Chickens

About a week and a half ago, we got chickens.  Well, not chickens exactly, but 6 Silver-Laced Wyandotte chicks.  For the past week and a half, they've been in a box in the kitchen peeping away every second of the day and night.  I worked like a madman to construct a coop (which happens to be the best carpentry project I've ever successfully completed).

We've talked about getting chickens for a bit now, probably ever since we started to stray from veganism.  We were trying to figure out what to do with the small garden by the house that we neglected last summer, when I came up with the idea to turn it into a chicken run.  The biggest step was getting permission from the landlord, which was a piece of cake.  Then I began with the coop.  I had an idea of how I wanted to coop construction, but needed some real plans so I didn't waste a lot of materials and time making it work.  I found some good free plans through Purina Mills.  I set out to building it, and finished in 3 days.  I'm really proud of that thing!  I kept thinking that I was going to modify the plans to suit our setup, and after much deliberation, I realized that everything in the plans was just fine. 

The coop is now done, except for the nest box, and a close-able door for the chickens to use.  Luckily, they're still too small to be outside, so I have time to finish it.  I also need to finish closing off the run on the top, but that should be easy to do as well.  The only thing that has been stopping me from finishing is trying to catch up on planting in the garden. 


Below are two photos for comparison.  The first is the little garden, taken on 5/28/10.  The second was taken today, 5/29/12 of the same garden, looking through the chicken run.  What a different place! 

I started off small with the part of the run that will be enclosed.  I designed it so that I can extend it easily and cheaply.  I will do so as the summer goes on, especially if we get more chickens (which I'd love to do!).  Finally, here's a video of the little peepies playing with a piece of lettuce: