Building a winter coop

22/31 daily posts as part of WeblogPoMo2024. Expect (and forgive) more words and less editing.

Canberra winters1 are beautiful. This is a typical week-ahead forecast.

Screenshot of my weather widget. Every day is the same: low is 0C, high is 16C, and it's sunny with perhaps a touch of cloud. Glorious.

But those mornings are cold, and Wendy is in a moult. They spend most mornings in 'bush 1', which is a fine bush but not a particularly warm spot.

So on our day off, we built them a winter coop. We started with a frame that we're no longer using.

A photo of our garden. The coop frame is in the foreground. Belinda the chicken is in the background. It's a sunny morning.

If you're lucky, the ladies will come and 'help'.

A photo of the ladies 'helping', i.e. just eating dirt like usual.

Our local Bunnings ā€“ at Canberra airport ā€“ is spectacular. It's the best hardware store I've ever been in.

British people think that B&Q is a hardware store. I'm sorry, dear motherland, but no. You need to see a proper Bunnings.

A photo of our local Bunnings. It's a giant warehouse full of hardware stuff.

I wrapped the frame in 0.5mm clear PVC ($14.59/metre) to make it like a greenhouse.

A photo of the coop in its new spot.

Wendy, predictably, is the first to have a look. She seems to like it, but tomorrow morning will be the test.

Mealworms will be deployed.

A photo of Wendy in the new coop, which is now also decorated with a few plants.

This is Wendy, right. Notice how her feathers, usually so splendid, look all ragged. Belinda, to the left, looks much more healthy. And that's Marie, above.

A photo of Wendy and Belinda from pretty low. Wendy's feathers are all ragged from her moult.

A lovely day off on a perfect Canberra day.

Footnotes

  1. It's not actually winter yet, I know. But with any luck this will be the weather until September. ā†©