The Chicken Hutch

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the chicks are out of my house. They moved outside the beginning of the week. The bad news is that the chicken coop is still under construction so they are living in the rabbit hutch. I decided when we got back from our little trip that it was seriously time for them to leave my house....it smelled like a pet shop in here. And I'm so sick and tired of the chicken dander on everything. And I mean everything. I wiped down every flat surface in the house before we left on Friday and we returned home Sunday to a layer of dust/chicken dander on the tables. I could literally write my name in it. So I made the executive decision to make them live in the rabbit hutch. You might be wondering where the rabbit is? Well Nacho, the Holland Lop bunny, lived with us for about two months before going to live with her buddy, Pickles, over at Jessica's house. Jessica adopted Nacho and now is Nachos Mom. This was right around the time I gave birth and needed another animal around here about as much as I needed a kick in the head. Anyways, I've seemed to have veered off course, the chickens are loving their new house. Their new outside house. To be totally fair, they didn't want to be in my house anymore than I wanted them in my house. They are chickens after all. Animals that thrive on scratching the earth, taking dirt baths and pecking at grass and bugs. Animals that need to be out of doors.

So now every morning I wake up and go take them from the chicken hutch out to their little dog kennel that is on the grass (it's a dog crate with the bottom tray removed). They stay out there all day doing what chickens do and then go back at night to keep them safe from everything that wants to eat them. It works for now but they are quickly out growing the rabbit hutch.


Sean is making progress on the coop. Last week he took a few days off of work and started the outside run for the chickens. This is attached to the back of the shop and he'll cut a small chicken sized opening into the shop leading into their chicken house. This outside run will be the chicken equivelent to Fort Knox. I asked him to dig down and put at least one 2X6 into the ground to discourage digging predators. It will also have a top on it to keep animals from getting in that way. It's sure coming along.