Category: Coop

Well that’s fancy.

On By CarynIn Coop

Or is it? Is wainscoting in again? Or did I just date my coop?

Not that it matters. I didn’t install it for looks (and there are no trim boards, so there’s a big finish no-no); I installed it for safety and cleaning. For safety: it keeps the chickens from pecking the asphalt paper and either damaging themselves (it is STICKY when it gets warm), or picking holes in the vapor barrier. For cleaning: the boards are made of solid PVC (polyvinyl chloride) which is a kind of plastic. Easy to clean and water-proof. It was not cheap (but cheaper than wood boards), but I am hoping it will work long term and be worth the investment. The whole coop isn’t cheap, for that matter, but we aren’t raising chickens to produce eggs for big-box company A, we are raising chickens for our personal educational, health, and entertainment purposes. We do have a budget, money set aside for the project, and are tracking costs. Not that I’m sensitive about installing wainscoting in my coop.

Storm

On By CarynIn Coop

We had a big thunderstorm with 60-80 mile and hour winds and hail. I can’t verify the hail because the storm hit about 8:45 and it was too dark to see, but the weather app says we had hail, so there we go. It was loud.

Screen shot from the weather app during the storm

And wet, so much rain so quickly. Despite putting more dirt in front of the coop, the whole area was a muddy mess in the morning. I had almost a full bale of compressed straw (outdoor cat cold boxes don’t use much), so I took it down to the coop, laid it over the mud, and pressed it down with my feet. It is still pretty sloppy, but at least I no longer sink up to my ankles and come away full of mud.

Temporary mud control

Since the chicks are stuck inside, I tried hanging a romaine lettuce head in their area as enrichment. I used a screwdriver to push some plastic twine through the stem, then hung it in the chick area.

Stringing romaine lettuce

Chicks don’t seem thrilled.

Romaine lettuce hanging in the coop.

But Pooh finding a caterpillar was great fun!

Following the path

On By CarynIn Coop

I’ve worked for two days digging and laying brick edging to continue the path from the house to the coop.

I still need to fill it with decomposed granite, but at least the edges are set in. I set two layers of brick on this downhill side. I’m debating in whether to have a couple yards of material delivered, or to pick up bags like I did for the first half of the path.

The chicks are doing well and approaching two week mark. I’ve been working on picking them up with out freak out. Tigger was awesome and did a great demo for the video.

Heat lamp

On By CarynIn Coop

Yesterday I learned that the big box stores stop selling heaters in the spring. Understandable, but made me a little panicked when the forecast was for a low of 40 and the instructions on the radiant heat brooder say to keep the air temperature above 50. We’ve lived in Texas for awhile. We don’t own heaters.

The blanket around the end of the brooder area was OK during the day, but to be safe, I went and bought a brooder heat lamp (and took down the blanket, I’ve been through a fire, don’t want to again). The heat lamp worked. The air temperature in the brooder near the lamp stayed in the high 50s. The chicks were happy in the morning.

Brooder heat lamp, it looks closer than it is.

Batten down the hatches

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, Uncategorized

or the hardware cloth, as you wish. I finished installing the hardware cloth around the base of the coop and used batten boards to secure them.

I then backfilled with dirt most of the way around. Some of the areas we are going to line with landscaping fabric and fill with rock to help divert water flow. I also filled the front area with more dirt trying to make it a little higher than the surrounding terrain so the rain runoff goes somewhere other than by the door. We’ll see soon if it works.

The chicks are still growing like little weeds. Today I tried getting them to eat out of my hand. No problem.

We are having a cold front and I am concerned about the temperature of the coop. They have two Ecoglow heaters and both the food and water are nearby. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get too cold.