The ladies have been in their new coop for some weeks now and seem happy with it, but a few revisions were clearly in order before the new batch arrives.
I originally ran a single juniper branch the length of the interior, with a second shorter one giving access to their little raised door. They seemed okay with that but they gradually started roosting farther and farther from the little door until at least two were right over the nesting box – which they used as a toilet.
The three ladies are all from the same batch and have always shared the same small nesting box, but I assume when there are more and younger chickens they’ll want to diversify. So the first thing I wanted to do was discourage them from roosting right over the big nesting box, of which they currently only use the one corner. I also figure I should add another box in the far corner. So all those juniper branches needed to be rearranged.
I spent yesterday morning cutting up the last of the firewood I’d hauled in last winter, so I can put the chainsaw to bed for the season. Saved out some nice solid branches the right diameter for chicken interior decoration.
That’s only about half of it.
So now, with the help of a couple of screws and some 550 cord, there’s a veritable jungle gym in there. They can roost anywhere they want, but not over where they’re laying my eggs.
