Clean Fence

We're starting to work on our garden space for next year, and step one for us was to clean up this fence while there was still good access. We sprayed on a wood cleaner, then pressure washed it off. Aaron will go back and lightly sand to get off the fuzz and I'll stain it so it stays brighter longer. What a difference there is already. We had to stop when our neighbor got home and had people over, so just a little ways to go. 

The plan is for raised beds back in that corner.  The little fence will come out, along with some of the sidewalk.  I don't know how far we'll get this year, but either way it will be okay.
We got a bunch of siding put up yesterday, we're so close on the back!  We didn't have what we needed painted for those last few spots, so I'll work on that this week.

We had an action packed weekend, the best sushi we've ever had at Mame in Eugene.  I don't know how well you know my food preferences, but I'm not big on seafood.  I ate multiple raw sea creatures - and enjoyed it.  So fresh and good.  The chef does a special, you name your per person price and he makes up all sorts of different things to try.  Since there were 6 of us, we probably had 15 or more different things - having a friend that knew the owner well might have bumped that up a bit.  Stand outs were the raw scallops (tasted literally like butter) with sushi rice risotto (coconut milk and lemongrass), lots of things I can't remember the names of, seared ahi sashimi, and mango curry cheesecake.

Saturday we went to Corvallis with the intent of going to da Vinci Days, but never made it down there after some shopping and catching up with good friends.  I'm a little bummed about it, but we still had an awesome day.

Sunday we worked around the house.  We're gearing up for a long vacation, so I'm feeling the pressure of getting these summer projects wrapped up!

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.  

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 :(

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!

Work work work

We got a lot done again this week/weekend.  We finished installing all the windows, got some trim up, put the floors in, got the nest boxes mostly finished, worked on the upper roof and maybe most importantly...found a door!  We had been waiting for just the right thing for weeks, checking the Re Store, craigslist, every store that sells used/damaged doors.  

Aaron found this door for free on his bike ride home from work!  Total score.

It needs a lot of work, I got most of the old paint off one side today.  Luckily Aaron saw online that you can use a heat gun to get the paint off more easily.  

And, also luckily a heat gun came with the house.  It does work well, and made the process much less tedious.  

Lots of little helpers!  It turns out, I think all of my chicks are girls.  Good because they are all girls.  Bad because I was really banking on that Welsummer (bottom left) being a boy, and because of that got some extra chicks.  Now I have 9 birds, which is wonderful, but I think too much for our city lot.  I have a home for the brown one in the middle if it's a girl (it's the only one I'm still unsure of).  He/she is way too skittish even with all the people time I spent with it.  After having Bert, who we can't even get near, I'm not doing that again.  It makes it so hard when you can't catch them easily.  So I think Bert is getting the boot too.  Anyone want a 3 year old easter egger?  7 birds sounds much more manageable.  

It's really hard to take good pictures of the coop, it's really tucked in, both behind our garage and near the corner of our lot and next to a tree.  Kind of too bad because it will be hard to see once it's all done. But we like that it's not visible from the street.  

I'm hoping we can get everyone moved in by next weekend.  We still need to finish the lower roof, the nest boxes and the door, which is going to take some time since it needs to be cut down and mended in some places.  I'm ready, I miss my automatic door locking everyone in and letting them out first thing in the morning!

Bigger, Better.

We worked our butts off this weekend and made good progress on the coop.  Thank goodness for sun breaks in all the rain we've been having.  Two more sections of wall to put up and all the windows but one (along with lots of other things).  I didn't get a picture of the window we put in tonight, it is to Aaron's right in the photo.  

The babies are already loving it!  And practicing laying eggs!

Slowly but surely.

Progress has been slow, but we were getting somewhere until this bad weather hit.  We found all the windows we needed in Junction City at a place called Discount Windows.  They must have had an acre of windows, it was crazy.
Hoping for this rain to let up this weekend so we can get some work done and move the chickens into better digs.

It's Happening.

It's happening and there's no going back now.  The big chickens will be sleeping in the garage until further notice.  We're planning as we go, so hopefully this will turn out well and go quickly!