Chickens Have New Home

Last weekend we finally got the chicken coop finished and moved the chickens from their small brooder pen to their new home.   


The term "coop" refers to an enclosure that can be secured from predators where the chickens can roost (sleep).  In researching how to build one of these, we found there are about a million different kinds.   The link below gives you some idea of what I am talking about.


http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/large-chicken-coop-designs-pictures-of-chicken-coops

Then, there are chicken "tractors" that can be moved around.  The following link shows some of these.


http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-tractors-mobile-chicken-coop-designs

If you notice in these links, all the coops are connected to an outdoor area called the chicken "run".  The advantage of a chicken tractor is that it can be moved around from place to place,  thus, giving the chickens access to fresh grass from time to time.


At some time in the past, some previous owner built a metal shed attached to the south end of our garage.  The shed has a dirt floor and is enclosed by a fence where a horse or other animal may have been kept at one time.  At any rate, we decided we could close off one end of this shed and use it for a chicken coop.  Then we could make part of the fenced area into the chicken run.


Tom spent a lot of time and sweat equity on this project.  And, my job was to line the floor with some old paving stones we had laying around.  Talking about HARD work.  This entailed loading the pavers into the back of Tom's pickup, hauling them over to the shed, unloading and carrying them one-by-one into the coop where it was somewhat like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.


We put the chickens into a large dog crate for the move.  At first they were very hesitant about leaving the dog crate and entering their new home.

However, one of the little New Hampshire Red chickens showed her adventuresome spirit by being the first one out of the crate.

Notice that we enticed them out of the crate with fresh lettuce.  They have learned to love lettuce.  And, if the lettuce has a caterpillar or two on it, so much the better!  Yum!  Also, notice the metal water dispenser (behind Tom's legs) and the feed dispenser to the left of the lettuce.  It is difficult to see, but the feeder is suspended on a rope from one of the rafters.  It hangs a couple of inches off the floor.  This helps to keep the feed clean.  


One of the chickens refused to come out of the crate.  We finally had to take off the top of the crate before she decided it was a good idea to join the others.  But, soon enough they were exploring their new home and had torn and scratched the lettuce to pieces.

Notice there is a bar that is a couple of feet off the floor across the back of the coop.  That is the "roost" where the chickens sleep.  They can already fly a little bit, but Tom thought they might need some help getting up to the roost, so he leaned a piece of cattle panel against it to give them a "ladder".


Finally, notice my fine paving job on the floor.  Okay, so the coop is not built along square lines and there is a crack there between the wall and the pavers.  Life is not perfect!