Our girls are getting big....and adventurous! Usually we keep a clear plastic lid over part of their tote, otherwise they have figured out how to jump from the top of their food container onto the ledge of the tote. Yesterday morning I was doing my daily pet and play, and had Freckles on my lap:
She is easily the sweetest chick, very mellow and calm and because of that she gets a lot of play time. She is also the only one with a name so far. So I was petting her and all of a sudden, we had a guest join us:
This is one of our other brownish colored chicks, who I have noticed as a group are much more adventurous than the yellow chicks. This one in particular though is very outgoing and curious. Here she is contemplating a flight to the bookshelf:
Here are all the browns together, that's Freckles in the middle, adventurous chick on the left, and the other brown one on the right. They have so much personality, and they are all so different now that its becoming easier to tell them apart. Plus, even though all the brown chicks looked the same when we got them, they all look different now because their feathers are coming in and their colors are all unique.
I don't want to ignore our two yellow birds though! Although they are not as outgoing or adventurous as the browns, they are easily the most mellow, besides Freckles. Here is one of them taking a rest:
Since they are getting better at escape attempts, and because they are starting to stink up the house no matter how clean I keep their tote, we began working on our coop yesterday. We don't really have a plan, just a coop that we found online that we liked. It showed a couple of the steps, but left most of the information on how to actually build it out. Not a great combination for two people who have never built anything without directions before! We got started, and immediately hit a snag when trying to construct the base of the coop. Luckily, Aimee called for something else, and I told her what was going on and her and Dave volunteered to come over and give us some ideas and help. After I got off the phone, Matthew went to Home Depot to search for some better screws and he found some that would do the job. So we were able to get part of the frame up and together before Aimee and Dave got there. Matthew did a really great job with it, I am pretty clueless with this stuff, but he kept a level head and figured angles and lengths and stuff out. With our friends help, we got the support for the floor and most of the floor of the coop together. Matthew and I made a mistake building the frame, we made it too wide for our 4 foot wide plywood by about 3 inches. So when we went to put the floor in, we were short! Dave came up with a way to get at least 2/3 of the floor in, and we were contemplating just leaving the rest open but covered with chicken wire. I think I want to have it all enclosed though, so we will find another scrap of wood after cutting the walls to cover the rest of the floor. I have NO idea how we are going to get the roof constructed, because there are more angles to be dealt with, but I think we will just do some more trial and error. We were really grateful for Aimee and Dave's help, they had some great ideas and tricks to make things easier. Plus it was a great workout for the kids, they all ran around playing in the front and the back yards while we worked. Have I mentioned lately that I love living here? Its so kid friendly :)
Anyways, here is what we got done yesterday:
The coop will be 4X4 and then 4 feet tall in the back and 5 in the front. We will put two nesting boxes in the back, along with a hanging waterer, and then put the roosts in the front. We are going to add two doors to the front and a ramp below the doors for them to get in and out. After much debate, I think we have decided to put them here:
This is a wasted space between our patio slider and our family room door, that's the kitchen window and kitchen behind that wall. I want to put them here for a few reasons. One is that no neighbors will be able to see them, and the only neighbors that would be able to hear them are our friends, know we have the chicks, and would never turn us in. Two, its close to the house, nice for egg collecting (from chicken to plate in less than 15 feet!) and for taking care of the girls in the rainy fall and winter months. We can put their coop nearest the small door on the left, and then hopefully use almost all of that space as run. The area is about 10X12, so that's plenty big for them. I am excited for next weekend, hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can get the coop and run built and get the girls outside!
She is easily the sweetest chick, very mellow and calm and because of that she gets a lot of play time. She is also the only one with a name so far. So I was petting her and all of a sudden, we had a guest join us:
This is one of our other brownish colored chicks, who I have noticed as a group are much more adventurous than the yellow chicks. This one in particular though is very outgoing and curious. Here she is contemplating a flight to the bookshelf:
Here are all the browns together, that's Freckles in the middle, adventurous chick on the left, and the other brown one on the right. They have so much personality, and they are all so different now that its becoming easier to tell them apart. Plus, even though all the brown chicks looked the same when we got them, they all look different now because their feathers are coming in and their colors are all unique.
I don't want to ignore our two yellow birds though! Although they are not as outgoing or adventurous as the browns, they are easily the most mellow, besides Freckles. Here is one of them taking a rest:
Since they are getting better at escape attempts, and because they are starting to stink up the house no matter how clean I keep their tote, we began working on our coop yesterday. We don't really have a plan, just a coop that we found online that we liked. It showed a couple of the steps, but left most of the information on how to actually build it out. Not a great combination for two people who have never built anything without directions before! We got started, and immediately hit a snag when trying to construct the base of the coop. Luckily, Aimee called for something else, and I told her what was going on and her and Dave volunteered to come over and give us some ideas and help. After I got off the phone, Matthew went to Home Depot to search for some better screws and he found some that would do the job. So we were able to get part of the frame up and together before Aimee and Dave got there. Matthew did a really great job with it, I am pretty clueless with this stuff, but he kept a level head and figured angles and lengths and stuff out. With our friends help, we got the support for the floor and most of the floor of the coop together. Matthew and I made a mistake building the frame, we made it too wide for our 4 foot wide plywood by about 3 inches. So when we went to put the floor in, we were short! Dave came up with a way to get at least 2/3 of the floor in, and we were contemplating just leaving the rest open but covered with chicken wire. I think I want to have it all enclosed though, so we will find another scrap of wood after cutting the walls to cover the rest of the floor. I have NO idea how we are going to get the roof constructed, because there are more angles to be dealt with, but I think we will just do some more trial and error. We were really grateful for Aimee and Dave's help, they had some great ideas and tricks to make things easier. Plus it was a great workout for the kids, they all ran around playing in the front and the back yards while we worked. Have I mentioned lately that I love living here? Its so kid friendly :)
Anyways, here is what we got done yesterday:
The coop will be 4X4 and then 4 feet tall in the back and 5 in the front. We will put two nesting boxes in the back, along with a hanging waterer, and then put the roosts in the front. We are going to add two doors to the front and a ramp below the doors for them to get in and out. After much debate, I think we have decided to put them here:
This is a wasted space between our patio slider and our family room door, that's the kitchen window and kitchen behind that wall. I want to put them here for a few reasons. One is that no neighbors will be able to see them, and the only neighbors that would be able to hear them are our friends, know we have the chicks, and would never turn us in. Two, its close to the house, nice for egg collecting (from chicken to plate in less than 15 feet!) and for taking care of the girls in the rainy fall and winter months. We can put their coop nearest the small door on the left, and then hopefully use almost all of that space as run. The area is about 10X12, so that's plenty big for them. I am excited for next weekend, hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can get the coop and run built and get the girls outside!