Day 90 - Super Cooper
With my neighbor’s assistance, a huge amount of dirt was removed and the new coops were dug out. After installing hardware cloth, adding loads of gravel, and putting in tarps to serve as a base layer, it was time to prepare the inside of the coops for the new additions coming soon.
The original coop had a set of nesting boxes we acquired from a moving neighbor and roosting bars made from repurposed wood. Knowing that we would be getting many more birds, we wanted to create a system that made sense for feeding, watering, and eventually, cleaning. We decided to limit the locations of the food and water while making sure each coop had access to nesting boxes and roosting bars. Since we offered to take on the responsibility of their birds, the family who were giving us their flock donated some materials as well. They provided a few extra metal water buckets and metal feed baskets along with a big garbage can adapted to be a feeder. Their nesting boxes and roost bars were not portable so we had to look at other methods to fill those needs.
I was able to find some long wooden shelves being given away online. I figured I could transform them into nesting boxes. After picking them up, I screwed them into the walls, added wooden pieces to create multiple boxes in each shelf and used repurposed wood for a cover to make cleaning easier. Similarly, we were able to disassemble some of the roosting bars from our friend's farm and repurpose them into newly designed roosting bars throughout the new coops.
After adding inches of wood shavings to each coop, making modifications to increase protection from predators, and replacing wood on the lofts above the coops, I had a moment of accomplishment knowing I had done a ton of work myself and learned a ton in the process..
I didn't have too much time to revel in the glory of my work. We were just one step closer to grinding in the new birds. And that step was a pretty big one.
Plus, we couldn't start that next step until another couple of projects were completed.
