My DH and I will be starting work on our new coop in a few weeks. I have drawn up plans and want to make it the perfect coop for us that takes into consideration our age and will provide ease of care for us as well as the perfect home for the chickens. Our problem is that we only have 1/5th of an acre and we really aren't supposed to have chickens or goats. However, the last time I was cited, I went to court and fought it because we live in a rural, mountain area and the ordinances are absurd. I hope to eventually get them changed, but for now this is what I was able to do. I won and now no one seems to ever bother me about my chickens or my goats. We keep them in the front, left corner of our yard where they are surrounded on two sides by street, (one street is just a small dirt lane that goes to 4 houses, 2 of which are part timers) and the other two sides are our driveways. We put them there so there would be as far away from the neighbors houses as possible, but this puts them right in the line of everyone's sight. Anyway, we have surrounded the pen with fruit trees, berry bushes, butterfly bushes, vinca, gooseberry, lilacs, ivy and some other things. I will be able to plant the side that currently has our old coop and goat house on it once they are torn down. We try to make the pen look as attractive as possible. I will probably add some lattice and some climbing vines down the road to spruce the pen up even more.
I feel that we need to make the new coop (as well as our new goat house) as cute, neat, tidy and clean as possible so as not to attract attention or have complaints directed at us. Most of our neighbors love our goats and chickens and I sell a lot of eggs when I have them. I try to look at it from their point of view. Our current coop and goat house is horrible looking and I can't wait to get rid of it. Since our coop will be visible from the street as well as from our living room window, I want it to be a pleasure to look at. With this in mind, I plan to make it match our house as much as possible or at least very cute even if it is a different design.
Since this will probably be the last coop we ever build, I want it done right and I don't want to have to re do things because I didn't do them in the first place and now wish I had. The problem is that hubby thinks some of my ideas are far fetched and over the top. I don't think so. I hope to be on the local garden tour within the next couple of years and would like to eventually sponsor a coop tour at some point and share chicken knowledge and raise awareness about backyard chickens, so I want the coop to be over the top cute and function well so I can show people that you can have chickens in a small yard and still have it be an enjoyable place to look at and to be in. The garden club people have been asking me for years to be on the tour because they would love to have a sustainable garden involved. No one else has ever offered that. But I keep putting them off until I get my animal housing done up.
Some of my plans include using gallery glass to paint a faux stained glass chicken design on some vintage cabin windows I rescued and will be using as doors in the coop. This will look adorable I think. I also want to use storybook style shingles on the roof instead of metal panels, since it isn't that large of a space and we won't need that many of the. I will also be adding shutters, hanging planters, planter boxes and an arbor with grape vines. In the covered run I will have manzanita branches for perching and other fun chicken toys. They will have access to the large goat pen as well. Hubby thinks this is all too much, but I think since is will be so public, it will be well appreciated by the neighbors and by me. And since I get asked so many chicken questions by others hoping to add chickens to their lives, I want to set a good example. Winter is hard up here so the covered run needs to be a fun and stimulating place for them to be when they can go into the open pen due to snow.
Am I nuts or should I just go for it? We are on a budget, I don't care if it takes all summer, as long as it gets done the way I want. I am willing to do it bit by bit as I can afford it in order t get what I want. I am also planning on selling jam, eggs and soap this summer to add to the budget as well. What would you do in my position?
I feel that we need to make the new coop (as well as our new goat house) as cute, neat, tidy and clean as possible so as not to attract attention or have complaints directed at us. Most of our neighbors love our goats and chickens and I sell a lot of eggs when I have them. I try to look at it from their point of view. Our current coop and goat house is horrible looking and I can't wait to get rid of it. Since our coop will be visible from the street as well as from our living room window, I want it to be a pleasure to look at. With this in mind, I plan to make it match our house as much as possible or at least very cute even if it is a different design.
Since this will probably be the last coop we ever build, I want it done right and I don't want to have to re do things because I didn't do them in the first place and now wish I had. The problem is that hubby thinks some of my ideas are far fetched and over the top. I don't think so. I hope to be on the local garden tour within the next couple of years and would like to eventually sponsor a coop tour at some point and share chicken knowledge and raise awareness about backyard chickens, so I want the coop to be over the top cute and function well so I can show people that you can have chickens in a small yard and still have it be an enjoyable place to look at and to be in. The garden club people have been asking me for years to be on the tour because they would love to have a sustainable garden involved. No one else has ever offered that. But I keep putting them off until I get my animal housing done up.
Some of my plans include using gallery glass to paint a faux stained glass chicken design on some vintage cabin windows I rescued and will be using as doors in the coop. This will look adorable I think. I also want to use storybook style shingles on the roof instead of metal panels, since it isn't that large of a space and we won't need that many of the. I will also be adding shutters, hanging planters, planter boxes and an arbor with grape vines. In the covered run I will have manzanita branches for perching and other fun chicken toys. They will have access to the large goat pen as well. Hubby thinks this is all too much, but I think since is will be so public, it will be well appreciated by the neighbors and by me. And since I get asked so many chicken questions by others hoping to add chickens to their lives, I want to set a good example. Winter is hard up here so the covered run needs to be a fun and stimulating place for them to be when they can go into the open pen due to snow.
Am I nuts or should I just go for it? We are on a budget, I don't care if it takes all summer, as long as it gets done the way I want. I am willing to do it bit by bit as I can afford it in order t get what I want. I am also planning on selling jam, eggs and soap this summer to add to the budget as well. What would you do in my position?
