Sorry to be away from the blog for awhile…  the holiday rush of orders for Miss Maggie’s company was just overwhelming!  It is a blessing for sure, but really kept us busy, busy, busy!

One of the projects on the homestead was to create a new chicken coop.  Our old coop was built into a building that we call the Poultry Barn.  That is what it was called on the deed to the farm.  We had built a rather big coop into the building and over the years have tried to improve it, finding that our skills had improved over the years and the old work we had done was not very good.  And then the building would flood a great deal.  It really was a bit of a mess.  So finally, we decided that it was time to give it up and make a better suited place for our little flock of birds.  Something easier to take care of, warmer and more suited to our feeding and care routines.

And the best place was to use some of the space in our pony barn that was just empty.  We had been storing hay and feed in this area but it’s not the most protected and after the goats got into it one day, we felt it was safer to store the feed up near the house.  Easier too!  We can unload the truck right into the new feed area and it’s much quicker and less heavy lifting.

The ponies didn’t mind, they don’t use the feed room area at all.  Well, their tack is in there but that’s not too much.

So the word went out on the muddy January thaw homestead that the chickens were getting a new home!    Silly pigs, of course, were happy to hear the news.  After all, all the six piglets had been moved to the pony barn!  They would be good company for the new chicken neighbors!

The goaties were interesting…  after all, some of the loose chickens hang out there and they were all excited about the news!  The sheep were interested as well.  Everyone is doing well.  A bit muddy from the super warm temperatures that we had this day!  Believe it or not, middle of January, and the temperature hit 57 degrees!!  

It’s rather hard to shoot pictures in the room, but here is a shot that can show you how the guys built the area.  They made a stud wall to fit in the space on the right side of the door.  We will still have all the space on the left side of the door for equipment and various bits and pieces of farm need.  

Isn’t it beautiful!   We had the door and the piece of OSB for the bottom of the coop.  And the netting we took from the old coop.  All we had to buy was 8 2 x 4’s for the frame work.  Easy as pie!  It looks so wonderful!  In the spring, I’ll give it all a nice coat of paint.

This is looking into the barn where the ponies are and the half of the barn where we are keeping the piglets.  They are getting a little too big to stay in the smaller pig pen with their parents.  We will be raising them for freezer camp.  And we are concerned that if they are left in the old pen with impending litters from the two breeding sows, it could be a bad thing.  So they are now enjoying the winter cold in the nice warm pony barn!

Just love how this looks!  Nice and spacious, clean and easy to keep clean!  We measured to make sure that a wheel barrow can go into the coop for easy clean out.  We used natural branches for roosts and set it all up.  The hens were so curious!  Most of them came willingly to check it out.  We had to wait till evening to catch a few rouge birds!  

Maggie is building some special roll away nest boxes for the girls but for the meanwhile, a couple milk crates work pretty good.  They are checking them out.  

Haha, two at a time!   The black and white one is setting on top of the red hen!  Apparently, she really had to lay NOW!  

My first egg of the new coop!   I just adore this lovely new coop.  So nice…  And there is electricity in this barn so we can use a light in the winter to help with laying and to give them a sense of the rhythm of day and night if it’s too cold to open up the big doors.  

Just so love this whole upgrade!!!  Sometimes you just have to give up on something, even when you think it’s working but it’s really  not.  When the weather gets warmer, we will dismantle the old coop, save what materials we can and then use that building to store hay in the fall, most likely.  It’s least likely to flood then and it has this high raised concrete bench in there, so it will keep a lot of hay and other feeds, safe and dry.  And we’ll probably use it for storage.  Might end up like some of those old buildings that the American Pickers love!   You never know!

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