Okay. We almost have fresh eggs here. Like, we’re really, really, really hoping that we get to have eggs this season. But at the very least we’re one step closer than we were before! Right?
These photos were taken a few weeks ago while everything was still under construction. Nick managed to build the entire chicken coop out of second hand materials and things scavenged from our old barn. We are both always super proud, and even braggy, when we are able to go about things this way. #score
The only materials that needed purchased was the lumber and wire for the chicken run Nick built as well. Although they will graduate to complete free rangers before we know it, we knew we needed a way to 1.) keep them safe from predators until they fully matured (and we are better able to secure our perimeter) and 2.) from our dogs until we could train them to have a healthy respect for the chickens. In other words… Iri is a stubborn you-know-what and both Iri and Juno have a high prey drive.
I hope to post some more udpated photos soon now that the chickens have been living in their humble abode doing their ‘thang for a couple of weeks. Nick rigged quite the elaborate watering system and a neat sliding coop door that most definitely need sharing!
Anybody else have chickens? Or are we the only farm folk ’round here? ;)
Nick told me he found this idea online somewhere. When attaching the wire, curve it so that you have some excess that lays flat onto the surrounding ground. This is a nifty little tip to help keep animals from trying to dig under into your run/coop and is still easy enough to mow over.
He wanted to check out the coop, chicken style.
We decided to house our coop inside the barn for added protection and security. Nick also raised the coop off of the ground to make it that much harder for any animal that did get inside the barn to get inside the coop. I think Nick’s biggest fear is a night raid.
They laying boxes are an old cabinet re-purposed with wood dividers. So crafty.
