Wow, you are hatching like crazy! I did have pretty good luck with shipped eggs, but I want maybe 6 each of 4 different breeds, which isn't very practical.
I love my lone Ancona, - totally flighty, but full of character.
We are sprouting hoop houses here like you are hatching eggs! These cost roughly $1200 each if you do it yourself, but they are very large 20 x 24. We have 2 in the garden that get moved seasonally (pulled with a tractor). Then Jack needed a tractor shed so he built another covered with tarps.
After quarantining chickens in the garden hoop house this winter and seeing how happy they were out there (it seems bright even in the dead of winter), we decided to build another, covered with wire (and plastic for the winter).
The pipes are chain-link fence pipe, bent with a bending jig. I use the term "we" loosely. My only role in building has been standing on the pipe while it is being bent.![]()
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Wow those look fantastic! I think the one we'll make though would be out of PVC so it's more easily moved.
I'm jealous of your wide open spaces. I need more land.
And I'm hatching because there's nothing else to do... I've already bought my seeds for spring and it's everything in my power to not start them too early (I do every year, I'm still on Maryland time and I often get fooled by a few days of nice April weather here). I've been dreaming of my summer garden for months. I think a hoop house would help extend my season though...