Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Chicken Chronicles::Vol. 1 (The Coop)

Having our own chickens has been a grand idea of mine for the last few years. When we first moved to Arizona I remember thinking, 'Shoot. Now I'll never get chickens. You can't raise chickens in the hot desert.' Well then I started doing a little research and come to find out there are tons of people raising chickens in Phoenix. (Me and my prejudices against Phoenix)
So our lives haven't exactly been suitable for pets and such with all the moving and unrest. We've been renting and knowing we would probably move again and so it's just always been in the back of my mind. Maybe someday. Well I think I'm really starting to feel settled...at least I'm getting there!
As far as the chickens go, we (I) have done our due diligence. The boys and I have checked out books from the library, devoured the Backyard Chickens website, researched coops and building plans and craigslist, etc. I've mentioned it to Rand's Dad (who grew up on a farm in South Dakota) and he basically thought I was nuts. Rand just listens to my grand schemes sort of waiting for them to disappear..."Do you really think you want chickens?" Um. Yes. I think I do! My aunt, who used to raise chickens has been the most encouraging. She gave me magazines to thumb through and just thinks chickens for pets are the best!
For Valentine's Day, Rand gave me the "go ahead". With all the other projects we have to do around here, I knew building a coop just wasn't going to happen yet. So I contacted a local guy who builds coops. I've noticed his ad on craigslist for a long time, but his coops weren't as cute as some of the others I had been looking at. Well, long story short I ended up getting it for several reasons. It was the right price and a good size for the price. It was assembled. It was very open which is best for hot Arizona summers (most of the cute coops I think would kill my chickens in a split second).
So I got it! It is probably going to get a coat of primer and paint before the ladies move in. Oh, and right now it is outside our backyard gate, next to the garage because it is about 2 inches too wide to fit through. We're going to have to lift it over. I love roping Rand into unexpected manual labor with my grand ideas. :)
Next up. Baby Chicks!

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think you should have tried your hand at raising fish.
Uncle Bubba