'The Barn'

That last post was a bit grim so here's a more cheery one!

This years chicks have grown into young adults, outgrown the maternity unit, and needed to stretch their legs and feel some fresh green grass under their little feet. This means I've had to spend the last week or so designing and building another coop.

I'm lucky. I have the CAD (computer aided design) skills and workshop kit to work up some designs on the Mac and the tools to cut the timber to the right lengths etc., which makes the whole thing easier to do.

See, that took about 30 seconds!

I like designing and making stuff like this. Much better than buying some of the crappy sheds out there. This one has all the fiddly bits outside the coop so there's no nooks and crannies for the red mite to hide inside - nice and clean for the chooks.

The side doors open both sides to collect the eggs on the right side and clean the coop on the left where they all roost. One trick I learnt whilst designing the previous coop was to use seed trays under the roosting perch to 'collect' the poop. You can just empty these regularly and keep the coop cleaner.

It was a bit tricky to get the little scamps into it the first night (Saturday) but last night they all filed in without any problems.

Bella the Copper Black Maran hen - very dark eyes!

Penny, the Copper Blue Maran hen, always seems to be smiling.

Ronnie and Reggie (aka 'The Cray Twins')