Tag Archives: coop

New Flock

I started my flock all over again this spring, with 6 Red and 2 Ameraucana chicks. The Reds were sexed so I knew they would all be hens. The Ameraucan were straight run. I picked out my Ameraucanas with the hopes that they would be hens and give us colorful light blue Easter eggs. Of course my girls have names…..the 2 Ameraucana are Lucille and Ethel.

Meet Ricky, formerly known as Lucille

And Fred, but sometimes I still call him Ethel

Ricky and Fred with Reba and Midge

I enjoy sitting out surrounded by the zinnias watching the chickens (hard to see them thru all the honeysuckle).

Last year when I clean up the hollyhock bed, I scattered the seeds along the fence by the hen house.

We are still waiting for our first harvest of eggs. Hurry up girls, we are ready for Farmer fresh eggs!

New Rooster

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On my way back from Burns yesterday, I stopped at a shop in Marion, KS. TC’s WhatNotShop (look them up on Facebook) is a unique shop located on Main Street that is stuffed full of so many interesting items. A combination of new and used items. They carry KU and KState items that you don’t see at the chain stores. Lots of hand crafted items too. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring home a new rooster. When I placed it by the chicken run, he scared all my chickens!! I love Yard ART

Zenias

Chicken Run

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The Hall’s Japanese honeysuckle is in full bloom. It’s an invasive medium-fast growing vine, but I have plenty of room for it and I absolutely love the smell. The double knockout roses have so many blooms that occasionally a hen will pick one, but they really don’t bother them at all. Whenever I plant anything the hens gather around in search of any worms that I dig up. I put small river boulders around the base of each plant so they won’t scratch underneath the plant. Other plants in the run are, Butterfly Bushes, Vitex (Chaste Tree, which is really not for this area zone 6-10, but I love them and it’s worth a try), Cotenester, Hollyhocks, Maple tree, Pampas grass, other various grasses, and of course numerous weed.

Tour of the Coop de Ville

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I enjoy walking out to my chicken house this time of year, a few years ago I planted honeysuckle along the north fence of the chicken run. The varieties blooming now are Mandarin and Goldflame honeysuckle. The Halls Japanese variety hasn’t started blooming yet, but it’s loaded with buds. It is my favorite, as it’s the most fragrant.

Welcome to the coop de ville!

This is my feed room. The plastic trash cans hold plenty of layer and scratch grain, also keeps any critters from getting into the feed.

I especially love my galvanized bucket chandelier. When I asked Mr. Farmer to help me put it up his reply was, “you want me to what with this bucket?”

Some photos of the pictures in the feed room of the girls and boys.

left to right – Earl, Orville and Wilt

Mr. Farmer also made this horseshoe paper towel holder!

I made the grit dispenser out of a small cake pan and PVC pipe. The girls enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror.

The little pink chicken door is great. It’s on a timer so I don’t have to go out and open it early in the morning, of course it shuts at night, keeping them safe from any varmits. I found it on the internet and no it didn’t come pink, I painted it!

I’ll post pictures of their outdoor run when it’s not so muddy and all the plants (that they don’t eat) are blooming.

Inside Tour

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My day starts out at 5:30 am when Wylie and I go out and get the newspaper. We then walk over to the coop and wake up the rooster when we open the door to the run. We go back to the house, Wylie goes back to bed, but I stay up. It’s around 7:30 when I head back out to feed and clean up the coop.

The feed room is the first room you walk into when entering the coop. I store the layer and scratch grain in the large blue containers. The small green containers hold the grit and oyster shell. The chicken treats of mealworms are in the little pink bag. In the far pink bucket are my cleaning supplies.

Another view of the feed room. I use pine and cedar chip for the coop floor. It’s easier than raking up straw and of course the pine and cedar smell so good.

One of my favorite products is Nesting Box Blend. I add it to the nesting boxes and sprinkle some on the floor. It contains lavender, chamomile, bay leaves, eucalyptus leaves, oregano, peppermint, tansy, wormwood, marigold petals, spearmint and catnip. It repells pest and is an anti-mite preventive. It wards off bugs, is also antifungal, antiseptic, soothing and healing. It’s no wonder I am relaxed and calm after I clean the coop! I get the nesting box blend from a company called “Treats for Chickens”. They have a lot of other products that the girls love such as Chicken Crack and Worms and Harvest Flakes.

These are some of the products that I use daily. For fly control, I use a mixture of Melaleuca products, 1 tsp of Tough and Tender, 1 tsp of Renew Bath Oil, and 10 drops of T36-C5 Melaleuca Oil (tea tree oil). I disinfect the walls and roost daily with Sol-U-Guard, another Melaleuca product. Anti-Icky-Poo is a great odor control. It is a live bacteria to eliminate any organic bacteria. Anti-Icky-Poo’s friendly microbes eats away the source of odor and eliminates the problem from returning. I also put apple cider vinegar in their water. ACV causes an alkaline effect which reduces the likelihood of illness and helps to support the immune system.
I enjoy using these products and they are all safe for the environment and pets, and they really, really work!
If you are interested in Melaleuca, let me know as I can get you in touch with some wonderful people who would be more than happy to help you get starting with Melaleuca.

I have a lot of help, or maybe they are inspecting the coop to see that I am doing a good job. I love the pine roost that Jack, my interior coop designer built for them.

Another pine roost and the nesting boxes. I have a whole wall full of boxes, but we only have 3 open as you only need 1 box per 5 birds. Blocking them off keeps the chickens out of them, so I don’t have to clean them up!

Coop

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The chicken coop is still a work in progress. The fencing crew sat the poles and after a couple of days were able to put the fence up. The gates should be in this week and they will also put the barb wire around the top.

I planted honeysuckle along the fence on the north side of the chicken pen. Honeysuckle are excellent cover for fences, fast growing, attracts hummingbirds, and so fragrant. I chose 3 different varieties, Hall’s Japanese, which has whitish-yellow flowers, Goldflame honeysuckle with a beautiful purple to deep pink buds open to golden yellow tubular flowers that are bright pink outside, and Mandrin honeysuckle that are orange red flowers with pale orange interiors. What hummingbird could resist that!?!
Luckily I didn’t have to dig the holes, Austin (the fencer) used his Cat skid loader with a post hole digger. Thank you so much Austin!

Moving into the Coop

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The little bantams were the first to move into the new coop. When I moved the larger Red hens, there were a few battles. Wylie even got involved in some and got pecked on his nose.

Wylie keeps his flock together.

Wylie enjoys when it’s treat time for the chickens. I didn’t know he liked lettuce! All of the chickens will take the treats from my hand. The chickens (not Wylie) especially enjoy meal worms and the earthworms.

The crew building the fence for the coop will be here next week. The bantams are the only ones that I let free range. Wylie keeps a close watch over them.