Welcome Home, Cluckers and Quackers!

Cluck! Quack! 

Welcome to your new homes and run, Cheeper, Sassy, Onyx, Rhodie, Lil' Rhodie, Mustard, Speckles, Olive, and Opal! 

When Olive and Opal, Pekin ducks, joined our family in March we knew we would need some new "digs" for the flock. But we're not builders. LOL

So, we asked a homeschool friend, who happens to be a carpenter, to build us a larger coop for the hens. Blue Spruce and I designed the coop on graph paper (to scale!) and passed it along to him. And he did a WONDERFUL job! Our fabulous "poultry palace" has 2 wired windows with clear plastic coverings that raise and lower, 2 large double-doors for ventilation and cleaning, 3 sturdy nesting boxes and 2 wider roosting bars, a fold down ramp-door, and a roof that opens up on one side.  It's DEFINITELY a "cluck castle". (Are you loving these alliterations? LOL)

And what more fitting then to paint it like a barn!

Cousin Noodle Helping

Balsam Fir Painting Above the Nesting Boxes

Red done! Time to Finish the White Xs and Trim

Sliding Clear Plastic Window (with Wire), Double Doors (with
Wire), and Front Ramp-door

Back Door (for Cleaning) - Balsam Fir Peeking Out

Blue Spruce and I laid peel n' stick tiles on the coop floor, like linoleum, for easier cleaning. And I added CHICKEN CURTAINS to the windows. Who laughed? LOL Chickens like a "homey touch" too! Seriously! There's chicken specialists who say that having curtains up over the nesting boxes helps promote more laying!

Roosting Bars, Floor and Window with Wire
and Plastic Covering

2 of the 3 Nesting Boxes and Another View
of the Floor

Chicken Curtains!

The older, smaller coop was repurposed for the ducks. We removed the nesting boxes, added a Plexi-glass window to one side and a wired window with a shutter on the other. We haven't repainted it yet, but the plan is to turn it into a barn too. Eventually.

We also needed a new run - a fenced in area for the hens and ducks to roam around outside their coops safe from predators - and set out to build one with the help of my Mom. We repurposed 1/2 of the old run to add to the end of the run for the duck's new "pond", a 4 1/2 foot x 2 foot x 20 inch plastic trough, but haven't repainted that white yet either. Eventually.

Mom Stapling Chicken Wire to the Top of the Run

Almost Finished Run

Olive and Opal Resting By the Partially Inground Pond

And then we put everything together in a new area of the yard. Not only are the coops and run near the brook so the ducks can explore it easily during supervised free-range, but we can see everything from the livingroom and diningroom. (Before the coop was not visible from inside the house.) And some mornings, when our bedroom window is open, I can hear them waking up for the day!

Roof Will be Black, but Set-up From the Diningroom Window