Saturday, December 27, 2014

Welcome to The Poop Coop!

Welcome to the Poop Coop!

My name is Beth, and I keep backyard chickens in Arkansas. In May 2014, I received a small coop/run from a family member and bought my first chicks. They were about 3 weeks old. A Rhode Island Red, an Australorp, and one Easter Egger. My hopes were that I could raise them and have 1 rooster and 2 hens. However, I ended up with 3 hens! I named the RIR, Barbara, the Australorp, Nancy, and the EE, Laura.




Eventually the 3 little ones grew and I ended up buying a couple more chickens, Bella and Manny. Bella was a Blue Andalusian hen. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us due to a dog attack. Manny is a black cochin rooster and he is still the almighty protector of the large fowl flock. 


Eventually came the guineas...
I started with 2 keets. Both pearl, and then I bought two more, one buff and one pearl. During a coop change every keet ended up getting loose and running straight into the woods beside the house. Out of the 4, 2 survived(1 buff/1 pearl) and are now known as Gracie(pearl...ended up being male), and Georgia(buff..female). 

They are now full grown and many more chickens have been added to the flock as well as several coop changes. Once the large fowls grew larger they were moved into a new coop/run(our great dane's old pen). We changed his 'house', which is built into our hay shed, into a chicken coop and we're still working on adding a cover over the run. Since taking care of our dog problem the chickens(and guineas) now free range most of the day. 

Here's the rest of the flock! 

The large fowl coop consists of Barbara, Laura, Manny, Gracie, Georgia, Hilda, Winston, Franklin, Righty, and Lefty. As well as Ethel(long story). 
 Here is Barbara.
 Laura... :)

This was the sweet Nancy(pictured with her best friend, Barbara) even though she is no longer with us..



 Manny...
 Gracie(actually a male :P)

 Georgia knows how to strut herself



Hilda and Winston...they are actually both hens, but somehow one got a male name XD



Here is Righty and Lefty...they have a very interesting story. They are barred rock sisters and the man I bought them from had kept them in close confinement causing them to peck at each other and eventually pecking one of each other's eyes out. Right is missing her right eye and Lefty is missing her left. The man was about to butcher them due to their eye loss so I bought them and they have been quite happy since! They still function well, however, I shiver at the thought of one ever being without the other! They have a very close relationship and are usually found foraging close to the woods or in the horse pasture with Barbara.

Annnd last but not least...Ethel!
Ethel is a leghorn pullet and a complete pain in the butt. She has been at the Poop Coop for about 3 weeks now and she has spent about 3 nights inside of the coop. I have spent many hours trying to find her at night to get her put up, but she absolutely refuses to roost in the coop with the rest of the flock. I worry about predators at night, but I've tried just about everything to get her to roost with the others. I guess she likes to live life on the edge.

(Franklin isn't pictured because I just realized I dont have any good pictures of him. He unfortunately won't be with us much longer though(being sold, not killed/eaten!). His mate has recently passed and I would like to send him to a place with more ladies for him.)

You probably think thats all of the chickens, right? WRONG! We can't forget about the bantam coop! Keep an eye out for an introduction of the Cuddly Bunch coming soon :)

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