Oops

After publishing the last blog, I realized I hadn't taken an exterior shot of the coop! So I ran out and took one:


Of course, since I was out there, I figured I'd visit with the babies. But I had to cut the visit short. They kept crowding the door. Daisy kept trying to climb onto my shoulder and even Luna tried to climb up! So I had to end the visit. I wish I could say my babies loved me, but let's face it, they thought I had more treats for them.

We have a chicken coop!

After another busy weekend and an early day home from work for Steve on Monday, the chicken coop is done!!The chickens were relocated last night and they're quite happy with their new digs. I went out around 11 a.m. It was 98 degrees, but the coop interior was nice and cool. We have a fan set up in there to circulate air, and it really seems to be doing the trick. I was worried about the birds being in the heat after growing up in air conditioning. It's cloudy today, which helps. But I think the coop design is proving to be a winner.

Steve started Saturday by giving some extra support to the two roosting perches. Because they're eight feet long, they wobbled a bit near the center. Whilst he did that, I installed the vents.


Steve decided that construction work afforded him plenty of opportunities to get a work out.


Steve gets to work - sort of - on the framing for the roof panels.


Steve doing some work on the coop in such a manner that was in no way staged to show off his muscles.


Some more work that was also not staged in any way to show off Steve's muscles.


Steve got the first roof panel in place. After he got two panels up there, he determined it made more sense to get the ventilation mesh in place first. So he got started on that.


Here he's hammering down the edges of the wire after he stapled it in place. We used 1/4-inch hardware cloth to minimize the number of critters that could wiggle inside the coop. Bugs are a given. This is Florida. But I figured the only thing skinny enough to wiggle through a 1/4-inch square is a snake so small the chickens should be able to stomp it to death fairly easily.


Steve came home early from work Monday to get the coop finished. Here's the roof in place.


We put the pine shavings on the floor before we put up the final wall, figuring it would be easier to do so. The chickens are going to love all these mounds of shavings. They love digging around and taking dust baths in them.


Because it gets so hot here, we knew we needed good ventilation and a fan to keep the chickens comfortable. We plan to buy a proper squirrel cage fan down the line, but for now, Steve hung up one of our Vornados to circulate the air. We also added a flourescent lamp. Chickens need about 14 hours of light a day when they begin egg laying. We're still a couple of months away from egg production, but we wanted a light in place. The coop is bright and airy during the day, but we thought a light would be nice for them until they're used to the place. Chickens are cowards, after all. And ours are afraid of the dark.

Steve put up the final wall at around 6 p.m. Monday.


The coop hatch will eventually be inside the large outer run, so if birds fly out when it's opened, it won't matter. Until then, though, we decided to keep the access hole small enough that I can keep the birds from flying the coop without much effort.


Here's the hatch with the door closed. Steve wants to add another bolt to it, so the door fits more snugly against the panel.


And here's the door open. We ran out of weatherstripping. That's why there's just one line of it.


We had integrated the four Phoenix babies into the flock a couple of days earlier. They were scared the first 24 hours, but were beginning to get settled. We moved them, plus Pascua and Onslo first.


Here's Onslo, Hermione, and either Luna or Tonks (I can't tell them apart without seeing their bracelets) hanging out around the waterer.


We brought the Orpington girls out next. While they settled in, I went inside and gathered the Rhodies. I guess Rose is going for her close-up as Steve snapped this shot of her and Luna.


The Orpingtons and the Sexlinks gathered around the food dish. That's Daisy in the front.

So, huzzah, it's done! I'm really proud of Steve for really putting his nose to the grindstone and getting the job done. And he did a really good job, too. He turned my basic design into a sturdy structure that's as safe from predators as we can make it. There's some fine tuning to do. We have to put gap filler along the roof line and the door needs more hardware and weatherstripping. I need to water seal that last wall and door. But that's minor stuff. The next big step is making the under run. Next is the nesting boxes. But Steve's getting a couple of weekends off. He deserves them.

Besides, we have a lot of yard work to do!!!

If I don't know you, I'm not voting for you

Because we'll be in Jacksonville for our primary later this month, Steve and I requested absentee ballots. We got them in yesterday's mail and I've spent the last hour or so doing research on the candidates I hadn't already learned about. One thing really annoys me: Lack of information. Isn't it the most basic of concepts that if you want a bunch of people to vote for you, you should at the very least make the people aware of you?!

