Homesteading Chicken Coop Build, Chickens, Pond, Garden & Projects

What about Dawn and Maple ??

 

My last flock was 6 Black Astrolops I put my birds down when it got to the point my BP meds made me too dizzy to be safe getting around.

 

If they see this post ....................................

 

..

 

Dawn IS a keeper!!!

 

My family is just 40 minutes from Cackle Hatchery. In the past the wife takes the youngest boy there early in the morning to pick up the chickens he selected. No shipping and he gets to hold/watch them all the way home. 4 trips in 2 years.

Latest bunch just went out to the coop yesterday.

If your close enough you can drive to Cackle Hatchery and pick up some of their surplus chicks. Selection is usually limited and varied...may be a mystery pack of chicks with some common feature.....egg color, bird color, long tails....

 

A good time for an update on the little layers. Since we got ours on the 10th of this month, they are looking like solid birds at 17+ days old. Feathering out and bulking up.

Ok as soon as my photos load as I do this, we will move the chicks at some point to our area where we have set up for dual coops. The weekend ended with working at Sugarbug87 sisters place. She has a flock of already 12 birds but hasn’t focused on eggs with them so we’re likely to build the coop in a tandem/duplex style so we can see ours grow and her sister’s birds can nest if necessary.
Cleared out a nice spot aside the barn. There was a needed junk dump run to do first and then the previous pile of lumber, panels and etc can be seen in the background of the pictures you see. Plenty of mix and match wood pieces for the coop build. Supplying the beams myself, we’re looking good as far as supplies and now hopefully to make it over there next weekend for the build itself.
Of course, what’s a farm run without our 4 legged babies? They all had a blast, just tethered the Brown one up because she kept running off with the camp Duck and found her on the other side of the cow fence, sniffin’ around!

 

Honestly we’re all hoping for a Lavender Orp Roo in the mix but to say we’re excited is an understatement. Thank you!

 

Oh god I love it when they run its the funniest thing ever. Like dang what a chicken will do for feed huh? I live aways from there but we found a large Xmas tree stand and now have some plans on making sure they have a Yule Tidings Party this year.

 

Chicken run progress. It’s been pretty wet so far this “spring” . Wire is going up next. Then figure out what I’ll use for roofing. Rafters will be trimmed down some.

 

Thanks, it’s nice to have a weekend day or two to get after some projects. Hauling some manure in for the garden tomorrow. The life of kings!

 

The girls are getting some fresh air!

 

Well here’s the coop build so far. The sweetie is at the helm here, doing well with the impact driver. We had plans on putting the whole thing on railroad ties to combat any rot and moisture at the base level. We also had plastic pallets to work with and an even number so we just rolled with that. Put 4 tall posts up. While the tops may seem excessive in height, the notion was brought up that once we get 2x4’s across and some more beams, we’ll put down plywood and eventually make a storage attic.
The middle beam with the orange level above it is where the coops will be split and just likely a hardware cloth “wall”. This was the time we quit as we ran out of workable beams and rightly so as we had ribs and corn waiting for us back in town. The next steps are plywood upper walls, hardware cloth placement after beams are set and then next seems to be the box arrangement. Plans seem to change just slightly as creativity seems to flow.


We welcomed 4 New Additions as well... White and Dark but the exact breed names escape me. Again all new territory for us Sugarbug87!