Well, all our efforts have paid off. We have now added a mommy hen and 7 baby chicks to our family. The mom is a Buff Orpington. I guess the chicks are as well, but maybe not, I'm not sure who the rooster was.
But before they could come, we had to get the coop in working order. First, Sam had to clean the coop out, it was filled with trash and general rubbish such as dirt, leaves, mud dauber nests, sticks, and the like. Then he built a door for it and put up chicken wire in the windows. This winter we will cover the windows with plexi glass. He cut out a chicken door and made a clever door that slides up and down and locks for the night. After putting up a temporary run made of chicken wire and fence poles and a few coats of paint, the coop was ready! We put together a kit of nesting boxes and Sam put up roosting poles. We used river sand to cover the floor of the coop, which when it is changed out, it will go in my compost bin (another post).
Sam fixing the door jam
Inside of the chicken coop with the chicken door up
Nesting Boxes
Roosting bars
"Fluffy" and her babies
Baby chicks eating food and proud momma watching.
