Home is Where the Nest Box is

CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK!!!

How many of you are enjoying this typical Ohio weather? One day it's 61 degrees and the next it's back down to 32 and snowing again! No wonder everyone has a runny nose and itchy throat. However, nothing about Ohio weather surprises me anymore. Thankfully the weather has been corporative in the respect that the nice days seem to be falling on weekends. I can deal with that...save the cruddy weather for the weekdays.

Last weekend was no exception. It was gorgeous! Sunny and breezy with that hint of spring in the air. It was the kind of teaser day that made you want to go out and buy flowers and dig in the dirt. Too bad the 7-day forecast said snow again or you probably wouldn't have stopped the twitching in your hands. Luckily we had some chores to be done here on the Shawhan farm and a spring-esk day was the perfect day to get it done.

We have planned some changes for the Shawhan farm. I'll tell you about them as they happen. Last weekend was a jumping off point so to speak for one of them and honestly, I don't know why we haven't done this sooner!

Cooptown has been looking a little cramped to me for quite some time. 

We had two nesting areas for the cluckies (the regular nest box and the rarely used vertical nest box), the oyster shells were located in front of the vertical box on the floor, and the waterer on the heating pad has been of opposite that. Dan designed a roof over the water a couple of years ago to prevent poop from falling in the gals drinking water; a very nice and extremely useful construction, yet it does take up some space. Other amenities in Cooptown included the roosting perches and of course the feeder hanging from the ceiling.

'Go Big Or Go Home'

is still the motto around these here parts, so I'm always itching to grow our flock, garden, sustainable food sources etcetera, etcetera, etcetera .................................. we've even increased the number of Beefy Boys on the property. So after an insightful Bob Evans breakfast with my father-in-law, I've realized that change is going to come in baby steps.

Baby step number one was reached last weekend when we moved the nest box out of Cooptown and into Kennel Bar. Since the ladies lay their eggs during daylight hours (no vampires in the chicken world!) they technically only need to be in the coop at night. We figured if the nest box was moved into Kennel Bar, it would make more room in the coop for roosting perches. Since Kennel Bar is quite a large space and the chickens have access to the steer lot all day, we calculate that we have room for expansion within our flock and facilities. With the nest box out of the coop, when we increase our poultry numbers, we hopefully won't have an issue with overcrowding.


A little spring cleaning to freshen up Kennel Bar...

Don't worry, his head isn't stuck. He just had to add his two cents on the job I did!

 

Don't worry, his head isn't stuck. He just had to add his two cents on the job I did!

Here we go!

 

 

 

 

Where are Gabe and Bam from Alaskan Bush People???

 

 

 



 

My dream scenario would be to eventually make Kennel Bar into the actual coop. What is now Cooptown, I'd like to make into a storage room for feed, shavings, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera..................................OR turn it into the brooder/isolation room for sick chickies. My other dream scenario is to buy the little white house next door and turn it into the Taj Mahaal of chicken coops...but my money tree didn't produce last year.

Did yours???

In the meantime, I'll settle for the changes that have been made. Now the nest box is located in Kennel Bar and Cooptown has a little more breathing room.