Chickens!!!!
That's right I said chickens.
Four days after moving in we set up a brooder and picked up 6 Rhode Island Red hens.
The cubs love them. Since the chickens are for eggs and not meat we decided to name them.
Meet the ladies...
Penny, Peep, Camilla (after Gonzo's chicken on the Muppets), Reba, Caliente, and Cena
We kept them in the basement in their cardboard chicken condo until Memorial Day weekend. Then the coop construction began.
Here is the hen house. My Uncle salvaged scrap wood from a deck and other jobs for our coop. Then he pre-built the hen house walls at home and brought it up in a half dozen pieces.
Framing up the scratching pen. We wanted to have free range birds but there are a few hawks around and we don't want to risk it.
Now that the roof is framed we are ready to swap out the temporary supports for timber beams.
If you look hard you can see Little Sister Bear napping on a piece of plywood that she was drawing on. Out cold surrounded by saws and an air compressor. My kids will sleep anywhere!!!
The shingles going on. After moving the sleeping toddler below of course.
We were losing light on our second day so fencing off the scratch pen would have to wait until the next morning.
The next morning a fence was put up, a gate was put on and we were ready to introduce the ladies to their new home. Which they love. They are thriving so much more now that they can safely forage.
We plan to finish the coop before fall by siding it, putting in a window and putting on a door.
One weekend, three men and a bunch of power tools and we got ourselves a chicken coop.
I want to express my gratitude to three exceptional people who went above and beyond to help us get this farm up and running. Without your help it would have taken months to start our dream. No words will convey how much it means to us to have such amazing people in our lives.
