Coop Update

Yesterday we finished the front of the coop! Tom did 90% of the labor, but I stapled up the screen and held boards for him. We used 1X4 for the supports, screwed into the front top and bottom boards. Then we stapled the hard-cloth screen on. Tom made the door from 1X4 and hard-cloth screen. I still need to get a good picture of it, as we ran out of daylight. We still have to frame the screen with furring strips to ensure no little varmint claws can get a grip and pull the screen off. I also have to level off the very front, where the ground is uneven, adding limestone grit and a rubber mat in front of the door (so that the entrance doesn't get muddy). Our only slight setback was when we realized that we had inadvertently left the wheelbarrows inside the shed after we had finished the last panel. We managed to get them out, but it was a very tight squeeze...whoops!

I also took some of the scrap wood and made the chicks a perch. I was hoping that they would get used to it, and in a couple of days, start to use it. One of the chicks was eager to get going, and hopped up on it in less than 5 minutes. When I went to check on them before bed, there were several cuddled next to each other on it. My girls are growing up!