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We’ve got adolescents! Our backyard chickens have become teenagers.

Those little chicks that fit quite happily into an old guinea pig cage? They’re huge! And rapidly growing out of their enlarged brooder. They’re feathering out and looking a little rough around the edges as the feathers grow in, as young teens do. In fact, their heads are still a touch downy with feathered wings. They look like a 13-year-old boy. All huge feet and gangly arms with a baby face.

Setting up the Coop

Almost two months ago, I mentioned to friends that I was looking for recommendations a chicken coop for our backyard chickens. I had one friend who said she had one and would send me a picture  A couple of weeks later, I asked her if she had taken a picture – we are all busy, I get it, girl! Instead of a photo, she said: “we’ll just bring it to you!” For free! Free is my favorite price. Life Pro Tip: before buying anything expensive, ask around. You never know when someone is “decluttering” in your favor.

We set up their coop in a nice protected corner of the yard. It gets morning sun but is protected from heavy winds by the garage. We also added some chicken wire around the outer edges to keep predators from digging in. It still needs to be painted, as soon as we get a few days of sun.

Moving to the Coop

The weather is still a bit chilly and wet for a full-time move to the coop. There is still frost in the mornings and windy rainstorms are still happening. It’s still pretty wet and gross outside of us humans too! We moved the chicks to the garage to get them used to the fluctuation of temperatures during the day and wean off the heat lamp. For now, they are just doing field trips to the coop to get used to the coop and give us a bit more time to build a chicken yard.

They’ve discovered bugs and worms, much to their delight. The first worm was entertaining, to say the least. Foghorn Leghorn was the first chick to find one and she was NOT going to share. If another chick even looked her way, she grabbed that poor worm and took off running.

They’re moving out to the coop full time with the Easter Bunny!

Read about our chicks from the beginning!

Continue on the adventure! Week 10 – Moving to the Coop

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