Smells Like Awesome

What kind of pet parents are we?

Well, we are totally the over-indulgent kind!

We went out over the weekend and got our baby goat girls an awesome new climbing toy, aka a picnic table.



A goat's gotta climb, right?



I mean, how can you resist a baby face like this???



You can't!

Be jealous! I get to smooch on this cutie every morning!

New Arrivals!

Well, the pen is finally done, in spite of the off and on weather, and the girls are now in their new home. The stable looks great and I hope they love their new yard area.

Sadly today is a crummy rainy day so I'm sure they'll get used to their covered area, eat some grain and hay and keep warm!

Here are the first shots I took from inside while they were just getting used to their space. I love them already... they're so good. And Petal is still so tiny. She's just like a kitten! But she loves to frisk and gambol around and nibble on everything.

The stable space is pleny big enough for them. I hope the yard area will be too.

Love them!!!

Moving On Out

I did more reading on chicken yards after all of the rain made the coop yard a mess. I found out that you should rotate their yard area 2 to 3 times per year. Well, we've had them in the same yard for about eight months. It was time for some extreme measures!

So our solution to the soggy sloppy coop yard was to create a new annex to the yard. Just next to the current coop yard is a very large maple tree and a bunch of messy brush that I had been meaning to totally clear out. Instead, we decided to make a loop off of the current fence, incorporate the tree into the perimeter and attach it to the side of the other shed we have.



We were hoping that they chickens would really like this because the currently like to scratch around under our other bushes. They would also be protected from hawks and shaded from the sun. We added a door to have access to the area as needed and we just cut a "doorway" into the existing fence panel.

So far its been working out well. They've limited their time in the current yard and seem to like running around under the bushes. We need to block off the old yard area so we can sod or seed it, so it will grow back. We have yet to do that but plan on doing it soon.

Monday morning

In spite of the pen roof only being half finished, the chickens, namely Napoleon, stayed in side the pen all day. Napoleon has lately been known for escaping by going over and under the chicken wire surrounding the pen, so I'm very happy he stayed inside.

When we first built the pen outside of the existing coop to give them a place to run around outside, we had not put a roof on. That had to be hastily corrected the next day when Napoleon flew over the 7-foot fence and chased my husband around the yard. Napoleon is not fond of other manly competition around his ladies.

So we had hastily constructed a "roof" by draping more chicken wire over the top. And it sagged, collected leaves and generally looked horrible. Months later we are finally fixing the situation. We've reinforced the fencing and are creating large wood squares is screening material to prevent escapes and potential hawks. Another advantage is that we can lift them up and knock all the leaves that collect there off.

When we get everything completed, I'll have to do a full coop/pen photo overview.

Today's Feed: Egg Mash, fresh white corn (on the cob), chopped fresh apples
Today's Eggs: None - too much running around yesterday.
Today's Temperament: Tired - I woke them up while it was still dark.

Meet the chickens

Welcome to The Daily Coop!

We just wanted to share with everyone the great experiences we have been having since we moved to our little town. There are always adventures and having chickens is a new one for us!

First, meet the chickens:



Napoleon is our rooster, in the front. We think he's a Bantam, but we need to do some research on all three of them.
Gertie is the black and white hen in the middle
Nutmeg (a.k.a. Meg) is in the back.

We've had the chickens just a few months now, so I think we're in a place where we can share some actual learning about them - although we are still learning more about them everyday.

I'll have to get some more and better pictures of them. This was taken not long after they joined us. You can tell because the pen yard still has tons of grass in it. This is no longer the case because they've either scratched it up or eaten it (Yes, they love fresh grass and veggies and fruit - but more on that later).

Each day, I'm going to share how they are, what they do, the food we've given them and the egg production. It will be interesting to see how the first year goes.