Coming home to roost

Move-in day!

The chickens moved into their coop around the time school started. They're nearly 12 weeks old, and they've grown huge.

We had a tremendous amount of help from neighbors who are more savvy than we are about building things that actually stand up. Calvin helped a little with painting, and Finn happily hammered in some of the 10 million staples.

So many staples to hammer in ...

The birds are very happy with their spacious accommodations. The kids love watching the excitement as I open the door to the run each morning. The birds love pecking at tomatoes, lettuce, and my diamond ring.

Such a roomy coop, but they huddle together in a corner to sleep.

The boys have so far been willing to help with chicken chores, but unfortunately they're still physically difficult for the boys to manage. I'm working on make them easier — I could use the help, though honestly it isn't much work.

We had one minor crisis: Blackberry broke her leg. We're not sure if she slipped off the freshly painted ramp into the run, fell off the unsecured temporary roost, or got stepped on. There's not much to do for a broken chicken leg (insert soup joke here), but to try to keep her off the leg and hope the bone knits well enough to support her increasing weight.

She spent six days in an animal carrier, getting ibuprofen twice a day and lots of love (and fresh worms) from the boys. Finn even read to her to keep her company. She's now back in the coop and getting around well so far on a crooked leg. And we've since installed a better roost and improved the traction on the ramp.

Reading to Blackberry about revolutionary heroes.

I have a few finishing touches to make on the run to ensure it's safe and secure from predators, but it's almost there. And then it will be time to make nesting boxes: We should start getting eggs in another month or two.

Yeah, that ramp isn't white anymore.