Finished & Their First Outing

Our weekend brought satisfaction -  We finished the chicken coop!  

We still have a few finishing touches to put on it, but here's the side view - 

We chose metal roofing for the true barn look - it really does say "Chicken Coop." 

We also added clear sky light panels into the side pen roofs so the chickens can get natural light while exploring.  
We enclosed the under run-in pens and windows with 1/2" hardware cloth instead of chicken wire, hoping it's more resistant to the many predators that live in our woods.  We also installed a Nite Guard on the front of the coop to deter predators from approaching the coop.  Although the chicks are locked down in the coop at night we know that predators are a constant problem for poultry and this device came highly recommended from other flock owners in our area.  
In addition G built the entire structure on a frame so that we can move it around without taking the side pens apart.  

We still have a few finishing touches to put on it, we want to add another free range door on the back side of the pen as we're building the guinea coop behind the chicken coop and they will have a shared fenced area in between the coops.  I also would like to eventually put some plantings and maybe a cute picket fence around the coop.  

For now the chickens are very happy to be out of the brooder box and into their coop.

The 12 chickens & 5 guineas are sharing the coop for now, but in a few weeks the guineas will go to their own coop so that everyone has lots of space as they reach their full size.

2 of our 3 Barred Rocks checking out the roost - named by Cole, P-51 & P-47 

P-51 is our suspected rooster and they were both named after aircraft since they

were the first ones to enjoy flying up to the roosts in the brooder box.

If they turn out to be girls I guess they won't mind their names...

Sorry for the "red" glare in the photo- Since they're only 4 weeks today - we're still providing them with the red heat light until the nights warm up here and they're fully feathered out.

On Sunday, it was warm enough to allow the chicks to go out and explore their enclosed pen.  With some coaxing  all the chickens did eventually venture out, the guineas were not quite as easily convinced and despite climbing down the ladder more than once, only one of them took the leap onto the grass, but then quickly ran back in.  I suspect today the guineas will muster the courage to leave the coop and explore the pen.  I'll try to snap some photos of them in the coming days - they're much larger than the chicks but very sweet.

All the chicks decided to stay close to the ladder for a quick retreat and seemed to enjoy the natural light the skylights allow into the pen.

- Now, let's introduce you to our flock - 

The tall chick with her head up in the back is "Simone" - one of our 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes

The tail feather sticking up next to her head belongs to "Victoria" - our Black Australorp

She's all black with white tipped feathers and has black feet.

The lightest chick (front right) is "Lucy" - our Buff Orphington - she is the sweetest, friendliest chicken I've ever met 

Behind her are "Jane & Ellie" with their heads up - we think they are New Hampshire Reds

The two darker reddish chicks (heads out of photo) - "Isabelle and Emma" - are Welsummers
In the front left corner you can see the beautiful black and gold feathers on our other Golden Laced Wyandotte - "Amelia"

On the right standing tall is "Nicola"  - she's a Speckled Sussex

Front right is "P-38" - the other Barred Rock

These are our best guesses on the chicks breeds, but until they're fully grown we 

won't be 100% sure - until then we're enjoying watching them change and grow.

Oh, did I mention that we have 2 new additions?

This is "Rosie" - our Araucana 

a.k.a. - the Easter Egg Layer

She'll hopefully lay pastel green, blue, turquoise, or olive eggs

and last but not least -

"Katie" - our Silver Laced Wyandotte

They were born last Wednesday, May 12th

They'll be joining the rest of our laying flock once they feather out

With these two, that brings our laying hen total to 13 and 1 suspected rooster - 

We should have plenty of eggs by the time fall rolls in :-)

Well enough chicken news, how was your weekend?