New Location, New Chickens

When we moved from Prineville back to Roseburg it really hurt having to give up my chickens. I knew when we would finally find our new place I would get chickens again. But I learned that I would not have roosters again. I would just get a bunch of different breeds known for colorful egg laying and hardiness.

I had to figure out a good place to have the new coop and run (singular rather than plural, as in Prineville). I wanted them to be close to the house so it would be easy to keep an eye on them, gather eggs, feed and water them.

I settled on an area behind the house, in the area that used to be the previous owners' dog run. We had dismantled the fencing there and Bill scraped an area as flat as possible with the tractor. My plan was to make the run similar to how I did it before, with cinder block under the panel fencing that I would build. The run is about 16' x 17'. I also had to make the coop bigger, so I made it 4' x 6'. The other differences were I made the fencing panels with 1/2" square hardware cloth from top to bottom. And the next boxes were going to go inside the coop. I was also planning on having a netting material across the entire top of the run because of the multitude of hawks and other predators that could possibly climb the fence (raccoons come to mind...).

I built everything in the shop. Even though I had a plan on paper somehow I managed to mess up some walls. I don't know how it happened but I ended up swapping some walls and when I realized my mistake I had to make a new plan. It all worked out.

Another area I messed up. I originally had these sash type windows and this wall was going to be the end wall that would open to allow cleaning. It ended up being way too heavy so I made a new wall/door.

I tractored the pieces to the building site and started putting them together. The only problem I really had was getting the large door to hang properly, something I still have problems with. It does the job okay though, so I'm not fretting it. I enlisted the help of Bill, and friend Dave to help place the roof on.

Here is the interior before I built the nest boxes. The door for the chickens to go into the run is opposite.

What I had not anticipated being so difficult was digging the trench for the cinder blocks to go in. In Prineville the soil was rather sandy so it wasn't difficult. Here the ground is clay and it is virtually impossible to dig it out without heavy equipment. We got about two feet along but it was ridiculous so I filled it back in and decided to try and keep everything on top as best I could. 

You would think that laying the blocks end to end and then making corners it should be easy to make the yard square. I did the best I could. Our son came to visit and I enlisted him to help me with the finishing touches. He helped put build some fence walls, put them all together, and then put the garden netting across the top of the yard. 

I filled some of the cinder block holes with dirt and planted easy-care flowers. There are petunias, marigolds, some lavender, and some others I can't remember what they are.

Here you can see the new cleaning door.

Two sides don't have plants. Maybe next year.

I had my list of chickens that I wanted to order ready for a long time. I finally was able to order them and waited impatiently for them to arrive. My requested date was April 24. They arrived on April 26. Unfortunately there were a few casualties. I had 48 hours to report any further expirations. By the end of the 48 hours I had to report four deaths  It may sound a bit morbid but because I couldn't tell which chick breeds were which I snapped photos of their little bodies which I sent to the company. They told me what they thought they were from the photos and refunded me.

This is when they were "teenagers". Some are easy to id, others were still not so much.

My granddaughter has become something of a "chicken whisperer". She has a few favorites that come running to her. She actually made a chicken harness that this one (blue splash marans) lets her put on and they go for a walk.

They started laying eggs right on schedule at six months of age. Not all of them, but at least 2 started laying regularly. They were green and light brown eggs. Then we started getting a dark green egg, and just recently we started getting blue eggs!

They aren't all laying yet but we are getting plenty. 

I added a couple sheets of corrugated roofing. The rainy season is here now and the pen was getting really messy.

I am going to have to make one major change to the coop. I'll have to build the nest boxes so they are outside the coop (like in Prineville). With the boxes on the inside they get dirty way too fast because the hens won't roost on the roost I built for them but on the edge of nest box dividers. 

My work is never done!