Chicken Coop

(click on photos to enlarge)

Taking time off from working on the quilt is giving me lots of time to get things done outside. I'm hoping that I will get some great ideas while doing stuff that needs doing, but no wonderful quilt ideas have drifted into my mind. I did have one idea that I am considering. I have seen quilted pillow covers that look as though the quilt had been turned back over the pillows. But, it is really a separate quilted piece, as wide as the quilt, that is laid over the pillows. I was thinking that I could used the carp for that and make it so you could use either side. I like that idea. Maybe I should just use the pattern I used for the wedding quilt here. I could do that...

View from inside the coop

showing the windows and door closed.

The feeders are inside now because the weather has changed

and wet feed is very bad for the chickens.

We used to use the gate to enter the coop, but now it stays closed.

I would like to take it off and re-hang it so it opens out instead of into the pen.

That way I could get a wheelbarrow in there easily

to deliver loads of dirt or take out stuff.

Here is a view with the screen door open.

You can see some of the nest boxes

back there next to the broom.

In the summer I take the plastic off the screen door so the girls

can enjoy a breeze if one happens by.

I leave the windows open when the weather is warm.

When the windows are closed the chickens can go from the coop to the pen

by scooting under the closed windows.

If the weather is very bad,

I block off the "scoot" opening to cut down on cold drafts

and/or we put a heat lamp by the roosts.

We only use the lamp when the temperature drops very low.

This little girl is very happy with herself.

She has found a sunny spot

and has dug a hole so she can take a dust bath

and soak in the sunshine.

This is the rock garden area that my brother and sister-in-law made.

I moved rocks around and made the dry stream bigger

and added a few things, but overall they built it.

Tomorrow, I'll show you what it looks like without leaves.

Smiles