Two chicks. One will grow much faster than the other. Need chicken hotel for 3-4 chicks that will be coming home with Charlotte and her Mom in the next few days or so. Perhaps Liya will be here too and pick out her own chick? One for Kristi (that's really who these chicks are for), one for Charlotte and one for Liya! We won't get chicks from this particular batch in this photo because Kristi thinks they are already too big. ha! Anyway, a new batch will come in in the next few days. And we'll probable get 3-4 then.
Little chicks turn into full size chickens in short order. What to do. Like a chick that says "cheap", so does Grandpa. The chicken coop needs to be built for "cheap". Luckily, I've hung onto an old remnant of a deck for 22 years (squirled away in a shed in case one day I could use it for something). Well this seems like an occasion to pull it out of moth balls and make use of it. It's still probably going to cost probably around $80-$90 to buy the rest of what we'll need. I understand the chicken food adds up as well. This will not be a money saving proposition by any means. But how to turn this into a chicken coop. Lots of thinking went into this. I was convinced that I simply needed to finish framing in this old deck piece, slap a little plywood on it and presto we'd have a ready to go cheap coop. After hours of contemplation, a beer or two (or more) I convinced myself to start from scratch and just cannibalize the old deck boards. I have specific goals that are better achieved by starting from scratch. I also got some free 2x4's last year from Matt and Kristi's neighbor anticipating maybe doing this one day.
So this is where we're at as of today (4/19/2011). It doesn't have to be ready for probably a month from the day we get the chicks as they'll live indoors under a heat lamp until they have real feathers and the outdoor temp warms up. These pieces in the picture above are held together by bubble gum and spit for now just so it would stand up so I could get a feel for how it might work.
This base will be screened on all four sides and on the bottom at ground level as well. Plenty of critters will want to get a piece or two of chicken so the screens are essential. On top I'll build an enclosed space with a roost, nest (we're getting chickens for the eggs, not the meat), and a trap door and ramp to allow the chickens to move between the coop and the screened area below. I'll try to remember to take and post pictures as the adventure continues.
