Adaptation

So among the other things I have to be thankful for...I am grateful for my chickens and the opportunity they have given me to experiment and learn. I now have a greater appreciation for basic components of Oregon weather (wind and rain) and the implications that the weather has for chickens. I've also grown to appreciate that when you don't REALLY need shelter, you can get away with a crappy shelter. Much like Drew and I could get away with a tent whose zipper didn't really work because camping weather in Colorado tends to be so forgiving, so too did I design a chicken coop whose weaknesses seemed benign enough.

Watching the chickens huddle in the back corners and trying to get out of the rain, however, I learned that shelters here need to be more hardy if the chickens are going to survive. So...I learned how to build. I still have more than my fair share of unsightly construction errors but chicken coop #2 is FAR superior in its strength and utility when compared to coop #1. It's ridiculously cute and will hopefully keep out the wind and rain much better as well. Check out the picture. The new coop (roughly modeled after Snoopy's Dog House) is not connected to the old coop and now affectionately known as a "run."

Looking inside, you can see my real growth in construction skill. Notice the bracing (thanks to Alan Plummer) and the way that the skeleton of the coop is actually on the INSIDE of it. The window is covered in chicken wire to keep the ladies safe but the perch is there to allow them to sleep off the ground and enjoy the view outside. Pretty slick I say!