Apparently not around here. The number of candidates who offer no information about their histories, goals, experience, values, etc., is staggering. I was looking at the information the candidates supplied to the elections office. One woman had an impressive amount of donations already accrued, but she didn't provide any information. Unlike many of my fellow Americans, I don't vote based on what the media tells me or where my dart hits the board. I realize they're all politicians, and therefore are most-likely lying through their teeth (or at least spinning their stories like mad), but I find it most annoying when a candidate doesn't even bother.

So if I can't find out anything about you, I'm not voting for you. Which means I'm not voting for two races at all, because not a single candidate has anything out there! Then again, it's for the State Committeeman and State Committewomen. Who cares what the state party does, anyway? It's not like any of them actually represents the best interests of the people.

Another trend I spotted for the circuit judge race was glitz. Two candidates for two different districts had really glossy websites with really lofty words and high-level endorsements . . . that said absolutely nothing of value. And one person touted an endorsement from a crooken sherriff I'm most anxious to get out of office, so he didn't really help his cause much.

I am, at long last, done with my ballot. I hope I've picked well. It would have been nice if the candidates had helped. There is more to an election than paying the fee to get your name on the ballot. And frankly, if you can't be bothered to make an effort to get elected, what are you going to do if you're actually in office?

Stupid politicians.

Coop progress at last!!!

After weeks of rain and very little coop construction, we had a productive weekend. At long last, the coops is taking shape. The coop, itself, is now well passed the half-way point. I'm very optimistic that it will be finished and ready for its tenants by next weekend. Woohoo!!

It took Steve hours to finish the framing on Saturday. We awoke to rain, which really put a damper on things (no pun intended), but Steve rallied during the few rainless hours of the day to get this much done. He decided to add extra support to the floor. His progress was greatly hampered by his drill battery dying.

Steve bought thicker plywood for the floor, figuring we'd have at least 14 chickens weighing an average of eight pounds each jumping around on it. He got it laid in place, but the notching would have to wait. More rain came in and the rest of Saturday was lost to it.

Sunday lived up to its name. It was sunny all afternoon. The morning was overcast, but devoid of rain, so we got a lot done on the coop. The floor was in place by lunch time.

We had vinyl tiles left over from redoing the guest bath floor a couple of years ago, so we used them in the coop. A vinyl floor will make clean-up a bit easier - or so I've been told.

The coop will have two runs. One, what I call the under run, is directly beneath the coop. That will be the first run we construct. This is the access port to it. We're rigging a trapdoor that will give the birds access to the run.

After a break for lunch, we headed to town to buy supplies for the next stage of coop construction - the walls. Here's the Jeep loaded with our conquest.

It took a bit of team work (and my back still isn't very happy with me), but we got the plywood in place. Steve is busy getting the first wall done. He caulked along the plywood where it met the frame, so we'd have a bit of a barrier against bugs and rain. When everything's done, we're going to fill all the gaps with expanding insulating foam to further stave off said bugs and weather.

Steve gets the second wall in place.

Even though it was getting late, Steve was so jazzed by his progress that he opted to get one more wall in place before calling it a day. It was 8:30 before he came inside.

Here's Onslo, looking very much the handsome cockerel. His comb is gorgeous and his wattles are coming in nicely. He's a very proud boy. I made it a point to hold him the other day, because the last thing I want is a human-hating rooster. He loves having his neck scratched. Ever since then, he's one of the first to run to me and jump out of the cage when I open it. It's quite cute.

And here's Pascua. She probably won't get a comb (she's taking after her Ameraucana heritage), so she looks more like a raptor than a chicken. She's the smallest of the bunch. Even the Phoenix babies are getting bigger than she is. But she's not low-chicken on the totem pole. She's a feisty little thing and isn't above jumping over Onslo's head to get where she wants to go.

So that's our coop progress. We're installing a galvanized roof next weekend. Steve's cutting an access door on the front of the coop for me to get food, water, bedding, and birds into the coop. And we're getting the trap door beneath in place. We're also installing plenty of vents and a fan, so there's air flow. My babies are used to air conditioning, after all. If the weather holds and we get that all done, then the birds will move out to their new home Sunday. They won't have use of the run, yet, but they'll still have so much more room than they have now, I think they'll be loving the new digs.