Nine week old Welsummers in Temporary Pen/Coop

Hexagon Coop and Rabbit pen.  We made a few modifications to secure the flooring on the coop and found that the door for the coop fits just inside of this long "rabbit run."  Way better than we expected.  We may need to put a little reinforcement round the bottom of the pen to keep it more sturdy and stable, but for now, I think we are okay with how it works.  The plan was to sell off three of the oldest hens, but that's not working out so well.  People want them for free... well, since the hens are currently laying about 18 eggs per week (collectively), I'm not going to just GIVE them away.  So, for now, we will keep them since they are still producing so well.

Anyway, the cage has a metal "stabilizer" bar in the middle, and I know that the pullets will want to roost on it, so I wrapped it with a rope to give them leverage.  I will be finding a pole or something that I can use to hang the feeder on in the corner of the pen to get the food up off the ground and less accessible for the mice. Then we should be fairly "good to go."  heading into the summer months with the pullets.
 

New Shorter DIY Rainproof Chicken Feeder

Now, with the Welsummers in the smaller pen, we needed a shorter feeder. We found a laundry detergent bucket that was just the right height, so with a few minor modifications to the last rain proof chicken feeder design, we have done it again.  Since this was not a food-grade bucket, I made certain to wipe it all out, then soaked it overnight in a bleach water solution, then wiped it down with apple cider vinegar, just as an added cleaning agent to try to ensure that all the soap/detergent was removed.  One bucket, two 9-inch long 1-inch PVC sliced open, six short sheet metal screws (to attached the PVC channel inside, one piece of plastic corrugated signage board, two L brackets, and six screws and nuts to attach the rim. I made a smaller opening on this one and it seems to be way more balanced without having to add any weight just inside the top of the rim.

Welsumers Outside in the Spring

With the really warm spring this year, I was able to pop the peeps outside right on time.  Even though we had a few cool (40F) nights, they did well.  Not fully feathered, I decided to place their chick brooder warmer by Brinsea in the coop. They like to sit on it at this point, so it's doing the job for the next few weeks.

Since our three small coops and the free-range pens are still inhabited, I decided to dust off the emergency coop I purchased last year. We had to do a few modifications to ensure that the flooring would not fall out. The angles were rather flimsy and the coop would easily shift when the winds blew. I think we have it stabilized now.

For a protective run, I have the dog pen set up until the other pen shows up. To keep the girls in and the hawks out, I made a dome with arched 10' long PVC pipes that form a cross tied in the middle. I placed bird netting over it, then fastened it to the pen. When it started raining last week, put a tarp over the dome. Also, I hammered stakes on four sides to secure the pen from being knocked over by a critter of any type and it should prevent any critters from crawling under the pen. 

Anyways, the young pullets are now about seven weeks of age and their hackle coloring is showing up in their feathering. Soon, their waddles will begin to appear and their combs will turn red. Then they will be well on their way to joining the rest of our laying flock. :)

Date	Weeks	Event
03/24/15	0	Chicks Hatched
03/29/15	1	Wings getting coloring
04/11/15	3	Combs started to pop up and black streaks on face are fading
04/17/15	4	Long necks and new Feathers
04/27/15	5	Gold starting to show in hackle/neck feathers
05/04/15	6	Mostly feathered = Outside in Coop

   

   

   

   

   

Here is a great representation of a Welsummer hen on jackiekoerner.com in order to compare the coloring with age.