A Chicken Condo Takes Shape (Gallinas Only)

Just a few months ago, the wall to the left of the house (Pan American Highway on the other side) looked like this. A one-time chicken coop, now fallen to pieces, had sprouted a large squash plant that eventually took over the yard and the lime tree to the left, and produced all of one squash, which fell prey to insects before I got to it.

Here's what's left now:

And Phase One of the new chicken coop is now in place. Next week, if I can afford the good stuff, we'll go and buy the malla, the mesh fencing. Chicken wire is cheap and ungalvanized. The stuff I put around my veggie garden is mainly rust now, and full of holes, and doesn't keep a single dog from running through my zucchinis. 

Maria José's husband Jonathan is building this project, and will also separate out a space for my planned cabra, a nanny goat.  I've heard there are Rhode Island Reds for sale in a town near here called Niquinohomo (Nicky-nomo), and a friend has a connection at a nearby farm with goats. There will be no gallos (roosters) in this convent. They are brutish to the hens and enforce a pecking order that is painful to observe. 

The post to the left below leads back to the next tree for the chicken run and shade. Nesting box is along the wall. Water and feed dispensers will hang from the roof support.

I sort of liked the original falling down coop, but it wouldn't hold a single chicken, would it?