Building a Chicken Coop

It's been a while since I last posted.  In case anyone noticed, my apologies for that.  :)  We've been busy around the homestead - the garden is flourishing as are the weeds; Hubz has been fighting with the tiller and finally got it working well, we think.  It's been in the 80s and 90s around here so my flowers on the porch and in hanging baskets are requiring an almost daily watering.  I've picked up a few perennials and bushes for landscaping which also require regular watering.  That might explain the water bill.  We got it in the mail today and even though a $32 bill isn't much, it's about $5 higher than it has been.  It just dawned on me as I'm writing this that there's likely the reason for the higher bill.  Needless to say, the hose and I have become very well acquainted although it still irks me to no end when it kinks up on me!  Anyone have a remedy for that?

Besides all the weeding and watering, we've been building a chicken coop (or chicken palace as my MIL likes to say)! 

I am so excited about getting chickens I can hardly contain myself.  I have wanted my own little flock for years and living in town it didn't ever seem possible (although I hear lots of people have chickens in town nowadays).

Here are a few pictures of the process...



Those are the nesting boxes in the front.  The larger one on the left is for food storage.

I don't have the total cost breakdown yet, but will post that once I wrangle all my receipts together.  I have a feeling the first several dozens of dozens of eggs will be rather expensive, but we did what we could to cut down on our costs by:

• Using leftover lumber from the construction of our house.  I don't think we had to buy any 2x4s for the frame.
• Purchasing rough hewn lumber for the siding from my Uncle Roger (he has a sawmill) - not only was it economical, but also native wood which I totally love.  In this case, it's Poplar.
• Picking up windows for $5 each at the reuse center.
• Saving dog kennel panels from our dog and my in-law's previous dog to use for the chicken run.
• Using leftover pieces of steel roofing from our barn.

And the most economical thing we did was build it ourselves!  I'm really proud of Hubz for sticking it out and getting it done.  He's the best.  We don't always work well together, but this time around I was confused enough in the beginning that I was almost entertainment to him instead of a bother.  I just couldn't figure out how the base was going to come together!

Hopefully I will soon have pictures of chickens to share.  And a garden update is coming soon, too.  Until then!

Oh, we can't forget about Miss Josie.  What did she do while we were building the coop?  She supervised from the comfort and shade of the swing.

This post is linked to Farmgirl Friday at Dandelion House. 

 

 

Update:  Click on this link for a video tour of our coop.