After hemming and hawing for a couple of seasons we finally decided to get some chickens! We plan on eating their tasty eggs and composting their nitrogen rich poop for the garden. Nevada picked up some chicks over Labor Day weekend in Issaquah and we housed them in the garage under a heat lamp. She purchased a Golden Sex Link and 2 Americana’s. They were all super cute and chirpy and then would get a tuckered out and fall over sleeping.

Heat lamps don’t make for the best pictures…

Lights out. Poorly framed shot of Fea, Megatron, & Goldie 

Once the days cleared up we introduced them to the garden under strict supervision of the cats.

 Mr. Rosewater & chicks

Goldie, Megatron, & Fea getting the tasty bits about the grapevine.

Mr. Rosewater was completely indifferent to the chicks, all the cats were. They’d come around their crate to investigate the chirps, but they didn’t seem to show any predatory interest in them. I had thought they were going to be inciting play things for the cats, but that wasn’t the case.

Then one day Jasper and The Hunger were watching them peck about and Megatron decided it was time for a flight. She stretched out her wings, started flapping, and flew for a meter or so. The cats looked at each other in disbelief, but quickly returned to their leisurely pursuits

Jasper

The Hunger

The chicks were growing quick and were going to eventually need something more permanent than the cardboard box. We got to work building them a coop. We used, 2×3’s, some reclaimed siding, hardware cloth, and corrugated tin. We just sorta threw it together from some sketches we had. We wanted to build a coop that we could tuck behind the garage where they’d get winter sun. The tin roof was replaced with one of UV resistant clear plastic so they could get what little sun we have in the PNW and stay sheltered from the rain.

How it started

How it finished  

Fancy door

Nesting boxes

The project came together over the course of a week while N was in India. Once it was compete I had to get it behind the garage. We had started with the idea of building a chicken tractor, a portable coop that you can move about the yard. No way was thing was in the portable category. Once it was all together, I was unsure I could even move it by myself. Luckily, we had the tractor wheels. So, I bolted them on, built some ramps, and set it up behind the garage.

Cleared the arbor

Parked 

For security from chicken pestering pests, I laid a hardware cloth skirt around the edge [a choice I’d later regret]. It extended about a foot out from the sides of the coop. I held it in place with yard/garden staples. Looks good. No? The yard quickly grew up through the cloth I was pleased.

Against the garage

Finished? Yes. Secure? Maybe.

The chicks were still to young for the coop and needed the warmth of the heat lamp for the cold nights. We were still dipping into the low 40s some nights. However, our friends who keeps a bit more livestock than we do had a hen that had gone broody and they were looking for a place she could nest. They asked us if we’d keep her in out coop till she hatched her clutch of eggs. Sure! We candled the eggs and spoiled Broody Hen on quality kitchen scrap. Mostly though, she’d just sit on her clutch.

Broody Hen

#1

She hatched 4 of the 5 eggs

Once our chicks were pullets, we returned Broody and her chicks and moved our birds into the coop. My poor choice for securing the perimeter from vermin came back to me one day in July. We were gardening and the chickens started to making a fuss. Nevada saw a rat run up into the hen house from inside the enclosed run. I had a little panic thinking how we, I, was going to have to kill this intruder. As I was rattling off ways we could dispatch it, she suggested we simply let it go. Great Idea! We opened the hatch and shooed it out with a sturdy branch. We then upgraded the perimeter. We moved the coop and dug a 1′ deep trench slightly smaller than its footprint. We then laid more hardware cloth in the trench and up the sides overlapping the original cloth that was left in place. We then set the coop back into place and packed soil under low spots until there was contact all around. The weight of the hen house keeps that side grounded. We hammered stakes on the gate side and screwed the coop in place. This configuration seems more secure and we haven’t had any more issues with chicken foes.

Keep out!

Goldie, Megatron, & Fea

Egg machines!

Goldie started laying first in October while my mom was visiting!. She lays a brown egg. Megatron started laying her green eggs a couple of weeks later. Fea began laying a pinkish light brown eggs in November. We usually get 3 eggs a day! That’s a lot! We can’t eat ’em that fast, but we’re trying. The taste is truly incredible and their yolks are deep gold. The chickens love cruising around the yard and get pretty noisy when they’ve been in the coop for extended periods of time. They’re digging machines and are going to town on the worm and grub population. Slugs wont be an issue this season. However, they leave a destructive wake as they forage for goodies. We had to put a fence around our garlic bed and have the onions covered with crates. We’ll have to get more fencing once we start planting for the 2013 season.

Megatron, Goldie, & Fea taking a dusty

Mike & Megatron

Goldie foraging in the rain

Fea laying an egg

The updated coop. Food and water now hang in the run. We insulated the water bucket with the mylar covered bubble wrap to keep it from freezing in the winter. The new roof lets in plenty of sun and keeps the run dry on soggy days. The cloth around the perimeter is completely covered in earth.