We had been thinking of raising chickens, NEXT year. However, the more
we got to thinking about it, the more impulsive we got. Next thing we
know, we are ordering chickens online and Matt thinks this is okay to
order chickens without a coop yet built, it'll be more motivation to
finish it. So the chickens are ordered, Matt goes to Home Depot, grabs
the foundation stuff, investing our first bit of serious money, and BAM!
I come down with Pneumonia! I remember him in these first pictures,
cause I just had a little cold at the time, I even went out to visit a
few times.
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| Matt used as many recycled materials as possible, but as we try not to have a junk yard, there weren't too many extra chicken coop matierals lying about. He had to pull the roof off one of his work building to get some of these foundation materials. |
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| It was perfectly square! His sheeting fit perfectly! |
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| Chicks arriving in their box. I had to pick them up after a Dr. appt. I am officially free of the "huge" pneumonia in my lung, however it is going to take a really long time to recover still. |
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| This is pretty much what it still looks like all the time outside, Addie just staring at chickens. |
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| My sweet boy loved just watching the chicks |
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| Caleb making his own chick coop, the chicks totally dug it and preferred to stay within his four walls, until Josiah knocked them over |
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| And the walls go up! |
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| Mimi and Poppi visits were always fun for us. Mimi would play with the boys and Poppi would help Matt, and I could feel less guilty about all I couldn't do to help anyone. |
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| lookin kind of mangy and too big for their box |
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| This one was Caleb's, she'd literally fall asleep when he pet her, still kind of does. She'd hop herself up and just sit there. |
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| Temporary, larger lodgings in the garage |
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| Homemade feeder |
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| a tough way to figure this out. This is their roost, in it's cleaning position. It normally sits down on the ground, with shavings underneath, ready to catch the poop. |
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| SOOOO ready for a new home! |
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| Move in day!! |
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| Where it sits - out in the orchard. The chickens have full run of the orchard and love running back and forth in it, eating everything they can. |
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Pully windows
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| Isn't it lovely!!? - Chicken door on the right side, storage for food on the left side and man door to the coop on the right |
The coop has long since been completed, thoroughly painted inside and
out. It is truly a lovely work of craftsmanship and I am so proud of
Matt, for doing something that he was so unfamiliar with. We worked
together and did a great job I think. We love having chickens, it just
makes the property feel more like a ranch. We haven't even gotten our
first egg! Oh, and there are two roosters in the bunch, but so far, no
crowing here. It's funny, the most obvious rooster is the first to bed
down at night and the last to make his way out of the coop in the
morning. I am fully over my pneumonia as well, which is a relief!
