New coop and chick updates

Oh we have been oodles of busy here in NH. We are building a new coop. It is so wonderful! Now that we are building a real chicken coop and are getting more serious about the girls, we have decided to name our chicken "farm". We are going to call it Le Coop D'Etat!

My Dad and our awesome friend Zach are helping us and it looks great! Here are some pix of construction.

We started by building a floor. The coop is 8x12, to avoid building inspections (less that 100 sq feet! LOL!) and it is 8 feet tall at its highest point. Also, it will have nest boxes and roosting areas hanging off of the base, like a bay window.

Here is Pandora, totally at ease in the construction. Nails are not tasty, however shiny they may be, much to her dissapointment.

Then the neighbor's roosters came over to supervise progress. Here's Troublemaker giving my dad some advice on his measurements.

And here is what it looks like now. The structure in the front is the current coop, soon to be dismantled.
The construction is the new coop ( duh)

On the left side is where the roosts are going to be for the silkies, when they grow up!
Underneath there is a set of 5 nestboxes. You can also see a couple of the gals out and about in the rainy weather.

Also, the chicks are growing, as chicks do! They are so funny. I have one with re-occuring pasty butt. I'm just glad I noticed it before she got sick!

Here's the gang.

"When will that crazy lady stop taking pictures of us?"

oh no, it cut off some of the picture. Oh well. Here are a few I got of sleeping beauties.

So tired...........

Ishtar, Ariadne and Hippolyta have been growing wing feathers and tail feathers to beat the band! Here are Ishtar's wings. Such a pretty gal! They grow up so fast. *sniff*

Whenver I open the door to the dog crate, they all come tumbling out to play on the rug. The best game is to jump in and out. THey run up to me, then run away back into the crate, then out, then in, over and over. :) Ariadne taught them all how to do it about 2 days ago. She's a spitfire ( my cuckoo maran chick) She also showed everyone how to eat fresh corn! She's a born leader.

GREAT job, BYH. :-) We too have been SUPER busy around here and I haven't had time to check in on all my DG pals lately! Looks like your chicks are doing fantastic! Such pretty gals/guys! :-) Neat coop you are building and it appears that you had plenty of feathered friend helpers to put in their "two cents" worth! lol
Belinda

I love that photo of the rooster supervisor! That's hilarious.

When you all were talking about the names for your chickens the other day, I almost told you about my dog I named Ishtar years and years ago. But I figured nobody would have any idea who Ishtar was. LOL

Very nice...
Tracey

Oh I'm always up to hear about mythology and ancient deities. Ishtar is a super cool one at that!

Congrats BYH!!!!!! New chickie house is Awesome!!! You have some really great Men folk there!!! Terrific job and sooooooooper supervision!!!! LoL!!!!

Good for you BackyardHen! You'll really enjoy your new coop. Your lucky chicks are "movin' on up..."!
;) Glenda

Looks like a real nice coop! How many chickens gonna be living there?I have 9 ,,,and I am thinking that4x8 maybe too small?

Looking good! Man, I wish I had a Maran.

Turkey, when my hens were free-ranged (now they have two huge chicken yards), 10 slept in a 4x4 coop. They took up maybe half of it, they huddled so close on the roosts. I wouldn't have a small coop if my birds didn't have much outdoor space, but if they do, I don't see why it would be a problem.

Well, my coop is 12x8 with nest boxes and roosting areas built into the wall like a bay window, so tehy don't take up flooring space. When it is done I'll post pix. My idea is to have a structure that will last, so some day when I move I can take it with me or leave it as a usable shed. The current coop is quite an eye sore.

Also, my girls have to spend all the months we have snow literally "cooped up!" So I wanted a lot of space. Also, I'm planning on subdividing it into two 6x8 coops, so i can have two flocks that don't interact, if needed. That way I can have just silkies in one area if the need arises. I plan to have the silkie side lower and more accessible to the marginally flightless. :)