Saturday, April 26, 2008

Coop is DONE and the girls are OUT!

Guess what? We finished the coop. Really, we did.

My poor husband spent hours and hours, after work, in the dark, in the rain, in the hail, and in the cold finishing this damn thing and now it's done.

Here's a quick time-lapse recap of the last week...
My last coop post showed the walls up, but getting the roof slats on was a major milestone, too:

Next came the doors and the felt paper on top of the roof slats. Peter, Jim's son, helped put the protective hardware cloth over the vents under the eves:

19 gauge, 1/2" hardware cloth: hopefully, this will keep the bad guys and nasty pests out:

My youngest son, Aidan, helped cut the plywood floor to cover the 2x4's, as well as the litter board to keep the shavings from falling out the door:

Oh, this was a big moment...putting the hardware on the doors. Two handles and a lockable, swivel latch. Lovely!!!:

Ta Daaaa...the grand opening! Modeling hands and body courtesy of my mother:

The temporary roosts (lower for younger chickens) are in place and the feeder and waterer will be hung at a later time. The nest boxes will go in to the right rear of the coop when they are a bit older (right now I think they'd just poop on and/or sleep in them):

The right hand corner is where the feed and bedding are being stored. Hopefully, at some point, I will separate a small storage area from the rest of the coop that will be inaccessible to the girls:

The big moment: the girls in their Rubbermaid Transport Vehicle (RTV):

On our way to the coop (waaaay in the distance because we don't have a gate close to the coop at this time):

Teagan, my oldest son, did the introduction-to-the-new-coop honors:

The girls were very serious about scoping out the new place:

Sparrow was in my face, as usual:

Then came the important job of covering my mom's boots with pine shavings:

They took this task very seriously:

Then it became vital to test one of the new perches:

Roxy, in the meantime, decided to take our distraction as an opportunity to rub her face in something so foul in one of the pastures that I almost lost my dinner when I smelled her:

I kid you not, the stench was unbelievable. We still don't know what it was, but the poor girl had to be lathered up, from head-to-toe, twice to make it go away:

Goodnight girls!:

19 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new coop! Those girls are lucky chickens to have you as their Mother Hen. I loved your photos as usual. Your Mom did a great job modeling and showing off the fancy features of the hen house. Vanna White watch out!

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  2. Wow, what a fantastic coop! It's so neat your family all pitched in and had a hand in the building. And wow, how your chickens have grown :) They look really content on their perch...congratulations to you and your hubby on a great addition to the homestead!

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  3. YEAH! It looks awesome! Good job! I agree with Jen, it's great to see your mom.

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  4. Congrats! The coop is gorgeous, really fab, and I love the picture of the four little girls roosting --so sweet! This should help with the doldrums :-). Great job!

    Ali in Maine

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  5. Wow. It's beautiful. Frankly, your coop is nicer than my house! Does that mean that you have really lucky chickens, or that I need to upgrade my digs?!?!

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  6. That is one fancy coop. It looks beautiful out on your land. Lucky girls. It also is touching when your family helps to make some of your dreams come true. You must feel really loved.
    Did Roxy actually eat any of the stinkies? It's covering her mouth so well, kind of like when babies eat spagetti. Naughty girl.

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  7. Wow! Your coop is amazing. Those are some very luck birds.

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  8. Yeah!! I am so happy to see the sequence the constuction and then the girls finally in their home. Do you have a fenced area for them to roam? How to you plan to get them used to going out and then back in at night. I'm sure enjoying the chick posts! And your dog...oh they are so irritating at times. They just love to mask their scent with crap! Silly things!

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  9. Love the chicken coop. It is nice to look at the finished work and see that all the hard work was well worth it!
    ~Kim

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  10. LLLLOOOOOOOOOOVVVEEEEEEEE IT!

    I love even more all the family that came together to get it all going. That's great.

    Congrats. The girls are in such great hands.

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  11. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Wait didnt I start with that in my last comment to you???
    I'm so excited!!! And all we did this weekend was get our gutter up!!! OH Well, I'm thinking next year may be the year of the chickens around here. Roxy....you had better straighten up girl!!! That was a nasty nasty puppy!!!
    I don't think Daisy Lu can talk tho...her mom had to wipe her bottom end for her today.....sooooo......

    Anyway, we have snow in the forcast for the week....I may need a pep talk!!!

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  12. Man they have gotten big! That happens fast. The coop is beyond beautiful! They are very lucky chicks.

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  13. Boy those chicks look familiar:) The coop is wonderful but where is your chair?

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  14. Hmmm....I really did post a comment 2 days ago, but I got some weird message about some action being completed already....guess the message didn't make it through.

    Anyway, your chicken house is HUGE and gorgeous! If it were mine, I'd move the chickies out and make it my craft space! hehe
    Those chickens sure are loved.
    Tell your hubby "Terrific job!"

    Well, it looks like silly Roxy is a tried and true farm dog now! hehe

    Just wait until she discovers how tasty chicken poo is. Ewww

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  15. Well, I posted yesterday, but my comment disappeared.
    Great looking coop. My hens are jealous!
    I think Roxy wanted any attention--even bad attention. You will have to watch getting puppy kisses once she finds out how tasty chicken poo is. Yew!

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  16. That's a really nice coop! I'm interested to see how you continue to build the inside of it (nest boxes, etc) as my coop will be very similar in shape/size (we're converting an old garden shed for ours).

    Looking forward to more updates!

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  17. That is a beautiful coop. I know you and the girls are very proud of your husband for his hours of hard work. (and yours too, I'm sure).Oh and Aidan, can't leave him out.
    So nice your Mother was on hand for modeling.
    I proud for you and the girls.

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  18. Can't tell you how special it was for me to help you and Teagan bring the girls into their coop for the very first time! I think we are going to have a ball chicken-sitting next week. And Roxy and Schnauzi are going to be the guardians of the precious farm and us humans as well. I am sooo excited!

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  19. Congratulations to the 'girls!' The coop is so beautiful! It's so big and pretty---like a palace for birds! Makes our coop look bad! :D

    Kidding, I still think our coop is nice...are they going to have a run in the summer to eat grass?

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