Dual hen coop
Above: Wanted to show you my dual hen coop. Here’s the opening where the hens come in and out; I had it like this for 5 years.
Below- you can see how I closed it up today.
The reason I closed it up was to turn their courtyard into a garden this summer. Below are the stakes for tomatoes (behind sun shelter to brace the plants from the north winds) and bush green beans will be on the lower fence on the left.
(Below) On the other side of the coop is this new opening cut out for them in the new fenced in area. They’ve been going in and out of it today getting accustomed to it.
Below: Here’s the front of the coop- on the left is the former side for the hens that is now closed up (just waiting for my tomato plants in late may or june), and the newer side to the right takes them to a whole new fenced in courtyard. The new area on the right will be shaded from hot summer sun because it’s the north side of the coop.
Sometimes I miss my bedroom closet door, but it was a good idea after all to put it on the henhouse.
chicken feeder
I made this layer feed feeder for the hens. I cut a square hole where you see the feed come out; used a kitchen knife for that. The bottom tray is a thing that bakery goods come in (with the top cut off). Now I will make another feed container like this one for their scratch grain .
Hens need something sweet
In the hot weather the hens need cold water and something sweet. This is the best thing for them, although I did read somewhere that Gatorade in their water works too. Here’s the last watermelon of the season- and it was a big one!
Hen and barrel
Just a hen and a burn barrel in the morning.
Waiting for the morning sun and a load of dandelions to be thrown in.
wheel chair wheels hen coop
I can’t take the credit for this, someone else made it.
The wheel chair wheels on either side help the coop to move easily because they are light and durable. This idea really works well! The man that made it put 3 different notches in the center of the wheel in the pressboard so you can have 3 different heights. I got it in the middle one.
View from photo above this one to the right. There’s a door you open to get the eggs. They roost on that platform at night and in the green plastic nesting box. See the perch to roost on? They don’t use it.
These 5 Barred rocks lay light eggs don’t they? I have another flock of 10 in another coop and some of them lay darker eggs.
It’s not winterized. I only have them in this for the summer, but it could be winterized with more work to it. I got another place for these 5 for the winter, so I’ll leave it as it is.
We grew some wheat
It’s just now starting to turn golden from the green it started out as. This is better than the sagebrush that was there before the wheat.
When I let the hens out in the evening, they eat the wheat and that’s what we wanted them to do!
in the nesting box
oops, I blurred this first photo.
These Barred rocks didn’t like me coming around with a camera! Look at the big barred Rock hen. I think the one in the forefront is the head of the flock since there is no rooster in the group. She’s telling the other one to get out so she can lay her egg . Friendly persuasion I think it’s called.
hens
they like the hay piles
this is a different hay pile
inside the coop pen
they think I have scrapes for them.
looking for bugs in the straw and hay
hens between a dead tree
I took some pictures today.
These are barred rocks.
This same setting sun will go down 3 or 4 hours later in the summer time. Hope this month of February is a good one for you!
nice to be back online
Hi, nice to be back online after a month of “computer in the repair shop”. I’ll put up a photo of my pretty Wal-Mart tablecloth curtains tomorrow.
Wanted to show a link to this website that shows you how to butcher a chicken. I appreciate all his details and exact photos. http://butcherachicken.blogspot.com/ What a great blog site. 4 years ago (doesn’t seem that long ago!) Jackie and Randy came over to show me how to butcher a chicken (see Jan 27th 07 post here on my blog). I had a mediocre camera, but they had the same order of detail as did Herrick Kimball on his How to Butcher a Chicken website, although I now have a killing cone which I didn’t have back in January 2007. I butchered a chicken today and had it in cold water in the fridge, so now it’s ready for the oven and it wasn’t one of these hens in the photo (in case you are wondering).
my hen pecked hen
It’ looked this bad 4 weeks ago from the other hens pecking at her, so I removed her from the flock to roam the backyard. She’s getting better, but really wants to go in with the rest of the hens in the fenced in area. I guess she doesn’t know that they could draw blood if they keep pecking at her.
Some time later- Well, it’s been over a month now and she is much better! The amount of skin shown is the size of a dime now instead of the photo above, but there’s still a problem. I put her back in the hen court yard and the other hens chase her and peck at her! After 10 minutes of that, I brought her out of the enclosed hen area to roam the back yard once again- this time permanently. I need a chicken sociologist to figure this one out!
OK Penny Henny, you can go back to laying your eggs behind the dog’s food dish in the 1/2 of cat carrier. I lifted up the carrier lid to take the photo) See the dog’s paw to the right?)
She sleeps there at night too. Our doggie (dog house to the right of photo not shown ) doesn’t bother her either.
hens in the sun
Barred Rock hens
They like this big bucket to lay eggs in, but they push out most of the straw, those little rascals.
Guess they are going after the same blade of grass.
hens that flew the coop
They lay their eggs in the garage instead of in the coop like the other hens. Little rascals.
law and order
Sheriff heard trouble in the henhouse
Sheriff sees me taking pictures and doesn’t like it
Sheriff exits after he crows and restores law and order
My Andralusian splash (white and black hen) with a blue Andralusian in front of her.
Mobil Chicken Coop pt 2
Here's the construction man and what he builds
Made by Elmer
sageland@yahoo.com Here’s the builders contact info. You can email him with any questions if you are inquiring about one for yourself. I inquired… and he built it for me. He lives 40 minutes away from me, but these can be sent on freight train so you can have one too.
This little door is where they come out of to their “courtyard” once I get it attached to the house.
Feed box by front door (note the nice big wooden door handle that is easy to grip.)
Inside look at where the feed goes when I pour it in the outside box- goes in here to the feed trough.
Here’s a close up of the nesting boxes from outside. In Part 1 (previous post) you see the back view of the coop with the windows. The long box under the windows is this- the nesting box.
Here are the two openings to the nest boxes from inside. (He really built this coop with a lot of features).
my favorite feature of the whole coop- inside lighting, it’s wired! I just plug in the electrical cord for the heat lamp.
Here’s the latch on the front door, but it’s even better than the photo because he put a big wooden handle on after this photo was taken. It’s visible in the close up of the feed box photo from the outside view, 6 photos up.
Now this is a well built mobil hen house!
I didn’t even show you the pins in by the wheels to take out for extra turning for the wheels.
Didn’t even show you the rope that is by the wheels for easy pulling. Everything is painted inside (some photos were taken before the last coat of paint).
Roosting bars. The hens roost up here and especially like the red Christmas lights I hang up on a chicken wire wreath in the winter. they also like to sit in the roosting boxes when it’s real cold.
Builder standing by the moveable hen coop he built
Built by Elmer
sageland@yahoo.com is the email to inquire about having one built for you. Just ask for Elmer.
Mobile Chicken Coop pt 1
This is a two part series on a mobile chicken coop that was built from a man who has a business building these. You ought to see his green house’s too!
Part 1 is the coop (this post) while Part 2 will tell about the builder.
You got to have one, that’s all there is to it!
Wow, What a neat mobile chicken coop this is!
The Builder can make one just for you.
chicken coop back view (nesting boxes to get eggs from outside)
This is one durable chicken coop that is easy to maneuver because of the big tires and the rope to the left (that you can’t see). The outside pen chicken wire isn’t attached yet, so you don’t see their courtyard, but I will add a photo of it when I get it attached to the coop. I’m not in a big hurry since they’ll stay inside for a while being only 2 weeks old. I’m building up an Andalusian flock with more coming. This coop should fit 10 birds or 7 big ones comfortably.
front view with feed box by door.
Outside feed box
See the feed box to the right? I can just pour in the feed for them and it goes to the built in trough inside. Do you know he can ship them on a train? You can have one of these for your laying hens. He builds them smaller too. contact info for prices and more info. on next post.
Inside feed trough
I was online trying to find a hen house… I found them in the UK, but not here in the USA. Was very down and disappointed…. till I found this chicken coop builder…. you’ll meet him in part 2 and see inside photos of the coop. Check in later this week.Another cat patrolling the chicks in the mobile coop. It’s very secure and the cats can’t get in!
Here's the attached removable pen
Here's some pullets in the coop pen.
those little red hens
I’ve got 16 Rhode Island Red layer hens
and a new use for an old blue plastic vegetable/dip bowl. Fussy little ladies, they don’t like pellet feed, only crumble.
Hens and kitty in our yard
Here’s Buster outside by the flowering plantain, the weed I put in some of my salve.-
hen getting shade by the climbing roses. There are 10 more hens in the bushes at any given hot afternoon.
3.
I think I took a pic of this last year, oh well, it’s a good way to get them in the photo all at once.
4.
Here’s the culprit hen- Those are iris bulbs on the ground and the hens eat the sword leaves down to the bulbs!
Chicken in the house
A hen came through the open back door and flew on the dryer then Mr impatient( son) yelled at her and she flew down to the floor.
Well, from there she came in the kitchen…
and then she left via the front door.
in the hen house
Night time in the hen house. Here they are roosting for the night, 6 of the 26 hens in their coop. They like the roost in the far back because it’s the highest one. Notice how they are facing the wall; I forget to turn off the heat lamp at night and it’s not dark enough for them.
These are the bottom level of hens roosting on a long board propped up. Above them are the nice nesting boxes that they don’t use too much for laying eggs but they roost on them at night.
Here’s where they like to lay their eggs. In this big orange pot for flowers. I fill the bottom with a lot of dirt for weight so they won’t tip it over, then a bunch of straw on top . She’s just laid her egg and is hopping off the pot (This one is 1/2 buff orpington and 1/2 Rhode Island red). Behind her are the 19 Rhode Island Reds that are a few months old.Cutting up chicken
I want to thank some special pros at getting a chicken ready for the oven. Thank you Jackie and Randy for your help; was so very happy and speechless by you guys coming here to help me with these chickens. Now I think I can do it by myself next time. Here’s the steps in chronological order of how it went.
photo 1– cut the chickens heads off
photo 2– dip chickens in SCALDING water and start plucking (outside)
photo 3– singe hair off with rolled up lit with match newspaper (come inside now)
photo 4– cut off feet at knuckle of drumstick
photo 5- cut out the crop
photo 6- pull out the windpipe, and something else..?? Can’t remember
photo 7– trim neck off since it gets a little dirty from outside when you cut it
photo 8– start cutting where you see the two fingers pointing to. *see that little thing at the end? That is the oil gland – cut it off (I don’t have a photo of it getting cut off but cut it off).
photo 9– start cutting that opening part
photo 10– put your hand in there and pull out the guts from way back.
photo 11– see that little green thing in the guts? don’t open it, it’s poison or something bad.
photo 12– In my hand is one of the lungs. You go in there and scoop it out in the direction of the ribs because it sticks to the ribs.
There you have it! I’m so glad I can now get a chicken ready all by myself thanks to the chicken pros that helped me- forgot 2 more chicken pluckers- Skyler and Luke.
carmel apples and chicken garden pen
Carmel apples
We’ve been making these delicious carmel apples with golden delicious apples and galas. They’re tricky, even with a candy thermometer. The last batch was a little too “taffyish” but still good. Used the whip cream/ sugar /corn syrup recipe . Forget buying those little carmels once you make it from scratch!
Chicken Garden pen
This moveable chicken pen can be moved by one person but works better with two. It is the 2 sections connected- the PVC pipe square (tarped for shelter) and the “courtyard” attached consisting of 5 feet of cattle fencing . The 2 sections are connected by cable ties.
When my husband gets to work for something for the chickens, wow, I’m happy. I ran out to the garden with a hot cup of coffee for him when he was setting it up! Then after I studied it… I said it’ll blow away. He said no it won’t. I said yes it could since I saw a PVC pipe chicken pen on a website once blown over sitting on it’s side. He disagreed. We’ll see when the next wind whips up. Purpose of the pen: to fertilize the garden (in case you’re wondering).
photo 1 cattle fence in a roll. When it all got assembled, we used the big bright colored plastic tie things that lock into place (Cable ties they are called! 8 inch ones) to tie the fencing to the PVC pipe frame.
photo 2 PVC pipe square (notice to the left the pipe on the floor that will hold the 2 nesting boxes, green one is already there). He used the special glue for PVC pipe to connect the PVC pipes.
photo 3 pen is in the garden with tarp over it . We still have to tarp the sides. Don’t think you can see it but I have an old red baseball bat set in the corner of the PVC pipe house part for a roost. 2 other roosts are there that were stakes for the tomatoes in garden this summer. There is an attached run to the PVC pipe house so they can run around and eat the garden grass.
photo 4 close up of nesting boxes with ceder shavings in them. The older layer hens are going out there in the garden.
photo 5 Red baseball bat roost! ( I thought of that one). Problem with chickens is that you build something nice like nesting boxes or roosts and they don’t use them sometimes but I’ve seen them roosting on this bat (hurray!).
photo 6 We put this big silver tarp over the blue one so the whole PVC pipe square can be covered for shelter. You can put your hand in here and get the eggs from the nesting box.
Don’t forget to anchor this pen down or else a strong wind could pick up your chickens, pen and all and hurt them bad.
The chicks came
and so did the visiting nurse.
red carnations
pansey wreath 1995
