Sunday, April 1, 2012

Coop Taking Shape and Conflicted


Here is the frame going up this morning and now here is the chicken wire going on. My husband must love me as he has been at it for hours and hours. Only day off and this is what he is stuck doing. Thanks babe!
Obviously this is the run and we will move the hen house in later. It is an old piece of furniture we modified.


The chicks have been evicted from the bathroom. This is their new set up It has chicken wire over the top and they are right out my patio door so we can see them. They are so happy in there compared to the box in the bath tub. At night it will be moved to the garage with a heat lamp and for times we cannot keep a watch over them.



Here is my dilemma. I have been obsessing over these two supposed barred rocks and posted pics on a great site and the consensus is they are roosters. BOTH! Noooooo! I knew I might end up with one but they are identical so I am worried. Some say they look like black sex link roos. Funny name I know but it is real. So do I run out and get two more chicks and hope I end up with at least three hens? I am a crazy woman I know. I believe my husband is rolling his eyes right now. This whole journey should be interesting. Our big dog acts like she wants to get the chicks and probably eat them but she has been exposed to them only twice. Our little dog is around them all the time and just hangs out by them. So this should be interesting. Oh well one of life's adventures. I have been reading on introducing our dog to the chickens but I don't think I will have them out when she is loose in the back. She has a side yard she stays in during the day and is kennel trained and can go in there when I want to let the chickens out in the back. We will have to be vigilant. I am up for it. This has been a great project so far and though a lot of work, I am loving it and
Q is gaining a great deal from the experience. Will let you know what our supplies cost next time. Two hours in Home Depot. Good times!!!


15 comments:

  1. how exciting. i love it!! buy more chickens!! go for it. you only have chickens once in your life, right??!! ha. ha!! we have friend that were doing it for a school project i believe the daughter got 10 total. not sure how they got all females but they did. she will not eat any of the eggs ... so it seems pretty pointless. but hey, every time we go there we get free eggs... so it is awesome for us. ha. ha!! can't wait to hear what happens next. (:

    ReplyDelete
  2. How exciting for you. You will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having chickens. We have a big dog and we have had to separate the chickens with a privacy fence. Chessie wants to chase them and eat them (that's the hunting dog in him).
    Just wait until they start laying eggs ~ mmmmmm ~ fresh eggs are the best and they make your cakes pop right out of the pan ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. tricky telling the sex of chicks, can't just lift up the skirts!Its exciting raising your own chickens, we raised chickens, the chicks are so cute, your hubby is a good guy for sure.Best of luck,

    ReplyDelete
  4. We're told all ours were HENS... so far I've not noticed any difference in behavior. We already have 1 rooster... and I sure don't want anymore.
    I have no idea what to tell you. But if they are roosters maybe you can find someone to take them? Try Craig's list.

    sorry, I don't have more than that to offer.

    Pat

    ReplyDelete
  5. We're told all ours were HENS... so far I've not noticed any difference in behavior. We already have 1 rooster... and I sure don't want anymore.
    I have no idea what to tell you. But if they are roosters maybe you can find someone to take them? Try Craig's list.

    sorry, I don't have more than that to offer.

    Pat

    ReplyDelete
  6. I came back to say...
    Can't wait to see your repurposed coop/hen house.
    I bet it will look so great!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your hubby must love you...because mine would tell me to go fly the coop. JUST kidding. How cool is that!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great job on the chicken run so far!! I never thought of using baby gates as wall for a small pen when ours were little...how creative of you! hmmm, hard to tell if you have a roo or not, we did not know our last rooster was a boy until just before Christmas when he feebly tried crowing, lol, and he is a barred rock mix. I honestly thought he was a hen cause he looked just like his mom, and we have had chickens for 5 years, lol. But, I will say...get more chickens! What the heck eh? They are so much fun and you can always giveaway any roosters you don't want :) And you will love having fresh eggs right from your back yard, so much better tasting than the grocery store bought eggs! You have a keeper of a hubby :)
    have a great night!
    hugs, Trish

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my gosh, I hope you don't have Roos!!! Looks like things are getting all set for them. Your husband is a great guy!! And obviously loves you very much to spend his one day off doing this for you!!
    : ) Kris

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bummer luck to have two roosters! They are the prettiest birds, but their job is to protect the hens and I usually get rid of them because they can be so aggresive. They have spurs on the back of their legs that can really hurt! I think I would wait and see of they really are males, you can tell when they begin to get their tail feathers, but by then it will be a bit late to introduce more hens. Maybe one or two extra hens would be a good insurance policy that you'll actually get eggs. By the way, many people over the years have asked me "don't you need a rooster to get eggs?" No you don't! You only need a rooster if you want eggs that turn into chicks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Elaine! Good for you getting the chickens. I do know you can order females specifically from hatcheries and they come to you in a box from the PO. How wonderful that your hubby is doing all this for you. Wow. What a wonderful hubby. Yay! I hope everything works out with them. We have to keep a heat(brooder) on ours because it is so cold where we live. We also have wood chips or shavings on the floor of their coop to absorb all their mess, I think it also helps with the warmth factor. But we are in a high elevation (4000 ft) too. But chickens are wonderful to have!
    Blessings,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  12. They're all cute but if you live in a neighborhood roosters might be a problem. I had a neighbor out in the country that had a rooster but he never crowed until about 10 in the morning...he was strange. I guess even in the poultry world there are some that just aren't morning people! LOL!
    You and your husband make a great team! Beautiful coop and I am glad you are doing this so by the time I get my acreage you'll be an expert and can tell me how to do it! Ha! Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Roosters can be really aggressive, so you probably don't want them. As you have to wait months before you get any eggs, I think I would get a couple more :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. We had one rooster we had to get rid of as he was so mean! My daughter still has scratch marks where he came after her once, and that was years ago. My experience w/the big dogs is they'll go for the chickens and it won't be good. I guess it depends on the dog's personality, and maybe if you expose him to them when they're young it might be different. The other problem is the neighbors might not enjoy Mr. Rooster's comments in the morning.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just got rid of my rooster on Thursday. He was treading on my pour girls backs so hard making them bleed and losing lots of their feathers. He has flogged 3 of us and I was scared he would scratch one of my boys. He was so pretty and I miss him already. Of course a dog got one of our chicks on Saturday after he left. He was a good protector to those girls. I did get another hen and now my girls are pecking the crap out of her. Dang I can't when for losing! I would go ahead and get a couple of chicks just in case!

    ReplyDelete