A few weeks ago, when the weather was very cold, and my sister called to tell me how think the skins on her tomatoes were this year, we made the decision not not build the outside coop for the winter, but instead make a larger pen for them in the garage, where we can at least have a chance of keeping them warm and alive if the weather gets really really bad.
My dad, who is excellent and finding just what you need, found these large pallets - about four feet by nine feet- topped with chipboard. Since the place was near the office for my work (I'm a school photographer) I stopped and helped him break them down and load them in his truck. We ended up with eight of these pallets, and assorted other boards.
My husband is the real genius in all this. He was able to take seven of the eight pallets and use them as the base of the new coop/pen. Three on the bottom, four for the sides. Some of the other wood was a few angled pieces - the pallets were from a door and window company - and these have become the bones of the roof. The chickens are still in their older, smaller pen for another day, but two of them did decide that they were the supervisors. One stood on the top of one of the walls while they were being nailed into place, wandering around the edges but never fully leaving the garage. The second wandered around the inside, clearly on inspection duty.
We called a halt for the day as it started to get too cold for my hands, and then spent the next half hour chasing a couple of the hens around the yard in an attempt to get them back inside for the night. NOT my idea of fun.
Today's egg yield was four; however, my genius self put them in a too small bowl and set them on top of some stuff in the garage instead of taking them in. They were eventually knocked over, sacrificing two to the floor gods. So full yield today? Two.
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