Coop Designs - Yay Autocad!

So Dan and I have started playing around with "Google Sketchup".  It's actually pretty complicated... and very addicting! All of a sudden it's 3 hours later!

Anyway, these are our plans.  I mentioned to Dan that it would be nice to have a "chicken tractor" so we could move it around when the grass in the pen was sufficiently decimated.  So, he drew up a neat tractor for me.  Then I started playing with it and came up with another idea... Both plans are designed to fit in the back of a pick-up truck and are meant to hold about 5 chickens at the most. (We'll probably have 3 full size hens and maybe a silkie bantam.. I love those!)

Dan's plans:

My plan:

They're pretty similar huh? What do you think?

We've Expanded the Run!

Our lights had been flickering so we called the power company. The transformer for our house (and our neighbors!) is right next to the chicken coop and is COVERED in trees!! So last week the tree guys came out and chopped a bunch of trees down and topped some others. This was GREAT! I was planning on extending the run anyway and already had the fencing, so I found out what day they were coming and ripped half of the run down so they could get in there and spray painted lines on trees to let them know where I'd like the stumps cut. Now the chickens have a lot more room and even have some underbrush to play in and trample! The guys mulched up all of the branches they cut down and it has made a GREAT ground cover for the run!

Check it out...

They LOOOOVE to sunbathe!

No, that black one isn't dead... She's having a sun bath!

Can you find the camo chicken in this picture? I've named him Rambo!

In other news, the little chicken with the infected eye is looking LOTS better! I've posted a new picture of him in my online album if you want to see :)

Pani's Mini-Coop

I was really getting tired of Pani's little dog crate house, so I decided to turn the old table saw table that we had into a little mini-coop for her! I used the old metal table frame, some scrap plywood, some roofing paper, old tin sheeting and a piece of semi transparent fiberglass... I think it came out pretty nicely! Eventually I'm planning on using this for a "Silkie Love-Shack!" so I thought the love bird artwork was fitting. (As is the tin roof... if anyone remembers the lyrics to "Love Shack"!!)

The other chicks love to nap underneath the mini-coop. They spend a lot of time under there in the afternoon when the sun is shining from that direction.

First Day Outside!

The chickies had their first day outside today and LOVED it!!!!!! Once they were brave enough to go out the door that is... :) Here are some pictures... Enjoy!!

"Is it safe?"

"What did you find?"

NOT Impressed!!!!

Tessa wanted to "get" them SO BAD!!

Check out the mohawk!

Mmmm.... grass!!

The chicks are growing FAST!

Look what I got for my birthday!! Eggcellent!! (sorry, couldn't help it!)

Well anyway, I haven't posted in a few days... I've been super busy around here... and had some sad things happen... 2 of the tiny silkie babies died over the last week. The little black one and one of the white ones. The bigger white silkie and the tiny splash silkie are doing fine. So is the cochin. I think because they are/were so much younger than the other chicks they needed it warmer. When I saw the older chicks sitting far away from the heat lamp I adjusted it to make it cooler... forgetting that I had those tinies in there. *sigh* I have the last tiny silkie chick in a sort of hospital brooder to keep him quiet (aka not getting stepped on by the bigger chicks!) and warmer. He has Dum-Dum (the Australorp runt) for company...

The chicks are really growing! They are exactly 2 weeks old today! Can you believe the wing and tail feathers?? The first picture is of the same chick I am holding in the first chick pictures post... That was less than 2 weeks ago!! They grow SO FAST!

We call the one with the white eyebrows "Penguin"... she walks VERY upright!

I made a few changes to the brooder this week too... Since I have this hen in the coop and plan on mixing her with the babies in about 2 weeks (when the new babies come) I decided to add a plexiglass window to the brooder. Panya PECKED AND PECKED at those babies when she first saw them... I was alarmed! What if she does that when they're in the same "room"? But, after the first day the novelty must have worm off... Now she is more likely to be sitting next to the window just watching "Chick TV". Hopefully in 2 weeks she'll be completely bored with them. This window also helps them from being as scared of me as they have been. Now they can see my legs approaching and I'm less like a giant hawk swooping down on them.


The babies had been perching on their waterer and trying to get onto the heat lamps so I decided they would like a mini-roost in there... I was right! They LOVE it!


It was really warm out today so I made Panya go outside. (I am still trying to figure out her name!). She ran around, ate grass... and stalked bugs! She had a lot of fun catching those ants!

Watching a tractor drive by

One last note! I finally finished burying the fence! The run is officially done and ready for the little ones to try it out in a few weeks! I also hung a bunch of old CDs from the overhead netting... Other than adding a wonderful disco atmosphere - it's practical! It confuses the hawks... sort of like a modern scarecrow! Oh and of course I had to plant more flowers!

Silkie Baby Pictures

I took some pictures yesterday afternoon of the new babies... Enjoy!

Splash Silkie (2 days old)

Splash Silkie (2 days old)

Black Silkie (2 days old)

Cochin (1 week old?)

I also finished putting up the chicken wire around the base of the fence and started putting the netting up over the top of the run to keep the hawks out!

I thought this would be funny too... haha!

This is the only picture I have of what Chubs home-made hutch used to look like. He came into my life unexpectedly and all I had was some old pallets, wire and a chainsaw... So his hutch was kinda ugly...


I ripped it apart the other day, replaced a lot of the boards, built a hinged roof (with roofing instead of plastic!) and repainted it to match the coop... It looks a LOT better now!!

That's all for now! I'm sure I'll post more soon!