There is a small egg in one of the brood boxes. One of our chickens, Gretchen, was sitting on it for a while.

We have started in the egg business. Tonight we have omelets for dinner.

Pictures to follow.

I’ve been taking some pictures, but I never got around to updating the blog.

Erica bought a rooster weather vane on eBay, but the next weekend I found a large copper one for $5 at a garage sale. I have the second one temporarily nailed to the end of the chicken run.

The Chickens have been living outside since their 5th week birthday (last Friday). I would have put them out sooner, but there was rain and cold weather. I did not want it to be too much of a shock.

The chicks have taken well to outdoor life. Last night they all went into the shed on their own and I locked them up. Up to now I have been catching them and putting them in the shed each night. It has been raining and the chicks run back in when it rains, so I guess I don’t need to worry about them.

Here are some pictures of shed, chicks and weather vanes.

Tomorrow I have to return to work. I’ve finished the coop pretty much. I expect that I will be making improvements to it over the summer. I will have to get electricity to it this fall so I can heat it when the temp gets low. I also have to make doors for the vents so it will hold the heat. This is minor stuff that I can do in the afternoons or weekends.

Here are some picks of the inside with the brood boxes installed.

I took advantage of the good weather and the completed chicken run to let the chickens explore their future home.

I’ve been off from work (non-voluntary due to a political struggle over contracts). I’ve been mostly working on the chicken coop. Here is the front door finally done. It was about 2 inches too short, and I have yet to figure out what to do about it.

The chicken run is mostly done. As of today I have one more panel to fence and then I have to make a door to the run. The fencing is painful and requires lots of hammering. I can hardly lift my arm. I had to fence the floor, and cover it with dirt. I had to fence the ceiling. This is because the racoons around here are smarter than people.

 

I became unemployed on Monday, April 2, but that doesn’t mean I spend all of my time on the chicken shed. I did work most of the time on it, but this week I had to do a few other things. My Bees came on April 8th so Saturday and Sunday were bee preparation and installation days.

I finished the siding, put down the insulated floor and finished the interior paneling. I also made a good start on the door. Since the door is so small, I can’t buy one ready made, so I am making it out of layers of plywood, and some nice knotty pine siding. The complication is building a window into the door. The door itself will take about 20 hours of work by the time that I’m done.

Next up after the door is to start work on the chicken run. This is more complicated than it sounds. I have to make the run so that Racoons can’t get in. This means fencing on all sides including the top. I have to attach the fencing to the shed without destroying all of my nice siding and moldings. I have to clear out the piles of stuff that I’ve been storing near the shed, because it is in the way.

I have to stay focused on this, yet still keep track of the bees’ progress and start my job search.

Pictures of the shed after Week 6:

This was an accidental picture that showed my backyard as it would appear if it was on the side of a hill. I liked it.

The silver tarp covers stuff that came out of the old shed that was crushed in the October storm.

I have to take down the swamp maples that are just a little too close to the shed. The new siding looks good as is, but it won’t stay that way so I’ll stain it gray when I finish everything else.

View from the Cemetery. The blue tarp and other crap goes away soon.

 

Larry came over and we put on a roof. It will keep the rain off, but I don’t thing we did a real great job. It was a craft style roof and we did little to stagger the textured elements. It will keep the chickens dry, though.

Here’s Larry up on the roof doing the ridge.

Here I am Finishing up the front siding.

I have lots of supervisory experience.

The chicks arrived early Sunday. We Drove over to the Monsey Post office and picked them up.

Chicks arrived. I’ll post the pictures later tonight. This is the video of chicks in the kitchen.

We went up to Chester, NY to the Tractor Supply Company and stocked up with a few things for chicks.

We bought a feeder, a waterer, a heat lamp and a bail of pine shavings. It was fun.

They had Leghorn Chicks for sale, $1.99 each. I almost bought one.