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November 8th, 2008
Sorry for the
delay in updates. It's been CRAZY! I had to finish up
getting the run done while we had those few beautiful
60-70 degree days last week. Thankfully everything is
done... until spring anyway!
We're chicken
parents! Two days ago our eggs started hatching, and they
finished up yesterday morning. We have seven fluffy baby
chicks all cute and warm out in our heated coop. Check
out our live chick
cam!
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Farm
Illustration © Cory Thoman / iStockPhoto
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We ended
up with three purebred Rhode Island White chicks, and four Ameraucana
Easter Egger chicks. Check out all of the sections above for
pictures. Please be warned though, if you are squeamish or don't
like looking at deceased embryos or chicks, please avoid the
"Quitter" section. I posted it for educational purposes.
October
17th, 2008
We're getting down
to the nitty gritty now! I've finished construction on a second
(yes, second) coop. We're picking up the floor board today.
I will get it screwed into the platform in preparation for setting
it up on the foundation this weekend.
The big
coop, which I am now going to officially call the barn, is nearly
finished too. I've got the neighbor kid coming over this weekend
to help me paint the inside of it. Then I need to put together
my roosts and my run, and we're good to go!
Oh, did
I mention we've got eggs? We've got eggs! Hatching eggs to be
precise. There are 8 purebred Rhode Island White eggs, and 14
Ameraucana (Easter Egger) eggs that will be going into our incubator
early in the AM tomorrow. Our hatch date is November 8th!
October
8th, 2008
A ton of stuff has
happened since the last post! The coop is officially up and
painted.
This
section will show you the construction
progress of the coop from start to finish.
Next I
started working on the run. I decided not to use wood, because
it was too expensive and I was having a difficult time putting
it together with the tools that I've got. I also didn't want
to have to worry about the wood eventually rotting. I didn't
want a metal frame because I didn't want it to make a huge fryer
box per chance the thing ever got struck by lightning when the
chickens were out in it, nor did I want to deal with eventual
rust issues. So that left me looking for alternatives.
As chance had it, I
decided to stroll through the plumbing department at Home Depot.
After talking with the guys working that area, we settled upon
constructing my pen out of PVC piping. Thankfully, this seemed
to be the easiest method for me, and also one of the cheapest!
I sawed through the pipes and put together a "dry fitting"
(which is what you call it before you glue/melt all the piping
permanently together at the joints). I will be enlarging the
chicken run to two to three times it's curren size.
Another issue surfaced.
I needed to raise the level of the dirt underneath where the
pen would go so that it would sit level. What then did I do?
I had 10 yards of dirt delivered today and spent a good 2 hours
shoveling it. Here are the results.
BEFORE
AFTER
September 18th,
2008
With our chicken coop
being delivered on Tuesday, it was time to start clearing out
some of the overgrowth. I've only put a small dent in it. The
kids play unit (which our girls are too big for now anyway)
will be removed. Anyone want a free big toy (located north of
Grand Rapids)? It's probably got a lot of buggies in it, but
if you're willing to pick it up and clean it out, it's yours.
Here are some before
and after photos.
BEFORE
AFTER
