In Coop with Chickens, Outside Sits Carl

I try to take greens for Bruce's Rhode Island Reds when I walk over. Carl likes greens too. You can see the challenge.

Bruce is training Carl to sit quietly outside the coop while I'm in there feeding kale stems to eight happy, talkative hens...and not to Carl. If he's patient, and he's learning to be, I poke a reward stem through the grid for him.

More posts on Bruce's coop construction and configuration here.

First Harvest 2011: July 18 Eggplant, Tomato, Eggs

Midsummer color, maximum flavor...a feast for the eyes and the belly. Yesterday for lunch: fresh eggs straight from Bruce's coop, first tomatoes, and quick-fried eggplant.

  

Tomatoes were Matina, from Reimer Seeds,

small but perfect.

Crayola colored eggplant 

pingtung long (SSE) and Thai green (Bountiful Gardens)

The Thai green hid from me until I discovered it today. 

Bruce talked about his thriving coop yesterday. When we visited Sunday, his carton held a diverse selection.

It was so hot, we all needed needed a drink...

Summer Solstice on the Roof Farm and Friends Visit the Coop

June 21 summer solstice quick roof walk...

 In the Earthboxes, spring peas in decline,

tomatillos on the rise

Tomatoes are robust--

thank you, Bruce, for the healthy starts!

 

I direct-seeded a few types of beans and the Mystery Greek Squash from Root Simple. Thanks, Erik, for sharing the seeds. Each year we get powdery mildew on squash and cukes and I vow not to plant the following year. And each year I do.

I have this notion that squirrels are attracted to open soil (and some proof of that), so I laid some plastic netting over the direct-seeded SIPs to deter them.

Golden Midget watermelons are up, seeds via Debbie and Little Green Girl. Thanks, garden friends.

A visit the next day from Trish and her boys, who remembered everything we discussed last year about sub-irrigation growing and bees. JT, at left, shared even more about bees that he'd learned in school. He's going to be a natural beekeeper. And Alex chowed down on every single kind of greens we're growing. Excellent palate!

We walked to Bruce's 

and got right into the coop...

...where the kids learned all about the hens

and their living arrangements

Summer's here.

8 Humans Celebrate 8 Chickens Home

On a cool rainy May day, what do you suppose the other 3 million Chicago residents did?

Who knows! But whatever I doubt it was as immensely satisfying as ushering eight robust Rhode Island Reds from their brooder upstairs at Bruce's...

...to their gorgeous new digs, replete with deep coffee bean chaff bedding from Intelligentsia.

Bruce with his beautiful handiwork,

including pieces of reclaimed lumber oiled to a smart finish

Perches with feeder in position

Hi Art, Leah, and Ala

The move crew:

Leah, Rob, Brad, Art, Bruce, Ala, and Blake

First chicken honors go to Bruce

Blake and his bird

These chickens kept us smiling for portraits

Me too

Raw food guy Blake

knows what they want

Getting the waterer up.

Plus, early adopter finds food

Carl had fun exploring...

...and we finished with a St Germaine-fresh lemon-fizzy water toast 

to chickens come home to roost

What an excellent day. To watch all the chicken-lovin' action, click here (thanks, Rob!)...

More Chicken Coop Anatomy

Yesterday we posted this photo about our field trip to the in-progress chicken coop.

Clearly, Bruce has been busy.

Here's today's view, with the three nesting boxes built out on that same wall. In final form, a hinged door will allow the hungry omelet maker to lift and remove eggs.

Here's an inside look showing the perchlike board edge chickens will land on. From there it's a quick hop into one of the nesting boxes lined with fluffy bedding for a comfortable egg landing.

Indoors under the shop lights, our half dozen basil varieties are up. Click to enlarge and view the Purple Dark Opal basil from Seed Saver's Exchange, already revealing its genetic destiny.

Little Green Girl's Trip to the Chicken Coop

Little Green Girl (aka LGG, in her little green jacket), Debbie, and I went on a field trip last week to check progress on Bruce's chicken coop. This would be fun.

LGG hadn't seen the baby chicks and, just as important, hadn't met Carl. Shortly before we left, Bruce called. Could Art come over to help him and Matt get the coop roof on? Yes. Here's the positioning of the coop, which sits under Bruce's deck. Click any picture to enlarge.

We scurried in to get a hen's-eye view...

Bruce showed us the shingles he'll apply to the exterior. I've said it before: this is one classy coop.

Chicken math: how does one determine how much room is needed? First, get this book, which Bruce calls his Chicken Bible.

Then run the numbers. You can offer as little as 3 feet per hen in the coop and 8 feet in the run, but the health of your flock could suffer. So Bruce is providing 4 square feet per hen indoors with 10 square feet per bird in the run.

The coop is 48 sq feet and the run is 120 sq feet

Currently he has 8 chickens, but he has space for ?

(flashing back to 5th grade math here--correct answer is 12)

Little Green Girl was excited to meet the actual hens who'd be living in the coop as soon as the weather warms. Currently they're still in their brooder inside Bruce's house.

Hey, let us out.

We're getting big and we know you're building us a mansion.

She got to offer palms full of feed to the adolescent hens. They gathered 'round happily.

Bruce encourages holding the hens as a way of socializing them. Pleased to comply.

Quite the growth spurt since Feb 8.

Checking out the warm closet where Bruce is starting some of our pepper and eggplant seeds for this summer's growing.

And, of course, Carl.

He makes everyone smile.

Chicken Coop Walls Going Up

Helped Bruce move the coop walls out of the workshop to get tied in to the coop structure this afternoon.

It's a paradise for hens!

There's the roof frame, which Bruce is finishing this afternoon.

We're gonna miss the actual roof raising due to the AUA meet tonight. On the agenda: an overview of Chicago's proposed urban ag zoning changes.