vegetable/flower garden in the front yard. It seems that alot of the city people that want chickens also like to raise alot of their own food with clever and interesting gardening ideas. This one had garden in every nook and cranny of their small (and I mean small) yard.



I loved this pond that they had with waterfalls and old fashioned water pump. It made a lovely cool splashing noise.



Just around the corner they had two outdoor rooms with shade and comfortable furniture to sit on



And lastley and most importantly the coop. It wasn't very big because they didn't have much room for anything bigger but it was in a nice shaded area. One of the chickens was clucking quite loudly because she seemed to want to lay an egg and the screen door was open and didn't afford her any privacy. This little boy didn't seem to know what to make of all of that noise.

 

[the-bird-man]

So some of you may remember Rocco's head being stripped clean.  Well we figured out what was happening.  While out in the yard, Sasha noticed Rocco's head appear to pull backwards out of the corner of her eye.  She watched closer to see one of the hens grabbing hat feathers and pulling.  The worst part was Rocco just sat there and let her pull, over and over.  So the mystery of the missing feathers has been solved.  Rocco has been separated from the hens for quite a while now and here are the before and after pictures of his head.  Boy does it look interesting as the feathers start to grow back in.

Before



After



PS, for the winner of the Roo, come get him.  He is all yours.  

those are blood feathers and they will be very tender and will hurt if you touch them. poor rocco

 

[happy2bhere]

The second coop is made of wood that was recycled from an old fence and had an antique door as an entrance to the run. He had a rooftop garden on the top of the coop that looked pretty.





There were growboxes around the outside of the run



An inside view



And of course, a garden



Probably not appropriate to show, but I thought his back porch was really cute

 

[MoriahQuilts]

Happy - thanks for posting those! Looking forward to more!

 

[happy2bhere]

This next one had garden and a lot of herbs that she was growing. She had a large coop with assorted laying hens and a small one with silkies and cochins. She also had a polish hen that was in about the same state as poor Rocco. She was just trying to stay out of the way of the other chickens and luckily there was a place for her to hang out and grow her feathers back. Everyone else seemed to be getting along really well. She said her littlest silky was actually in charge and would tell the bigger chickens what to do. She was cute

! Lots of very sweet looking little cochins too




Bigger coop with way cute grow box

I couldn't back up to get a better picture because of the garden behind me.



She had interesting ideas for nest boxes. She said that the hens preferred these round ones over the other square ones that she had. I really like the idea of a painting for her chickens. I don't know that they appreciate but I sure do




She had a mirror mounted on her fence and a water feature in the rocks. You can't see it very well but it made a lovely water sound

 

[happy2bhere]

Everyone kept telling us that we had to be sure to go to this next one. It had a mixed flower and veg. garden in the front yard and when we got to the back it was pretty amazing. Unfortunately the pictures don't show it well because the yard wasn't super big and I couldn't get back far enough to get a picture of the whole thing. The interesting thing about the way they did their chickens was that they really didn't have an attached run to to the coop. Instead they had what reminded me of those hamster tubes that hamsters run in to get to different cages and rest areas. The chickens had pathways (some covered and some open) that went between their grow house and covered fruit tree area and then followed along the fences and went around their yard. It was kind of neat because they had nice shady areas and places to sun themselves as well as wind blocks and breezy areas. I think they were pretty happy

The hen house. You can see the covered fruit tree area just behind it.



The pond located in front of the henhouse on the other side of the path leading up to it. Couldn't get it in the first picture. Not enough room



The exit from the back of the henhouse that takes them into the hamster tube chicken runs



Chicken using the run between the greenhouse and fruit tree area. When she gets to the end of that she
can turn either left or right and keep going. And of course, have a snack along the way.

The greenhouse. I wish I could show you the chicken tube paths along the sides of the fence. It looked so shady and cool.

 

[happy2bhere]

The next two I will post together to try to cut down on size. I don't want to take over the whole forum and make people crazy with my enthusiasm.

I took a picture of this one because I liked the idea of a secure, safe coop with a run that will keep them safe from predators
at night and while they aren't home but then they also have a big fenced area with lots of shade that they can run around in
during the day. They have clipped their wings so they don't fly out. I also like that the roof of the run and coop is clear for lots
of light.


I thought the next one was kind of clever. They had a playhouse that they built a coop under when they decided to get chickens.
Pretty cute



I don't know that the chickens are really interested in using the slide

but I thought it was good use of space for
a small SLC backyard.



Enjoying the shade on a hot day



I love this back porch too. Someday I hope to have a sun room and a big tree to sit under like this. Sigh..........

 

[happy2bhere]

OK. I swear that this is the last one I am going to post about. I will keep the rest to myself.

I was impressed with the craftsmanship and artistic touches on this one. The gentleman enjoyed showing me all of the personal
touches and unique features on the coop he had made. I really liked it.


The grey parts of the coop are made out of metal and he has layered it in kind of a fish scale pattern. Very pretty.
The pictures don't show it very well. You can see the nest box on the side and he did a great job making the lid
work seamlessly. The fish scale pattern goes across the lid as well. The little girls aren't mine but they are really
cute and very interested in the chickens.



My favorite part of the coop was this corner window that looked out into the run as well as the yard. If it were
a little bigger it would have made a great art studio. I think it would be great to paint with my chickens wandering
around outside where I could see them.



A view from the inside with a very curious resident checking us out.



I quite liked these vents that could be slid open and closed as needed. I want some in my coop. And of course,
every coop needs a good hummingbird feeder

I hope I haven't taken up too much space but I really wanted all of you that didn't get to go to be able to see some of
what I saw. It was waaay fun. Maybe next year we can meet up and go together. (and of course go to lunch!)