Chicken Coop Update - As promised yesterday!

These pictures were taken at about 6 this morning, so they are a little dark and there are some water spots on them. It was raining - AGAIN!

This is the front of the coop and pen (in progress). I am really pleased with how it is turning out. The pen is large enough that we will probably divide it up to allow us to move the chickens from one side to the other and hopefully keep it from becoming a mud pit. We still need to dig the trench around the pen to bury the 12 plus inches of wire that we left on the bottom. This should help prevent any digging predators from getting to my babies.

This is the back. The door on the building leads to the storage area where we keep the feed, straw and other items that we need to care for the chickens. The storage area is divided from the chicken area by a wall of chicken wire with a screen door, so that we can get in to clean, change the feed and water and collect eggs. We may still alter the plan and make the nesting boxes accessible from the outside of the coop, but we have a little while before we have to make that decision. The door into the pen is made from a wooden pallet covered with chicken wire.

All of the windows have hardware cloth over the openings with old window sashes attached on the inside so that we can open and close them as the weather allows. The small rectangles are automatic foundation vents that my handyman said would help with ventilation.

This is the pop door, or chicken door where the chickens can get from the coop into the outside pen via the clever ramp/ladder that my handy man built. I still have to paint the trim and the chickens are going to have to get used to using it. The last 2 nights we've had to pick some of them up and put them through the door. It may take a few days before they get the idea.
I'll get some pictures of the inside in the next few days. If the weather clears up for the weekend we should get the thing finished so we can move on to the next project. It has been a lot of work, but well worth it.

Now to check on the cute little pygmy goats I saw on Craigslist for $10 each!

This last picture is of the gate we have had to put up across our driveway to keep out sight seers. Our driveway runs between 2 other houses and we have a small lake, which can be seen from the street. The house is through the gate, around the corner and up the hill. Every year we have people drive up the driveway to "see what is back here", even though we have had a PRIVATE PROPERTY sign posted next to the driveway. It can be quite unnerving because our house is right smack in the middle of our property and no neighbors can see the house and immediately surrounding area without a lot of effort. Which means that we are not always ready to receive visitors! One day we came home to a group of construction workers who were building homes in the subdivision down the street, having a picnic and fishing (yes-there is a NO FISHING sign too). It's not that we mind sharing our blessings, we invite friends, family and co-workers out all the time. But we do have a dog and animals that wander the property and the dog is pretty good at guarding the place, so we really don't want anyone to get bitten and we really don't want to be caught unprepared. Would you really want someone driving all over your property checking things out?!? (Sorry for the rant)!

Come back and check on the completed coop next week-I'm sure it will be that long until we get it finished!