Sand and sun

Dear Chicken Mamas!

After the disappointment of little Pan not making it last week, I'd say we're doing a pretty good job moving onward.  It helps to know that we did our best and Pan never did really seem as healthy as everyone else....

Erin built the portable chicken coop this weekend!!  It's amazing!  So now we can place it anywhere in the yard, put the hens inside, and they are safe and sound in the yard with us, the dogs, and so on.  I had them in it and near me while gardening yesterday, and they just seemed so happy....clucking around, eating grass, laying together in the sun and shade....so satisfying to see them this way.  We've had them loose in the yard a few times, and they love to eat leaves along the fenceline, poke around in the garden--eat the snap pea leaves, etc....but once they've done a bit of exploring, they want to run back to the safety of their coop!!  

Faline seems content as long as Natalie holds her....she sits on Natalie's lap, comes to Nat when she's called, loves being carried around, talked to, sung to, and so on :)

We're also feeding them leftovers of things--they love cantelope, Grampy's bread, some lettuces/spinach, watermelon, and their own food.  It's amazing how much water they drink!

Thank you, Bambi and Mary, for the blue tarps from Home Depot--we have needed them several times already to keep the rain out of their coop run!!  Also, Erin found that people are switching to using sand in their coops (instead of pine mulch) and raving about it because sand is cheaper, cleaner, chickens love it for sand baths and grit anyway, and it can keep them a bit cooler in the heat of summer. 

The coop!

The first round of coop work....whew!!

Yes, we added a real shingled roof in July.  Now....what to do about insulation and gutters?

Building the Coop

 Erin, Nat, and I spent all day yesterday building the outdoor run (permanent, not portable) to the hen house!  Bambi and Holly had given some great design ideas, and Erin knew what supplies to get, thank goodness.  Also, we used some of Mark's wood for the frame base (thank you!!)  We are VERY pleased with the results....the run seems very secure, sturdy, and yet pleasing to the eye:)  At about 5pm last eve, we moved the chickens into their new home, and it was so much fun watching them explore! 


Upon returning from dinner, they still hadn't moved up the ladder and into their coop for the night, and so I hunkered down (the run part is 3 ft or so tall) and caught each hen, managed to get them all in the coop on my hands and knees, and closed the doors for the night.  It was very humbling.  I kept thinking, "good grief, if any of our neighbors are watching me right now, they must be laughing their heads off."  Hopefully the hens will learn to tuck themselves in, and this won't become a nightly ritual for me :)


Erin opened up the doors this morn, and all the hens are fine and have been happily moving about in grass, fresh air, shade, sunshine....they are able to watch nature all around them...it's been a lot of fun to sit here and watch them from the family room window.  And the temps will reach 80 degrees for the next several days, so the warmth is in good timing!!


Also, as soon as we put the hens in their coop, we noticed that Ash (the herding dog) sat beside their pen as if he was guarding them...when he barked, it was at something else and seemed reluctant to come back inside the house.  Not that we would trust him with loose chickens, but his guarding the coop is an added bonus!!