November: I smell eggs

It's been over a month since my last post! What can I say - we have gotten into a groove and are just waiting for that magical day (hopefully in the next week or two!) when eggs appear. The chickens are doing well, getting even bigger, and adjusted to the colder weather surprisingly well. We wrapped the bottom half of their run with plastic to keep the winds out, and added straw to the floor to insulate. When it dips below zero we will plug in their red light bulb to give them some added warmth.

a Tuesday forage

new feeder! meant for "baby pigs"

I put an old bird bath in their run with sand. They are terrified of it. Chickens!

I think chicken butts are cute. It's true.

ruffling feathers

Fluff getting her fluff on.

So impressive, Fluff!

Enter children. Exit chickens.

Fall Antics

It's been a while since my last post and much has changed in chicken world. They are almost fully grown and are more interested in bug catching and weed eating than in hopping up on people's laps. Another couple months and we should have some eggs!

coop is painted and adorable

So big and wandering the yard with Oliver

Growing so fast and finally getting their combs in!

Fluff found a grape and ran away from the others

Run, Fluff!

Tinny and Bowtie were in hot pursuit of the grape.

Bowtie gave up

But Tinny managed to get half of it.

outdoors!

just needs a little more paint!

thanks to my sister for supplying the floor for the poop board!
we boarded up the nest boxes until they are closer to egg laying age (20 weeks).

they haven't mastered going up the ramp yet.

the stump I added is their favorite. 

Just like that, the coop is done enough and the chicks are out of my house. They spent their first night outside and they weren't eaten by predators. Success! Many many thanks to my dad for building me a super awesome coop. It just needs some more paint and some final touches, and then we need to figure out where we are going to stash it in the yard.

Coop Progress

My dad is awesome. He came up with this coop design based on a picture, and did all the measurements himself. It's almost done - just needs trim, another coat of paint, and some hardware fencing around it. I hope to move the chicks in by the end of the week! They are too rowdy for their box, and are much happier eating our creeping charlie outside.

My dad, hard at work!

chick in her nest

My other three chicks, trying out the coop.
Oliver decided it was "too sharp." 

perch!

The sliding "poop board" - hopefully this will make for easy cleaning!

Three nest boxes. They will probably all lay in just one of them,
but handy if we get more chickens!

painting in the dark

A ghost painter??

The coop is bigger than we need, because as the chickens age, we will get new chicks and there will be some overlap in coop living. This one could probably hold 5-6 or even more birds. I love it!