Before it got too cold we had to build a new chicken coop. We decided to move them to the garden area, and give Liberace & Charli their place. Poor Charli had gone broody, refusing to lay eggs or come out of her house. Don't blame her, the "house" was a big round tub with a hole cut out for the door. Not warm at all. Liberace would come out in the morning with frost on his feathers! So I told hubby we had to put their "house" inside the larger coop that was where the big chickens were. Which meant building a new coop.
The large coop was more of a shed size anyway, so now Liberace & Charli have their "house" inside on the right and all the chicken & horse feed, and my garden tools are on the left. Perfect use of all that space! It took Charli barely a week before she was laying eggs again, and she runs around in the pen all day. No more brooding! woohoo!
The Banties are still happy in their place. But now we have an empty pen. I'm planning on getting a few more chickens in the Spring that will live in that space. Maybe another breed of Banty since the space is rather small.
So, here are the coops & the chicken pens as they are now:
My favorite place to sit (when it's not too hot or too cold!)
And the chickens:
Doe sitting in her favorite spot
Banties
Liberace (Showgirl: Silkie x Turken)
Charli (Silkie)
In the Spring I'll start another garden but in a different location further down from the chickens, on the other side of the compost pile. That's if we don't sell the place in the mean time! Either way, lots to do once Spring rolls around!