House-Sit #1: Work-Exchange in Aculco, Mexico, Mexico

House-Sit #1: We were blessed our first house-sit experience was on this beautiful ranch outside the friendly town of Aculco! The owners were very welcoming; they invited us to stay in exchange for some work and suggestions for their ranch’s bright future.

We had two weeks to rework their coop, so I first spent time observing the flock. I thought it was important to first see their habits and personalities before making any changes. They’re happy, with no pecking order issues, in good health, despite being somewhat older, and the hen-to-rooster ratio was working well.

So what did the coop need? Less complication: With two coops and two extra rooms, the flock splits up while roosting, causing anxiety, and they lay eggs everywhere except the nesting boxes! Security: The doors don’t close, allowing the sheep to eat their food, and easy predator access. There were lots of pointy wires and sharp edges. Sanitation: Fortunately the climate is super dry, so the droppings on bare ground didn’t smell, but the ground was covered and could breed disease. Let’s get to work.

Before ⌄

How did we fix it? We decided to keep one coop, but removed a wall and a door. We kept one extra room, for use as a future quarantine or baby chick room. We reinforced the entire perimeter, secured the wire walls to cement footing, and fixed any weak areas. We removed everything to be sanitized, removed all the sharp potential hazards, and raised the ceiling so people can stand easily. We leveled the ground in preparation of the “deep leaf bedding” method of poop control. We made their nesting boxes inviting, lowered their food to a comfortable height, and built stronger easy cleaning roosts. We replaced the tarps. We strengthened the door frame, reinforced the person-sized door, and added a new sheep-proof chicken-sized door. Lastly, we demolished and cleaned the other coop.

After ⌄

The flock happily responded to the changes. They free-range on a big beautiful ranch, but they chose to spend more time in their coop, digging through the leaves, napping together, and we got them all using their new nests. It was hard work, but so rewarding! Does this make us chicken consultants?

Our YouTube video with a more in-depth look at our chicken coop remodel ⌄

I love observing chicken behaviors. They have such unique personalities, but these individual behaviors are also combined with the herd mentality of the greater flock. The more time I spend observing chicken behaviors, the more their seemingly odd traits actually start to make sense. Maybe they’re my spirit animal.

Chickens are incredibly stubborn, especially when it comes to where they lay eggs. We only got to observe this particular flock for two weeks, but they were laying eggs in a half dozen spots around the yard. Nesting boxes were only used for napping. Typical silly chicken behavior. So in addition to the coop remodel, I took it upon myself to get these hens to “choose” to lay in their new nesting setup.

We started by making their nest options as inviting as possible. The new location against a stone wall provides shade and a sense of security. We added fluffy bedding, so they feel really snuggly. We noticed the two wooden nests didn’t have enough vertical space for them to stand up while pushing their eggs out, so we removed the top, allowing more head room. We also removed their favorite spots around the yard: under a tarp, in the dog’s house, etc. We made those old nests no longer appealing, by removing the privacy, or strategically placing an uncomfortable wooden log.

Five ladies immediately chose the new nests, but two ladies took some convincing… Working with stubborn hens is sort of like working with toddlers; changing behavior involves constant redirection and positive reinforcement. So the next step involved hours of “redirecting” them back to the new nests. They took many trips to the dog house to very loudly complain about the wooden log. Each time, we just redirect them to the coop.

Eventually they get to a point where they have no choice but to lay their egg very soon, so they start to consider the new nests. They peek in, sit, adjust, get up, leave, try to go to the old nest, go back, stare wide-eyed, sit, get up, sit, get up, sit, adjust, adjust… and eventually lay an egg.