Building the Chicken Coop

The basic design for our chicken coop was a 3’x4′ square.  3′ tall with a simple slanted roof. It is to house chickens so it is not necessary to go overboard, and I am very proud of myself as I usually go overboard.

Lowe’s had 2×3’s on sale. 2×4’s are the usual material for wall studs and floor joists but let’s face it, chickens don’t weigh that much.  With the price of lumber (as well as everything else) these days, any savings was appreciated. I decided to use 1/4″ OSB instead of plywood due to the price difference.  The moral here is, while we love our chickens, they are still just chickens and don’t need a “William Sonoma” mansion.

Chicken Coop Supplies from Lowes
Chicken Coop Materials from Lowe’s

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More TSC Chicks

Have I mentioned that we love Tractor Supply? Friday evening we went into TSC to get some more chicken feed for the chicks. Of course we always have to look around no matter what the time of year. But being it is “Chick Days” we strolled on over the see if there were any baby chicks or ducks left.

I couldn’t resist. I had to take a few pictures of those adorable balls of puff!

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Chicken Cam – “Teenage Chicks” Day 27

The chickens are now 4 weeks old. Most of them are almost covered in feathers now. There is still our “runt” that has a lot more fuzz than the others. The weather today has been absolutely fabulous! It was so sunny and it got up to 60 degrees today. In the sun it felt even warmer. We decided to take the gals on their first field trip outside.

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Chicken Cam – 6 Day Old Chicks

The baby chicks are growing so fast. It amazes me how long their wing feathers are getting. They have a fascination for pecking on the cardboard walls and floors of the box. We love to watch them scratch in the wood chips.

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Baby Chicks

I took Monday off from work so that I could go with George to get his wisdom teeth cut out. That all went as well as can be expected and was even quite comical at times (gas and anesthesia). In the evening after Jon got home from work we all took a trip to Tractor Supply. I figured George would want to stay home and take it easy, but he wasn’t going to miss out on Jon and me buying our first baby chicks. He is a country boy and has had his own chickens and roosters for several years. I’m sure he figured we would need his guidance.

TSC got their first chicks and ducks supply in on Monday. By the time we got there, all the baby ducks were gone and one container of the baby chicks were empty as well. Oh, you could hear them cheeping as soon as we entered the store. They had 4 large metal tubs still left. Oh, they were all so cute! I wish I had thought to take a picture of them then. But we were so excited, that it never occurred to me.

All of the little yellow fuzz balls were a straight run of White Cornish. The sign said they were better for meat chickens.
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