The li'l dinosaurs didn't have a proper crew of full-time giants building it for them, so it fell way behind schedule, but 'tis done.



Yeah, still many details. The wire that holds up the bird-netting roof needs to be better tensioned and/or better supported. I need to install the cover for the litter-tray slot. They need some extra little shelters (leaving the table and chair in there for them isn't really part of the plan). And I should add a few more zip-ties, and go around nipping the tails off all the ties. We got them a shade tree, but it needs a few more months in its pot before I plant it where voracious little critters have access to it (or maybe I can stick it in the ground, and put wire around it.)
We finally put them out around midday on Saturday. They're taking time to adjust to life in the big blue room, but they are gradually adjusting, and learning how to get in and out of their coop. So far, Joy has had to put them into the coop, one by each, in the evening, and then one of us has had to extricate them likewise in the morning... though this morning I abandoned two holdouts in the coop, and an hour or so later they'd found their way out.
My attempt to provide them with nice lush green ground cover to destroy was unsuccessful: the first two attempts yielded, basically, bumper crops of nasty weeds (including some poisonous types), and, while the last attempt was more successful, the clover and grasses weren't properly established before the appointed time for putting the critters out. What little is there, they're eating in a hurry. I think I need to acquire some largish, shallow planters (probably the saucers for large pots) and plant greens in those, let them get started in a protected setting, then put them in the containment facility.
As you can see, the coop isn't stylish: it's neither the Chicken Hut of Bubba Yaga (on R. Crumb-style human feet) nor the Super Coop of Henry Cabot Henhouse III.
Next construction project: a pier extending out over the pond. A much bigger project, but not terribly complex. Lotsa pressure-treated 4x4s and 2x6es. And I gotta get us on the well company's calendar, and see about getting some fishies for stocking the pond once it's properly filled up - the state hatcheries used to do that, for a nominal charge, and maybe still do, but I'm not clear on the details.
Oh, yes: Wagnerian reference in title.
Addendum: The run is 16x40 feet, because (as Bill Gates claims he never said) 640 square feet ought to be enough for anyone.
Further afterthought: We should be having some rain later in the week. Another new experience for them! I should probably come up with some provision for a permanently-installed waterer in the coop, and some reasonable approach to making food available during inclement weather. Maybe things poking through the wall opposite the nest boxes? They don't seem concerned about the cows; I guess they figure the cats in the big blue room are much bigger than the ones in the kitchen. They do seem worried about noisy dogs.
Maybe we should set up the game camera to see who sneaks out of the woods during the night.
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