Chick Condo

Today I wrapped up the “Chick Condo”. It’s a roughly 4′ long x 2′ wide wooden box I have attached to the opposite end of the big girl’s hen house. There is a small doorway opening to the run, so the new chicks and the older girls can get know each other. When the chicks grow up into the big house, I can store my straw bale in the former condo. Not bad, eh?

The chicks moved outside into their new digs today. I was getting really tired of the house smelling like a chicken coop. As the chicks get bigger, so does their poop. And there was lots of it. All good for the compost pile, but not such a welcoming aroma in the second bedroom…

I kept an eye on the two flocks today and there were no “incidents”. I will be sure to keep a close eye on them over the next week or two. Sometimes the existing flock will block access to the food and water, so the chicks still have their own feeder and waterer in their condo.

It was also a day of final refurbishments on the new coop. My earlier nesting boxes had flat roofs, so the girls would often try to roost up there. It got old quick trying to hose off the poop that would collect on there every week. The nesting boxes I built today have a slight angle so they can’t sit on top. I also finished the new perches, so there is a lower and higher one. That seems to be going over well as the older girls are perched up high tonight.

It’s almost bedtime for me, but I need to make another round outside to the chick condo. I am trying to teach the little girls how to roost on their perches, instead of in the straw. One or two more nights to carrying them up there should do the trick.