40 x 40 - 19. Build a Chicken Coop in my Yard

I have always dreamed of having chickens.  When I was in high school we hatched chicks in one of our classes.  When the time came, and no one wanted to take them home, I did.  For a couple of weeks I raised a baby chick in my bedroom.  

Eight years ago I moved out to the country.  It would take those eight years to convince my husband that chickens wouldn't be such a bad idea.  We were absolutely not equipped to bring chickens home.  Then a great opportunity came to get a one-of-a-kind chicken coop made by a group of Oregon Institute of Technology first-year engineering students.  There was no time to wait to make a decision (and it really wasn't my fault that my husband was in the middle of a heated meeting at work when I asked him if I could buy it).  Later my husband would ask me what he had agreed to.  I told him not to worry, but he did need to take the truck down to the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store the next day to pick up our new chicken coop.

Bringing home the coop was just the first step.  We figured that we had about six months before the spring baby chicks showed up at the feed store.  That meant that we would have six months to get everything set up.  We still had to convert the old garden into their pen.  Plus, aside from the coop, we still didn't have anything else.

Then I talked with one of my friends who has been a backyard chicken farmer for years.  She surprised me when she said that the local feed store had fall chicks right now.  I told her that we weren't ready, but she quickly convinced me that if we got chicks now, we would be six months ahead and have eggs in the spring.  

We headed off to the Grange Co-op to pick up everything we would need.

The next day I was back to pick up our chicks!

It was important to me that our other animals be introduced quickly to the chicks.  Knowing that the chicks were in a safe place, I let Mack take a look.  He instantly fell in love!  Every time I open the door he comes running to check on the girls.

The next step was to paint the coop to match the house. 

The girls seemed pretty content with their new home.

The first few days we were checking on the girls constantly.  They are so cute!  Plus, I am pretty sure that one of then doubled in size overnight!

Lae'ula wasn't as impressed as Mack was.

There hasn't been any down time around our house in the past week.  We spent an entire day getting the pen ready. 

And Scott is in the middle of switching out the tin roof with roofing that matches the rest of our out buildings.

We are both happy that we went ahead with getting chicks in the fall.  It's been more of a challenge keeping their coop at a steady temperature but we really will be six months ahead.  Plus, it has pushed us to get everything set up and done.

So now it's time to meet the girls:

We'll be sure to keep checking back with the girls to see how much they change over the next six months.