Coop Dreams

Time for a chicken update.

The last time I posted, the chickens were tiny balls of floof that lived in a shower. Now, they are kind of a big deal. And they have a big house to go along with it.

The structure on the right was an old playhouse that Hazel has outgrown, but it’s made of cedar and has survived some hurricanes, so we figured it was a good place to start. We elevated it by the height of a brick, and added a hardware cloth floor over some 1×2 “joists.” Like putting a house on a crawlspace, this allows better airflow during the heat of the summer, as well as allowing for easier cleanup (just hose out the underneath). We installed four roosting bars inside, at various heights, and built a ramp from the coop to the run.

The run (on the left) is 60 square feet with a corrugated roof. We buried the chicken wire that makes up the walls, as well as placing bricks around the edges. There is also a person-sized door into the run on the back side.

The good news is that all the chickens we got in May are alive and happy. The unexpected news is that one of them is a dude.

Meet Jolene. The Rooster.

The rest of chickens are…..very hard to photograph, it turns out.

Toast, Aang, Sunshine, Jolene, Bruh, Kate

Sometimes I get lucky and one of them strikes a pose for me. Thanks, Toast!

Most of the time I just wait for Hazel to grab one.

We left them in the coop/run for about two weeks after moving them out, so they know it’s their home. Now we’re able to let them free-range for about an hour at a time, supervised. They tend to congregate in the same few places, but have ventured as far as the porch a couple of times.

Before you ask, we don’t have eggs yet. They should start laying at the end of this month.

Well, except Jolene.

Well, this was inevitable.

Hazel turned six on May 21, as COVID-19 isolation ground through its third month. She was bummed about not having a party with her friends, but we made it up to her by procuring exactly what she requested.

Chickens.

We know several people with chickens, so I pumped them for information. I gathered information on the internet and checked books out of the library (because of course I did). I narrowed down our preferred breeds and found a source for chicks one county south of here. I even came up with a clever brooder setup – I turned an unused shower/closet into the perfect chick nursery. We bought a heat lamp, feeder, waterer, and a bag of food for about $36. We lined the shower with paper from our home office shredder (best use of old tax returns ever!).

We were as ready as we were ever going to be.

Last Thursday we took a field trip to Woodville to pick up the babies. Hazel selected two Buff Orpingtons, two Ameraucanas, and two Barred Rocks. These are all breeds known for their docile characters and pet-ability.

That’s what they’ll look like when they’re grown. Now, they’re just ITTY BITTY FLOOF BALLS.

The best part of our brooder setup is that we can keep an eye on the chicks at all times through the glass shower door.

It’s been a week since we picked the ladies up, and they’ve already changed so much! Their wings are getting feathers, and they’re developing tiny personalities. We have finally decided on names for everyone, as well.

My initial impression is very favorable. They’re chill little animals, and seem very content to do their chicken thing. Hazel has been put in charge of “chicken chores” and now knows how to feed, water, and clean up after them. She’s also appointed herself Chief Chicken Snuggler.

They’ll be in the brooder for another 2-4 weeks, so we’d better get cracking on building a coop for them. We plan to use Hazel’s abandoned playhouse as the foundation of the coop. Wish us luck!