Bobby and Nobia's little chicken coop..
Hello welcome to our little chicken coop, run and gardening experience. We recently moved from Okinawa Japan to Twentynine Palms California. Bobby is a US. Marine with over 20 years of service and counting. Between us we have a total of 5 children, 2 living at home, 3 labradors (one of each color), and 2 Brahma hens. We have gone through a good assortment of chickens and rehomed several roosters.
When we were looking for a place to call home for the next couple years here in the desert our main concern was a fenced yard. What we found was not only fenced but the homeowner also had built a garden area. The minute I saw this space I knew we would have chickens. First came the garden though. When we moved in, it was full of green onions. I now know this is because the rabbits and squirrels do not eat green onions. With a ton of hard work and turning desert ground into planting soil I managed to plant pumpkins, tomatos, corn, strawberries, watermelon, cucumber, brocolli, cantalope, honey dew melons, and all sorts of peppers. Our garden is our pride and joy.
Then came the chickens.
We started with 2, a RIR and a Wynedotte. Both were "guessed" to be hens, both turned out to be roosters. We started construction on a coop using recycled and purchased materials. I also planted giant sunflowers in the fenced in chicken run. I do not recommend this. Chickens eat anything! A few weeks ago we were chicken-free. Having rehomed a roo/pullet pair of silkies because they could not be separated, and we can only keep hens. We also rehomed 2 turken boys and another silkie roo. I knew any chick purchases in the future would have to be sexed chickens. But I wasn't sure what type I wanted so the coop sat empty until one day I was told the story about Lucia and Gracie the Brahmas.
Lucia found herself stuck one day at her previous home after a rather large gust of wind blew a door, trapping her by the neck until her owner came home that evening. During the time she was trapped, she was violently pecked by the rest of the flock. Her owner nursed her back to health over the course of a couple months, but Lucia was too frightened to go with her flock. So another hen was purchased as a companion. Gracie and Lucia are two peas in a pod. They stick to one another, and are the sweetest girls ever. Their previous owner was about to have a coop built for just them when she learned we had no chickens (perfect for Lucia whom is afraid of others) and we were looking for hens. It was the perfect situation for all...chickens and people.
I have no plans to introduce Lucia to a flock. I am planning on building a second coop though. I've taken to a few new hobbies and am currently trying my hand at incubating eggs (hence the need to build a second coop) and aquaponics with fish and lettuce growing in the house). Eventually my husband will retire from the Marine Corps and we will find somewhere in this beautiful country to homestead. For now, I'm practicing
Now the pictures. Below. Gracie (mostly white) and Lucia being thanked for their first dozen eggs!
Being pet chickens, they are super friendly and like to hop on shoulders. This makes cleaning out the run when I'm alone with no one to "watch my back" very interesting.
This is what the garden/run/coop area looks like, give or take a few plants. The planter boxes are now all overflowing with green goodness, the run is shaded, and I had to build a new door for the run entrance.
The garden, we had pumpkin earlier but it went crazy. Left the garden, broke into the run and also grew over it down to the other side. I finally had my husband just pull it all out. I have now started seeds to plant this winter (it's the desert we can plant all year long) and really like how it looks now days.
So that's US for now. As my different hobbies and projects expand so will our page. I've always got lot's of fun stuff going on! You can also read about all our current happenings at: Our Blog. The Broken Road
Hello welcome to our little chicken coop, run and gardening experience. We recently moved from Okinawa Japan to Twentynine Palms California. Bobby is a US. Marine with over 20 years of service and counting. Between us we have a total of 5 children, 2 living at home, 3 labradors (one of each color), and 2 Brahma hens. We have gone through a good assortment of chickens and rehomed several roosters.
When we were looking for a place to call home for the next couple years here in the desert our main concern was a fenced yard. What we found was not only fenced but the homeowner also had built a garden area. The minute I saw this space I knew we would have chickens. First came the garden though. When we moved in, it was full of green onions. I now know this is because the rabbits and squirrels do not eat green onions. With a ton of hard work and turning desert ground into planting soil I managed to plant pumpkins, tomatos, corn, strawberries, watermelon, cucumber, brocolli, cantalope, honey dew melons, and all sorts of peppers. Our garden is our pride and joy.
Then came the chickens.
We started with 2, a RIR and a Wynedotte. Both were "guessed" to be hens, both turned out to be roosters. We started construction on a coop using recycled and purchased materials. I also planted giant sunflowers in the fenced in chicken run. I do not recommend this. Chickens eat anything! A few weeks ago we were chicken-free. Having rehomed a roo/pullet pair of silkies because they could not be separated, and we can only keep hens. We also rehomed 2 turken boys and another silkie roo. I knew any chick purchases in the future would have to be sexed chickens. But I wasn't sure what type I wanted so the coop sat empty until one day I was told the story about Lucia and Gracie the Brahmas.
Lucia found herself stuck one day at her previous home after a rather large gust of wind blew a door, trapping her by the neck until her owner came home that evening. During the time she was trapped, she was violently pecked by the rest of the flock. Her owner nursed her back to health over the course of a couple months, but Lucia was too frightened to go with her flock. So another hen was purchased as a companion. Gracie and Lucia are two peas in a pod. They stick to one another, and are the sweetest girls ever. Their previous owner was about to have a coop built for just them when she learned we had no chickens (perfect for Lucia whom is afraid of others) and we were looking for hens. It was the perfect situation for all...chickens and people.
I have no plans to introduce Lucia to a flock. I am planning on building a second coop though. I've taken to a few new hobbies and am currently trying my hand at incubating eggs (hence the need to build a second coop) and aquaponics with fish and lettuce growing in the house). Eventually my husband will retire from the Marine Corps and we will find somewhere in this beautiful country to homestead. For now, I'm practicing
Now the pictures. Below. Gracie (mostly white) and Lucia being thanked for their first dozen eggs!
Being pet chickens, they are super friendly and like to hop on shoulders. This makes cleaning out the run when I'm alone with no one to "watch my back" very interesting.
This is what the garden/run/coop area looks like, give or take a few plants. The planter boxes are now all overflowing with green goodness, the run is shaded, and I had to build a new door for the run entrance.
The garden, we had pumpkin earlier but it went crazy. Left the garden, broke into the run and also grew over it down to the other side. I finally had my husband just pull it all out. I have now started seeds to plant this winter (it's the desert we can plant all year long) and really like how it looks now days.
So that's US for now. As my different hobbies and projects expand so will our page. I've always got lot's of fun stuff going on! You can also read about all our current happenings at: Our Blog. The Broken Road