Meet our new girls: Nuggets, Fingers, and… Mabel

So MashupDad recently got it into his head to build a chicken coop in the back corner of our old detached garage. Yesterday he brought home our three new additions, which the boys have named Nuggets, Fingers, and… Mabel. Mabel is the big one and the boss — and Mabel had darn well better not turn out to be a boy! Apparently this young they have a 90% accuracy rate, so cross your fingers that Mabel is not a Mark. 😉

The original plan here was to get pullets, but the boys are enamored with the chicks we ended up with. (Again, keep your fingers crossed about Mabel there.) She’s an Ameraucana, while Nuggets and Fingers are Golden Sex-Links.

MashupDad picked the chicks up at The Feed Store in Summit. They are little enough that they won’t start laying for months, so no eggs for us any time soon! I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

So here’s the coop that MashupDad built — I’m pretty darn impressed! I’m trying to get him to write a bit more about how he did it, so please encourage him with me. He also cut a door through to the outside with a plywood cover that goes up and down on a pulley system (hopefully well covered, since we do have coyotes, foxes, and hawks around here), and will be adding a run for when the chicks get older.

So we’ll see how it goes! Any of you guys keep chickens? What tips do you have for us?