Chicken Coop!

July 4th, 2009

Free Range Chickens Here We Come!

It all started with a quirky idea to get some cute bantam chickens - when we move to the farm next month. A weekend Trip to the library sent me home with an arm full of books about chickens and Chicken Coops (For Free! Gotta Love the library).

Chris Has Spent a Few Days studying the different building plans and created his own set-up. It has the look of a mini barn, complete with 6 nest boxes and hindged doors that open to allow easy access to the eggs and cleaning.

He had 2 days off from work after his work trip to Scotland and has spent it at home depot and tooling around in the garage working on the coop. Everytime I go out there I am impressed at how much work he has done in a few short hours.

The coop is raised up to give some protection from the sun, so the hens can hang out under it in the shade. We are alittle concerned to see how much the goats will try to use the coop as a scratching post.

Its Saturday morning and I got the paint last night(finally a part of the job I can actually help with) Its a bright yellow called Sumer Harvest Yellow

Very Cute!!

Pictures to come. Chris wants to get bigger chickens than the minature bantams I have been drawn to, he thinks the eggs will just be too small, so I might have to stick to the larger version of "the Cochin" which is a popular in Europe, but I have found a hatchery in the US that can ship us day old chicks. I suppose I am drawn to this breed because It is very friendly and they have "boots!" (feathers on their feet) I have a feeling they will be our farm mascot, Id like to get some chickens with a pleasant personality.

Chris & Gina