The day is finally here! The girls’ new home has arrived. To say I was excited is an understatement. Thank goodness they didn’t capture the part of me running down the driveway to welcome the delivery man. He probably doesn’t get too many grown women running to meet him over the excitement of a shed!
The first part of the delivery was easy. I stood there and took pictures and squealed with excitement over my new chicken coop. After it was set and leveled, our work began. But, first, I had to check it all out.
COOP SETUP
Food and Water:
The first step we did was to get our waterer and feed system set. We decided to go with the nipple watering system. It was inexpensive and keeps the water fresh. We drilled holes into the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and then screwed in the poultry nipples (we purchased these at our local farm supply store). Obviously with this set up, we needed to hang our waterer. I liked this option the best because chickens are messy! This way, they can’t kick pine shavings and dust into their water. We hung the waterer 6-8 inches off the ground.
We did the same with our feeder by hanging it just a couple inches off the ground. As your chickens grow you can easily adjust the height of both your food and water systems.
Electrical:
Our goal is to eventually have our coop wired for electricity, but for now we attached an electrical cord to the wall and out of the chickens way (safety first!). We used this for our timed lighting, possibly needing a heat source and also for a water heater that would prevent the water from freezing up in the winter. Our winters get brutal here, so we needed to prepared on all fronts!
Roosting Poles and Bedding:
Our daughter drilled our roosting poles into the wall and the girls loved them! We also decided to use the deep litter method for our bedding. We lined our pine shavings about an 1-2 inches deep throughout the coop and sprinkled on Coop Recuperate™ by Strong Animals Chicken Essentials.
Heat:
I mentioned needing a possible heat source. For the most part, chickens do better in the cooler temps. However, our winters can easily see 30 degrees below zero, so we knew that going from a heated shed to a cold coop wasn’t going to be easy for the girls. We set up a heat lamp and monitored it very closely. Heat lamps are not my favorite thing, but if kept clean and well maintained will definitely do the trick in keeping your flocks a bit warmer.
MOVE IN TIME
It was so fun to introduce all the girls to their new home, but I brought Happy in first. Happy is the reason I love my chickens so much. She would always be the first to welcome me when I’d get out to their brooder. She’d jump up on the ledge and get as close to me as she could and want me to hold her. We then brought all the girls in and they were so excited about all of their new space.
Setting up your coop is such an exciting time! I’m sure I will be spending hours out here with our flock. And, for the coop delivery guy? It’s safe to say, he will always remember the crazy Wing lady.
