Birds of a Feather

Over the weekend, Jerill and I completed the build of our chicken habitat. I had purchased a coop from the Snoqualmie Feed store last month and have been working in between dry-spells getting everything set up for seven chickens. I've been wanting chickens for about year now, and I finally got them for my birthday which happened May 31.

Here is the build...

Jerill did most of the work. He is a molecular biologist but I think he may have been a great structural engineer too!

This is inside the habitat, where the ramp goes up into the coop/nesting box

The nesting boxes inside the coop

I brought home four adult hens first, from Diane's farm. Diane is growing her flock with other varieties of fowl and she was ready to part with four of her lovely ladies. The other three hens came from my neighbor's house. He had gotten three chicks for free at the Issaquah Grange and didn't real need more chickens, so he was willing to part with them.

As we finalized the habitat, Diane's four girls waited patiently in their carrier.

Lucky has assumed the role of livestock guardian dog

And, they're in!

I intend to provide the hens with different fruits, veggies and berries. Here, they're feating on blueberries and lettuce!

I have named all four hens already. The four older ladies have old-lady type names, while the young things from next door have names taken from the TV show The Girls Next Door.

Myrtle - she is a Russian Orloff

Mergatroid - she is also a Russian Orloff

Fannie - she is a Sicilian Buttercup

Flo - she is also a Sicilian Buttercup

Holly - I'm not sure what breed she is, but likely is a Plymouth Rock

Here are Kendra and Bridgit - they are Rhode Island Reds

Flo and Myrtle are definitely the head chickens of the flock. Flo has put the three Girls Next Door in their places already, demonstrating what "pecking order" really means. The three young hens will probably start laying eggs in about a month - they're still pretty young. From the four older ladies, in 24 hours, they've given me 2 eggs already!

During the day, we intend to let the hens free-range in our 3000 square foot fenced-in garden. They should find plenty of bugs and slugs to feast on (I hope!). I'll use Scott at night, if needed, to wrangle them up and put them away.