Accidental Homesteader

So, it was a bit of a goat rodeo getting the peeps from the pen to their brooder, because it was too damn hot to finish the coop. The front door for the pen is not great, so it was held together by zip ties, which we cut so that we had could get the chicks as they ran away from the other door. One person at each door.

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So we had our three coops, and were working on a fourth for the peeps. Well, we got the fourth done and it is quite the palatial crib.

We learned some things along the way. And made some changes to the design.

First of all we made it almost twice as big.

We put in a double row of nesting boxes.

Plenty of ventilation.

We started with the plans for the big coop and made some changes.

Issues with the old coop included:

• Warping on the big door
• Hard to latch door
• Egg door that gets blocked by bedding
• Hard to open egg doors

We solved the first two by changing to a latch system.

We have hook and eye for keeping them open, but the latching mechanism is easier to handle.

Also, you can see the lip on the back of the nesting boxes to keep bedding inside.

We changed all of the doors so that they are latched on top of, rather than inset in, the frame.

The latch is the same on the front. On the old coop, we have a barrel latch, which, if you’ve ever been to a bar, you know lines up for about an hour and a half, then the door sags.

So we’ve got this thing over by the Quonset hut, and need to move it. When I went to law school, I definitely thought I’d be moving a chicken coop with my tractor.

As usual with a big project, we are racing a storm.

After dragging and pushing the coop to its new home, we installed the chickens.

I don’t think they know what to do with the roosts.

Three of the peeps did not make the move. They were culled this morning. One of them had juuuuust started crowing.

Me after dispatching three peeps and one chicklet from last year.

Update: Frances has found the new coop and was laying just outside.