Chicken coop: window boxes & hardware

Yesterday Jenn planted the chicken coop’s window boxes, with oregano, catnip, and spearmint — plants that help to deter pests from the coop:

Meanwhile I added second pulleys and ropes to the windows, to hold them open more securely, and replaced hook-and-eye latches with slide bolts:

I also added bolts on the vent doors, and added weather stripping:

Oh, and I recently replaced the temporary latch on the center door with a proper latch, and a bolt to join the two parts of the door. A cord goes through a hole in the frame so the latch can be opened from inside the coop:

Chicken coop: feeder & waterer

One project for the chicken coop that I deferred until after they had moved in was a custom feeder and waterer for them.

I made them out of 2″ PVC piping, and other bits. Firstly I drilled and filed holes in one piece of pipe, for the feeder:

I then assembled other pipe bits for both:

Here’s the waterer, in two pieces (so it could be inserted through the center wall hardware cloth). It uses drinker cups that dispense water when the chickens nudge the yellow tab:

Building a stand for both dispeners:

Both installed. The height is set for adult chickens, so I added a temporary platform so the chicks would be able to reach them:

Closeup of the feeder; I hope it works properly — I have a concern that the feed might not make it down the tube all that well, but we’ll see:

The waterer cups:

The feed and water bottles (only partially filled for now, just in case):

Five chicks on my lap

I have a folding chair in the storage side of the new coop, which I bring in to sit on when spending some time with the chicks. I also have a towel that I put on my lap, to protect it from the inevitable poop.

They seem to appreciate that; I had up to five chicks on my lap at once. And they all let me pet them. I guess we did a good job of socializing them.

Of cource, once they’re fully grown my lap won’t fit more than one or two.

Chicks: move-in day!

Now that the chicken coop is basically finished, it’s time to move in the chicks! They are almost two months old now, so not a moment too soon.

We transported the chicks from the house in a plastic container (that has a vent in the lid, used in the past as a baby chick brooder). Here’s the first of three batches: