Coop Update!

It’s not finished yet but it has come a long way since you last saw it!

  We decided to use old fence boards as siding and I love the rustic look.

I want to put pickets on the bottom to cover the vertical supports.

The corners still need to be trimmed.

We added the nest box (a double seater)  and are anticipating our new gals to start laying this month.

(That’s a fake window over the nest box – I liked the look of a window so I painted a fake one!)

Our ever curious gal, Martha was in the new nest box before it was barely up.  She hopped right in and gave us one of her lovely blue eggs the very first day and every day since.  I guess she decided to take over the new nest box!  That may be because Brewster had gone ‘broody’ and was hogging one stall in the old (also double) nest box.

We still need to finish the roof, I want it to slant downward toward the back with an overhang in the front.

  Eventually I want to have a rain gutter system and a rain barrel to collect the rain water and use it for their drinking water.

This coop picture taken from The Backyard Chickens page is similar to what I would like to do with the roof/gutter system.

I thought about painting the coop but really like the rustic look of the wood and would like to see it age to a worn gray.

I have my flower box!

I added two hooks which I painted pink to match the flower box and hung a lantern I found at the flea market.  The other hook is for a future wind chime.

Of course you MUST have curtains!

At first only Snowball and Pearl slept in the new coop, huddled together on the top perch.  Then I moved Brewster in to break her broodiness (it worked).  I was going to wait until fall to introduce the others but then I said what the heck!  I needed to do it before winter anyway, they will need the warmth from each other to keep warm this winter.

The move went very smoothly.

  So alas, the Cluck Inn is abandoned for now but it will serve as a home for new chicks as we get them.

I have decided to simply call the new coop Kluck Inn Too.

(Spelling it with a ‘K’ is an Iowa ‘thing’)

My hubby painted Brewster’s portrait:

What better place to hang it than inside her home?

Here is a pic that shows the two coops together (taken before the new coop was ‘decorated’):

Do you like it so far?  Tell me about your coop or your ‘dream’ coop!