Cooped Out

I promise, this won't turn into a blog about chickens, but at the moment I am a little obsessed so cut me some slack. I had planned to write a post today about chicken coops...I even uploaded some pictures of what I was hoping for, in terms of what Steve was planning to build for me. He can build anything and is very handy, so the plan was for him to get started in a couple of weeks, as the girls will need to be moving outside toward the end of April. However, I have been checking coops out on Craigslist for the past couple of weeks, too. The cute ones sell instantly, and the scary-looking coops are way overpriced and not any place I'd want the girls to live. This morning I was up at the crack of dawn and decided to pay a visit to Craigslist, and right at the top was this little beauty:

So, so cute, and with a flower box at the window, even! This is very similar to what Steve was going to build, minus the run. I knew it was probably already sold, but waited patiently for 8 a.m. to roll around and thought I would give a call anyway. Lo and behold, it hadn't sold yet, so I snatched it right up. We will go pick it up in the morning. Steve will still build a run to attach to it, so the girls can peck away outside and still be safe. I think it is going to be the perfect home for them! What makes this coop even better (to me, anyway) is that a father and son built it together, their first little construction project. Love it.

When I got up this morning, I discovered the chicks had managed to spill their waterer in the night, therefore soaking half of their cardboard brooder. I had to work fast to scoop out all the bedding and convince them to huddle in the opposite corner of the brooder while I turned up the heat and tried to dry it out. I also doctored up a new system for their waterer so they will stop filling it with pine shavings (their favorite pass time). Take that, crafty chicks! I also tried giving them some plain yogurt this morning, and it was pretty funny. They walked through it a few times but wouldn't eat it. Finally I thought to smear some on the wall of the brooder, and they practically pecked each other to death trying to get to it. Good for getting some good bacteria into their developing little guts.

Griff and I have lots of chores to get to before the weekend starts, so off we go!