The Exciting Conclusion

The day after Halloween a cold front came in, but cleared up and the first week of November was warm and sunny and so lovely. However, we knew a change in the weather was on its way. Sunday the 8th had a forecast of cold and snow. We knew that Saturday the 7th was to be the final push to really finish the chicken coop. We wanted the biddies to have someplace warm and cozy and dry to sleep just in time for the real cold to hit.

The last step of our big project was to get the fourth wall of the coop designed and built. It took a while to do this because it took a lot of thinking through. It was a complicated project, to have a wall that swung open like a door but also had nesting boxes protruding from it, with their own separate door for collecting eggs. Luckily Troy has a brain for building and was able to figure it out, though doing so caused many moments of frustration. I'm so happy with the result. We got the fourth wall attached and swinging open. it's so heavy! I can't believe those hinges are enough to keep it up, but they sure do the trick. And the little nesting box door is just perfect for peeking in and getting eggs. Assuming the dang chickens ever figure out that is where they are supposed to do that. So far only one of our hens is laying - we are getting probably four eggs a week from Sissy and we are so proud of her. She's the only survivor of the spring attacks. 

Anyway, we got the wall up, and next we had to make a ramp to get up to the coop and attach it. That wasn't too bad. Really the hardest part now is teaching the chickens that a) the coop is where they should sleep and b) how to be brave enough to go up and down the ramp themselves. It's been put together for a few days now - the first night it took 3 people 3 tries to get them all in the coop and then get them to stay there. Every day though more and more of them find their own way inside without our help. As I type this the sun is going down and I'm looking forward to going out and seeing how many went up on their own tonight. (Answer: 5 of 8, same as last night.) It's helped that yesterday and today I blocked off the area where they normally sleep. Hopefully within a few days I won't have to do that and they'll all just go up there. We'll see. Who knows how to teach them to actually go in the boxes and lay their eggs there. I did put ceramic eggs in the boxes to sort of give them the hint - lay your eggs here please! Since most of them aren't laying yet I guess time will tell.

So, yay yay yay our coop is done! Okay, in the springtime we may revisit it and add some paint to make it even prettier (we are thinking barn door red for the coop and white for the trim). And I'm so happy. And I love my husband.