True stories of a small flock of remarkable individuals -- and other critters.



Showing posts with label broody coop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label broody coop. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2011

Build a Coop in THREE HOURS?

Heck, why not?  
Terry Golson and I thought we'd give it a shot.


She recently ordered a batch of fresh new chicks, and is hoping their delivery will coincide with one of her hens going broody.  
She needed a little coop to house the chicks and their new mom. 
We only had three free hours to get the job done.   
I was up for the challenge. 
Marky and I tumbled into Terry's back yard with our big bag of power tools, and everyone got down to business.
Lily ran circles around Marky, Terry brewed a big pot o' joe, and I sketched a coop plan on paper, based on the materials Terry had to work with.

Ingredients:
2 steaming cups coffee,
1 busted old go-cart,
1 slightly rusty bunny cage,
2 cups assorted drywall screws.
_____________________________

With saber saw on medium speed, 
chop go-cart into manageable pieces
and random chunks.

Using any means imaginable,  
affix go-cart pieces to rabbit cage, 
and sprinkle generously with drywall screws.

Stand back and sip coffee liberally.
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
  

Terry and I performed our coop-creating feat before a large audience:
Lily, Scooter and Marky feigned interest until they each nodded off and tipped over on the warm sunny lawn.
Candy and her flock lined up to observe.. but what really captivated them was the grass seed that Terry had sown on the opposite side of their fence, just out of reach.

The goats, Pip and Caper, were mesmerized by the entire performance. Man, those boys are easily thrilled.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
The result of our labors:

a little broody coop in 3 hours!

....and with a bit of paint, 
anything

is
possible.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 
But wait-- there's more!
where TERRY is telling this very same story,
in HER own special style.
(and see her critters, in real-time)
Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

GOOD MORNING

...continued from previous post: EGG EMERGENCY



Lucy got straight to work raising her little one.



Hear Lucy?   Budup.. budup..
When she finds a treat in the corner, she has a different sound for that.  the chick knows exactly what she's talking about.

The chick stayed put inside the nestbox for only a day.
Then it toppled off the ledge.   I couldn't figure out how to babyproof Lucy's coop, so I put together a new home for them -- something easy and safe and quick:

This:






becomes this:








. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

This:                             becomes this:









. . . . . . . . . .



. . . . . . . . . .

Lucy looked like any new mother..









.....happy and exhausted.

 . . . . . . . . next post:  LESSONS