{Farm} The Coop is Almost Finished!

As fall time is approaching. we are working vigorously to get the coop finished for our girls. We would like nothing better to not be our there in the cool weather to finish things up. Not to mention it would be much better if the tools my dad has been using could get put away before they have a severe chance of getting wet. Its also exciting to see mine and my dad's combined vision coming to life. As I mentioned before, a neighbor of ours deemed it the Chicken Taj Mahal because of its intricate design. I want to make a sign that says that on it... The floor has been finished and partially installed since I took these photos and the girls have been allowed to venture out. Its been great fun to watch them interact.

The outside of our chicken coop

We designed the nesting boxes to be accessible from the outside to make it easier to get the eggs

I saw this idea while cruising on Pinterest. They used plastic boxees for easy cleaning. So far it has worked well.

The chicken's view of the nesting boxes.

We made the nesting boxes a foot across and 15 inches deep.

They are a foot up from what will be the floor of the coop

The bottom of the coop served as the next size up brooder while we finished the rest of it.

 The girls are getting bigger now. They are growing up so fast. I have been trying to figure out a way to keep track of who is who. The best way I have come up with is to put bands on all the chickens to keep track of which is which. Corresponding the name with a number will make it easier to identify each on as our flock grows in the future.  We also have three roosters... none of which are regular sized chickens. The Rhode Island Reds are a blast. I have a couple of them that are super friendly and will hop on my lap to eat out of my hand in the morning. There is one that is even figuring out how to sit up on my shoulder like a parrot... also the same one which flew onto my head one evening as I was closing the coop for the night.

Cute and curious little creatures.

I stuck the camera in and the immediately all grouped together. Defensive strategy?

With my mother's expertise we have since discovered that all three of the roosters we have are bantam chickens.

He already has a "big chicken complex."

I wanted to add this photo of Linus (aka Lil' Man.) I apparently adopted the great chicken herder... This is his station when I am out with the girls. Lil' Man flipped out the first time they ventured out of the coop. I finally figured out that it was because they were in the wrong place. For a herding dog, that is a big deal.When my dad did the feeding an watering yesterday morning, he left the gate open just enough for chickens to possibly escape. According to him, Lil' Man was right there, herding them back into the run. I thought it was a cute story.

I hope you have enjoyed this little update. Stay tuned for my next post which will be about my experience with freezing some summer green beans for the winter months as well as a recipe that I enjoyed making with them over the summer.

Love Always,
Rebecca