As you can see, the chickens want a new home. Without a huge brain, their imaginations are limited, and so they want only what they can see, which happens to be my living room. Unfortunately for them, they cannot have my living room, nor can they continue leaving their droppings all over my patio. It seems lately I can't step outside without landing on a slippery spot. With two new additions joining the flock soon, I have to move them to the corner of the yard, to a bigger home with more space to forage (and digest, and void) away from the house. Let me introduce the two newest members of the flock: Here is Gracie and Sebastian, named in the male form to superstitiously keep it female.
So here is the beginning of the new coop - four huge posts cemented into the ground. Much thanks to my husband for patiently holding the levels!
This used to be a veggie patch and produced a few tasty asparagus when we first moved in, but it is all clay underneath and very far away from the water, so garden no more. Hopefully, it will produce food of the ovum kind from now on.
A week later...
Here is the coop, through the two phases of external construction. First the framing was added, then the door, chicken wire, and roofing. The door and roofing were re-purposed from earlier construction, as was the door frame. The posts, chicken wire, and main frame for the roof were new. Many thanks to my oh so kind neighbors for letting me borrow their miter saw and levels.
Still to come, an internal home for roosting and nesting. I plan to use wood left over from the first coop to construct a simple raised box with a roosting post, a hinged door for collecting eggs, and a ramp.
