Hen #1: This is a brown Leghorn. Sometime in the middle of March, she and five other hens will be joining us. (For the record, I think the Leghorn in this picture is a rooster, and we will not be having any of those).
If you talk to anyone who has kept chickens before, and tell them you intend to do the same, they all offer the same advice, solicited or not. They will promptly give you their goriest chicken-death-by-predator story. When it comes to raising chickens, security is the number one priority. Everyone wants a piece: hawks, fox, coyotes, rats, racoons, wild dogs, wild cats... and snakes want the eggs!
Hen #2: This is an Aruacana, AKA "easter egger" . They lay greenish/blue eggs. Perhaps an Aruacana was the muse for Green Eggs and Ham? When I told my mother the eggs were green she wanted to know if the contents were green as well. The answer is no. The contents of this hen's egg will be your traditional yellow.
Not wanting to take part in the slaughter of our egg producers we have planned a maxiumum security coop. The actual coop is very close to done. We have yet to do the run, but with the coop mostly out of the way, some of the urgency dissipates. We are kicking around different ideas for securing the perimeter. The latest is to bury a trench of concrete around the whole thing and have the fence go in next to or on top of the concrete layer. Diggers are some of the most pernicious and crafty chicken predators.
Hen # 3: This is a Buff Orfington. When I look at this hen, I think "classic".
If you are wanting to build a coop, check out this website for great ideas, or a laugh. It seems chicken coop builders have very intact senses of humor.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/.
It's amazing how elaborate some of them are. These coop builders all name their coops. I'm going to name ours "Coop Shack". Our coop is no shack but by giving it this name I can sing "Love Shack" on my way to get eggs and change all the words to befit my chicken coop adventures.
Hen #4: This is a black Australorp.(Again, I think this is a rooster, but ignore that part).
I researched chickens that would be good layers and decently friendly. I also took looking cool into consideration. I attempted to do my order directly from a hatchery, however, the minimum order was 25. If you did not know, when you order chicks, they are mailed to you! If you order less than 25, the chicks do not generate enough heat to survive the shipment. So, I contacted the local farm store and placed my order through them. I had to substitute a rare breed or two, but overall I got what I wanted. I paid $20 for six chicks. This seemed like a bargain. Granted the birds will cost money to keep, and the coop is an expense as well, but I was surprised at the bargain price of six lives. They are mailed out when they are a day old, so they will be living inside our house in a box for 4-6 weeks.
The other night I was getting friendly with a patient and his wife. I told the wife my story and that my husband and I had just built a coop and intended to keep chickens. She thought this made me sweet and stated she now understood why she liked me. Then she asked how many chickens I was planning on having. I told her six. This sweet little old lady burst out laughing at me! I thought she was thinking I was in way over my head. I thought she was going to try and talk me down to starting with just one. "Is that a lot?" I asked. "No!" she said. When she raised chickens she had 100. "Six!" she kept repeating and laughing, "Six!". Apparently I'm a freak.
Hens #5 and #6: Depending on who you are chatty with, this here is a barred plymouth rock or around here a "Dominicker".
The building of the coop
Staking out the ground
Framing
Re-purposing the old kitchen window
Shout out to Mike for the poplar and roof. He'll be paid with fresh eggs for the next 2-5 years.
Easy access to the nest boxes. That's where we'll get the eggs.
And of course, a giant thank you to Joseph for designing and building our coop!
And, if you are in the mood for trench digging, come visit!
If you talk to anyone who has kept chickens before, and tell them you intend to do the same, they all offer the same advice, solicited or not. They will promptly give you their goriest chicken-death-by-predator story. When it comes to raising chickens, security is the number one priority. Everyone wants a piece: hawks, fox, coyotes, rats, racoons, wild dogs, wild cats... and snakes want the eggs!
Hen #2: This is an Aruacana, AKA "easter egger" . They lay greenish/blue eggs. Perhaps an Aruacana was the muse for Green Eggs and Ham? When I told my mother the eggs were green she wanted to know if the contents were green as well. The answer is no. The contents of this hen's egg will be your traditional yellow.
Not wanting to take part in the slaughter of our egg producers we have planned a maxiumum security coop. The actual coop is very close to done. We have yet to do the run, but with the coop mostly out of the way, some of the urgency dissipates. We are kicking around different ideas for securing the perimeter. The latest is to bury a trench of concrete around the whole thing and have the fence go in next to or on top of the concrete layer. Diggers are some of the most pernicious and crafty chicken predators.
Hen # 3: This is a Buff Orfington. When I look at this hen, I think "classic".
If you are wanting to build a coop, check out this website for great ideas, or a laugh. It seems chicken coop builders have very intact senses of humor.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/.
It's amazing how elaborate some of them are. These coop builders all name their coops. I'm going to name ours "Coop Shack". Our coop is no shack but by giving it this name I can sing "Love Shack" on my way to get eggs and change all the words to befit my chicken coop adventures.
Hen #4: This is a black Australorp.(Again, I think this is a rooster, but ignore that part).
I researched chickens that would be good layers and decently friendly. I also took looking cool into consideration. I attempted to do my order directly from a hatchery, however, the minimum order was 25. If you did not know, when you order chicks, they are mailed to you! If you order less than 25, the chicks do not generate enough heat to survive the shipment. So, I contacted the local farm store and placed my order through them. I had to substitute a rare breed or two, but overall I got what I wanted. I paid $20 for six chicks. This seemed like a bargain. Granted the birds will cost money to keep, and the coop is an expense as well, but I was surprised at the bargain price of six lives. They are mailed out when they are a day old, so they will be living inside our house in a box for 4-6 weeks.
The other night I was getting friendly with a patient and his wife. I told the wife my story and that my husband and I had just built a coop and intended to keep chickens. She thought this made me sweet and stated she now understood why she liked me. Then she asked how many chickens I was planning on having. I told her six. This sweet little old lady burst out laughing at me! I thought she was thinking I was in way over my head. I thought she was going to try and talk me down to starting with just one. "Is that a lot?" I asked. "No!" she said. When she raised chickens she had 100. "Six!" she kept repeating and laughing, "Six!". Apparently I'm a freak.
Hens #5 and #6: Depending on who you are chatty with, this here is a barred plymouth rock or around here a "Dominicker".
The building of the coop
Staking out the ground
Framing
Re-purposing the old kitchen window
Shout out to Mike for the poplar and roof. He'll be paid with fresh eggs for the next 2-5 years.
Easy access to the nest boxes. That's where we'll get the eggs.
And of course, a giant thank you to Joseph for designing and building our coop!
And, if you are in the mood for trench digging, come visit!
HA! You got a chick coop! I still can't get over the fact that you are getting some chicks mailed to your house...You're gonna have to give day by day updates on that.
ReplyDelete~NB
Wow, your coop and land our beautiful! I love the pic of the old barn in back. You did a fantastic job. It is going to be so fun singing "coop shack, that's where its at" every morning.
ReplyDeleteim sory to say but I am pretty sure that ee is a rooster :( The leghorn looks just like my hen though :)
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