Who let the chicks out, oooh, oooh...

[LeatherneckPA]

Who let the chicks out, oooh, oooh...

We did, finally. We moved them out to the "big house" on Wednesday, my first day of retirement. But the yard section of "Cluckingham Palace" wasn't finished yet. Besides, they needed time to acclimate to the new digs and start to think of them as home.

DD and even WSIL helped me get a lot done both Friday and today. So about 30 minutes ago I let DD catch them all and release them out into the yard. All in all, there are 27 assorted chicks. Ands amazingly enough, they seem to be pretty close to 50/50 even though they were all straight run. And I think they make a pretty attractive collection, although next year I will want some plain white ones too.

Boru the Airedale really wants to taste "pre-nuggets", but that shiny stuff keeps getting in his way. The clucks have already decided he isn't worth getting excited about.

I think the real fun will be trying to get them all back into the coop now.

 

[ladelfina]

That is one nice project! How long did it take you to construct? It is supposed to be easily re-positionable?

 

[SteveR]

Nice coop!

You need a big nasty rooster to round up the hens for you. Get rid of any other males in the flock and just keep the hens. Get you a full grown "bad boy" and you won't have to worry about the hens...or sleeping late.

 

[CitricAcid]

That dog certainly looks hungry.

 

[brewer12345]

So are some or all of the birds destined for the pot? When would the harvest happen?

 

[StJohnsWood]

Nice coop Leatherneck. Are you in the country or the suburbs? Just curious if there are any zoning laws about keep farm animals. What are you going to do with the chickens? Eggs or salad?

 

[LeatherneckPA]

Thank you, one and all.

That is one nice project! How long did it take you to construct? It is supposed to be easily re-positionable?

In real building time, it probably only took me about four days. But while I was still working I could only work for about an hour each day before I started getting ready for that killer commute. So, total elapsed time, was something on the order of four weeks.

You need a big nasty rooster to round up the hens for you. Get rid of any other males in the flock and just keep the hens. Get you a full grown "bad boy" and you won't have to worry about the hens...or sleeping late.

Cindy doesn't know this yet, but I am going to let her keep Seymour if she wants to. Seymour was the name of her big nasty rooster when she was growing up. And he happens to be the biggest of the Barred Rock roosters in our flock.

That dog certainly looks hungry.

Fortunately he, he's not real bright. When I came home form teaching today he had given up and was laying in the shade under the tree.

So are some or all of the birds destined for the pot? When would the harvest happen?

All of the roosters except Seymour are freezer bound. And the shed is designed to over-winter as many as 16 birds, which means in season we should collect a dozen eggs or more per day. The harvest will happen sometime in September, depending on bicycle races and motorcycle safety classes and such.

Nice coop Leatherneck. Are you in the country or the suburbs? Just curious if there are any zoning laws about keep farm animals. What are you going to do with the chickens? Eggs or salad?

I checked zoning because I live in a little town here in North-Central PA called Nisbet. It's one of those towns like they used to salute on Hee-Haw. You know, "...population 683, Sa-a-a-lute!!" I asked if I could raise chickens. The zoning officer said, "Well, there's nothing says you can't raise chickens." Seems chickens are considered "small animals" or pets and not livestock. Livestock is generally considered to have four legs around here and must be bigger than an average dog. So no goats or pigs until we buy our acres and move out to the country.

 

[TromboneAl]

Nice job.

Do you have foxes there?

 

[LeatherneckPA]

Do you have foxes there?

Not that I have ever noticed, but I'm sure they are in woods on the mountains outside of town. My backyard is totally enclosed by a 5' board fence, and my two dogs liberally mark their territory so I don't believe I'll have predator problems as long as we are here at this house.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Retirement agrees with you--awesome structure! The chickens look very healthy. That is the first time I have ever seen chicken wire really being used for chickens.