Coop de Grace

Previous coop posts here and here.

We sided the coop with cedar shingles-- second quality, we're not made of money.  Erin and the girls have made a lot of decorations and finishing touches to the coop, including the "wall of names," where a medallion hangs with each chicken's name. To reflect the fleeting nature of mortality, they're written in chalk.

 Both in the coop and in the run, we have water buckets hanging with poultry nipples on the underside--they work kind of like those gerbil bottles.  Strangely, the chickens picked up on the concept within 5 minutes, even though it took them about three weeks to figure out how to use the ramp into the coop.

 

Inside the coop, we have some homemade PVC pipe feeders.  Getting the design right took a few tries, until we decided to use an end cap with a cross section cut off the top.

The chickens get in and out of the coop through a little sliding door into the run.  The door can be opened with a pullstring from outside the coop.

Rules matter.

 

Erin also made some curtains for the nesting boxes.

Rexie is the only hen laying so far, giving us about an egg a day.

 

With winter coming, I covered the screen windows with some plexiglass windows that can be easily removed in the spring.  We'll have to do some additional winterizing, and will provide some supplemental heat when the temperature drops really low.  But in general, our chickens are hardy breeds, so will be pretty comfortable in the coop through the winter.

I'll do a follow up post at some point during the winter with an update on how the birds are faring.  But we've all really enjoyed having the chickens so far!

 On to the next project.