The chickens are still living in their old coop. There are still a few little adjustments that need to be made to their new space before they can move in officially. Their new space all started with the coop that JP gave us. The small run attached to the coop was way too small for our four chickens. We put them in it when we got the coop home and they barely had room to move around. That evening, Michael went to an open mic and I was alone at the house. I realized that the chickens had knocked the ramp from the coop and could not get inside for the night. It was already dark and I pondered how I was going to lift the run side of the old coop and herd chickens back into it at the same time. When I opened the new coop, they just stood there. So I picked them up one by one and placed them gently into the old coop. Except for Matilda, who decided to walk out of the new coop on her own, but then refused to go back into the old coop. I was the crazy lady in the backyard, talking to a chicken and a dog, because Josephine was out there “helping”.

We bought a 9 x 12 foot chicken enclosure and Micael removed the run from the new coop. We had hoped, maybe even expected, that the enclosure would come partially assembled in panels. The new enclosure came in a long box filled with poles and a roll of heavy duty chicken wire. Putting the poles together was the easy part. Wrapping the whole thing with the chicken wire was not so easy. One of us (me) had to be on the inside to help thread a zip-tie or a piece of wire through so that the chicken wire would be secured to the frame. When we got to the last section, the one with the door, I was trapped inside the coop until Michael could cut the chicken wire around the door. One of us found this situation to be pretty funny. On the days we have worked on the new coop, we have always let the chickens out of the old coop to roam around the yard. They have been very curious about the new space and there were times when I would turn around inside the coop and all four of them would be inside with me, pecking and scratching the ground. The day we worked on the last two sections of the enclosure, the chickens explored the yard, but they always ended up circling around us while we worked. At one point, Marguerite pecked at the chicken wire desperately trying to get inside. She needed to lay an egg. Michael lifted the old coop and she went right in and up to the nesting box. Her first instinct though was to go to the new coop. Their new space is going to be so nice. The new coop is easier to clean. There is a large door for easy access. No more lifting up a heavy coop to let the chickens out or get them back in. Michael always had to be the one to refill their water feeder because I can not lift the coop and slide the water feeder in at the same time.

Before we decided to replace the chicken coop, we talked about what would happen when the chickens die. We thought that maybe we would not replace them. Whenever we took a break from working on the enclosure, we would watch the chickens as they pecked and scratched around the yard. At one point, Dorothy snagged a fat slug and then there was a mad chase across the yard as the other chickens tried to steal it away. Michael said that we would wait until at least two chickens died and then replace them with one. Instead of having four chickens, we’d have three. That is what we had originally intended when the first coop was built. Three chickens are probably a better fit for our space. Though I have to admit, I enjoy watching our four chickens and how they interact with each other. I enjoy their individual personalities. We might just end up with another one of those situations where Michael tells me to pick one and then I look at him with big eyes and say “maybe we should get two in case one of them doesn’t make it.”

We’ll see.