All About The Chicken Coop (again)

I’ve had a few of you show some interest in my chicken coop so I thought I would just do a post about it.

I asked  begged for my husband and my sons to build me a chicken coop for mother’s day.  Ha! That’s how you get them ladies.  How can they say no on Mother’s Day?

My husband is a very talented and skilled mechanic but he hates any form of carpentry.

So lets just say he was not a happy camper.

(Here is an excerpt from one of my facebook stories called “Chicken coop wars”- May 12)

(Chicken Coop wars have begun!!! I've got good news and bad news....good news....I'm finally getting a chicken coop...yea!!..:) :) :).....bad news....Shannon's building it...:( :( :(....lol...not that he can't build but this is how it goes.....Shannon( in a very unhappy voice) "What kind of chicken coop do you want?"...Lisa (in a very excited voice)..."oh....i want a cute one...with a window and a ...flower box and a weathervane and an arched door"........Shannon (blink.......blink.....) "the chickens don't need a window or a flower box or a weathervane and i'm not building an arched door!".....Lisa.."Well!!!! build it like you want to but...you're not going to get to name any chickens!! and she stomps off..........i wonder if it's too late to cancel the weathervane order?)

And so the building began.

 

These were not happy days…..lol….but it was a present so they couldn’t complain..;)

(another excerpt from facebook- May 15)

(Well, chicken coop wars continues.......Me.."Do you remember the extra money i earned when i worked a couple of days....do you....remember.....welllllll.....iorderedasolarlampandlamppostforthechickenyard.....:)....Shannon..."blink......blink.......the chickens don't NEED a solar lamp and lamppost......they get up with the sun and go to sleep when its dark...it won't get dark with a lamp!!!!!......me...."huh,......i need the lamppost for my cute chicken coop.....huh......wellllll......do they make chicken sunglasses??????)

(facebook- May 18)

(Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife....Proverbs 21:9".............but Lord, what about the chicken coop.....yes Lord....I understand...:))

(facebook – May 22)

(Yep....i'm just coming inside because we have been outside working on the chicken coop!!! Let me tell you......you don't just slap some chicken wire up around your chicken coop....it is very, VERY hard work!! And all of my very helpful suggestions were all received with the evil eye.....signing off as The girl with many bug bites....:()

(facebook – May 26)

(Chicken coop wars!!....problem number 1--a left handed mechanic that hates carpentry work! Problem #2-- the tool we use the most is the chainsaw...problem #3....I am the gopher, the holder, the water getter, the hammer holder, the dirt hauler and usually wants these all at the same time. Like, he said, no kidding, hold this (the screws, the tape measure, and the drill), then he says hold the board steady and doesn't give me time to put the tools down, so I'm balancing like a clown holding all of it and the biggest bug ever lands on my head and I can feel him crawling in my hair and I'm trying to tell Shannon that there's a bug in my hair but he's got the chainsaw going on what I'm suppose to be holding......so things start dropping and the evil eye begins........well all I got to say is someone may be sleeping in the chicken coop tonight)

And then we finish the chicken coop!!

And I paint and add my cute decorations….:)

I even got them to put some posts up for my birdhouses right beside the coop.

The view from my back deck.

See our chairs? We like to drink coffee in the morning and watch the chickens.

Here it is at Christmas.

They just have branches as roost poles. Do you see the white hen…she is mean…very mean and she wouldn’t let anyone else sleep by the rooster or even close so I had to put up a divider in the middle of the branch.  She’s getting ready right now to peck at those two beside the rooster.  Do you see the blob at the top of the divider……4 crazy hens get up there to sleep every night.
All in all you don’t need anything fancy for the chickens.  They are very easy animals to have and give us a lot of enjoyment and eggs!  I have plastic Walmart bins that they lay their eggs in.
I did have to screw them down so they wouldn’t tip.  I just have to clean them every so often and put fresh straw in them.  They all lay in the same box.  I’m still getting eggs and it is January.
I let them out most evening around 4 and they scratch around the yard.  My dogs nor cats don’t bother them at all.  I check every so often on them because I’m afraid a stray dog may come by.  At dusk/dark they go into the coop all by themselves and get on the roost.  All I have to do is remember to go close the door.  I don’t have a top on the outdoor area or a door on the coop but so far we have been blessed and nothing has bothered my chickens.
I have 7 hens and 1 rooster and they lay during the summer 6 to 7 eggs a day. And this winter I’m still getting about 4 to 5 a day.  I love my chickens and highly recommend them to anyone.

(I’ll end with one last facebook story –Aug.)

Chicken Coop Wars!!! Me: THERE'S A HURRICANE COMING AND WE NEED TO BUILD A DOOR TO THE COOP!...Shannon: the chickens will be fine...Me: WE AT LEAST NEED TO PUT A TARP ON THEIR DOOR!!...Shannon: the chickens will be fine...Me: LITTLE BITTY CHICKEN UMBRELLAS???....Shannon: blink, blink....Me: Just checking if you were listening...Shannon: the chickens will be fine.......so....i listened to my wise husband ...and.....irantowalmartandboughtatarpforthechickens.......thinking seriously of moving Shannon into the coop....don't worry....he will be fine......:)

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Linking up with:

http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2013/04/share-your-creativity-74/