Hi all. I am excited to announce that my new coop is finally going to happen!!! I have been waiting since 2011 for a new coop, but things just keep cropping up. We ended up buying a foreclosed home in 2011, so there was no point putting a new coop at the house we would be selling. It took us over a year to fix up the new house enough to move into it. By then it was Oct. 2012 and there was no time, money or energy left to build a new coop, so we just converted a shed that was already on the property into a goat house/chicken coop, put up some picket fencing and called it a day.
Then in 2013 several things happened. My husband quit his job in order to go into business with a couple other guys. Of course there was never enough money so his pay checks became very small and our stress level went very high. On top of that I was diagnosed with several chronic illness and for the next year I got progressively sicker and sicker. In July of 2014, my doctor took me off work permanently and so I lost my income. Meanwhile, hubby's salary was still only about 40% of what he had been promised and we were paying our own health insurance as well. So no coop that year.
Then last summer, 2015, they finally started giving him his rightful salary, however we still have to pay our own taxes, SS and medical insurance and were so behind on other things that needed done that once again, I got no chicken coop.
As my illness progressed, we had to make the decision to change some things due to my health and so raising goats is something I realistically can't do anymore. We have been letting our herd die out and we are now down to one 15 yo doe. The coop and yard are not secure and we have had no predator problems only because our goats guard the chickens. However, we are getting close to the finish line here and I want my chickens in a secure coop and run before my last goat crosses the rainbow bridge.
I presented hubby with 4 different possible coop sites and he choose the one that would involve moving a picket fence 8 ft to the right. He hadn't been showing any signs of worrying about getting that coop built when all of a sudden on Sunday he went out and spent the day moving the fence!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. All he has to do now is finishing putting in the walkway he started last year and couldn't finish because the fence needed to be moved. This will take maybe one weekend and then we can start laying the blocks for the coop. I am beyond excited and will be posting pics as we go.
It won't be fancy, but it will be set up with my limitations in mind so that I can care for the chickens by myself as I enjoy doing that very much. I can hardly wait!!!
Then in 2013 several things happened. My husband quit his job in order to go into business with a couple other guys. Of course there was never enough money so his pay checks became very small and our stress level went very high. On top of that I was diagnosed with several chronic illness and for the next year I got progressively sicker and sicker. In July of 2014, my doctor took me off work permanently and so I lost my income. Meanwhile, hubby's salary was still only about 40% of what he had been promised and we were paying our own health insurance as well. So no coop that year.
Then last summer, 2015, they finally started giving him his rightful salary, however we still have to pay our own taxes, SS and medical insurance and were so behind on other things that needed done that once again, I got no chicken coop.
As my illness progressed, we had to make the decision to change some things due to my health and so raising goats is something I realistically can't do anymore. We have been letting our herd die out and we are now down to one 15 yo doe. The coop and yard are not secure and we have had no predator problems only because our goats guard the chickens. However, we are getting close to the finish line here and I want my chickens in a secure coop and run before my last goat crosses the rainbow bridge.
I presented hubby with 4 different possible coop sites and he choose the one that would involve moving a picket fence 8 ft to the right. He hadn't been showing any signs of worrying about getting that coop built when all of a sudden on Sunday he went out and spent the day moving the fence!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. All he has to do now is finishing putting in the walkway he started last year and couldn't finish because the fence needed to be moved. This will take maybe one weekend and then we can start laying the blocks for the coop. I am beyond excited and will be posting pics as we go.
It won't be fancy, but it will be set up with my limitations in mind so that I can care for the chickens by myself as I enjoy doing that very much. I can hardly wait!!!
