Cheryl's Hen House...

[Finnie]

Aw, that's too bad. I thought that might be the case, seeing as how you rehomed your last year's cockerels.

I don't think a rooster would be any louder than the old girls. Sheesh, they are obnoxiously loud. I worked in the garden all afternoon and it was nuts out there.

Definitely!

One time I was out front weeding. They built a new neighborhood all along our east property line. The whole time I was working, I kept hearing a dog barking. One bark, over and over incessantly. I kept thinking to myself "man, those people need to take their dumb dog inside the house". My weed bucket got full and I took it out back to the compost pile. That's when I saw that the incessant "barking" was one of my hens!!

 

[mobius]

I have three small dogs who bark, and I noticed the other day that one of my Partridge Rocks was barking! SMH!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hello everyone!! .....

We've chosen a spot for the 8x9 coop and the attached 8x20 run. My woodworking/metalworking/race car shop (30x40) is 100' behind the house with our raised bed veggie garden right next to it. I have a 9x9 compressor room on the back of the shop that houses my air compressor and provides general storage. We are going to attach the coop to the compressor room so they will have a shared wall. Basically we will extend the same shape of the compressor room to form the coop. Here's some views of the garden and shop area.










Here you can see the compressor room better. We will attach to the end wall and go out for the coop. The run will extend past there along where the chain link fence is now. I'll be removing most of the fence. The coop and run will have doors opening into the garden so this will be the back of the coop and run. We're planning on a couple of windows in the back with one window and the entry door on the front.....

I'll begin prepping the site in the next few days. I'm going to start cutting and pre-building as I have time and Cheryl and I will be taking a few days off work in the next few weeks to assemble the coop and run. We are looking very forward to the process and especially to getting the chickens. I know I'll have a bazillion questions along the way. Thanks in advance for being gentle with us newbies. We always had chickens when I was growing up but Cheryl is a city girl so this will be her first time. I'll post more as we go along.

Terry

You asked for our advice and here it is.
Mature chickens and gardens don't go together.
You and your wife will need to decide which food source you like the best.... your garden veggies or your brown eggs.
You can't have both in the same time frame if you are planning on giving your chickens the run of your garden space.

 

[UrbnGardenPeeps]

What an amazing story! It was like reading a great page turner full of laughter and heartache and a sweet love story! Does your kitty go outside at all? Does he enjoy chicken tv? Thanks for sharing your chicken journey with us!

 

[bishopfarmette]

Okay, i read the entire thread tonight. What a journey! Is your mom still visiting often? I spent summers in Springdale and Fayetteville as a kid - both grandparents lived there. I can picture you and the "progress" surrounding you over the years. Your attention to detail is inspiring. Keep up the posting - I inherited 4 chickens and a coop when we bought our house 9/2016. Integrating two pullets now.

Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[TerryH]

Okay, i read the entire thread tonight. What a journey! Is your mom still visiting often? I spent summers in Springdale and Fayetteville as a kid - both grandparents lived there. I can picture you and the "progress" surrounding you over the years. Your attention to detail is inspiring. Keep up the posting - I inherited 4 chickens and a coop when we bought our house 9/2016. Integrating two pullets now.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Thank you. Mom doesn't visit very often these days. She is not getting around very well but asks about the chickens every day.

 

[TerryH]

What an amazing story! It was like reading a great page turner full of laughter and heartache and a sweet love story! Does your kitty go outside at all? Does he enjoy chicken tv? Thanks for sharing your chicken journey with us!

Thank you. Ray is an inside boy but he occasionally escapes just to prove he can. He will charge out the door, go 10 feet, and the just lay down and wait for Cheryl to come and pick him up and carry him back in the house.

 

[TerryH]

You asked for our advice and here it is.
Mature chickens and gardens don't go together.
You and your wife will need to decide which food source you like the best.... your garden veggies or your brown eggs.
You can't have both in the same time frame if you are planning on giving your chickens the run of your garden space.

Did you read the thread? The chickens don't have access to the garden.

 

[TerryH]

I have three small dogs who bark, and I noticed the other day that one of my Partridge Rocks was barking! SMH!

Ha!!! That is tooo funny. I was just outside listening to my neighbors roosters thinking that they have nothing on my big girls. lol...

 

[TerryH]

Definitely!

One time I was out front weeding. They built a new neighborhood all along our east property line. The whole time I was working, I kept hearing a dog barking. One bark, over and over incessantly. I kept thinking to myself "man, those people need to take their dumb dog inside the house". My weed bucket got full and I took it out back to the compost pile. That's when I saw that the incessant "barking" was one of my hens!!

Chickens are weird. Perhaps I'm mention this before?