But, even though I've been offline awhile, I have been taking pictures! Prepare for a massive influx of pictures. The girls are really big now, one in particular, and they've been given names! Their names are:
- Esther--largest, silver-laced hen. Dominant streak, shows signs of being top bird in the pecking order. Can get a tad nasty with the other girls, and likes to get up in their faces and remind them that she's boss. Her comb and wattles are developing before all the other girls' are.
- Grace (Gracie)--larger of the two gold-laced hens. Sort of Esther's right-hand (wing?) hen. She can get a bit fresh too, but is usually mellow with the other girls.
- Rosaline (Rosie)--silver-laced, very pretty plumage. She doesn't like being handled at all, and makes quite the peeping racket when picked up. She's the noisiest of the flock.
- Penny--smallest hen of the flock, gold-laced. Despite being the smallest, she's not a pushover, although Esther does like to pick on her sometimes. She's also relatively calm when being handled.
- Josephine (Josie)--silver-laced. More aloof than the others, to the point of shyness. She doesn't mind alone time, as opposed to being with the entire flock all the time. Esther gives her a hard time on occasion (but Esther gives everyone a hard time).
I've done a lot of coop work. In fact--it's finished! The only thing left to install is the nesting boxes, but since they're not laying yet (not for another 9-10 weeks), there's not as much rush. However they were rapidly outgrowing the garage brooder--they figured out how to roost atop the brooder walls, and began to explore the garage--so I needed to finish the coop essentials ASAP.
See? Big girls now!
I'll do coop pictures first, to force you to look at them ;)
I installed the coop door, put up henhouse walls and floor, put in plexiglas for windows, made a pop door mechanism, installed roosts, lots of hardware, yadda yadda. But it looks good.
Door: I got a hand from my friend Leslie in the construction and installation of the door. We had to make it fit the frame so it could actually work--a real challenge. But it's good now!
Ray helped me install the door stop, screen door spring, and bolt lock. See detailed pictures below.
Directly above: screen door spring pulls door closed.
Right: drilled a hole for the bolt with the largest bit I own.
After that was henhouse walls. I got a lot more circular saw experience from this, since I can't cut plywood/OSB with a chop saw. Here are pictures from my first wall.
When I cut holes with a circular saw, as for a door, I always finish my cuts with a hand saw to avoid over-shooting the cut.
Above: cutting
Below: installing wall and egg door, framing egg door (the blue-gray wood inside the doorway)
I did the rest of the walls in a similar fashion. The other 2 outside walls have windows, two on the wall to the right of the one pictured above, and one on the wall across from it. They are plexiglas windows. The inside wall has a human access door for easier henhouse cleaning, and I added a small window covered in hardware cloth. I also created a pop door of my own invention for the chickens--another challenge. I can open it from outside the coop in the morning. Pics to come.
I installed hooks for the waterer and feeder before I did the walls, actually, to go unchronologically for a moment.
More coop pictures. These have the inside wall that opens into the run, with the pop door and the ladder down from it, then wall pictures, and an inside view of the henhouse from the egg door.
Front view, with chickens on the roost one the left.
Blue cord is pulled to open the pop door from outside. A cleat keeps it in place. I've since replaced this cord with a green nylon one, since this one didn't work.
Wall with two windows.
Back wall, with one. This one is easiest to see in through.
Inside view of henhouse from egg door, since nesting boxes aren't in placed. You can see the roosts (the small, super low one is temporary and from the old brooder).
And voila! Complete!
