Quail Coop Construction - Part Two

With a little help from our feline friend Princess Buttercup I continued on with the quail coop project...

I framed a divider in the center of the coop so we can have two separate pens, for this I used some scrap OSB board from a previous project. We hope to put two stages of birds outside and have one brooder box which is kept elsewhere, probably in the house for chicks.

The Coop (or Pen) is 24" tall at the lowest point which is more than enough head space for quail so to try and gain some floor space I decided to add a shelf or 'second floor' half way up and about 12" deep and across the length of the back. I used some heavy 7-ply I found on a job and 2x2s for support legs.
Bear with me as I jump around during this build, I guess that's how my brain works... Next I added the 1/2" mesh to the doors I built. After hanging one door with two hinges I realized I needed to add stops in the frame so the door doesn't swing in too far.

I attached the door to make sure it fit, then made a latch out of a scrap piece of wood.

Next I removed the doors so I can paint them easily and continued with adding 1/2" hardware cloth on the sections of the coop that are going to be open.
I decided to keep the sides closed in with some plywood to protect the quail from too much of a draft in the cool months. For this I used more of the 7-ply and a couple sanded 1x2s for the edge.
Here is another view from the side, I added another 1x2 trim piece to the front where the OSB divider is. Next I need to add some paint, roof panels, a watering system, dust bath and Quail!!

Part 3 Coming Soon!!
Back to Part One

Tomato Hornworms in the Vegetable Garden

Today I noticed the tomato plants were being eaten by something, after looking a little closer I found 2 large tomato hornworms.  They are actually really cool looking - if it wasn't for them devouring our tomato plants I would not want to get rid of them.  If I were to let them live and eat our plants they will eventually turn into a Gray Hawk Moth, an equally creepy looking - giant moth.
Looking really close it looks like they have tiny eyes along their side, I'm not sure but I think these may be the spiracles?
Creepy and awesome!

Since we can not let these hornworms live, we decided to feed them to our spoiled hens - Here is the video (caterpillar lovers beware!!):

Chicks learning how to be chickens

The mama hens are starting to teach the babies how to chicken!  They have been making quite a mess and ruckus in the process - but it is so cute!

We got 12 fertilized eggs and this is the end result - 6 chicks!  We had a hard time trying to figure out if they are hens or cockerels when they were a day old, but I think some are girls.  We will know for sure in about 5 more weeks!

We plan to buy 6 more baby chicks and tossing them (Not literally!) into the mix in hopes that the mamas take them in as well.

Thanks for watching!

Quail Coop Construction - Part One

After we made the decision to raise quail for eggs and meat I began building the coop.  Luckily I work in construction so I am able to pick up scrap lumber that would otherwise be trashed or recycled, this is my most recent score that got me started:
I started with a basic rectangular frame using 4x4s for the legs which I placed on top of pieces of concrete and a 4x3 for the base front to support the mid-section weight.  I attached the structure to the existing chicken run.
I made a pitch in the roof.
I was making it up as I went and decided to put two doors on the front and possibly a divider in the center to make 2 separate pens..?
More roof support beams and 1/2" hardware cloth along the bottom:
The only lumber I actually purchased was two eight foot 2x2s so I could make the doors:
Next I framed out the doors.  We also made the final decision to separate the coop into two pens so we can have two stages of birds in the one structure.  So I added some support 2x4s in the center to hold the separating board:	PART TWO >>

Ameraucana Chick update! With Pictures

So far all 6 chicks are doing well, we are hoping to introduce 6 more to the broody hens to see if they will take them in, but for now here are the 6!

Broody mama is not happy when we look at her babies (...pssst, they are not really hers!)

Looks just like her "Mama"

I love these dark and light ones, I fear they are boys...

Love this yellow Easter Egger 

We had some rectangular "horse fence" mesh between the coop and the run and decided to add some chicken wire to keep the chicks in, this is how it worked out:

Don't worry!! she was fine - as I reached to help she easily backed out. I suppose it's chicken and not chick wire, luckily this is the fence between the run and the coop and not outside - hardware cloth is the next project.