New Winter Quarters

The cold spells have been bone-chilling this winter and the chickens have spent enough nights in the dog kennel in the garage without a roost.  The birds can sleep laying down on pine shavings every now and then, but it isn't pleasant for them, or for us, to have birds waking up in a pile of their own you-know-what.  We thought about ways we could put a roost in the dog kennel.  And then thought some more.  Then we thought about how big of a hen Ms. Bruiser is.  Then we thought about how chickens can get sick or pecked and may need to be separated from the flock. Then we thought even further into the future about adding new chickens to the flock and having to quarantine the new birds for a short while to make sure they are healthy.  And after all that thinking, we decided to purchase a small assembly-required coop to keep in the garage.  We are testing it out tonight after the birds damaged their coop.  We chose an affordable coop from Tractor Supply Company called ChickenWARE Heavy-Duty Chick-N-Hutch.

If you've ever read Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, you might be thinking now about Sarah and Percy and Bill and how "all owls think a lot."  It's one of my favorite read-aloud books ever!