Ready for their Closeups

Sally

Celia

  

Urilla

 

Josephine

Wyatt Earp: The Sheriff

(So the females are named after Wyatt Earp's 4 "wives" just in case you were wondering)

Very special delivery!

The chicks arrived on June 9th...

We sectioned off a portion of the coop for their brooder.
Used aspen bedding which is non toxic.

The chicks arrive via mail from a local hatchery.

A brooder light. Non medicated chick starter crumble (Manna). 

And fresh room temperature water.

Two buff Orpington females, a black Sumatra male, 1 Dominique female, 1 Egyptian Fayoumis female, and a Delaware female.

All made it through shipping just fine!

Cooped Up

Concrete board siding. Once painted the finish lasts 30 years.
Metal roofing panels.

Coop/Barn/Garden

The chickens will be allowed to free range.

Night lights, partly to deter predators, partly because it looks so darn cute.

These are dark sky lights-to avoid unnecessary light pollution-with LED bulbs that generate almost zero heat and last for many years.

Entrance from the barn interior into the coop.

Coop interior

Coop d'Etat

More advanced stages in the coop construction.

It's finished dimensions will be 12x12. 8x12 interior 4x12 porch.

With a front porch...just because.

Coop construction began about 3 months ago and after a lot of evenings and weekends is a safe, comfortable, spacious and undeniably adorable home for our little flock. Its a 12x12 space with chicken access in the front and human access in the back. We installed a door that is directly accessed through the barn. It is a lean to style with a metal roof and concrete board siding. Obviously this coop is overkill as an individual chicken only needs a few square feet of space, but every article we read said "I wish I'd made the coop bigger". Going big means the coop can be subdivided into space for storage or, potentially, other types of poultry.

Chicken or the Egg

Since moving to my little corner of the countryside I have thought it doesn't make much sense to have a couple of rural acres empty of any sort of animal life. So the obvious choice-being low maintenance and useful-keeping chickens. Backyard chickens have, recently, become trendy and the internet is a vast resource for information on their care.

They are a great source of healthy protein, compost and pest control.

Once the order for our little flock had been placed we began construction on the coop.

It's a lean to style structure with a chicken entrance on the front and a human entrance in the wall of the barn. 

                                                    Pressure treated 4x4 posts in concrete.