Brownie, and her sisters are getting a new pen. Our chicken coops are outside, enclosed in a fairly large run. Last winter, we had a few days of high winds and 20 below zero. It was hard to get the chores done, and hard on the animals as well. So, we decided to make some changes. We are building a pen inside the barn, stall sized. There will be a chicken door from that pen, that opens into their outside enclosure. The advantages to this are it is predator proof, the barn has electric and water, so their water won't freeze (and we won't be stringing extension cords everywhere), I won't have to deal with frozen hoses or hauling buckets of water to them outside, and I can stay dry, and be out of the wind and weather while feeding them and gathering the eggs. It will also be easier to give them more light in the winter months. Their pen area contains several electrical outlets, so I plan on putting a LED light on a timer in their pen.
I started on it today. The ceiling will be covered with hardware cloth. Hardware cloth also will cover the floor, under their liter. The bottom 2 feet are hardware cloth, then there will be plywood on the upper walls. The chickens and the cat have been trying to help. Several times I had a chicken or barn cat jump up on my back or shoulders while I was drilling a board in place.
I will have to make the gate myself, still deciding on the design for that. I hope to have the majority of the pen done within the next week or two.
