First Night

This is what happens when you kick over a full gallon of paint.

Sometimes it lands on things you wish it hadn't.

But the door is up - it has a handle on the inside (still waiting for the right one on the outside), a lock on the outside and one of those things that goes on the underside to prevent drafts (I think that's what it's for anyway).

I decided to paint the nest boxes blue - which is how the paint got spilled.

Aaron screened in the two end windows so the babies could have some ventilation tonight.  Both sides opened, but he screwed the other half shut, and fastened the framed screen for full security.

I don't have wood shavings down, because we are still working in there, but I did want to get them in tonight.  Chickens like routine.  Going to bed in a new place breaks their routine, and it was a stressful hour or so getting them settled.  Especially so with the heat.  Lots of panting going on.

Let us out of here! I had the unscreened window open to cool it down.  Once they realized it was an escape to outside, it had to be closed.

I set them on the roost several times before they finally stayed put.  The cochins especially did not want to go on the roost.  One of them continually threw their body at the now closed window trying to get out.

Can't we just sleep in our old coop?

I'm hoping they will do better tomorrow night, now that they know where home is.  Once they get it down, I can move the other girls out of the garage.  We'll add another roost, so the underdogs can get away from the bullies.

The Door

Oh this door.  It's been difficult from the beginning.  We wanted it to open on the other side, so we had to chisel in spots for the hinges.
Once that was done, we screwed in the hinges and hung the door.  But it wouldn't shut all the way.  After taking it off 5 or 6 times and making adjustments we (Aaron) finally got it to close properly.

Aaron likened this whole situation to getting off a bit on a quilt and then having it get worse and worse.  The concrete pad is sloped for water run off, the frame of the coop was slightly off because of this.  The door jamb is even more off, and so on and so forth.  The door is not straight at all, but it will work, and we keep reminding ourselves this is JUST a chicken coop.  

During the fun.

There it is in all its glory at 10:00 pm.  It still needs many things to make it a functional, locking door, but I think we can get the babies in tomorrow night.  I'll give them a night or two to get the hang of it before I mix in the older girls.  

Hot

I made these: Turkey Spinach Sliders
They are delicious.  My tips - skip the salt and add feta, and put it all in the Cuisinart for an easy dinner.

I got up early and did as much as I could outside before it got really hot.  I tore out our first garden - snap peas (done), lettuce (went bitter) and chard (never did well, was attacked by insects) and replanted today.

I had pepper starts that were waiting patiently to be planted.  I hope they do okay with the hot, I gave them some shade to help them adjust.  I also planted beets, more chard and silverbeets, lettuce and snow peas.  I also stuck in two zucchini plants in a weird place, so hopefully I remember to water them.

I grew lovely tomato starts and then had no where to put them, so they got root bound.  We'll see how they do.  This bed was strawberries that the chickens annihilated, it gets good sun, so I think eventually we'll pull out part of the concrete and widen it for a veggie bed.

This heat won't be good for the raspberries, I'm trying to keep them picked.

I finished reinforcing all of the top vents in the coop to keep nasty coons out.

And got the automatic door set up.

I'm dreading the 100 degree days coming up.  Anything over 78 and I am too hot!  Time to cut up a watermelon and make some popsicles!

Coop

I finished painting the door today and we got the nest boxes and the roof finished - yay!

We're trying to get everyone moved in before this crazy hot weather hits.  My poor cochins are panting at 80, they are going to be hurting at 100 :(

Bend

I took a quick trip to Bend to visit Megan, Jason and Wren.  I just realized Megan and I didn't take any pictures together unfortunately.

Lunch with Wren

Quilt exhibit at the High Desert Museum

New clothes for Wren!

Lunch at the Sno Cap.

Shopping at the Stitchin' Post

Pretty views on the drive home.

I had a great time, I can't wait to see you guys again!

Parakeet

One side painted!

The Door

We worked on this damn door all day. Putting it back together was the easy part. 

Although it was a job for an 18 inch drill bit. 

All the last bits of paint were removed. 

But something bad happened when we shortened it. It got cut crooked. We then spent hours trying to rectify this/figure out how to build the door jamb. The first try with a jig saw just made it worse. After that we got a much needed circular saw. We straightened the edge but there was still a chunk missing. It's a long story, the moral of which is - it was a mess.  

We worked into the night and got the plates up to hide the damaged areas. 

The good news is we picked the door color - on the first try. That never happens for us. Sherwin Williams in parakeet. 

Siding

We got the fish scale siding up on the back side today. I think it looks great!

We also made progress on the door, which is turning out to be frustrating but I think we have a game plan now. 

It involves these:

I really hope tomorrow isn't super rainy!  We're getting closer, but the little ones could certainly use more room. 

Chicken Happenings

I think the color has been decided, which is good because it's been holding up roof completion. 

The main color is called Felicity by Pittsburgh Paints. This is with Crater Lake. Too harsh I think.  

With Provence. Not enough distinction. 

With Crater Lake at 75%. We have a winner! 

In other chicken news, this is my favorite of the babies. She loves to be cuddled. If I haven't spent enough time holding her she lets me know by pulling on my pant leg until I pick her up. Then she tucks her head under my arm and snuggles in. 

Somebody pulled out this little one's tail today (my money's on Camilla!!). Poor girl. 

Laurel

Aaron has been putting off trimming this laurel for months.  The man who lived here before said it was the biggest job on the property.  So two months ago we bought a hedge trimmer.  Today we used it!  Unfortunately I have no after pictures, because it was after dark when we finished, including clean up.
Before:

During - thank you farm truck!

Our neighbor was so happy to have this done.  Aaron also trimmed up a shrub in her front yard.  I had her and a friend come over to look at my paint colors.  I think we have our colors picked out.  I really wanted to get a picture up tonight, but I didn't get one taken due to the laurel project taking over 4 hours.  I was able to get the paint for the shingles and the door at Sherwin Williams on the last day of their 30% off coupon.  It's not 40%, but it's still a good deal.  

Coop

I just lost my whole post that I stayed up too late working on.  So not a lot of commentary from me this time.
Working on the door.

Color choices

Fish scales that we made!

Cute chicken door.

Lower roof about to be finished.

Everyone getting along.  Names have been decided (all but one) so stay tuned!