Two days before JD and I Ieft for our Colorado Tour De Marriage, we (he) finished the girls' new digs.
Before he moved the girls into their new home, he took a photo of me inside the coop for the last time:
and then started carrying the girls over one by one.
He put her inside the henhouse and she stood rooted to the spot not moving at all. I mean NOT. AT. ALL. If I hadn't seen her breathing, I'd have been worried. She stood in the same spot, the same position:
for about three or four minutes until JD brought the next girl in. Then they stood frozen.
They got a little better each time a new one was brought in but even so it took them a while to adjust to their new surroundings. They seemed confused by the windows. They could see out but could also tell something was in between them and the rest of the world. They poked around the inside of the house for a while but would only cautiously peek out the door:
And speaking of doors, JD, thoughtful and creative man that he is, designed and built a special door just for me.
It fits into a slot and the cable stretches up and out the top so that I can open and close the door without having to go inside the coop. Pretty sweet except he keeps threatening to paint a guillotine on it!
Eventually JD caught them all again and put them outside in the yard. They seemed to be nervous of their surroundings but liked him well enough:
The first several days, they couldn't quite figure out the process of getting inside and outside via the ramp. Now, however, when JD comes home in the morning and opens the door, they come running out. And when I get home at night, they are all in a little puppy-, er, hen-pile inside the house and I shut them in safe.
We've done all we can do. Now we wait for the egg money to come rolling in! And we figured out that all we need is a mere 100 dozen to break even on our costs....
P.S. I welcome feedback from readers - on content, on my writing, on anything at all! Feel free to add a comment via the link at the end of each post.
Yay! I'm glad you're back!
ReplyDeleteI love your phrase "tour de marriage."
I super love your coop and am extremely jealous of it.
Egg money? Heck, I'd settle for even one egg out of my stupid hens right now.!!!
Yeah, I'm not expecting to retire off this project by any means!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a chicken coop with windows--I love it. We're still waiting for Kip to start laying eggs. We could use the extra income...
ReplyDeleteNice coop - your birds are lucky gals. Glad to see you posting again - where's the wedding photos ;-)
ReplyDelete100 dozen eggs is not so bad. Hang some posters of FogHorn LegHorn inside the coop. Maybe that will inspire the gals.
@Schnicklefritz - hasn't that poor pup had enough trauma in his past? :-)
ReplyDelete@Duhbe - We're going to paint soon. Maybe you're right. Hunky old Foghorn might get them all riled up! And I'm working on the wedding photos. There's kind of a lot to sort through. Soon, I promise! Thanks for the push!
I'm adding another push for photos. I'm glad we saw you in person, so we don't have to wait, but don't let that keep you from posting the photos.
ReplyDeleteThose chickens certainly grown from the cute little chicks. Tell JD maybe Chicken Coop Construction could be his second career.