Building the coop

We chose to build our chicken coop from plans we got off the internet from a fellow in Seattle. Here is a link to his site: http://www.thegardencoop.com/. We think the finished coop is just beautiful, and it was so fun to have built it from the ground up. It took us two full weekends, and mainly involved Kevin, my Dad, and our neighbor Jay.

Here is the pile of wood that eventually became the finished coop.

My Dad had done quite a bit of work on his own down in Saratoga before the official "work weekend" in San Francisco. He built the nesting boxes (and then had to rebuild them after finding out they were too big for the hen house!) and a plank walkway that the chickens use to climb into their henhouse. He also brought up some of the walls for the hen house with the paneled siding already attached to plywood.

Here is a picture of the guys planning and recalculating. They did as much planning and calculating as they did drilling and sawing. The coop plans were for a larger coop than we wanted to build, so they needed to recalculate lots of measurements. Sometimes, they even needed to redo a few cuts -- ooops!

Pics of Roan and Elsa getting in on the action. It was a beautiful weekend -- typical late summer/early fall in SF with sunny days, turning into foggy windy afternoons. Mom and Dad got to experience the Jeckyll and Hyde weather in San Francisco this time of year, when you can be in a tank top at 3:00, but need to put on a sweater and windbreaker by 4:00, as the wind kicks up and pulls the fog in off the ocean in the late afternoon.

Jay and his son Cobalt helping with construction. We couldn't have done the coop building without Jay's help. He has so much experience with home construction projects -- and he has all the tools. Love that table saw!

The idea to build a chicken coop on our own was inspired by my Dad, who has built all manner of things throughout his life. He built my brother's childhood bed in the shape of a truck, with a toy box under the hood of the truck's "engine," and a secret hiding compartment in the side. He built a Boston-Tea-Party Boat tricycle float for a 4th of July parade. He built our dog house, our rabbit hutch, a tree fort, a playhouse... the list goes on and on. Every summer he and my mom take on a new project at their cabin in Minnesota. From watching him I learned that it is fun to plan, design, and build things. Working on projects with my Dad is a wonderful way for us to spend time together. These memories are special to me.

The coop was built in a part of the yard that used to be covered by a large, overgrown camellia bush. The bush is still there -- we built the coop around it! I wonder if it will bloom this winter?

Kids and chicks

What could be cuter than pictures of baby chicks and kids, right? So this entire blog post is just pictures of our baby chicks being held by our kids. The little chickees grew so fast. The period during which they look like little bright cotton balls is really only a week or two long -- so we had to get in as much holding time as possible.

Here is Roan holding Chickee-Chickee. This is when the chicks lived in my office. Again... we wanted to get as much out of the brief period of intense cuteness, so we couldn't imagine having those little bundles of fluff living down in the garage. The kids got to visit and hold and watch the chicks as much as they wanted.
Elsa with Timmy. Although Timmy is quite the bossy, aggressive little thing now, she was very mild mannered and quiet as a chick. She was a little bit of a runt actually. But she was a favorite to hold because she would quietly put up with all sorts of cuddling. That has changed (see previous post "That was then, this is now").
More quality time with Timmy the chick.

Even though you are supposed to keep the chicks in a climate controlled environment for the first 8 weeks, one warm evening we took the little girls out on the deck for their first visit out doors. They loved it! We created a little play pen with extra chicken wire and let them run around. Very cute.

Roan giving Chickee-Chickee a kiss. Who said chickens aren't cuddly?

Eventually the chicks got bigger, moved to the garage, and started coming out for daily forays in the yard. We made bigger play pens with the chicken wire, and the kids could hang out in the yard and watch them peck around. (See all the apples our tree! They were so good.)

Here is a picture of the chicks when they were in their funny-looking teenager phase -- feathers sticking out all over. To see a picture of them now, check out the earlier post "That was then, this is now." More pics of the coop coming soon.

