So just a few short notes about......
Gallus Gallus Domesticus
There are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird.
And that should be all of the boring scientific mumbo jumbo for the rest of this post.
As a kid my grandfather kept chickens. My sister and I used to go and collect eggs daily. I would feed them, water them, and toss some scratch into the run. One day our rooster scared the bejeezus out of my sister, and now she hates all birds, especially chickens.
I on the other hand still have an affinity for them. So when we learned that our county had no zoning restrictions on chickens I was overjoyed and immediately went about convincing the rest of the household that we needed some fine feathered friends! It didn't take long before everyone was excited at the prospect of fresh eggs daily.
Which is the reason we have chickens. Eggs, eggs and more eggs. I'm not really into slaughtering animals if I don't have to. Eventually the girls will stop laying and I suppose when that time comes we will have a nice chicken dinner, but until then it's all about the juevos!
I came up with the design for the coop on my own. I looked over a bunch of plans on the internet and didn't really see anything that caught my eye, so we just started building. Free form. We tried to use as much lumber and scrap as we had on hand. The slatted side wall is made from re-purposed IKEA bed slats. The ladder was part of an old garden fence I found behind our shed, and some of the lumber, and the shingles I scrounged from inside the shed itself.
I'm not the best carpenter, In fact this was my first venture into carpentry, so my measurements weren't quite accurate, but I think it sort of adds a quirky homemade charm.
In total we spent about $150 on materials for the coop and original run.
Just yesterday though we doubled the size of our run and added a full sized gate.
Winona didn't end up having the same experience as my sister.
Belle is already laying beautiful large pinkish hued eggs. By fall the other two(?) should be laying eggs that are considered a delicacy in France. They will be large and deep dark chocolate colored and I cannot wait to taste them!
We love our chickens. I love watching Winona with them. We have recently started letting them free range in the yard in the evenings and Winnie gets a kick out of chasing them around.
They are a joy to have around and everyone enjoys the fruits of Belle's labors. Honestly there is nothing like an egg that has just been laid. They are so creamy and so much better than anything from the store.
There is a huge urban chicken movement going on, so if you are interested in chicken keeping there are a number of websites that offer information on doing so as well as state and local ordinance.
Check out backyardchickens.com, urbanchickens.org, and mypetchicken.com for some great advice.
3 comments:
Awesome...your coop is really cool!
Love this. If we didn't have so much of a coyote problem, we would be all over the chickens. We do however have an egg "hook up". A local farmer customer of the bank my husband works for brings us 18 eggs every week. Down here in Central Alabama, we call them "yard eggs". Technically, they are free range but everyone just calls them "yard eggs". The yolks are a beautiful orange. My eldest son eats an egg (or 2) almost every morning and I love to bake so we go through lots. Interesting post. Have you guys thought about hooking up with a local deer hunter? Our limits in Alabama are probably different but because of our high deer population at this time, most hunters have the ability to harvest more than they can eat or all their friends can eat. Because my husband exclusively bow hunts, there are lots of people that ask him to harvest a doe for them to have processed for their freezer. I think you guys would LOVE having venison in your freezer as its economical and organic. Around here it costs around $60 to have a deer processed and packaged. Its SO lean and has amazing flavor. We prefer doe because its not as gamey in flavor as a buck. We tend to eat more meat in the winter and it saves lots of money:)
Thank you Robyn.
Erin, you are right. Yard eggs are amazing and so much better than store bought eggs. We will never go back.
We actually love venison but we don't ever have enough and treat it like its gold. I've never considered going in on it with a hunter. Thank you for the wonderful idea. I can never get enough deer chili in the fall and winter.
For the summer we try not to eat very much meat and mostly enjoy our garden produce.
Post a Comment