Chickenhouse: The Duck Wing

Today we finally finished the Duck Wing of the chicken house. We're planning to use it very soon (as in later this week) to house baby chicks, and once they are big enough to move in with Chicken* we'll get ducklings.

 There was lots and lots of hammering to be done.

 

Conan got his own hammer and Grandpa Dave gave him lots of opportunities to hammer nails, including some that possibly didn't even need to be hammered.  As if there's any such thing.

 

Papa helped with some of the fine points, like aiming the hammer at the nail. It's tough to hit those little things, but Conan is very determined.

 

It's loud inside the duck wing when there's hammering going on!

I'm particularly proud of the rope system we set up for opening the outside access door without having to go into the pen.  We'll have to build a gangplank or a step for them to get down into their yard, but that can wait until later. 

 

Here's the "finished" exterior.  Someday we'll get some siding on this thing, and it will look amazing.  For now though, functional, recycled and sturdy will do.  

 

We're all excited to have the duck wing finished, and looking forward to baby chicks.  Some of us might be more excited than others.  :)

 

Update: Monday we got a chick feeder, waterer, and starter feed, as well as sawdust for bedding.  We got the duckwing all set up and ready, including a heat lamp.  The last step is to monitor the temperature at chick level and adjust the light as needed to ensure we can maintain the correct temperature (95-100F) day and night.  Once I'm satisfied with our temperature control, we'll be off to get some peepers!

*Yes, our chicken's name is Chicken.  Like you could think of a better name. Sheesh.