Hey everyone! We have been wanting to keep chickens for some time but it only recently (last week!) became legal for us to do so here. I came across backyardchickens.com in the process of doing research and we ended up purchasing our coop plans from some helpful people here. It seemed like a good time to join since we are just starting coop construction now!
We are planning to build a coop big enough for 6 hens (the number we can legally keep) but will probably start with 5 (one for each member of the family, in fact). We are planning to get a couple Speckled Sussex, an Australorp, a Barred Rock, and an Easter Egger. When we will be getting them depends on how quickly we get the coop up, but we're hoping sometime next month.
As for other animals, we have two: our cat, Nikka, who chose us rather than us choosing her, as often happens with cats - she just showed up on our back deck one day and waltzed in when we opened the door. We eventually found out she was part of an unintentional litter born at a house through the woods behind us, and the family was more than happy that she had found herself another home. We also have a chocolate lab, Tripper, who you can see in the icon there. He's on the big side for a lab, since he's from working stock - both of his parents were mountain rescue dogs (and several of his brothers and sisters went on to do similar work). Unsurprisingly, he loves snow about as much as he loves water, and will happily 'swim' through the deep snows we get at least once a winter.
We are planning to build a coop big enough for 6 hens (the number we can legally keep) but will probably start with 5 (one for each member of the family, in fact). We are planning to get a couple Speckled Sussex, an Australorp, a Barred Rock, and an Easter Egger. When we will be getting them depends on how quickly we get the coop up, but we're hoping sometime next month.
As for other animals, we have two: our cat, Nikka, who chose us rather than us choosing her, as often happens with cats - she just showed up on our back deck one day and waltzed in when we opened the door. We eventually found out she was part of an unintentional litter born at a house through the woods behind us, and the family was more than happy that she had found herself another home. We also have a chocolate lab, Tripper, who you can see in the icon there. He's on the big side for a lab, since he's from working stock - both of his parents were mountain rescue dogs (and several of his brothers and sisters went on to do similar work). Unsurprisingly, he loves snow about as much as he loves water, and will happily 'swim' through the deep snows we get at least once a winter.
