Hi Everybody, First of all I want to say a big Thanks! to this group for all the info I got as I was getting ready for our chickens. I built the coop myself and got lots of ideas from "The Feather Factory" , "Whichita 'Cabin Coop'" , and "Chichen Paradise". Someday, I might set up a page here to show the build. Until then, you can get a good idea of it at my site NorthParkHomestead if you're interested. There are also pictures of the chickens and the feeder and waterer I made. This is the first time I've kept chickens, but my grandparents had a farm and so I had some introduction to them when I was a kid. My mom - who couldn't wait to get off the farm - can't believe that I would actually choose to keep these birds around We have 4 chickens. We got them when they were about 2 weeks old in the middle of May. We were planning to get three, but after we picked them out, the guy at the feed store said, "We're having a buy-three-get-one-free sale. Do you want one more?" Well, how could we say no... So we have one Star (named Aurora - after Sleeping Beauty), one Rhode Island Red (named Goldie -'cause she was when she was little) and 2 Barred Rocks (one named Patsy - I won't go into all the details here - just think of common chick issues and rearrange the letters a bit, and the 2nd one named Beverly - just because). As you might guess from the user name I chose, we have a tiny little urban lot. I'm called to the spirit of farming, but we're very connected to our current place. So, I try to do what I can here. We do a lot of gardening and have lots of fruit trees. I just learned that the chickens are quite fond of figs. Well, better them than the squirrels. I look forward to learning more and sharing the little bits of wisdom I pick up along the way. Good to be here, -Beth
Quote:Thanks for the welcome. I actually have quite a few pictures of the build on my site link above. From the very early stages of digging out a trench to bury some fencing through the framing, roofing, skinning and final touches. Pretty much of a step-by-step, although it doesn't have much story to go with it. I should probably fill it in a bit, but in the meantime, I more than happy to discuss it. -Beth