That was then... this is now

The whole flock

Our chickens are two-months old now, and because I work from home several days a week, they often have the run of the yard all day long. They travel around together in their explorations -- and all parts of the yard have been thoroughly explored! They have their favorite spots for different parts of the day: when they want to lie in the sun and have a warm afternoon siesta, they choose a sunny patch of dirt in front of Tom's pink geraniums; when they want to hang out and chill while observing the goings on, they perch on the back of the kiddie bench; when they are up for active digging and pecking, they wander into the thicker parts of Tom's yard and disappear into the shrubbery. Then, the only way to find them is to look for the shaking dahlia bush, or listen for their faint chirps.

Timothy

This is Timothy, Tom's Lace-Winged Wyandotte. She is is at the top of the pecking order. Whenever the flock has been wandering about for a while and Timmy feels that it is time to bring everyone together, she hurriedly chases after all the other birds to round them up, giving each one a sharp peck on the head to let them know that she is still boss. She watches the sky closely if she hears anything suspicious (like a crow cawing overhead) and she is the most evasive when Elsa or I try to pick her up. You have to move fast to catch Timothy.

Sunshine

This is Sunshine, Elsa's Buff Orpington. She is the most friendly. She walks right up to you and doesn't run away if you reach down to pick her up -- which Elsa does all the time. Here is the chickens daily routine: In the morning, they get up as soon as it grows light, and they are usually down in their coop eating breakfast and pecking around by the time I am drinking my coffee. I can see them from our kitchen window. When Elsa is ready for school, she runs down into the backyard and lets the chickens out. She usually has to say hello to Sunshine and hold her for a bit. The chickens spend the rest of the day wandering around the yard, digging, scratching, eating grass and bugs, sitting in the sunshine, rolling around in the dirt (this feels good to chickens), and arranging their feathers. In the afternoon, when I bring the kids home from school, Elsa and Roan go into the backyard and spend some time chasing and holding the chickens (at this time of day Elsa tries to give all of the girls a chance to be held -- Timothy is tough!)

Sarah

This is a picture of one of our Ameraucanas -- possibly Sarah. These beauties will lay greenish-bluish eggs. Sarah is Cobalt's chicken, and she is hard to tell apart from Roan's Ameraucana, Chickee-Chickee. The best way is to look at their heads and beaks. Chickee-Chickee still has a spotted head (unfortunately, the mohawk Sarah had a chick has faded). Sarah has a dark-colored beak. Sarah is a gentle little chicken. She is usually one of the first to head up the ramp to bed at night. Once in the hen house, she chirps loudly as if to say, "Hey, aren't you guys coming? Don't you feel tired too? I don't want to be up here all by myself." If no one follows her, she comes back down the ladder half way, then heads back up. Eventually, they all follow.

Chickee-Chickee

Roan's bird, Chickee-Chickee, has always been the most curious and active, and really believes we are all part of her flock. As a baby, whenever we left the room in our house where they lived for a few weeks, she would cheep loudly and try to squeeze herself out of the cage to follow. She still comes running whenever we go down into the yard to visit. She likes to sit on your arm as if it is a perch. She likes a nice back rub and will fall asleep while you pet her.

I will be posting more later about the coop and how we built it. This is all for now!

First post

Sunshine, Sarah, and Chickee-Chickee

This blog is about our chickens: Timothy, Sunshine, Sarah, and Chickee-Chickee. You CAN have chickens in San Francisco. You can legally have four -- so we have four. We only meant to get two chickens at first. However, we found that once the neighbors learned about our plans, a big concern was how to ensure we had enough eggs to share with the household. To be safe, Tom wanted his own chicken. So, we were up to a future flock of three.

Then, we started thinking about the coop. What should it look like? How should we build it? I wanted to make it a family construction project -- to get my Dad involved, to let Kevin play with power tools, to have the kids see what it looks like to make things your self. Our fantastically creative and energetic neighbors, Jay and Kyle, are very into do-it-yourself home improvement projects, so Jay has all the power tools you would need for a job like this. I knew we needed Jay on board for the coop building. Their son, Cobalt, is Roan's best friend. We offered a chicken in exchange for services. They were more than happy with the arrangement.

All we needed now were the chicks, and to build a coop...