It had been a full month since my phone message to Mr. Murray, requesting more laying chickens. Deducting the usually responsible man may have lost my number, I called again. “No, I have your number. So how many are your wanting?,” he asked, when reached after work one day.
“Seven please, . . . and we’ve fixed the fox issue. The fence is working and no-one else has disappeared. I think we’re good,” I reply anxiously.
“Well, we’ll see. Now you said you like green eggs? I’ve got a couple of Araucana crosses, and . . .”. He counted off several other varieties and their laying consistencies. After a couple more references to creating a secure coop, we decided on a day for me to pick them up. I was relieved to have passed his test.
Then, back to the barn to make a bigger home! Where once 14 chickens had roosted rather comfortably, I saw too little space for what would shortly be 18. Across the way to a larger stall I strutted, with chicken wire, electric stapler, cross-cut saw, battery-powered screw driver and miscellaneous wood. As usual, I stripped several screws, trying to drill 2-by-3s into oak panels. But eventually Michael stepped in and cleaned up some of my messy work, and in a couple of late afternoon sessions, we’d secured a 
new coop area.
Breathe-able with plenty of chicken wire, it is also framed in such a way as to be receptive to a layer of insulation come this winter. An old screen door was found in our old barn, which latches nicely for a firm shut.
The roosting bars this time around are an improvement from my previous concoctions, which typically sat too close to the wall for comfortable tail-feather space. Sifting through old irrigation pieces, I found some hard plastic tubing. This cut down easily with a hand saw, and with a triangular screwing of 2-by-3s (also salvaged wood from other projects), I was able to create stable roosting bars for the ladies. The nesting box remains the same. Entry/exit sliding door pieces were unscrewed from the old coop and inserted into the new. With only one nice cut across my left palm (idiotic cutting of the barn siding without gloves), This coop (my third adaptation of an exisiting space in a year), went much more smoothly.
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