Well, I finally have the motivation that I need to build the coop!

[Maidservant]

Got woken up this morning at 5 am by a chick chirping. I thought it was one of the three that was out begging for food at the patio door, so I get up to give it a treat (spoiled rotten I know). The chicks in the chicken tractor are trying to come out of the end (which is weird) and all of a sudden, I see two little fox ears poke up behind their cage! I shot at it, but I don't think I hit it. Hopefully I scared it enough to keep it away until I can get the coop built and electric wire around it.

Anyway, I'm planning on building a 10 ft x 20 ft coop with large run for the chickens, a smaller "chick house", and a duck pen. I'm tired of their current run flooding when it rains, although the ducks love it, I'm afraid that the chickens hate it! I can afford maybe one extra roll of welded wire, but nothing else until summer is over. We are beginning to take apart boat pallets and shipping crates for lumber, and this incident has definatly given me the motivation to get those pallets and crates torn apart!

I'm out of work for the summer (substitute teacher) starting June 11th, so I'll have plenty of time to work on it over the summer.

Ok, hopefully I can calm down and go back to sleep for another hour or two. As soon as we start building, I'll start posting updates.

Thanks for letting me semi-rant and get that out!
Emily in NC

 

[lunkerchicken]

Gotta watch out for the foxes, very sneaky! I can't wait to see your coop, sounds like it will be huge! How many chickens do you/will you have? Pictures as soon as you get them!

 

[ging3rhoffman]

Get up and get that coop built !

My husband thought he had a couple of months to finish our coop and run. He didnt realize he would get it all done in a week! I kept handing him boards,drill,screws,fencing and before he knew it was done. I couldnt have waited another week, those chicks grew so fast and i wanted them out of the basement and pooing outside!

 

[kassy68]

Quote:
I hear ya... I'm new into chickens and have my husband on board for my coop (kinda). I am out there handing over lumber, guns, saws , what ever it takes to keep his job easier... He says I ask too many questions though... well I must have learned something cuz I built a wall myself yesterday while he had to work..

Heres my coop page... https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=30900

 

[Maidservant]

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 chickens along with around 60 chicks (from 2 days old up to 4 months old). I also have 30 ducks along with 8 ducklings for the duck house. The pallets would have already been apart, but my fiance has been sick for two weeks, and I've been sick for the past week. I'm just now getting to where I can feed everyone in two trips instead of four or five. I hope that I'll be able to feed everyone in one long stretch again soon!

Our goal with building the coop is to not spend any money on it. We are getting as many pallets and crates as we need for free, we have hinges, a window, wire for the run, hammers, nails, screws, and all sorts of power tools already. My dad used to be a contractor, so he has "bunches of stuff" as I like to say. I will have to go to the salvage store for a couple packs of shingles, but those are only $4 per pack, so there won't be much invested in those, I just won't be able to guarantee having a roof of one color, lol.

I will be spending money on the duck pen though. I'm going to need a load of sand and a load of gravel, along with a few pieces of lattice and more wire.

For the chick pen I'll just need a big roll of hardware cloth (also from the salvage store).

In a way, I'm glad that I didn't hit the fox. She was too beautiful. In another way, I wish that I did, we can always use an extra fox skin! I love foxes, but I love my babies more! We normally have rabbit "leftovers" from butchering that I put at the corner of our property to keep the foxes away from everything else, but it's been about 6 months since our last butcher date, so I've ran out of "extras." That will change in another two months though. This is the first year that we've had to worry about foxes. Typically it is the neighbors dog (which isn't here any more) or hawks.

I'm waiting for my medicine to kick in, then I'll be going out to care for the critters, then up to the garden to pick strawberries and peas. Then I'll rest for a little while and get started on tearing those pallets apart!

Emily in NC

PS - Here are some pics!

This is why the ducks get their own pen:

This little girl is about twice this size now, with a more pronounced "poof". This is what you get when you cross a sultan with a RIR. Yes, I know, our kitchen floor looks funny:

I'll get more photos when I can!

 

[Mahonri]

That's a lot of ducks!

Just git R dun!!

Dang foxes......

 

[Maidservant]

I like the ducks better than the chickens, but don't let the chickens know that!