Catching up with those chickens.

In my last post (more than three months ago already) I touched on how we had decided to get ourselves some laying hens. I also touched on how I was going to have to scramble to get their coop finished before they outgrew their brooder. Well, a scramble it was but I got it done in time and now we're just waiting for them to start laying eggs. While not specifically related to the construction of our house I'll get into some of the details of my scramble "below the fold" anyway - just for fun.

Happy hens.

Cows Around - Corb Lund

Step 1 was to pick a location on our property for the chickens to live. Jess and I picked a nice, gently sloped spot where some trees offer to protect the coop from harsh northwest winter winds and where the run will be visible from our new house.

The view from our future kitchen window with the chicken coop and run visible through the trees. Having a view of the run from the house provides some opportunities for entertainment but also a chance to spot trouble at a distance.

Step 2 was to build the coop, which I opted to do near the house so that I would have access to my air tools. Once the coop was framed, I used my tractor to move it to the spot Jess and picked out.

I built the coop over treated 4x4 "skids" specifically so that it could be moved with a set of forks if required.

The coop en route.

Step 3 was to finish off the coop with insulation, some durable cladding, doors, a window and some other odds and ends.

The roof is clad in leftover steel panels from the house while the walls use old plywood (back-vented using 1/2" furring strips). Also visible here is the "people door", the ventilation stack and watering trough on the right. Eventually, I plan to catch rain water from the roof in the watering trough.

A look at the interior reveals the "chicken door" on the far wall, nesting boxes and water to the left, roost and feed to the right. I picked up some old vinyl flooring to go underneath the straw bedding which makes cleaning the coop a lot easier.

Step 4 was to build the run, since we decided that free-ranging our chickens was too risky at this point - too many predators.

Our run is split into two separate paddocks so that one can recover while the other is in use. The bottom row of wire is a heavy duty 1/2" hardware cloth instead of standard poultry netting and is buried 12" below grade to resist predators that might try digging their way in.

Step 5 was to get the chickens out of our house and into their own!

Moving the chickens in was simple enough, we just stuck their brooder in the coop and let them figure out their new environment for themselves on their own time.

Of course, getting the chickens all moved into their new home didn't signal the end of this summer's labour - but all work and no play would make Lucas a dull boy.

Summer here is a short season and so tends to be busy - making hay while the sun shines so to speak. But that doesn't mean some goofing off isn't in order now and then.