And We Have a Chicken Coop! (aka the chickens have a nicer house than I do!)

In the past few days, Bob and his son Jake were able to pick up where Andrew left off before leaving for vacation to get the chicken coop almost done, and Emma and I were able to help with the painting. All it lacks right now is a roof. We got some of the chickens and all of the turkeys moved in, and we acquired a rooster. This coop is for our layers, when we have layers. It is big enough for 33 busy little hens to do their thing. We will build a separate coop in the garden area for meat chickens later, when we’ve figured out how to be self sustaining and raise our own chicks. (Which is why I jumped at the chance for a free Sussex rooster!)

For now, we have layers, fryers and turkeys all mixed together in what we hope is a coyote-proof fortress! I didn’t blog about this, so I guess I should explain: We had a coyote attack a few weeks ago and lost all 17 of our layer chickens in one night. This thing is built to be solid and we might even run electric fencing along the bottom too. Stupid coyotes.

No, the coop isn’t done, but the poultry is protected at least, and they have a nicer place to live now than I do! It’s allllll baby steps at Literal Road Farm.

Check out the chicks’ new digs below!

The chicken coop yay! With a cool gate Bob made from salvaged boards. Still to come? Roof, gutters…and yes, cute little hanging flower baskets.
Here’s a side view of the coop, showing you the girls’ very nice view towards the hills.
This is our new rooster, Mel, who came to us for free via Freecycle. He’s a Specked Sussex rooster, a heritage breed. Our plan is to get Sussex hens to breed him with for both egg and meat chickens. He is a character and a delight!
Inside the coop, we are set up for 33 layers…although the coyotes set us back by 17 chickens, we will someday have that many. The roosting bars are an old ladder that was in the barn cut in half.
We built the coop onto the back of the barn. The windows were found in the barn. We knocked out what was left of the glass and painted the frames white, then nailed them over screens. The coop is very nicely ventilated, and we’ll cover up the windows with plastic in the winter. The only thing is, the coop is so new, it makes everything else around it look even shabbier!

 

 

 

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