Talk about a blessing!! Lauren has been wanting chickens for a few years but we could never figure out the best time to do so. We almost purchased 25 chicks this past winter but they would have arrived in January and I had no desire to have 25 little chicks cheeping for weeks on end in our little house. Plus, with our two labs it would not have worked. Talk about a catastrophy waiting to happen. But, through a series of events, God has blessed our family with 10 chickens – all between nine months and a little over one year.
Johnny had originally built a little chicken house several years ago but it wouldn’t house 10 chickens. My sister and brother-in-law had given us their old dog house (which is in GREAT shape and opens from the top). We considered using this as a chicken coop, too, but we decided not to.
In the end, Lauren decided that her purple playhouse (which has been used for storage for many years) would make a great chicken house. It’s 4 foot x 8 foot with lots of room for the little critters. We moved the brooder we were given into the house, laid down some pine sawdust, and now we have a great home for the chickens. We’re going to build them a chicken run in a few days so right now they’re all getting used to their new surroundings. We have 1 sultan, 4 Welsummers and the others are a mix. We’ll have brown eggs, white eggs and even some blue eggs.
I cannot tell you how excited Lauren is. We’ve had the chickens since Sunday and as of today they’ve already laid 20 eggs!!! Lauren’s been in and out of the coop every single day, spreading new pine, creating more space for nesting, feeding them, and generally just getting to know them. I’ll post some pics later this week of how we are putting together the chicken run. A whole new adventure awaits this family!!