Cool Chicken Coop Construction Complete? Certainly!

In a combination of great teamwork and an “all hands on deck” attitude, the family has finished the construction of the Chicken Mansion here on Nutuba Acres.  You can’t really see the other coop from this picture, but it’s behind and to the left of this coop.

When the young hens get a bit older, we’ll merge the two flocks.

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The past few days have mostly been spent putting up the chicken wire around the fence and over the top, to keep predators out.  We also dug a trench and buried chicken wire around the perimeter, to prevent animals from digging into the pen.

The coop has roosts (or perches) on which the hens can, uh, roost (or perch).  We did prime the inside of the coop, but we decided not to sheetrock and wallpaper.  And we decided against mirrors on the ceiling.

We primed it partly to help protect against rot, but also we thought it might help reduce the amount of odor that gets absorbed into the wood and siding, if we ever decide to use this as a garden and yard shed.

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The coop, which is more or less the poultry version of the Biltmore Estate, was officially declared finished at approximately 7:45 on the evening of June 2, 2009.  The eleven young chicks eagerly explored their new environs before deciding to settle in for the evening.

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Above is a view of the coop from the top of the swingset.

These chicks, now a full two months old, are mostly Ameraucana hens, though two of them are ISA Browns.

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The above shot is not photoshopped, nor does my oldest son have the head of a chicken.

The hens are gentle and people friendly.  They enjoy jumping up and sitting on shoulders, as demonstrated in the above photo of my oldest son and an Ameraucana hen.  There are inherent dangers when a chicken roosts for too long on a shoulder.  My wife will be washing her shirt this evening.

Below is my oldest daughter and her chicken, Scout (named after the character in To Kill a Mockingbird).

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Scout, an Ameraucana, jumped up on my daughter’s shoulder, put her head down, and apparently fell asleep. 

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Above we see one of the ISA Browns (this one is named Suh, after the University of Nebraska’s star defensive lineman, Ndamakong Suh) sitting on Daughter Youngest’s shoulder.

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And here we see another Ameraucana sitting on Son Youngest’s shoulder.

These birds are gentle and fun.  They’re definitely enjoying their new surrounds. 

Oh, gotta go.  One of the chickens just rang up room service. 

Later, all.

For other fowl humor and articles by this author, see (or even read) the following.

Of Chickens and Chicken Coops

Chickens Are Funny

Raising Chickens 1: Baby Chicks