Also, Christmas Day I decided to reconfigure their coop space, get rid of the single level roost as I had noticed one of the chickens sleeping on the floor because they wouldn't let her on the roost. Instead I put in this tri-level roost, it's enough space for 12 chickens when at least 4 sleep in the window sills.
Don't worry, I have painted the pressure treated sides of it already
I just didn't have any regular 2x4s and I took this picture before painting them.
The two upper levels are from their old roost, I thought it'd be attractive to them to have their old nasty roosting pole added onto the new one.
With the three levels, now everyone has a space on the roost, even the lowest on the pecking order.
I also put in new nesting boxes. I posted earlier with my frustration about them eating their nests and finding broken eggs because they scrape out all the shavings and then lay on the bare wood. I thought at the time the plastic storage crate boxes were too close and too easy to access for them and that's why they were messing with them. So I decided to use the cleat I had for the old roost as a rest for the new boxes, and made these! I still have to add the pitched roof and one leg but essentially they hold themselves up on the cleat and "joists," that were once used to extend the roost away from the wall.
The chickens really seem to like them, and this way the chicken who is the lowest on the scale who got picked on while trying to lay, has some privacy to lay her egg. I didn't put a roost on the front of it because they are able to get in and out without it, and roost on the guard when flying up. Last night I had left the boxes open without anything there, no dividers or anything just cause it was too late to work, and when I got out there this morning one of the chickens had laid an egg in the big open box LOL, unfortunately because there was no nesting material in there it broke, but it was pretty funny.
Today we went into the new Lowes in Belleville to get a wheelbarrow (there was a SLIGHT accident with the old one while transporting concrete down to the field to concrete in a 5 inch cedar gate post, where the wheel barrow lost a wheel and has sat by the barn since october LOL). While in there, we were looking at a woodburner that was okay for up to 1800 sq. ft. (our house is about 1350 sq. ft.). In the end we decided to go to Pellet Power, a wood and pellet stove dealer and installer in our closest town. They supply and install wood and pellet stoves for everyone in the area, so we'd be more interested in buying local than from a large chain store.
We also ended up in Smiths Falls today, via Perth on a little road trip to check Perth out. We went to the Big Ben Park, and walked around the local shops. Tomorrow we'll be leaving early after egg collection to Ottawa for my dad's 53rd birthday, we're stopping off in Perth to go to their huge fabric shop so I can look at getting some toile for my bedcovers (I'm sewing up a duvet cover and pillow shams for myself after not finding what I want in the stores). I'm going to use the toile that has the stable hand on it, in the brown and white. My walls will be a light but warm shade of brown, and we're going to bring the colour up onto my ceiling (I have sloped ceilings, our house is 1 1/2 stories, and the bedrooms are in the pitch of the roof upstairs). All my baseboards and trim will be in honeysuckle white, which is a very soft white, and we always use the outdoor paint in semi-gloss because it stands up better to wear and tear.
Anywho, that is all for today from lupinfarm! Oh except we put up the eggs for sale sign at the end of the driveway today, and I still have to put one up at the end of the road. Hopefully we get some egg customers soon!
