The Chicken Coop Construction has begun!

I had wood and supplies delivered on Thursday so that I could start building the bird's outdoor chicken coop.  Started on Friday, was out of town Saturday and Sunday, and worked on it more today.  I thought I would be further along by the end of the day today but the 95 degree weather really took the energy out of me.  I think I made good progress nevertheless.  One more weekend (maybe two... for the shingles) and it will be done.

Here are some pictures.  The walls are up for the "house".  The next steps are to put on the roof, doors, windows, trim, and then the chicken wire.

Left side with window cut out.

 Front with Chicken door that leads to the enclosed run which will be surrounded by chicken wire.

 Left side with window and egg access door (bottom part).

 Back door cutout for human entrance to clean out the coop.

View looking down into the enclosed section.

The roof will cover the enclosed area and the run to keep everything dry.  The chickens will also be able to stand in the shade beneath the enclosed area on hot days.

Week 4

No pictures today.  But I'll upload new ones tomorrow.  The Chicks are getting much bigger.  All of their new feathers give them an appearance of being much larger.  I also had to clean out there brooder today and then add fresh pine shavings.  After I was finished, and then put the chicks back in the brooder, they were having a great time in the fresh shavings.

This weekend I plan to build there permanent home, my backyard chicken coop!  I ordered wood and had it delivered today (I would have just picked it up myself but I do not own a truck).  So tomorrow I start constructing the coop.  It will be awesome.  I plan on uploading before and after pics, so be ready.

Let's start our engines

The little girls are now just flutter bugs.  Every time that I see them they are fluttering from one end of the brooder to the other.  I guess they're just practicing and having fun.  Note that their feathers are continuing to come in, especially on their legs and their tails.  But I'm still unable to confirm if they are boys or girls yet.  Yes, Gummy is still the little pecker.

New photos and videos below.

Shake a tail feather!

Gummy's in the back right corner.  He may not look intimidating but he does like to bite and peck (it doesn't hurt).

Please excuse the shaky video shoot, I took this video while holding a camera phone inside the brooder.  I think the chicks felt corralled.

From two angles.

2 weeks strong

It's been two weeks and all of the chicks are still alive!  They are doing really well now.  Very active and are beginning to eat more.  They're taking on individual personalities too.  The really white feathered chick always pecks at me when I pick them up.  I hope he's not a rooster.

Their new feathers are coming in even stronger now.  They are even becoming daring.  I had the top of the brooder open while I was changing the water and one of those suckers tried to fly out the corner.  She couldn't make it all the way to the top but I was surprised how high she could get in the air.

Here are new pictures showing their new feathers.  Plus a video.  The lighting could be better for the video, I'll work on that for next time.

Good shot of new feathers.  It looks like she loosing them, but she is actually losing the baby feathers and growing the long normal bird feathers.

They were curious about the camera.  Funny creatures.

Pine Shavings

Today was the big unveiling of the pine savings for the chicks.  I had been using paper towels in the brooder, but thought they must be old enough for the pine shavings.  Apparently newly hatched chicks will eat the pine shavings and die.  My chicks did just fine.  Actually they loved it!  They were tossing it around, scratching it, and even taking "dust" baths in it!  It was funny.

Here is a photo and a video.   They really are having a blast in the pine shavings.

It's kind of hard to see, but the chicks are going wild in the pine shavings.  They remind me of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park (the movie).

1 Week and Counting

It's been over a week and the only trouble I have had is the "Pasty butt".  I had to give a different chick a quick bath.  It worked.

There wing feathers are still coming in too.  Below are a couple of pictures of the birds sleeping.  Sometimes they sleep so deeply that you think they are dead.

Day 7

It is amazing.  All of the chicks appear to be healthy and happy.  So am I.  Henry, Wesley, Missy and SuSu have named their chicks (Climber, Gummy, Skeeter and Weezy).  I will name the last two.  If you have any suggestions please let me know.  I haven't made a choice for them yet.

Anyways... below are new pictures.   I hope you like them!

Climber (Henry)

Gummy (Wesley)

Weezy (Missy)

Unnamed 1

Unnamed 2

Those are the chicks so far.  I need names for Unnamed 1 & 2.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Their wing feathers are now coming in.  At first I thought they had a problem, but after looking closely I could see that they were just losing thier chicky feathers and growing real feathers.

Notice the defined feathers on the end of her wing.  Pretty cool.

Easy Day

Nothing big to report today.  Although I gave the "pasty butt" chicken another bath.  It still had a little gunk on its tail.  Now she (hopefully) is a happy chick.  We also had our first guests.  The Thomas family!   Miles enjoyed petting the little chicks.  He was really cute with them.  I should have taken pictures.  I'm just going to keep a camera by the brooder all the time now.

New Pics

Just a few new pictures.  All chicks seem to be doing well, even the one with the tail feather situation.  The bath must have worked.

But, there is a new social situation arising.  Two of the chicks were "chest bumping"!  Just as if they were in a gangster rap video.  I'll try to get a picture next time.  They must be males.  This may be a problem in the future.  Right now I just want them  to be healthy.

Day 4

The little chick with the missing tail feathers is doing better.  It looked as if it was plucking out its own feathers.  I put some neosporin on its tail yesterday.  This morning they were all active and happy.  I'll upload new pictures later.