Chicken Coop Update

Someone who reads my blog mentioned that they never saw any pictures of the chicken coop bunny barn combo we built last year. Oops. There's a couple of reason for that. One: I forgot. Two: It took us a year to get around to painting it so it was only really completed this summer. A special thanks for Derek for helping out while he was here on vacation; Kipling said it best, "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din".

The coop is functional and the roof doesn't leak so I'm happy. We put on a high peak roof to help keep the coop cool in the summer. It doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference, if it's 28C outside, it's 28C in the coop but at least it doesn't get any higher than the outside temp. In the fall, Don lays down plywood on the rafters and we store our hay and straw up there. It's convenient and we hope it helps a little to keep warmth in during bitter cold spells. There's at least one window or windowed door on each side of the coop. The windows and doors keep it bright in the winter and hopefully a little warmer. The trees leaf up in the summer and block the sun so it doesn't absolutely bake. We can remove the windows, there's screen to keep the bugs out and hardware wire on top of the screen to keep the raccoons out. Not that I've ever seen a raccoon around, but I don't want to find out they're here by walking into a coop of dead chickens. I had a friend who lost her whole flock to raccoons, she said it was carnage. Bloody bodies everywhere and all the heads were missing. Like to avoid that, if I could. In addition to the windows, there's a few vents for air flow in the winter.

As far as being able to house the rabbits year round, the coop fails miserably. I ended up bringing the rabbits in because I needed the colonies for broody hens and raising chicks. I'm thinking...may-be...next year... of building ~gasp~ another small barn best suited for indoor colonies. Having the rabbits inside isn't a big deal. The basement has 3 north windows, is airy and bright. We run a dehumidifier in the summer so it's not damp. I use woodstove pellets as litter and there's no smell so having the rabbits inside is very workable. And it's convenient, no trucking outside in all kinds of weather. But if they were outside, I could build them a really large outside pen and that would certainly be nice for them. So I'm still thinking, may-be...next year... What's that line from the old movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? "You just keep thinking Butch. That's what you're good at."