Moving in the Coop!

This is the coop! I named it STARCLUCKS! Open and ready for egg business! Well almost! Egg laying won't happen for another 14 weeks give or take.

I moved the chickens into the coop this last week. They had completely out grown their box and well, it was just time! I was SO ready for them to move out of my house and into their own! So I built them a pen outside to peck around in and got busy preparing the coop for move in.

I painted the windows and doors green. Since I picked the name I tried to make it resemble the Starbucks color. It turned out very nice. I'm really liking the green. The windows are covered with screen to let the air in. You just prop the windows and a nice breeze blows through. The chicken door leads out into the run...that is not built yet. My dog Blue is sniffing around wondering what is in there! She is very curious about the chickens. I'm not sure if given the chance she wouldn't gobble up a chicken snack.

The egg doors are also painted green. I can't wait till I am going to these doors each morning checking for treasures! I just KNOW my girls are going to provide me with many eggs!

I don't have much patience. I'm so ready for eggs! Every time I go the grocery store and have to buy eggs I just think WOW pretty soon I won't have to do this anymore! Whoo hoo! That will be such a great feeling to walk past the eggs in the store and not have to buy them! I just can't wait it makes me very excited. I think finding an egg in the nest will be like finding a ed ripe tomato in your garden. Knowing you worked hard and get to have the awesome treasure to enjoy. It is such a cool feeling. I can't wait to feel it!

The girls and Rock a Doodle rooster were so happy to have space to run around in. I set up the food and water on blocks so they won't kick bedding in to it. It is working well and staying clean. They were happy to have a meal in their new home! I've been using pine shavings for bedding. I like it! It works very well and is easy to clean. It smells better than the sand and is easier to manage. You can buy a pressed block at the feed store so it lasts a long time. It is cheap and will be easy to compost when I have to clean out the coop.

The green to the left is the chicken door from the inside. We nailed slats onto it like a ladder for the chickens to walk down. It will be nice when the yard is finished and I can let the door down in the mornings and sit outside and watch them scratch around. I built a temporary yard for them to scratch in till the real yard is finished. It's just a 4x4 square but they love it! They eat every bug in sight!

That is my girl Dorthy there in the middle the two speckled girls are the Buttercups aka The Twitchy Sisters! There are 3 of them and one has become friendly and even flies up to my knee if I'm bent down. Dorthy always flies up to my knee and even my arm or shoulder! She is such a sweet girl! She is the largest and most feathered still. This heat is really getting to her. It is up in the high 90* today and the humidity is so high. They have been panting and drinking lots of water the last couple of days because of the heat. The coop is giving them protection but it's only a few degrees cooler in there than outside.

I like this pic with Blue watching in the background! I've had so much fun watching them play around in the yard. I know sitting outside in the morning with my coffee watching them come out and scratch around will be one of my favorite times in the day! I can sit and watch them for hours. It is so entertaining! I know I'm so blessed that I haven't lost one. It is not always the case many times a chicken dies. I'm glad all my girls and rooster are doing so well. It's been quite a journey to the coop and I know it will continue on. I'm just glad we've moved on to the coop phase and moved out of the house phase!! haha! More pics and updates to come!