Henboggled.

Yes, I am henboggled.

This week my lovely little trio went from living quarters like this:

Sweet, but - let us get a closer look...just over 6 ft long.... 39" across? This is no way for 3 hens to live 22 or 23 hours a day. I mean I was letting them out on Saturday's and Sunday's as long as we were home, but - that just did not seem enough. Not in my mind. Could they survive? Sure they could. But, I simply didn't know if they could thrive. If I was going into it KNOWING that they were going to stay in those hours I would have gone for smaller breeds. Ah, but one of these birds is an extremely large bird, indeed. A gentle giant if you please. And I do please. She is my sweetheart and when and if I get that dreaded letter form the HOA I will do everything in my power to keep her and rid myself of the other two.

Oh, I believe I got sidetracked there. Anyhow. This last weekend my itty bitty flock went from their tiny coop to what is now known in my home as 'The Hen Pen' LOL. It's still in transition. We got rained out. Big time - and have every evening since starting the project. So my gals haven't gotten any real attention since getting the new space. Poor critters.

Anyhow, behold the transtion:

They now live in 35' x 4'. It's not much to brag about yet... and it may never be a huge bragging right. But it beats the heck out of barely enough room to pace a cirlce, huh?

The roof remains unfinished for now. Hopefully this weekend the rain will break some and I can get that finished. Those poles are leaning all the way across and are in the way. For now they are holding up the wire, but they need to go. The idea I have is that there will be a furring strip along the wall of the house and the wire will be attached to that via screw eyes and 'S' hooks. For now this temporary solutions has kept the gals safe, but it won't forever. The storms we get will take down the loose wire quickly. I've left the grass long and it's unsightly but I know it will only take a couple weeks before the girls have it mowed down to the right height. The sprinkler heads will be taken out this weekend as well.

That coop needs work, too. We forgot to turn it sideways before moving it in. We actually like it better this way, but can't open it to clean it so the front will have to be restructured. I have no unearthly idea yet just how I'll make that panel a lift off - but I will do it. No doubt about that. I'm thinking about something like putting a door hinge on it and a lock to keep it closed...Then the area that used to be a door needs to be addressed. It now goes all the way to the ground and needs to be cut out. I may need to borrow someones jig saw to open that up. Then I can use that wood to build a new nest box and the entire coop needs to be centered in the back there so that the roof can over hang and protect all the way around.

Weather permitting - of course. *sigh* It's been nice to have so much rain again. Florida hasn't seen a year like this in ages, but it's been hard to get any work done.

As for my gal who lays 2 eggs? So far we are still laying 2, and they are still broken each day. On the ground. But, at least they are no longer at the foot of the ladder. I'm thinking of putting in a ground nest to see if she will try that. Maybe a kitty litter box or some other covered thing out of the way. She's earned herself a new name as well. This name is permanent. Campbell. She flew the coop (literally) a good dozen times while we were trying to get them set up in here and I'll be darned if she ever tried before. Try to give her space and nicer digs and how does she repay me? Hurumph! She'd better stay put in the yard or she will live up to her new name and be soup. She's the loud one after all so I don't know as I'd feel all that bad for it. They aren't supposed to be here, so I can't very well let her antics get me caught. I may seperate her for a day and make sure she's the culprit of the double eggs/soft eggs. If it's true and shes double trouble with the noise and eggs then I'll have to weigh my options soon.

Hopefully I'll be back next week with the scoop on the coop update. That should be easier than this upgrade. Less work, but more frustration. I'll also be looking at ways to solve the old what to do with the chicken poop problem. Well, I know WHAT to do with it. I want to compost it, but inside the coop it's a problem, and until I get enough to take it to the composter.

'Till next time!

Barbie~