May 30^th

The coop is done.  It’s move-in day for Violet, Rosie & Daisy.  My poor husband has given up the last two weekends building THE FINEST CHICKEN COOP IN ALL OF ENGLAND!

He’s also come home from work every night for the last two weeks, wolfed down some dinner and gone to the garage for at least two hours of carpentry.  Somehow my priming and painting skills became acceptable after our little weekend project turned into a two-week extravaganza!  I finished my meager contribution to the coop this morning by painting the final pieces of trim. Let me describe some of the features of this lovely little home.  The coop’s footprint is 7 ½ x 4 feet.  There is no bottom so it sits on grass.  The ladies can scratch and poop in the grass for a couple of days and then Jim and I move the coop to a fresh spot.  This way they always have a nice fresh piece of ground and our yard doesn’t get too destroyed by chicken shenanigans.  A little chicken poop is good for grass, too much will destroy it.  The top is enclosed for their nighttime comfort and safety.  There is a great little trap door that we can pull up at night to lock them down and in the morning it becomes the stairs to the bottom floor.

There are two removable doors on either end for hanging their food and water. 

On the top of both ends of the coop are nest boxes. These will be filled with cedar shavings and will provide a nice snuggly bed and later a place to lay eggs. Removable doors with a little screen window will allow me to gather eggs and clean the boxes.

Inside all along the center of the coop is perch where they will sleep most of the night. 

One side of the roof is removable so I can take it off every few days to clean and line the bottom with fresh newspaper. 

Jim built this from a plan, but modified it to match our house and look super cute. (my description–Jim would never say “super cute”).  It’s a fun, easy way to raise a few chickens in an urban/suburban setting.  They have lots of foraging room on the ground and a snug, safe bedroom at night.  Even if we never let the girls “free range” in our yard, they would still have enough room to live happy little chicken lives.  We do, however, plan to let them out in the evening to roam the fruited plain of the Burlingame estate while we sit in the back yard with adult beverages.  Tonight we will celebrate our little construction project with some champagne and chicken antics.

I’m going to try to be very nice to my sweet husband for at LEAST a week.  Wish me luck!