CatsandCrops
Songster
Morning! (well, for us any ways!)
I'm Ash and I've been lurking here for about a month now so I figured, I should join and introduce myself. I've wanted chickens for YEARS but the husband has always said no. In his defense, we never had the room until we bought our house on 1.5 acres about 3 years ago. The house/land we purchased has a cool backstory; it was originally a one room cabin built in the 1880s for a local grindstone mill which operated on the river (which our property backs up into). Later on, the cabin was added on to and 8 LARGE greenhouses were built on the property. Those operated until the 1980s when sadly, no one took care of them and they all crumbled
When we started our remodel, we actually cut into the old exterior walls of the cabin and then repurposed all of that original wood throughout the house.
Our backyard is mostly woods, on a gradual slope, ending right into the river. We cant utilize the lower portion of the yard due to the river flooding at least 15-20+ feet a few times a year, but it's perfect for lazy afternoons and popping out of the river on our kayaks.
We have a larger cleared side yard where we have built an enclosed garden with 6 beds, plus a smaller enclosed garden near the house (weird tiny portion of grass when we moved in that would have served zero purpose) that we plant herbs and "all the salad fixings" so it's easy to grab for dinners. We also planted 3 apple trees last fall so we're hoping to expand the new orchard yearly. We have a contained compost bin; just a simple box made out of pallets with one side acting as a door for it. We also have a worm bin/compost in the basement made out big Rubbermaid totes.
I finally got my husband to agree to chickens when I made him go to 3 separate grocery stores for eggs at the beginning of March when the pandemic rush hit. We ordered 6 chicks from our local co-op (barred rock 5 girls, one boy) annnnd we ended up with 9 (8 girls, one boy). They are currently about 2 weeks old and living in a pack and play in our basement. They were originally in a water trough but they quickly out grew that. We're in the middle of building our coop - we're using free pallets and random materials we had leftover from the remodel/building our garage last summer/just laying around. We're kinda making it up as we go along but it's coming out great! It's about 80% done and we'll be digging/burying fencing for our run in about 2 weeks.
I'm hoping to grow fodder to supplement food for the chickens since we wont be able to let them free range and want to plant a garden specifically for them around the run. I also built two frames to put inside of the run to cover growing wheatgrass (so the chickens can eat the tops, but not get to the roots). Any suggestions for garden ideas?
I'm Ash and I've been lurking here for about a month now so I figured, I should join and introduce myself. I've wanted chickens for YEARS but the husband has always said no. In his defense, we never had the room until we bought our house on 1.5 acres about 3 years ago. The house/land we purchased has a cool backstory; it was originally a one room cabin built in the 1880s for a local grindstone mill which operated on the river (which our property backs up into). Later on, the cabin was added on to and 8 LARGE greenhouses were built on the property. Those operated until the 1980s when sadly, no one took care of them and they all crumbled
When we started our remodel, we actually cut into the old exterior walls of the cabin and then repurposed all of that original wood throughout the house. Our backyard is mostly woods, on a gradual slope, ending right into the river. We cant utilize the lower portion of the yard due to the river flooding at least 15-20+ feet a few times a year, but it's perfect for lazy afternoons and popping out of the river on our kayaks.
We have a larger cleared side yard where we have built an enclosed garden with 6 beds, plus a smaller enclosed garden near the house (weird tiny portion of grass when we moved in that would have served zero purpose) that we plant herbs and "all the salad fixings" so it's easy to grab for dinners. We also planted 3 apple trees last fall so we're hoping to expand the new orchard yearly. We have a contained compost bin; just a simple box made out of pallets with one side acting as a door for it. We also have a worm bin/compost in the basement made out big Rubbermaid totes.
I finally got my husband to agree to chickens when I made him go to 3 separate grocery stores for eggs at the beginning of March when the pandemic rush hit. We ordered 6 chicks from our local co-op (barred rock 5 girls, one boy) annnnd we ended up with 9 (8 girls, one boy). They are currently about 2 weeks old and living in a pack and play in our basement. They were originally in a water trough but they quickly out grew that. We're in the middle of building our coop - we're using free pallets and random materials we had leftover from the remodel/building our garage last summer/just laying around. We're kinda making it up as we go along but it's coming out great! It's about 80% done and we'll be digging/burying fencing for our run in about 2 weeks.
I'm hoping to grow fodder to supplement food for the chickens since we wont be able to let them free range and want to plant a garden specifically for them around the run. I also built two frames to put inside of the run to cover growing wheatgrass (so the chickens can eat the tops, but not get to the roots). Any suggestions for garden ideas?
It's very nice to meet you! Please make yourself at home! 
Welcome to BYC
