With a chick chick here, and a chick chick there...

Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a .... well you get the point

Looking at the Ameraucanas in the sun, I noticed how the black feathers had a green iridescent quality.  They are absolutely beautiful.  Other colors flecked throughout, purple in some light, these birds are nice to look at.


The hen house has been getting some modifications!  We did a lot fine tuning once the girls got here.  It did not help that the overnight lows were just a hair above freezing! 

I felt bad not having a heat source, so I took some old terra cotta pots and put them in the oven.  I made a little area in the corner of the coop with some cinder blocks and put the hot pots on top of the blocks to add some warmth. When the pots cooled, it went back into the oven (I did this in the middle of the night, mind you!)  This little system was not going to work past one night, we needed a lamp.

We added more bedding, some garage door weather stripping, and went out and bought a heat lamp (with some chicken treats and scratch!)  Those poor little dears were piled on top of each other trying to keep warm!

Next Noah made a little outdoor table/roost out of a pallet and some scrap wood we had laying around.  The chickens absolutely love it.  They are always under it, scratching around for bugs, or hopping up on the flat top and flapping up to the roost.

Noah installed a solar panel on the roof.  He then installed the battery, charge controller, and switch right inside the door in the coop up high enough that the birds can not get to.  Then he made this light fixture to run off of the panel.  The system will be able to provide enough power to run the light, and with left over voltage so that when the heat of the summer is in full swing he can add a an in-ceiling fan to keep the girls nice and comfy.  My biggest concern is the heat, which will be here before we know it.  The summers here can be stifling.  Dry and hot.  However, that is a bridge that we will cross in a few months.  For now we will enjoy the cold weather while it lasts, us with our warm blankets and heaters, them with their  heat lamps.

We made use of the kids old play oven and put it in the run for the little chicks to enjoy.  They like to climb in and sit in the narrow space on the bottom shelf, or hop up on top and get a great view of the yard.

Every morning they cant wait until the door is open to get out into the run!