Alright! So, back in April we started with a flock of 8...borrowed a brooder thing/rabbit hutch from the mother in law. Fast forward a few months. My girls are getting bigger, they've graduated to their big girl coop, and then...a friend calls. In a panic. He had an egg hatch and his wife is away for a while. "Please take this chick!!!"
My husband accuses me of having no self control. Perhaps he's right. Either way, chicken math happened. We got a nugget. None of the other eggs were showing signs of life, so it was just this nugget. Set said nugget up in a Rubbermaid tote, figured that'd do til we get something else sorted. Went out the next day and got a speckled Sussex to be a buddy to the little nugget. Hubs was upset, two unplanned chicknancies.
So this weekend, about $50 was spent between Home Depot and the local hardware store. (Forgot hinges and a fastener, and ran out of staples for the staple gun)
Used the rather cheap 1x2s and some underlayment with the cheapest stick on tiles I could find for ease of cleaning. (They were around $0.39 a tile...can't really go wrong). Invested in some hardware cloth for the sides since the nuggets were running around in one of my planter boxes earlier this week, I use some chicken wire as a trellis and they were stickin their heads through...I could see them getting stuck or into trouble! Hubs wanted to use the leftover chicken wire from the big girl coop, I put my foot down on that one.
Here it is!
The bones of it. Construction had to be halted a few times because of rain.
Disclaimer: it may not be the most insanely predictor proof thing out there - but they'll be living in the garage, so we didn't need to build it as such.
Has the door on the front and the roof hinges up too.
My husband accuses me of having no self control. Perhaps he's right. Either way, chicken math happened. We got a nugget. None of the other eggs were showing signs of life, so it was just this nugget. Set said nugget up in a Rubbermaid tote, figured that'd do til we get something else sorted. Went out the next day and got a speckled Sussex to be a buddy to the little nugget. Hubs was upset, two unplanned chicknancies.
So this weekend, about $50 was spent between Home Depot and the local hardware store. (Forgot hinges and a fastener, and ran out of staples for the staple gun)
Used the rather cheap 1x2s and some underlayment with the cheapest stick on tiles I could find for ease of cleaning. (They were around $0.39 a tile...can't really go wrong). Invested in some hardware cloth for the sides since the nuggets were running around in one of my planter boxes earlier this week, I use some chicken wire as a trellis and they were stickin their heads through...I could see them getting stuck or into trouble! Hubs wanted to use the leftover chicken wire from the big girl coop, I put my foot down on that one.
Here it is!
The bones of it. Construction had to be halted a few times because of rain.
Disclaimer: it may not be the most insanely predictor proof thing out there - but they'll be living in the garage, so we didn't need to build it as such.
Has the door on the front and the roof hinges up too.
