Preparing for the Chicks!

Yes, I know! We are still pretty early to prepare for our chicks. They won't come for another 6 or so weeks, but with everything else going on right around the same time, now is as good as ever to prepare the coop for the tiny, fuzzy babies headed our way!

First Things First!

Before we can get started on the coop, we need to first finish building the compost bins so we have a place to go with all the straw and chicken poop that were left in the coop. We have the rough outline of the bins started, but we need to secure them to the ground with t-posts, and we need two bins instead of just one.

The ground is soft right now because it is thawed but not too dried out, so putting t-posts in with a post driver was next to no work. We secured the existing compost bin (made of pallets screwed together) to one t-post with screws. Then, we built the second bin around the second t-post. Because that t-post did not have holes for us to screw through, we used heavy-duty zip ties for now.

Clearing the Coop

Once the compost bins were put together and we had a place to go with all the straw and manure, we had to actually clean out the coop. That straw and chicken poop had been sitting in the coop since late July when we purchased the property, so it was stuck down to the coop floor and hardened. We used a tile/floor scraper to push up the dried poop and scooped everything out of the coop with a snow shovel and into the bucket on our tractor. (Yes, I need to get a pitchfork!)

While this job took some time, it wasn't hard. The main problem I had was the chicken dust. At first, the boys were going to help shovel out some straw, but once I realized how dusty it was getting, I quickly asked Mom to take them elsewhere so I could finish the job by myself. It took quite a while to get all the old straw and chicken poop up and into the compost bins (a couple hours), so I had to turn on the coop light in order to finish the job.

It's also worth noting that while I am glad that I had a place to go with all the straw and manure, I'm going to have to figure out a better way to incorporate it into the compost pile because right now there is entirely too much "brown" in the compost, and not enough green!

The Most Exciting Part!

After the coop was cleared out, I was able to set up the brooder for the chicks. The brooding kit I have consists of a collapsible coral for the chicks, a stand for the light, a light and bulb, a feeder, and a waterer. The collapsible coral was zip tied together, but there was no bottom for the brooder, so I realized as soon as it was set up that I would need a new brooder pen.

That is something that we have yet to purchase though - it will be in place well before the chicks get here. Until then, we have a small enclosure to put chicks ready and waiting!