Rural Gardening: got my new babies today, 1 by Loon

Loon wrote:
Thanks for all the "welcomes". Congrats to green on more eggs hatching. That has to be a great experience for the children to watch.

Green, did you say you have some golden comets that are nine years old?

I didn't know they lived that long. Are they still laying eggs?

I do notice my golden comets are very quiet and laid back compared to the R.I.R. chicks. I'm eager to find out if my free fancy white bird is a hen or a roo.

I had my actual chicken coop made by a man in a nearby county. I have pictures of the coop. I had my coop painted red. It is big enough for 8 hens. That is why I'm selling off my extra chickens. I only want to keep 8-10. My exercise pen is big. Can't wait to see what they think of it. I'll get some pictures of it. Today it's raining.

I'll post some pics. It's a nice design. They can walk out the front through the doggy door in the back of the barn wall into the fenced in covered lean-to. At night they'll go back into the coop. The sides of the coop open up for cleaning out the bedding. I use pine chips. The back of the coop opens up to get the eggs from the nesting boxes there. There are 3 boxes. I hope they'll be happy in there.

My birds are starting to fly so we had to put wire fencing material over the top. One chick flew up to the top edge and sat there trying to decide what to do next. :) It's amazing how fast they grow. We moved them out of the bunkhouse and into the barn yesterday. They're doing fine. They're still in their Rubbermaid totes with lights on them. In a few more weeks we'll move them out into the coop.