The chicken coop is finally done!
At dusk on Thursday, I corralled five chickens at a time in a pillow case and carried them up to their new digs in the corn crib. The previous day, we finished securing it with chicken wire and heavy rocks to shore up the bottom and hopefully prevent any predators from breaking in. We spread a thick layer of straw on the floor inside and wedged a few big pieces of wood found in the barn into the cross braces for roosts.
We kept them inside the new coop all day yesterday and today and plan to let them roam their new outdoor territory tomorrow -- hopefully this will have gotten them used to the coop and I won't need to do any chicken catching at dusk tomorrow when they bed down for the night.
Jay constructed the PVC pipe chicken feeder design I found online at a total cost of 30 bucks (it fits a whole half bag of feed), and we installed an Avian Aqua Miser DIY chicken waterer made out of a 5-gallon bucket, both of which are working fabulously so far.
The slatted walls allow great airflow and shade and keep the coop at least ten degrees cooler than outdoor temps.
The chickens seem quite content in their new home, but I'm sure that after two whole days indoors, they will be quite ready to explore the greenery that surrounds them by tomorrow.
You can help them come home at night by only feeding them in their coop. They will get it. I sort of drop two or three grains as I call them. I lead them with food into the pen where it is all dumped. Don't give them too much outside or you will spend more time than you like standing there, waiting for them to finally go in. I walk about 10 feet before I sprinkle more. I use whole grain oats as the enticer.
ReplyDeleteThey like the coop so much that they won't leave! Every time I go up to check on them, they're inside instead of out, lol.
DeleteThe feeder tube looks awesome mitsy! Very creative
ReplyDeleteThanks, chica!
ReplyDelete