Rebuilding the Coop

I recently joined the local 4H club and joined the poultry club to learn some more on how to take care of them and how to show chickens. You didn't have to get a chicken for the club, however I wanted to. We didn't have enough room for a seventh chicken, but we had a 'plan'.

The fig tree had lived a long life and was intruding on the other nearby plants. My dad and brother cut it down and took out the stump. My dad flattened out the dirt and moved the coop onto the sidewalk. He took the chicken wire out of the frame, mainly because it was the wrong wire. A raccoon could easily slip his grubby little fingers in and pull a chicken through the wire. We are going with a mesh wire, too small for coon fingers. I think my dad is also gutting the coop and changing where the bars and nesting boxes are so the chickens don't hit their wings on the roof when they jump up. They break their feathers very often doing this, and jumping down hurts their feet. Progress is being made quickly, and I hope we can finish the project before Winter break is over.

We will push the coop itself to where the fig tree was and expand the run all the way to the fence and coop. This will double the size of what we have. The little coop will stay where it is, however, just in case the new chicken(s) are not bullied by our veterans. I want my show chicken(s) to be as little ratty-looking as possible.

Where the fig tree used to be.

A lot of turned up dirt and bugs.

The coop without it's bottom.

Betty got stranded in the box while my dad changed the coop door.

Lots of painting and priming.

The original run repainted.

The Molt

Recently our chickens began molting. Beatrice led the charge, after her Marigold, then Penny, Millicent, Betty, and Opal has yet to start. Beatrice got through hers quickly, but she is still losing feathers every once in awhile. Penny lost hundreds of feathers in a week, but it seemed to make very little difference. It took a long time for hers to grow back, and she is such a dirty girl her feathers don't seem new. Beatrice, on the other hand, is super soft and her feathers are still clean and probably will for awhile.

Betty's back became full of pins and she wouldn't accept any petting.

Mari and Milli lost a lot of weight, and they were already small chickens, so we worried for awhile, but they still ate every once in awhile. They survived, although Milli gets really cold and needs to be held very often. Betty still got the worse molt, however. Before the pins came in she was naked in huge places. One side of her head, her butt, and her back were naked. She got into the habit to come inside during stretches of time because of the cold mist and rain we have had recently.

Penny didn't look as if she lost any feathers and all those fell out in five minutes.

We are really waiting on Opal to molt. Nearly all her feathers are broken in at least one place or have big nips out of them because she is the most bullied chicken. Why do chickens have to molt in the winter? Why not in the summer when they don't need the extra feathers?

Betty's butt became very naked.