Can I get a re-do?
Mar. 21st, 2009 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiberaddictToday was.....not a good day.
We got the coop yesterday - it took about an hour to assemble. The quality...well, if I didn't already have a coop I *love*, I might not be so disappointed. It's like....Sauder furniture. NOT worth price......unless you have absolutely NO wood-working skills at all. It's pretty, and it seems mostly sturdy....but. I'm glad it's not my first/only coop.
So, this morning we get up and get the run finished - and change the bottom of the new coop. It came with a droppings tray....so I replaced it with hardware cloth. Easier to keep clean. Sweet Geek decided we needed to pick up my new hens TODAY...so, I gathered up boxes and off we went.
I will simply say that I paid for 10 hens. 4 Wyandottes, 2 Welsummers, 1 Cuckoo Maran, 1 Barred Rock, and 2 Red Leghorns. We loaded up.....and made it home with 5 live birds. :bangs head and sobs: The Wyandottes (of COURSE) and 1 Welsummer died of smush.....it was nobody's fault, it just happened, but it sucks. Not just for the money gone....I wanted those Hens! :sob: One of the boxes shifted in transit.....:sigh:
The other 5 have settled in just fine. The Red Leghorns are young enough and light enough that they can fly over the fence (the run is still not finished), but I clipped their wings when we put them up tonight. They seem to like the new coop well enough. We'll see how they lay. :sigh:
Sweet Geek feels horrid about the whole thing (so do I), and has promised we'll find some more laced wyandottes soon-ish. I'm trying to look on the bright side - the kids weren't with us, so they didn't have to face that.
In other, happier news, we bought a dog kennel today for our compost heap. We're going to attach it to the chicken run so the hens can turn the heap for us. That's the plan, anyway.
Tomorrow we will regroup, and work on the run some more.
We got the coop yesterday - it took about an hour to assemble. The quality...well, if I didn't already have a coop I *love*, I might not be so disappointed. It's like....Sauder furniture. NOT worth price......unless you have absolutely NO wood-working skills at all. It's pretty, and it seems mostly sturdy....but. I'm glad it's not my first/only coop.
So, this morning we get up and get the run finished - and change the bottom of the new coop. It came with a droppings tray....so I replaced it with hardware cloth. Easier to keep clean. Sweet Geek decided we needed to pick up my new hens TODAY...so, I gathered up boxes and off we went.
I will simply say that I paid for 10 hens. 4 Wyandottes, 2 Welsummers, 1 Cuckoo Maran, 1 Barred Rock, and 2 Red Leghorns. We loaded up.....and made it home with 5 live birds. :bangs head and sobs: The Wyandottes (of COURSE) and 1 Welsummer died of smush.....it was nobody's fault, it just happened, but it sucks. Not just for the money gone....I wanted those Hens! :sob: One of the boxes shifted in transit.....:sigh:
The other 5 have settled in just fine. The Red Leghorns are young enough and light enough that they can fly over the fence (the run is still not finished), but I clipped their wings when we put them up tonight. They seem to like the new coop well enough. We'll see how they lay. :sigh:
Sweet Geek feels horrid about the whole thing (so do I), and has promised we'll find some more laced wyandottes soon-ish. I'm trying to look on the bright side - the kids weren't with us, so they didn't have to face that.
In other, happier news, we bought a dog kennel today for our compost heap. We're going to attach it to the chicken run so the hens can turn the heap for us. That's the plan, anyway.
Tomorrow we will regroup, and work on the run some more.
chicken
Date: 2009-03-23 01:28 pm (UTC)Picked up my chicken starter feed yesterday and a heat lamp and feeders/waterer. Excited? Me? :)
Karen
Re: chicken
Date: 2009-03-23 01:37 pm (UTC)If you keep your transport boxes next to each other, or use pet carriers, you'll be fine.
(Thing is, we didn't even notice that the box had shifted.....and I *was* watching them over the back seat. My fault, there - I should have insisted we not stack 'em. That's what I'm having a hard time forgiving myself for)
Do you have a coop yet? If not...I do NOT recommend the Cumfy pets one. It'll work, and it's pretty, but it's...well, Wal-Mart furniture is a bit higher-grade. I'll be doing a review on it soon..I want photos, first. I did a LOT of modifications to make it actually usable.
chicken
Date: 2009-03-23 01:55 pm (UTC)We're reclaiming our green house to use as a coop, and just installing a huge run for the chickens, so we don't have to actually buy one, thank goodness. And the first couple of weeks we're housing them in our kiln, to keep them safe and warm while they grow. Picked up Storey's book on Raising Chickens yesterday so I have to read that too.
Re: chicken
Date: 2009-03-23 01:59 pm (UTC)Storey's is a good book - have you found backyardchickens.com yet? I got a lot of good info there, too.