Coop-Tastic!

We are done with our CoopZilla! This past weekend brought painting on Friday, hardware and wire installation on Saturday. I'm happy to say that ALL chickens are now living in coops. The babies are out of the box in the garage and have moved into the mini red coop. Our layers are thriving and happily enjoying their huge new condo!

Friday morning - paint is going on!
Isabel was a VERY good helper!
She ended up painting a good portion of the nesting box!


She really got into her work!
Friday evening: JL painting the inside of the coop. James is home from school and has also been enlisted in painting!
Saturday Morning: Red =DONE
This was definitely a family project. Here's James and Izzy painting the white trim pieces
If you want to make a kid happy - give them some paint and a brush!
Even Wyatt got into the act. Helping me by supervising my efforts
Me painting the white trim on the doors
It is looking like a coop!
Wire installed
Hardware installed
Nesting box
The masterpiece!
Inside lower level after we laid out the hay
Side cleaning doors - open for hay placement
Welcome to your new crib everyone!
They LOVE that it is double decker

Whoooo?

Add another Owl to our summer visitor list. Almost every night since last Thursday, this big guy can be heard from our bedroom:

Great Horned Owl

I am delighted! We haven't heard these guys in years! I'm so glad we've got them here on the ranch! The one we continually hear, must have a nest near the fig tree. We walked outside and saw him a few nights ago, but he wasn't too excited that we were there. Since then, we've just enjoyed his hoot from the house.

Weekend Coop Progress

We spent another full Saturday working on our new coop. This time, the weather was not near as kind. We reached record highs around 107 and the sun never saw a cloud. Not the whole day. It was brutal hot! But, despite that, we made some good progress on the coop.

Start of the day: inside ramp built and installed.
Front installed
Measuring for the trim on the front doors.
Isabel and Wyatt looking after the wood scraps for us.
James helping us measure trim.
Making a few cuts
The nesting box! We pretty much spent most of the day on this one area. Between designing it, measuring it, cutting it, and then installing it. Whew.
Big part of the project - DONE!

Next up: Attaching the front wall doors. Attaching the nesting box roof. Designing and building the main door. And of course - painting! We figure we're about 2 weeks off.

This project is fun, but terribly time consuming!

Comparison

We got another green egg yesterday!! JL ate our other one on Sunday - he said it was the best egg he'd ever had. ;-) Not sure if he just cooked it well, or his mind is playing games with him, but he swears the green egg was the best.

We also received the BIGGEST brown egg to date! It was like a monster egg! And the funny thing is - I think our littlest chicken laid it!

Much bigger than our previous biggest brown egg. And LOADS bigger than the lowly white egg.
I wonder if that counts for 1.5 eggs in a recipe?

Another thing I noticed and thought was interesting. I made scrambled eggs yesterday with 3 grocery store eggs (the last of our remaining carton) and 3 of our eggs.

Can you tell the difference? The grocery egg yolks are a pale yellow in color. Our eggs have an almost orange yolk. I think it goes toward the flavor and why ours seem to taste so much richer.

Gotta say, the chickens remain at the top of my favorite animal list. :)

No Relief - Still

I was shocked the other day as I was looking back at some earlier posts of the ranch. The trees all looked so much greaner - and flowers were in bloom. Even though I reported a long time ago that we were in a severe drought. What does a sever drought do to a ranch? Well, it fries the grass, stresses the trees and shrivels up the flowers.

Well, fast forward a month and a few days to where we are now.



The forecast still looks the EXACT same (if not worse!). No rain. 100 degree + days. No relief even mentioned in the 10 day. What do you end up with? An exceptional drought rating.

And what does an exceptional drought do to a ranch? Well, it tortures, scorches, and kills it. The trees that were stressed and trying to suffer through are now starting to die. Grass that was brown and crunchy and trying to hang on is now turning to dust and disappearing all together.

Let's look at a few of those pictures I mentioned earlier.

This picture was taken on the 4th of July. Look at those trees way in the back on the bluff? (Behind the young tree in the garden area.) See how green they are?
Look at them now. The word that comes to mind is skeletal. They have lost their color and most all of their leaves.
Here is a closer look. Had I know at the time, I would have taken specific pictures of just the trees. But you can get an idea.
Those same trees. I took this picture 10 minutes ago.

Besides the trees on the bluff, we have also seen leaves scorch, turn brown and fall off trees all around the property. Here are a few that we're now trying to recover:

All of these trees that are dying are Cedar Elms. The Live Oaks seem to be hanging on for the time being.
We really won't know the full damage until next Spring.

But perhaps the most telling pictures are the ones below:

This picture was taken before we bought the house. It was the realtor picture used on all the flyers. I would guesstimate it was taken last Spring. When we bought the house, it was no where near this green. The drought had been going on for sometime and the grass was no longer green when we moved in. But at least you could tell there WAS grass.
This is the ranch today. Just makes my heart sad. :(

Our plan of action over the past month has been to drag sprinkler hose to any and all trees that we can reach. Focusing specifically on that bluff (although, it hasn't seemed to help much) and the nice big trees that surround the house. We are lucky that the landscaping is on drip lines. Otherwise, the house would be surrounded with dead plants and flowers.

We also continue to pray for rain. We were blessed to receive a 10 minute sprinkle on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't much, but at this point, every little drop of moisture is precious and probably helpful.

Major Progress

Yesterday we made some huge progress on our second chicken coop. The day was cloudy and cool (only 97) for a change, so we were able to spend all day working on it.

One of the things I discovered while doing this project - it is very freeing to not have any blueprints to follow! As time went on, our plan and vision for the coop progressed and changed.

For one thing, we decided that it was large enough to accommodate 2 levels! This meant, we needed to figure out a ramp system to get chickens from the lower lever to the top. We decided on an inside ramp, and I must say - I love the idea! With two levels, we can build two nesting boxes and harvest more eggs! ;-)

For another thing, we can make it to suit our needs. We've learned a lot from having the mini red coop. There's a lot of things we like about it (the overall design for example) but a few things we don't like (the size of the door being the major thing. The lack of vents and air circulation being another.)

The start of the day. Isabel had to show love to the chicks very first thing while JL and I assessed our starting point.
James had a lot of great input too! He was all for the decision to make it a double-decker coop!
Isabel demonstrating the door mid-level. Next in the plans - building the ramp.
JL measuring for the side walls
I got to test out the new jigsaw by cutting out the front cleaning door holes. I'm a huge fan - I see a ton of craft projects via the jigsaw in my near future!
Ready for the roof!!
The boys checking to make sure we're a "go" for the roof.
JL installing the roof. We laid it on a slant so the water will run off (assuming it ever rains out here again). We also built vents into the roof to help with the heat that builds up inside the coop.
They pretty much think it's a treehouse!
Kids testing out the front cleaning doors
By the end of the day we had both floors installed, 3 walls installed, both front door holes cut, the interior ramp door cut, and the roof installed. It was a good day.
Three very dirty, but super cute kids! They were so much help! JL and I were grateful and amazed that they kept to themselves and played almost ALL day while we worked! Apparently, there's a lot of nifty games kids can make up and play on loads and loads of land ;-)
My bathtub after 3 hardworking kids cleaned up!

Next in the plan: installing the tin on the roof. Measuring, cutting, installing the front wall. (This will include cutting 3 windows and a door.) Also, constructing 2 ramps. We also need to build the custom front door to the pen area. Lastly - the nesting boxes and chicken wire will need to be installed. After that - we will have a painting party! ;-)

It sounds like a lot - but it's a fun project and we all enjoy working on it!