GETTING ADJUSTED TO NEW HOME

Here's our rigged up temporary fencing. Since we had to have a "quick fix" for our new unexpected couple, this is what we ended up with. For right now we're leaving them in the coop during the day while we're at work. As soon as my husband gets home he let's them out. The day's I'm off they have more time outside. So far we're had no problems. I do believe we need to get the overhead netting or chicken wire to protect them as much as possible.
This is the other side of the coop. They only have a small area now. We ran into serious problems hitting rock when we started placing the fence posts. As you can see there's one we couldn't get in far enough, but it will have to do for now. We are going to have to change the raise up doors on the side here. We made them out of thin plywood and they are already warping.
The two get along well together but they're still a little apprehensive with us. I touched Pearl for the first time tonight while she was on her roost. She moved away from me and got in the nesting box but hopefully in time she'll come around. I didn't even try to touch Pop, he stayed on his perch as the hen climbed across him. I'll approach him slowly.
Here's Pearl and Pop checking out the nesting boxes. He's been in there almost as much as she has. She has laid an egg every day but two. The second day the egg was broken, I'm not sure if she's doing it or him.


Is this not a handsome rooster? He's my first one and I'm proud of him! I like to hear him crow. When my grandson comes to visit and he hears him after the first time he'll say " he's doing it again" and laugh.

COCK-A-DOODLE-DO

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY FIRST COUPLE

This is Pop our rooster and Pearl our hen at the back of their coop. I believe they are Leghorns.

SURPRISE ARRIVALS

My husband called me this past Thursday night while I was on my way home from work. He said Timmy just brought two chickens, that was at 8:45 p.m. Well I knew we wasn't prepared for them yet because we still had to do the fencing around the hen house. Then I realized we had no food for them. I asked if they were chicks, he said he hadn't opened the box to look.
He calls me back to tell me it's a hen and a rooster and they're not small. So I figured I could find them something to eat the next morning. When I arrived home he had them in a huge dog carrier with straw in it on the back porch. I was relieved for a while.
Here I've been wanting them for a long time and when they arrive I get nervous. Actually the neighbor had told us he'd bring some little chicks as soon as he could get them away from the Mother. Once we received grown one's it made me a little anxious since I didn't know how they would take to us.
I don't know how I got her picture on here twice so I just made it smaller. I need some training on how to delete pictures.

Guess who woke us up the next morning? Our dog Chopper. Want to know why? He heard a unusual sound coming from the back porch. It was a little after 5a.m. and it's time for the rooster to crow. The dog wouldn't stop barking and my husband had to get up. A few minutes later I'm up and my 2 1/2 year old grandson. I prepare breakfast and we decide to unwrap some of the fencing to make a temp home for the new couple.
They did great throughout the day and a little before 11 o'clock we had our first egg. Me and my grandson went to see them many times. He would get excited when the rooster would crow. I think I'm going to like having chickens around.

CHICKEN COOP DESIGNER

This is my personal Chicken Coop Designer, my husband Danny. He built this from scratch with no plans, one of those create as you go projects. This has probably taken six weekends to complete. He's sweated over it and even bleed a little bit ( a screw injury) but through it all continued with great patience (LOL) as we ran into one problem after another.

THE CHICKEN COOP

We're doing the finishing touches on the coop. It has taken several weekends to get this together. My husband worked hard on this little hen house for me.










He put pallet wood over the plywood. Looks much better. He added a window box and a tin roof. We did purchase fencing boards for $1.27 each to add to the lower sides.We'd already used the best of the pallet wood.








This is probably my favorite part, a place to put flowers. I can also check on them when needed without opening the door.

IT'S ALMOST TIME

Here is a picture of the chicken coop framed up. My husband brought home a 4x8 crate that he used for the top and bottom. Then some used boards to frame up the sides and back. He added a piece of used plywood for the floor.

He then added this" used to be" kitchen cabinet that was given to us. All he had to do to it was cut off part of the side to make the nesting boxes. He later put two boards across the bottom of the sections and to the inside to keep the nesting materials in place. Each individual box will be 12X12. This worked out great. Thanks to our neighbor Terry.

This is how the coop looked a couple of weekends later. We added used plywood to the the sides. Pallet boards will be added later. Of course I had to have a window so I can peek in at them. The door was given to us by our neighbor. You can tell it's really old. It fit perfect. We then added the small pallet boards to each side of the door. Looking better with each additional step.