The coop of my dreams!

For the past few weekends Keith and our friend Hugh have been building me a chicken coop. Well, not just a chicken coop-it's the chicken coop of my dreams! The most awesome coop in the county and now it's almost finished!

I found the plans for 'A classy A-frame chicken tractor' and knew it was exactly the kind of coop we should have: mobile, safe from predators, easy to clean, and most importantly easy to get eggs out of. The coop design is an A frame: the chicks will nest and sleep in the top part of the A-Keith and Hugh designed removable platforms and installed egg doors, so we should just be able to open a door on either side and collect the eggs! There is a trap door to let the chickens out into the bottom of the A. This is where they will hang out most of the time, eating grass, bugs and delicious chicken feed.  It will have wheels on one side and a handle bar on the other, so we can move it around the yard-this may mean we never have to cut the grass again!

I emailed the plans to Keith in October (or so) and he kept saying that it was a winter plan, and that by February he would get to it. On Feb 1st I started pushing the project hard and by now,  March 7th it is almost finished.

This is perfect timing because the chicks are supposed to arrive at Grain Growers on March 16 AND because we already have a chick! The chick we already have is named Libby (we hope she's a girl) and hatched at hour friends house a couple of weeks ago. Their daughter Morgan is taking care of Libby until we get everything finished.

Yesterday we had a beautiful day to paint the inside of the coop. We got a $5 'oops' gallon of stain with a primer that goes on like paint-perfect to seal the wood on the inside. Hugh described the color as 'womb-like' and with two coats on, it's hard to disagree! Hopefully the chickens will feel safe and warm and produce tons of eggs!!

Yesterday was the first time I helped with the coop as my minions (flying monkeys, if you will ;) have been doing all the hard work. They had also been creatively figuring out ways to improve on the not very good plans I found and for this I take all the credit!

At this rate the coop will be completed by the time we get the chicks. But of course the chicks won't go straight inside the coop. They will be in our living room for a couple of weeks growing big and strong and staying as warm as possible! So, fair warning, if you come to our house between March 16 and April 10th (or so) there will be chicks in the house!