Still going......

I'd write more but I'm wiped out after work AND coop action today......

 

The Back is On! Screen in the middle.

The chicken exit

still have to finish the interior nest boxes

insulation

first interior panel is in!

And the Coop played on.....

I want a mulligan on this weekend. Yes, I got a lot done, but not nearly as much as I'd fantasized about. Thanks to my "Big Sis" and the circle drive roofing crew who were sooooo nice in helping give the coop progress a boost right when my "can do" was about to poop out completely. You guys are the best. Progress Report!

The trap door to chicken guantanamo

Big Sis leveling out the pad for the chicken ladder

The Roofing Crew

The patio and finishing the jail

Front siding on! Sis is installing her million hour door.

Nest Boxes nearly done, roof half on

And the little runts get one more week of being house chickens. dammit.

The roof and finishing the siding install are next!!. doh.

F*#% Yeah, Urban Chickens.

I had no idea chickens were like little people (peeple?). Seriously. Only now my house is just one big chicken chaos zone with flapping, dragonball-fighting little wingnuts rocketing around the office and escaping every 10 minutes. I NEED TO GET MY ARSE IN GEAR AND BUILD THE GD COOP.  No more messing around. I mean it. really. These girls need their own house by the time they finish feathering their little butts out.

Caro is nothing but a little troublemaker

Ethel, on the other hand, is the adorable runt.

So I trenched out a space and started assembling legs. Then added some cross braces and a plywood base. Now I juse have to bury some hardware cloth to keep racoons out and level out the frame so I can start framing some coop walls.

Sadie on hawk watch duty. Trench for legs in background

OMG. Squaring shit is harder than expected.

I may have to call my girls in for some motivation this weekend (and beer. lots of beer.)

Suddenly, Chickens.

No seriously. I was at the start of a nasty bout of flu, I had just finished a project in another city two hours away for my "real-job" and I noticed the farm store. Hmmm, I thought, I've been looking for a trough to use in my bare-earth to magic-veggie-garden remodel and I should check that place.  To quote Kit verbatim (over at DIYdiva.net) "I just happened to be at Tractor Supply on Saturday, and there just happened to be chicks in the breeds I was considering making adorable little chirping noises that sounded remarkably like they were calling my name, and then I may have blacked out for a minute and the next thing I know I’m sitting in the car with this little box of nuggets next to me."  You cannot make this shit up.  Had I been thinking about chickens for my little urban garden experiment? Absolutely. Did I own anything that might indicate chickens were actually on the horizon (Like a coop or a chicken feeder thingy or even a book on chickens?) Nyet. Nein. Nope.  And Suddenly, Chickens.  Six of them. Girls.  and two hours to drive home wondering what the proper ambient car temperature is for 6 tiny little fuzzbuckets that make WAY more noise than someone who's never owned chickens would expect. And, oh hell, where am I going to put 6 tiny baby chickens that my 3 oversized dogs won't think they are scooby snacks? nuts.

That was one week ago. And I'm proud to announce all 6 baby chickenses are still flapping and squawking on this earth. I screwed a bunch of scrap together for an outdoor playpen and acquired a darling hot pink kiddie pool perfect for six chicken girls to start life in. In my home office. I even acquired 'chick grit' and have been frantically searching the internet for urban coop plans. Because now. Oh yes now. The little chicken girls are getting feathered up. And discovering that they can flap them little wings something Fierce. And flying chickens have not yet been prepared for. Only cute squawky running chickens. What to do? Two words. Chicken Guantanamo. and I need to get my arse in gear building a coop.

Caro is going to be a lap-chicken

The night residence

 Oh my god. Coop construction begins tomorrow. I think I'm going to adapt something like THIS: http://thetanglednest.com/2012/12/infographic-how-to-build-our-coop/

Because when you live on 1/4 acre in the middle of a large city, space and style are at a premium.