A month ago we wouldn't have said we were chicken people. We have two dogs and a fat cat and it seemed like enough.
A chain of events that started with the children at my school hatching some chicks led to us adopting the hen-pecked one who we called Pansy. To cut a long story short we thought she might need some friends- so along came Agnes and Igorina and the need for them to move out of my porch and into their own pad.
We bought a coop online, painted it up and they settled in.
It was all looking lovely but we are both blessed with over active imagination and some useful practical skills so we planned an extension. We have a terrier and we both work, it seemed only fair to give them some extra room if they were going to be run bound for most of the day.
The only other problem that we had was that our garden is more suited to goats than chickens as it sits on the side of a hill.
A friend had given us an old rabbit hutch as a temporary accommodation for them so we dismantled it, raised it up, added an escape hatch from the main coop, a bridge and ladder.
We added some steps down to the lower level for us and a herb garden for them, a door in the 'bridge' section and a couple of nifty homemade door supports to make cleaning nice and easy.
We are novices, learning as we go along, but the girls seem happy and settled in their new split level home and if I can just get then to stop nicking me peas then I will be in chicken heaven as well!
A chain of events that started with the children at my school hatching some chicks led to us adopting the hen-pecked one who we called Pansy. To cut a long story short we thought she might need some friends- so along came Agnes and Igorina and the need for them to move out of my porch and into their own pad.
We bought a coop online, painted it up and they settled in.
It was all looking lovely but we are both blessed with over active imagination and some useful practical skills so we planned an extension. We have a terrier and we both work, it seemed only fair to give them some extra room if they were going to be run bound for most of the day.
The only other problem that we had was that our garden is more suited to goats than chickens as it sits on the side of a hill.
A friend had given us an old rabbit hutch as a temporary accommodation for them so we dismantled it, raised it up, added an escape hatch from the main coop, a bridge and ladder.
We added some steps down to the lower level for us and a herb garden for them, a door in the 'bridge' section and a couple of nifty homemade door supports to make cleaning nice and easy.
We are novices, learning as we go along, but the girls seem happy and settled in their new split level home and if I can just get then to stop nicking me peas then I will be in chicken heaven as well!
