Right, where's the Phillips screwdriver...?

Yes, the coop had arrived.


The postman very kindly heaved it into the hall.  I figured it could stay there 'til Paul got home.


There were two boxes...they were very large boxes - boxes that looked like the contents would take longer than half an hour to assemble.  


The boxes continued to sit in the hall for a further forty-eight hours.  They arrived on Thursday, Saturday was deemed the most suitable day for coop construction (a whole day to look for lost tools, mend split wood, or go to A&E).


Saturday arrived.  The boxes were carried to the garden and construction started.  Betty wandered over to see what was going on whilst Reggie and Brick viewed the goings on from behind the slide.

Construction under supervision

Paul wielded the screwdriver, Maddy and I held the bits together and Betty got in the way.  Between the four of us it was assembled in just under an hour.  This included chasing bubble wrap round the garden.


The coop went together very well.  It seems Cocoon are on a par with IKEA when it came to ease of assembly. We stood back and admired our work, then we stood back and looked down the garden where the coop needed to go.  We probably should have assembled it there...


Once the coop was in situ we were joined by all the chickens, who were keen to inspect their new living quarters.  

They paid absolutely no attention to the upstairs that I lovingly filled with sand after endlessly researching coop flooring.  However, they liked the downstairs and spent the rest of the day going in and out.  I did see Betty looking up the ramp and later found a little trail of footprints in the sand upstairs. Hopefully she, as the brains of the outfit, would show them where they needed to go.


That wouldn't be just yet though.  Betty was currently a house chicken and as such, had no interest in slumming it at the bottom of the garden, no matter how sparkly and new that coop might be.


As evening drew to a close, Betty wandered up to the house and I scooped up Reggie and Brick and popped them in the upstairs bit of the coop.  They were not happy.  They were not happy for a couple of hours and when eventually all was quiet; I had the feeling their mood had probably not improved.  Ah well, they'd love it soon...wouldn't they...?




And we never did find the Phillips screwdriver.