Because, why not.
Using this recipe, because a blog post got me in the mood (of course). It was labor-intensive, but very cool to watch the batter rise up with the action of REAL LIVE YEASTS. Also, I must say any recipe that requires the use of a food thermometer is pleasing to me.
Also, in an effort to eat more delicious salads, this article had some beautiful looking options!
Chicken update: we had a raccoon bandit attack a few weeks ago, at like 2am they started raising a ruckus, so I flew outside in pajamas to investigate the disturbance. peggy sue was on the ground trying to run through a fence, and the other 2 were on the roof of the coop panicking. I was like ?!?!? till I heard a fearsome hissing from right next to me head! As I jumped out of my skin I saw the coon perched on the top of the rose arbor thing over the garden path. It ran away, and in the process scared Abigail into my yard and Darlene into the neighbors yard (the one the coon was launching its assault from). I saw there were 3 in total and I glared at them with the flashlight, their eyes reflecting malice back at me. Eventually I won the staring contest and they waddled off in search of easier garbage bins.
Peggy Sue was bleeding from the comb, so I put her in the laundry room. Abigail was hiding in the house, on my dining room table, so she got evicted and put inside the coop, and locked up. Darlene was gone! I went back to bed. In the morning, Abigail was released, Peggy Sue seemed to be ok and was let out, and Darlene was … squawking from the wrong side of the 6 foot fence. At like 6:50am on a friday morning I didn’t feel like traipsing to the other side of the block to ask if I could go into their backyard and try and catch a chicken so I just left her alone. Eventually she figured out how to fly back over!
With this assault fresh in mind I decided to start securing them in the coop at night. So first I added a roost inside for them, and then at twilight when they were slow and cooperative I’d pluck them from the roof of the coop and stuff them inside it, protesting sleepily. It worked ok, but not really something I want to do forever! Also the coop needed a real roof. A flat piece of unfinished plywood that was starting to sag in the middle wouldn’t do for real rain for much longer, or for winter.
So, I secured for $12 an 8 foot piece of corrugated metal roofing that was damaged for 50% off, and set to work. Cut it in half and then had to make a 90 degree bend about 6″ down from each edge. The idea being that the bends would overlap and form the peak of the roof (most people just cut the metal to the right size and have some sort of cap for the peak!). That was pretty challenging, gave up on just bending it, and had to score the underside first with a chisel to put a crease in it. The next day I built a frame for the roof out of 1×3’s after whipping up a plan in Sketchup. It is far and away the most solidly constructed part of the coop and almost threatens to overwhelm the rest of the rather precarious box! I fear a good windstorm could take ahold of the whole thing and topple it over. Hopefully not.
The frame before I added the crossbar that connects the triangles and forms the peak of the roof.
Fantastically Ghetto! But it gets the job done, which in this case equals dry safe chickens. They seem unwilling or unable to try and roost on top of the peak, which is good. The first evening I had to sort of herd them inside, but after that around twilight when good chickens get sleepy, they have put themselves to bed, so around 9pm or so I close the door on them. This also helps in the morning, the overhanging eaves mean not as much daylight gets in, and while this is not … ideal for them, it does make them quieter in the mornings! Which is good for me.
I will have to work out something for the winter - may end up just running a ghetto extension cord out from the house to power a lightbulb inside for warmth. There were a couple of posts about automatic chicken doors, one even controllable via an iphone! It’s tempting, but the sliding door I fabbed up is fairly heavy and sometimes sticks so I don’t know if a little motor would be up to it. Also - more power. If I had them in the garage or somewhere wired I can see how that would be awesome.
Automatic chicken door 1
Automatic chicken door 2
Anyway I’ll probably continue to do it by hand, for now. I am toying with the idea of making a project out of building them a new house using cob construction (like adobe but skipping the step of pre-drying bricks) just for fun. If I do that I could see about providing power. Alternately, there was an idea to run power out to the shed to make it more of a “workshop” I could pursue that again and run some power in an underground pvp tube or … something. If only I knew a qualified electrician!
A little video of letting them out in the morning:
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