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My husband and I decided we wanted to raise some chickens for our granddaughter, Nevaeh. We're a pretty racially mixed family (Irish, Cape Verdean, West Indian) and I thought it would be good for her to see how different chickens can lay different colored eggs. I also wanted to have a (fun) source of really fresh eggs. So, I started to do some research on chickens, coops, etc.

I found the perfect (for us) coop at http://playhousecoop.blogspot.com/ and bought the plans. My dad is a master carpenter and he agreed to help us build it.
Of course, the plan was to have the coop built before we got the chickens. That didn't quite work since we got the chickens before the coop got built (oops!)

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These were our first three chickens. Sadly, we don't have them anymore (hawks and illness
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).




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This is our granddaughter, Nevaeh, holding Blueberry (Sept. 2009) before we lost her.




Here's our original coop.
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We now have a new coop (see my new coop page) and a flock of 8 beautiful and delightful chickens. We have 1 Ameraucana (blue egg), 2 Black/Lav split Orpingtons (project birds who lay green eggs), 2 EE's (1 light blue and 1 light green egg), 1 RSL and 2 Rhode Island Reds. We have a colorful egg basket and are thoroughly enjoying raising our chickens and having delicious fresh eggs.