Evicting the chickens

The weather has become sultry and it is time to get the stinky beasts out of our basement. I had intended to design the chicken coop myself but, unlike duck houses, chickens (it seems) have very specific and complicated needs and the floor plans I looked at were not well written. So I got a El-Cheep-O kit so that I could get them in it as soon as possible, which will then free me up to begin work on my own design,the El-Super-O coop, throughout the summer. I ordered it online (as I do everything now) and the guy who delivered it was very sulky. I asked him to put the box in our garage as where he had left it, in the middle of our driveway right by our door, would be in the way of everything. "It's really heavy!" he whined. I offered to help and he contributed a lot less than half the work. He reminded me of my students. So today I decided it was time to get serious. Here is the start of the coop:

Here is their little ramp which, I believe, they are supposed to use to climb up to beddy-bye when it gets dark out.

This is called a "poop pan" because chickens poop. A lot.  It looks like a giant pizza pan and slides out the side wall for "easy cleaning."

Now I am working on the "chicken run." Given how fat they all are already, they aren't going to do much running. (Though one, we call her Zippy, is a real bouncer. She's small and springs straight into the air at the slightest provocation.)

Here it is, a few hours later, finished. What would I do differently? Well, for starters, I would make it about twice as tall since right now it comes up to my waist and so everything has to be done bending over or crawling around on one's knees. I would also eliminate most the doors (each side has at least one, most have two or three little doors for getting at various things). It only needs one big door to get inside it and another little access door, like an attic entrance, for easy access to the nesting boxes.  That would make it simply and more stable. I also read online that serious chickeners dig a 6" deep pit under their coop and lay out chicken wire (also known as "poultry netting") on the ground and cover it up with sand (for bird baths), and then also attach it to the sides of the frame. This is to both keep the coop on the ground during windy/tornado weather, but also to deter rats and weasels from digging in and eating the chickens. I have never seen a rat in our yard but I suppose that's the way it always is with rats.

Right now we are all in the office at work (each of us has our own office) and the chickens are home alone guarded only by Pretzel, our guard duck, inside their new coop. If they are all alive when we get home, then we are off to a good start.   Pretzel is, actually, a very good guard duck.  He has told tom cats, dogs, squirrels, wild ducks, geese and a hawk where to step off.  Though he may complain about his harem suddenly increasing 500%, I think he is secretly very pleased to have the additional responsibilities.

So far we have three named:  The black and white speckled is called "Chimples" (that's a Frederick word); the dark brown one that screams if you look at her (the uncrested brown one in the back of the group) is called "Puddle Nuts" (another Frederick word).  The tan one in front is Zippy.  The other two do not have names yet, though one had a seriously poopy backside and so earned the name Poopback McVittles today.  I am hoping she cleans herself off a bit so the name doesn't stick.