Guess what we did yesterday?

    Guess what we did yesterday?  It was hot, and muggy, and took ALL day, but Brandis, Bryce and I managed to build the chick palace!  The mini peeps are a month old now, and getting a bit squeezed in their half of the brooder box.  As it is, they are spending much of the day in the run anyway, and were zipping around while we were working.  It is hilarious to see them race/fly down the run and then stop, as if to say, 'how did I get here?'
     It was getting more and more imperative to create a larger place for them.  And the bitty peeps are a week old, but on the nice days, they too are outside.

Bitty peeps out for a day of scratch and peck and peep

     The base was already built:  a masterpiece of leveling, squaring and getting the twist out of it so that the rest of the structure would also cooperate.  We had to leave it with concrete blocks on it for a few days at first.

The hole in the foreground is the future escape hatch

     Brandis was the lynch pin in this escapade, as I have conceptual understanding of what we are doing, but no technical knowledge.  We really saw this in action when putting up the rafters.  It was late afternoon by that time, and we were getting to the end of our brain reserves, but she managed to figure out the cuts to make them sit on the wall plates, very cool.

Brandis with her feat of engineering, you can't tell, but the part in the vine has specialized cuts too

     I am proud to say that MOST of what we used for building supplies was saved, scavenged (to Bryce's mortification, her mother has developed a fondness for the building site equivalent of dumpster diving) and donated:  We have old tongue-in-groove from Morgan and Jason, and a bunch of boards from our alley neighbors Michael and Katherine.  There is hay coming from Bess and Winston.  I had to make a Home Depot trip for a few more 2x (almost)4's and the plywood sheeting for the roof.  The cement pier blocks.  That was it!  As promised, the donators will be receiving eggs when the girls start producing, but that will be a while yet.

That's Morgan's tongue in groove in the foreground

We are HOME!

     So at the end of the day, we had not quite reached our goal of a functional, but not done, Taj Ma Coop.  It was 7:30, and we were beat.  While cleaning up we put the mini-peeps in for a little look around.  Brandis had her small ladder in there for a temporary roost.  It was so cute!  They were tired too, and immediately started roosting, looking totally at home.  We couldn't deny them their home.  We tacked up a few more boards to make the place racoon proof, put in the light and my outdoor thermometer to watch the temp, and they stayed.  So did the bitty peeps, in their brooder box!
    The coop is not finished, the nesting boxes are still to come, as well as siding and more secure ventilation, but it is livable until we can get to the rest.  

Hazel, Dottie and Peanut obsessing about the bitty peeps in their box

Bitty peeps obsessing about the corner with nothing in it