The Hen Pen Project

“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

C. Northcote Parkinson

In 2011, as I was reaching the end of my working years, I decided to go part time.  It was wonderful!  All of a sudden, I had extra days to work on my bazillion projects here at the ranch.  It was great for a while, but it was only a matter of time before those extra days also gave me the opportunity to think up even more projects.  Soon, my project list, instead of getting smaller, was actually expanding! 

Then in 2015, I retired.  That also was wonderful!  I once again had extra days every week to work on projects.  Guess what happened next.  Yup.  The project list got even longer!  And now I’m out of options for adding more days to the week unless I start making my own calendar with a ten-day week! 

Moving to the New Coop

The new coop was ready for chickens and the day arrived for moving the flock from the woodshed, where they’d spent their whole lives to this strange new place.

 I put all the chicken equipment in the truck late in the afternoon & moved it to the new coop. We didn't move the chickens until after it was dark—sleeping chickens are calmer chickens.

I nabbed them one by one from their roost and put them in a cat carrier--they got transported three or four at a time. We decided a cat carrier would work better than hand-carrying them individually since it would hopefully keep them from freaking out or escaping.  Still they weren’t happy birds. Here Sam and Charlie ask, "What are you DOING to us???"

First trip to the new coop - Paul is the first one out.

Rhoda jumps into her new home

First batch: Confused & frightened.

Eventually there were more in the new coop than the old coop. Frightened chickens at both ends - in the new coop they huddled together in one spot & didn't move from that spot.

Finally they started to explore & discovered their huge new roost.

Amazingly, not only did Paul manage to get on the roost, he managed to flap his little frizzled wings hard enough to get to the very top. Even Courtney managed to roost - though in her case, getting on the roost was more a matter of some heavy-duty jumping rather than flying. When they had all settled down, I turned off the lights—that caused about fifteen minute’s worth of really forlorn clucks and peeps, but they eventually went to sleep.

The next morning I threw open the door to their new run. They all cautiously went out except for Jennifer who could not figure out that the giant hole in the wall was a door. It took major vocal encouragement and arm flapping from me to finally coax her outside.

They love the new run—fresh dirt to scratch in! This is more fun than an amusement park on the 4^th of July!!

More Coop Progress!

I just finished building this people-sized door into the coop, next to the chicken-sized pop door.  They will both open into the yet-to-be-built chicken run.  I made the door out of 100-year-old tongue and groove pine boards that I rescued from an old grain bin on the farm I grew up on.

A view of the door from inside the coop.

Bailey inspects coop construction progress.  The roost and the nest boxes are done - I recycled old cat litter containers for the nest boxes.

I've been enduring mosquitoes the size of birds and August heat and humidity to reassemble this prefab dog kennel into a chicken run fence.  It is slow going due to the need for frequent ice cream breaks.  It still needs a top, plus I need to bury some fencing around the perimeter to keep predators from tunneling underneath, but I will hopefully be done enough to move the chickens from their temporary quarters in the next week or so.

More Coop Progress

I revved up the old sawzall and cut a large gaping hole in the back wall of the pole barn just as though I knew what I was doing. This will be the people door to get from the chicken coop into the outdoor run. (Note chicken-sized pop door to the right.)

Also, I’m making progress on getting the coop walls up.  I still need to do the floor, nest boxes, roost, wet bar, large screen TV, la-z-boy recliners, etc. Since my chickens will be showing up in less than 2 weeks, I’m glad I’ve got the wood shed for them to hang out in until I get this all finished.

Pole Barn Progress

Here's a few pictures showing my progress towards getting a coop built in the pole barn:

Here's the pile of scrap lumber I posted on March 10. Used some of it to make the lumber racks. The rest of it is actually on the racks. I cut up the smaller pieces & they are now in the fireplace heating my house. So satisfying getting this stuff organized!

Another pole barn phenomenon: This bike hung upside down long so long that phoebes built a nest on the seat. I have a neighbor who is an artist & is way into bird nests. When I told her about this, she was so excited that I promised I would give her the bike with the nest intact so she could paint it.

I built these hardware cloth doors that swing into place when the sliding pole barn door is partially open - it allows the door to be open in the summer for ventilation but will hopefully keep predators and other nasty critters out.

Here's the pop door.  A pop door is a chicken-sized door that allows the chicken to go from the chicken coop into the outdoor chicken run.  The small pop door allows the chicken to go in and out but provides a smaller opening for heat loss in cool weather than a people-sized door would.

Of course, when I told Bailey I was building a pop door, she thought I said "pup door."

Future Coop Here!

Home of Future Chicken Coop!

Project Chicken is underway!  I was just in my pole barn mulling over the mess. When I built my garage over 10 years ago, all the good stuff got moved into the garage from the pole barn and all the junk got left behind. Now I need to get a chicken coop built in the pole barn before June when my baby chickens show up and am suddenly realizing how much junk there really is.  I'm gonna have to move the junk out before the chickens move in. The coop is going in this corner where this pile of scrap lumber is now residing.