I am an older single mom & still work fulltime. I have a 16 year old son who helps and an 18 year old daughter who likes looking at the chickens but wishes I would get rid of them (yeah, like that would help to keep the house clean!) Here's the big girls' coop - wintertime - looks a whole lot better with the elderberry big and bushy. I've also expanded their run out to the side in a triangle shape that doubles their space. Always changing! I'm planting camillas around my banty run that is closer to our house and the neighbors - trying to cut down on the shrill bawk bawking with some foliage around the part of the pen that is close to their back door. The two flocks cross paths for a few hours a day in the yard, but keep mostly to themselves. The big girls ran free for 2 years and there was not one blade of grass or potted plants standing so now they only get out in the evenings. The bantys are new and get out more often because their size makes them less of a problem. I have a pair of light blue cream dutch and 4 Old English game hens - they are the noisemakers. My big girls are 3 sex links and a Rhode Island Red and Silver Lace Wyandotte. I love them all! My dream is to have an outdoor aviary someday for other birds. Right now our backyard has become a refuge for mourning doves and other ground feeders as my cat is too old to hunt them and the unpredictable racing through of mostly contained pugs keeps the neighbor cats away. They feed alongside the chickens- too cute.
