Backyard chickens: building the coop

I drew up some preliminary sketches, and a few days ago Shayne and I finally made it to Lowes to pick up our lumber.  I wanted to go to the ReStore first in case they had suitable material, but we ran out of time.  So it was all new lumber...  Sorry, Earth.  At least the metal roofing is salvaged.

Today we had a coop-raising, and Shayne, my best friend's dad, and another family friend came over to help build.  I provided technical consultation and child care.  It was hard for me not to be as hands-on as I wanted...  But, not surprisingly, everything went fine without me.  :)

Here are today's pics:

Leveling the foundation using patio blocks

Adding walls!

Framing...

Building the roof

My heroes!!

Ethan had fun watching from the sidelines...

We still have to build the house part of the coop, add our metal roofing, cover the sides with hardware cloth, and paint, but at least we have a good start!

Ethan at 6 months

The reason I never get anything done anymore:

New raised beds in!!

Yeesh, I'm out of shape!  I picked up a truckload of dirt yesterday, and Shayne and I shoveled it into the new beds.  And I'm sore!  We still have a load of compost to add today, then another load of dirt.  I see a heating pad in my future...

Taking the plunge: backyard chickens

I ordered my chicks today, and they're scheduled to arrive on May 3.  We got 2 Australorps, 1 buff Orpington, and 1 gold-laced Wyandotte.  All are gentle, quiet birds that tolerate confinement well.  I hope to let them free-range (or at least range in a movable "chicken tractor"), but I don't want them pecking at each other when we do have to keep them in.

I'm pretty excited about the idea of having actual livestock.  Yeah, I know.  They're just chickens...  But it's another step towards my homesteading dream, another step towards being more food-independent.  It's also another step away from normalcy.  A veggie garden is excusable.  Lots of people have those.  But chickens?  Not so normal. 

Oh well.

Building the garden

Slowly but surely, things are moving along.  Shayne and I went to Lowes for lumber on Monday, he cut it yesterday, and today he actually started building the beds.  I'll have 4 new beds, each 4'x8' and 11" deep.  I have a can of amber shellac I'm not using for anything, so I might use it to seal/stain the wood to make it look nicer and a little more weatherproof.  The beds should be ready for final assembly by tomorrow or Saturday.  Yay!

I've decided to keep the single little bed we made last year.  We're going to arrange the new beds around it, making it look like the "5" side of dice.  The shallower original bed will be for strawberries.  I'd like to put a small picket fence around the entire garden, then plant some herbs and perennials around the edges.

I've got this image in my head that I just can't get to jive with our yard.  Every time I look in the side yard, I get this sinking feeling...  Like no matter how hard I try, the garden just isn't going to look the way I want it.  Maybe it's because the property line just looks so terrible.  It's overgrown with weeds, raspberry bushes, and God-only-knows-what.  I'm not even sure how to fix it.  Napalm, maybe??