Well, the chicks have arrived..... I have been waiting quite a while to get to this point, and this was the week! If you remember back a few months to when I showed you photos of us moving the hen house from the neighbor's property to Tuckaway, the renovation and updating has been a long process!
Chicken Coop
The peeps were hatched on Monday and arrived at the post office on Tuesday morning. I got the call from the post office at 7:40 am on my way in to the office, so I had to do some quick juggling of my schedule so that I could pick them up before the office closed at 5:00.
We had been working really hard on getting the fence up, and in. In meaning two feet of it is buried in the ground to keep digging predators out!!!! So that means there is about four feet out of the ground and before the birds get to experience the great outdoors, we'll need to put a run of electric fence wire at the top. None of this again, is to keep the chickens in, but to keep the varmints out!
The hen house also needed a new roof, but we both really liked the original metal roof that was on it, just too many old nail holes to keep the babies dry. So off it came!!!!!
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| Fortunately the rafters (I think that's what they're called) were in good shape. |
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| So the old sheets of metal are set aside in the same order they came off the roof and fresh plywood goes on. The blue screen door in the background was another salvage yard find that we will use as a gate into the chicken yard. Chris was a little taken aback when I painted it blue, but I wanted something bright to contrast with the brown of the old barn. |
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| Then heavy weight tar paper went on and the metal roofing was put back in place. |
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| Ta Da!!!!! New old roof back in place!!!!! Notice anything else different? |
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| Two new windows!!!! These are actually basement windows where the screen is built-in to the frame, but the glass panel comes out when you want some ventilation. Trimmed those babies out myself! Egg basket was a yard sale or estate sale find, which by early March I hope to be putting to good use! |
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| The chicks won't be using this for a while, but the roost is ready for them when they get a little older. It's amazing how quickly they grow. After only five days out of the shell, they are already getting their first wing feathers!!! |
We decided to get a variety of chickens and based our selection on them all being brown egg layers, and cold hardy breeds. We have three White-crested Black Polish, two Buckeyes (I am an OSU grad ya know!), four Buff Orpingtons, three Black Australorps, and three Dominiques. They came from
Meyer Hatchery here in Ohio. They were most helpful, and I made sure to call Tuesday afternoon to compliment them on their fast service and quality customer service. Do you ever make those calls? I try to make complimentary calls when they are warranted, that way I feel much more equitable when I need to make a complaint call to a company. Sometimes I even call a restaurant after we've received exceptional service. Try it sometime, the manager or customer service rep., is usually quite taken aback that you called to compliment them.
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| Had to include a photo of Henry laying outside the chick enclosure that is within the hen house. I wanted to make sure the dogs were introduced to them early on and learn that they were not to be mistaken for a squeeky toy or worse dinner! Now, Henry will go over to the door of the hen house and whimper to go inside and say hello to his peeps! |
Today marks the first day of Fall, and I was certainly ready for it. So glad to finally be able to wear sweatshirts again, and looking forward to the colors of Fall.
Have a great weekend! Peace! Kent
