chicken moving in day!

The coop is at a point where we felt the fowel could move in. Austin and I still have some fine tuning and tweaking to do. We plan on wrapping the coop in a plastic we found in a barn, and finishing the outside with metal siding that we also have acquired with the property. This should be a pretty nice seal and provide a bit of insulation too. The nests will need to be built and installed by the end of February or March. We plan on installing hopefully 24 of them. This will bring our coops maximum capacity to approximately 85. According to the books, there should be a nest per four chickens, and about nine inches of roosting space depending on the breed. We currently have about 890 inches. I have some automatic waterers that are on order and will be attached to an interior wall. They are supposed to be much more sanitary, as they require a chicken to peck at a nipple to dispense the water, therefore, alleviating any drips in the litter and any soiled water. We also have to put up a temporary fence as it is the chickens’ first time free range without a chaperone. The coop is currently positioned along the tree line of the western pasture, facing the house. We hope the trees will provide some shade when they need it, and also an ample amount of bugs for food. We are unsure of the predators we may have lurking around, and we pray there are few, but as the rumor goes, foxes like chicken.