During the excavation of the back hill, the chicken coop needed to be moved. The plan was to pick it up by some chains with the excavator shovel, swing it out of the way, excavate, and then return the coop to it’s original location.
Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned.
Sparing you the gory details, when all was said and done, this is how things ended up for the poor chicken coop. Somehow I don’t think it will be returning to it’s original location.
Not to worry though, I told you my husband can do anything. That includes building a chicken coop. In the mean time though, the chickens were homeless. I’ve decided there’s nothing dumber than a chicken. They milled around the location of their old coop looking increasingly forlorn as evening approached.
Clark and I tried several times to herd them into his shop for the night, but they would have nothing to do with that. As soon as we’d get close, one chicken would bolt, and then it was a chicken free-for-all, running every which way. Oh, and did I mention that it was snowing? The weather was awful, the chickens were wet and probably cold, and wouldn’t go in the shop for anything.
We gave up herding the chickens and waited until dark to try and find them and carry them into the shop out of the snow. Clark and I tromped around in the snow with a flashlight for 30 minutes finding chickens sleeping in all sorts of crazy places; inside a roll of chicken wire, in their old nesting box, and roosted on the edge of the trampoline. There was one gray hen we never did find. She likes her new bed so much that she’s hidden there every night since. We still haven’t found where she sleeps.
The chickens had a warm night, but faced another problem the next day. Where to lay their eggs. Some hens shared a nest they made behind the door of the shop.
Other hens decided on the open air approach and used their original nesting box.
One hen laid her egg underneath the trampoline.
The second night the when we tried to herd the chickens into the shop (the new coop wasn’t finished yet) they were happy to comply and marched single file straight into the shop with no complaints. – Well except for our independent little hen who dissappeared again at dusk to her own favorite mystery spot.
The third day it was easy to see that the chickens had finally accepted Clark’s shop as their new home. They hung out there during the day, and almost all the eggs were laid in the shop nest. Everyone seemed happy with the new arrangement with one notable exception. Clark. He tried to work in his shop on a little project but came out frustrated. Too much clucking, and tripping over chickens to work in the shop. He turned his focus back on the new coop with renewed energy.
The new coop was roughly finished on the third day.
That night we let the chickens fall asleep in the shop and then carried them into their new home. The next night they let us herd them through the little chicken door, and tonight they went in all by themselves. And when I checked the nesting box in the new coop, this is what I found.
I think they like their new home!
When working with bees, the first thing to do is suit up. If this is not done properly, bad things can happen (just ask Clark). This is the rule unless you are a photographer, in which case the bees will leave you alone. – They like getting their pictures taken. 🙂
After suiting up, Clark takes out the queen cage and replace the cork with a marshmallow. The worker bees will get to know the queen while they eat through the marshmallow, and when it’s gone, the queen will come out and start laying eggs.
Clark puts the queen into the hive, sprays the package with sugar water to keep the bees busy eating and then shakes the package into the hive with the queen. He puts the cover on and leaves the package nearby so the slowpokes can join their friends in the hive.
There you go, simple as can be.
Now isn’t that nice?
The Little Things 