30. September Arrives

Over the summer we finished the roof, enclosed a run off the coop hatch and netted over the top. Since then, we've been trying to get other projects on and around the house done and this coop blog has been sorely neglected because of it!!

So, to keep things up to date, we still intend to paint the coop red to match the house and center supports will be needed for the netting before the snow comes... However so far so good. Aside from hearing some raccoons through the woods and the soaring above of hawks and owls, our flock has been safe this season... The fall may bring about new animal antics so we have our eyes out and our ears open.

Inside the coop we created another roost since the newly hatched flock was using the nesting boxes as their night time sleeping spot which, in turn, kept some of the older hens from wanting to lay eggs there during the day... Also, we added some new nesting spots. At next coop clean I will take out the camera and post the photos.

29. Roof is DONE!

Amazing, I know... The roof is finally done!

The next projects are to make another roost inside the coop for the new birds (so far they have been sitting on the nesting box supports which is not ideal), siding the one last interior wall of the coop, bird netting the top of the fenced in run, tying up all loose ends of hardware cloth on the fence and then super-finally painting the structure!!
The fenced in run has been a wonderful addition to our coop project - assuming we can get the chickens to stay inside (hence the cover netting on the to-do list!). Also, if we need to leave the house through the evening, there is some peace of mind to having them kept inside the fence (assuming again that we can get them to go in the fence all together once they have been enjoying the great free-range outdoors!

Either way, in or out, life with chickens is wonderful and I can't see myself living without a few beauties in the future...

28. Not Lazy, Just Busy!

Yes, yes -quite a lot of time has passed since our last post and quite a lot of things have happened!
The big fence has been completed and the new chicks are living inside the coop! Wow!

Also, blogger-mom just graduated from college, and we are expecting a new baby! Oh my, what a spring it has been!

The coop set-up, now flushed with spring greening, looks like the real thing.
The little chicks were separated by a low fence away from the big girls for a few days, but they are all combined together now -although usually with the young ones running for cover inside the coop when the hens strut their stuff.

This photo was taken two weeks ago - the new chicks are even bigger now! At a quick glance it is difficult to tell them apart from the Araucanas.

From our batch of 12 hatched, we ended up with three gray/blue, 5 hatched from Araucana eggs (now Ameraucana or "Easter Eggers") and 4 Wyandotte looking ones. I have a feeling that we are an even 6 males to 6 females, but we will wait a little while longer yet before finding new homes for the crowers.