Finding Contentment

The new coop

Hubby doesn’t get much time off, so we decided to make the most of Easter weekend and do family projects in the yard. Last week our new baby chicks came! We ordered 25, but only seven of them are ours. The rest are a friend’s. The hatchery marked my seven by painting their heads red! We will add these seven to the five we still have.

Two of my friend’s Patridge Cochins died upon arrival. One of my chicks also died - my Golden Polish. I still have a Buff Polish, though. I love her hair-do!

In order to keep from stressing the chickens by messing up their “pecking order,” we decided to keep the two small flocks separate. Our previous setup included an indoor coop and a small run. We decided to close in the entire thing and put a wall down the middle to make it into two coops. Then we will add a large run to each side of the building.

We let the chickens out into the yard, and they were more than happy to go. Because we have several stray cats in the neighborhood, we no longer let the chickens out unless we can be out there with them. That’s also why our entire coops, runs and everything will be surrounded 100% by walls or chicken wire. But because we are outside less in the winter, the chickens haven't been out that much in the past couple of months.

Hubby put up the posts and the roof for the first outdoor run. Then while the kids and I primed the posts, he started putting up walls on what will be the indoor coop. He left two spaces in the middle so each flock will have its own window on its side of the coop. Last year’s walls were made out of what I call press-board (particle board?), and they were crumbling. So this year we bought heavy duty plywood not only for the new walls, but to reinforce the old ones.

We got one run and all but one side of the coop framed in, primed, and the trim painted. I know you usually paint the trim last, but Hubby is going to have to nail chicken wire to the posts on the run and wanted them painted so he could that and put the chickens in there.

We managed to close up the unfinished coop in a temporary way last night except for the windows. The chicken didn’t realize they had an opening until this morning. We are going to my MIL's for Easter dinner at 1 p.m. and don’t want to get dirty working on the coop until we get home. So Hubby is currently trying to find a temporary way to block the windows.

This is as far as we got last night. The coop is in the middle, that is one of the runs on the left, and there will be another run on the right. The gray part is actually primer, we will paint that and all the walls barn red. These are the chickens that escaped this morning.

I think the coop is looking great, thanks to my husband’s creativeness – he free-handed this whole thing without any plans. He just plans it in his head, but even those plans change often as he goes along. All I have to do is the painting, and I run errands to the hardware store whenever he decides he needs something else. I am also his sounding board, as he needs someone to bounce ideas off as he goes. I can’t wait to see the finished product!

OH Look at the CHICKS!!!

04:10 PM, Sunday, March 23, 2008 .. Posted by millersgrainhouse

We went hunting for some on Friday and couldn't find any in Wilkes County! Guess we don't know where to look yet!

Thanks for the comment. It's nice to have some vision for the future that doesn't involve moving or being homeless!

We have a new (cheaper) manual grain mill in our store - we hope to get one for ourselves soon as 'back up' to the NutriMill.

http://millersgrainhouse.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=18&zenid=6a25f87fa6c25406bb7b2d8f95994691

Also have a few other models that are less expensive than the NutriMill too. You may wanna go see them as you budget in for the mill!

Thanks again for the comment! It's good to be back!
Blessings in our RISEN Messiah!
Donna

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04:27 PM, Sunday, March 23, 2008 .. Posted by j706nancyr

Very nice coop, you have lucky chickens! LOL
Wish I could have chickens here on the farm, I miss seeing mine daily. Good luck with the coop and chickies.
Nancy

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06:11 PM, Sunday, March 23, 2008 .. Posted by morningsunshine

would you post your plans? I am trying to figure how to build ours....

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10:23 AM, Monday, March 24, 2008 .. Posted by 2GodBPraise

Those baby chicks are cute!
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Karen
www.homesteadblogger.com/tagblog
www.homeschoolblogger.com/salt

Please pray

04:14 PM, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

I'm dropping by to ask fellow CFBAer's to pray for Kristy who's just lost her husband of 10 weeks in tragic circumstances.

www.southeastcountrywife.blogspot.com

Thanks heaps and God bless you and your family!

Very nice looking coop!

06:16 PM, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 .. Posted by meadow

Thanks for sharing! Your hubby is very talented!