Chicken Coop!

I kind of left you all hanging with the chicken coop remodel...

It's still got a few things left, but we added some siding and trim today, and got this area all the way done.  We love it!

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!

Coming Soon...

Coop upgrade and expansion project!

Tweenagers

They're getting pretty big!  Unfortunately, they are still living part time in the house.  Which is becoming a problem.  They've outgrown their box (understatement).  Last week we picked up a little coop for them in Corvallis.  It's pretty flimsy and not secure at all.  Not my best purchase ever, but we were desperate for something to transition them to outside.  So while I'm waiting for Aaron to predator proof the coop, I'm getting them used to the cold, hard world without heat lamps.  They do okay down to 60, but it's getting into the 30s at night still, so they aren't quite ready.  

 

My baby!  Still hoping this is not a rooster.  I am not going to be able to handle that well.

This weather has been great for letting them run around.

Little bit of a photo bomb.

Rooster, you are fine and all, but I'm ready for you to move on.  Counting the days until this one is old enough to give to a friend.

Seriously.  Please be a girl!

My "roost" is barely big enough now.  I love spending so much time with them, but it will be nice to reclaim our living room.

Their new tiny coop!

I went to run some errands and came home to this.  How Buffer?  Why?  I'm not sure how long she was in there, less than an hour, but jeez.  I was all worried the babies were cooking in the sun or something and she was the one that needed to be rescued.

The older hens were spending lots of time around these little ones today.  Camilla was the first to act out in aggression - maybe because they are getting as tall as her?  She was trying to peck them through the fence.  The black one held her ground and pecked right back!  I'm not sure they'll be so brave when there isn't a barrier.

Next project: Expand chicken coop and add privacy fencing to block the view of our yard from the street.  Never mind the half gutted house...

Peepers

Babies!

Oh I love these little fuzzballs!  Always in a hurry.  They're already losing their down and starting to get tail feathers :(  Trying to enjoy every second with them.

Babies

We drove all over Friday to pick up our babies.  I had carefully planned out where to get the breeds I wanted, when I wanted them.  I was going to get them from the Urban Farm Store, but when Aaron called them to make sure the chicks had come in, the two breeds we planned on getting "all came in dead".  They get their chicks from a local hatchery I had planned on going through directly, but changed my mind after reading some convincing bad reviews and didn't feel comfortable going with them.  Over 30 dead chicks that had been shipped from just a few hours away...I'm glad I didn't get my chicks from them in the end.
We scrambled that morning to piece together the breeds we wanted.  First stop was in Woodburn, where we picked up a Welsummer and a Black Australorp (my number one this year).  They were out of Ameracuanas (AKA Easter eggers), along with every small town feed store in the Willamette Valley except in Newberg!  We must have called 15 feed stores.  Finally when we called Newberg and they said they had 10 left, we got in the car and went.  The plan was to get ONE.  Then after we packed up our chick, Aaron says, well don't you want two?  I mean, what was I to say to that?  He picked out the final chick and is calling her "his chick".
So 4 babies, and talk of one more this Friday from Portland...if they get in the breed they are planning on.  That adds up to 5 + 4.   Way too many birds for our little coop in the city with a 5 bird limit!  The plan is to expand the coop, put up privacy fencing, maybe sell one of the pullets (or roosters if that problem presents itself), and probably get rid of two of our older girls.
Tonight I asked Aaron to hold them while I cleaned the brooder out.   Oh it was cute.

There was some serious bonding going on.  I was cracking up as he stroked that little yellow head (towards the top, below) and she would close her eyes blissfully.

We are calling that one Troublemaker for now.  She is constantly trying to peck someone's eyes/toes/face/wings, and she's pretty fearless when it comes to jumping off of things.

Here are all 4.  Aaron's dark Americauna on the left, the light one I picked out at the bottom, the Welsummer with the well defined line down her back and the Australorp in the back.

I have to admit there have been many hours in the last two days dedicated to just sitting and watching them.  They are so small and soft!  And vivacious, so funny to watch them run around and interact with each other.  The goal is to get these guys tame, tame tame.  I have been wanting to raise chicks for years and  I'm loving every minute of it!