The Best Things In Life

It is a little more than 10 weeks since we received our chicks.   They seem huge compared to the day they arrived.   I’ve been surprised that there really hasn’t been any squabbling to establish a pecking order.

I’ve still got a lot to do on the yard, but they don’t seem to mind.  They love to roam around the entire yard always searching for something good to eat.

2 weeks ago I had a water leak in the hen house.   I’ve been amazed how little there is to do in the way of care for keeping chickens.  My entire family has been amazed at the complete lack of smell and noise from the girls.

Then a couple of weeks ago, we noticed it was starting to smell a bit.   I found the water regulator I had purchased began to leak causing a moldy stink in the hen house.   I shut the water off and removed the regulator, cleaned the house out and let it dry out in the 110 degree heat here for 3 days.   I next constructed a bucket regulator to replace the one I purchased from Farm-Tek.   New pine shavings, clean fresh water, and a dry house and everything is back to normal.

I picked up these nest pads this week for $3 each.   Looked like a great way of keeping the nestboxes clean.   I’m hoping in a couple of months they will start laying.

The chicks are 24 days old now and have grown so.   They are each developing their own personalities.  Sadly, we lost one of the five chicks last Saturday.  They all seemed very healthy and strong Friday night when I last checked on them, but in the morning one was gone.  The other four were all laying on top of her as if they knew something was not right.

They now come out of the house each day and seem to love the freedom of roaming around in their run, scratching, constantly and looking for something good to eat.

I’ve also started phase 2 of my project which is the Aquaponics garden.  I’m working on getting the shade cover up so I can complete the rest of the build out of the sun.  This part as you can tell is an extension of the coop.

Here is a shot of what I got done today and some new pictures of the girsl.

The chicks arrived about 9:30 this morning.   My wife and daughter picked them up and all look to be doing well.  By the time I got home from work, they all had names already.

Saturday was cold and rainy.   Even so, I spent time outside and added all the hardware cloth to the coop.  I also got tow and a half sides of the house boarded up.   I’m very close to done now.  Chicks are ordered and should arrive in about 2 weeks.  I’ve got feed, heat lamps…all the fixings for a brooder to keep them happy when they arrive.

Today I had to buy some more 2″x4″s    With the new wood, I framed up the 2 windows for the coop as well as the door.   It’s impossible to find a straight 2″x4″.  Before hanging the door, I have to plan one side of it straight so it will properly fit and open.   After that, it will be time to board up the coop and install the hardware cloth.