Chicken Coop Progress #3

This is how the coop looks today

Here is a photo gallery of our progress on the chicken coop since my last post.....

April 26th~
3 walls up & extended roof beams are being added so we can have eaves over the door & back wall

April 26th

May 1st
Plywood was added to the roof

May 2nd
Roofing tar paper was nailed onto the plywood & the tin roofing panels are going up

May 3rd
Finishing the tin roofing panels

May 3rd
The ridge vent cover is now added

May 3rd
Walls are finished

May 3rd
Windows & pop door are cut out

May 4th
Checking out how it looks with the round window

May 4th
Lots to paint on the inside!

May 4th
The roosting corner

May 4th
Say HI to the pigeon out the window!

May 4th
Nesting boxes will be in this corner

May 4th
Another shot of the roosting corner

May 4th
Feeder & water bucket will be near the door

May 9th
The interior has been painted & the Tyvek wrap has been added to the exterior

May 12th
Cedar fence pickets were used as the siding and to make the door as well.  We'll be adding a 3rd hinge in the middle and a simple slide lock to the top of the door to make it more secure.

There's still a lot to do on the exterior, finish the other 3 sides of siding & weather protect the siding, paint under the eaves, make plexi-glass windows & trim the windows and corners.....Then figure out the enclosed chicken yard.  

Here's the painted interior!

May 12th
Getting ready for the chicks....their new feeder & water bucket/nipple combo

May 12th
The roosting corner.  For now, the chicks have a low roosting perch.  We'll be adding 4 more in a larger diameter in the next couple weeks.

May 12th

Since the pop door isn't finished, we attached a scrap piece of plywood to cover the hole for now.

May 12th
I saw the idea for the roosting perches on Pinterest.  The 2x4s are attached with hinges so that the roosts can be lifted off the floor for easy cleaning underneath.  Whoever thought of that is a genius!

May 12th
This corner will have a table/shelf for the chinchilla cage to sit on and feed storage bins will be underneath.

May 12th
We saved the "potting bench" shelf from the greenhouse and mounted it just under the rafters for added storage.  We'll be making 2 triangle shaped doors to prevent the chickens from roosting up there.

May 12th

All ready for the chicks!

There are still several things to do inside~ finish roosts, add doors to the storage shelf, build nesting boxes, build shelf/ table for chinchilla, trim windows to cover raw hardware cloth edges & decorate.

If you need to catch up on the coop progress, click the links below.

There's a Chicken Coop in Our Future

Chicken Coop Progress #1

Chicken Coop Progress #2

Baby Chicks~ The 5th Week

As the baby chicks start their 5th week of life.......

These photos were taken on May 12th & 13th, four weeks after coming to us.

~The blonde Blue Andalusian~

Moving to the Big House!

We've been working tirelessly on the chicken coop trying to finish the interior enough so that the chicks could move in by the time they were 4 weeks old.  We missed the mark by a few days, but we were finally able to move them in on Tuesday afternoon at 4 1/2 weeks old.

~A Dominique....very curious~

I'll share pictures tomorrow of the actual coop and where we are on the construction progress, although you get a little preview of some of the details in the pictures of the chicks.

All of the chicks were very curious about their new surroundings.  Some were a little hesitant about exploring the new, larger space and wanted to stay huddled together.

~Golden Laced Wyandotte, Dominique, & Phoenix~

There was so much more space for them to spread out.  This was also the first time that all 26 chicks had been together since they were 1 week old, when they were divided into 2 brooders.

~Getting reacquainted with each other~

~A Dominique & both of the Blue Andalusian~

~Golden Laced Wyandotte~

~Golden Campine in the front~

~The Blue Andalusians getting a drink~

~A Dominique checking out the new large feeder~

Everyone seems to be adjusting to the new feeder.  I put their water founts from the brooders in the coop even though I have the poultry nipple bucket.  They didn't seem too interested in the nipples since they were in completely new surroundings.  I'll take the water founts out in a few days and see what they do with the bucket/nipple system.

~Golden Campines at the feeder~

~Blue Andalusians & a Dominique at the feeder~

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the coop construction progress.  The interior is almost finished, but there's still quite a bit to do on the outside.  It's turning out to be really cute though!

***For anyone local~~~  I'll be selling about a dozen of these chicks....Golden Laced Wyandotte, Dominique & Golden Campine....only a few of each.  If you are interested, you can email me {here}

Baby Chicks ~ The 4th Week

As the baby chicks start their 4th week of life.......

These photos were taken on Monday, May 4th, exactly three weeks after being with us.

Being extremely busy last week, I didn't get a chance to post these...so here they are...a week late....

The blonde Blue Andalusian...more feathers & less fuzz.  

Her feather coloring seems to be darkening a little.

Blue Andalusians, Dominiques, & Phoenix......Look at the feathers on the Phoenix

A Dominique saying hello from the feeder top

Golden Laced Wyandotte, Golden Campine & Egyptian Fayoumis

Wing feathers filling out & getting longer

One of 2 Egyptian Fayoumis (center, brown head)

The chicks are growing & eating more & more feed each day.  They look much more like little adult chickens than baby chicks.  They're outgrowing their brooder boxes as each day passes.  We're busy working on their coop daily, trying to get it finished enough to move them in.

A lot has changed since I took these photos just over a week ago.  I'll have another new update tomorrow with pictures taken yesterday.  Big news in the chick world! 

Baby Chicks~ The 3rd Week

As the baby chicks start their 3rd week of life.......

These photos were taken on Monday, April 27th, exactly two weeks after being with us.

The past week, the chicks' wing feathers have continued to grow.  Some have quite a bit more wing length than others, but they're all growing steadily.

This blonde Blue Andalusian is growing nice wing feathers and even her tail feathers are growing longer.  The other Blue Andalusian is at the far end and is growing nice long wing feathers as well.

This Phoenix chick's back feathers are filling in

Starting to see more of the black & white barred pattern on the Dominique chicks

Not only are the chicks' feathers filling in, they're also growing taller.

From left to right: Dominique, Blue Andalusian, Phoenix

Golden Laced Wyandotte

Center: Golden Campine

Center front: Egyptian Fayoumis

Now that they all have developed more wing feathers, they like to flap their way around the brooder. The other day, one of them flapped her way up to the top of the brooder and perched on the edge.  If I have the cover off of the brooder, I can't turn my back now.

Each day the chicks look less like the little fuzzy babies they were when they arrived 2 weeks ago and more like miniature chickens.    I can't wait to see the changes they make during this next week.