Monday, May 26, 2008

Kiwi coop!

Here it is, the new combination hardy kiwi arbor and chicken coop, both inside and out.  Yes, that is an antique stained glass window.  Although it is there for my benefit (it makes to coop more of an asset to the landscape than it might otherwise be, and is beautiful to look at when cleaning out the coop liter), it also allows in light that the chickens need to be healthy and to lay well.  The overall run is 9 feet long by three feet wide, and the elevated coop covers an area 5 feet by 3 feet.  There are two nesting boxes (although they usually all lay in the same box) and a nice little egg door that allows us to collect eggs from the outside.  The entire coop has a metal roof and is fenced with 1/2 inch hardware cloth from 12 inches underground up to the 6 foot roof area.  One end of the run has a full sized door so we can walk in to rake out old straw or to add fresh water.  

The tiny kiwi plants you see at the base of the arbor posts just went into the ground this weekend.  I have great hopes for them, but did just find out that, apparently, kiwi leaves are delicious treats for hens.  The poor male kiwi was stripped of all it's leaves within a few seconds of letting the hens out of the pen today.  The squash continue to grow, the sugar snap peas are shutting down, and the tomatoes are in flower.