3 Chicks and a Coop

WHO GETS THE HUSBAND OF THE YEAR AWARD??

 Mine does!! Mine does!!

I decided a couple of months ago that I was tired of buying eggs in the grocery store and I wanted chickens. Well I was in luck because one of the guys I work with, Josiah, also has his own chickens and just happened to have chicks. So we added three baby chicks to the Hopper Farm. With two humans, three pups, and a horse, what's three more mouths to feed?

And why not just make this 'farm' a farm!

With busy schedules and Coach traveling, there hasn't been much time to build a coop so our chicks have just gone to wandering around the yard, down to the neighbors, back up the fence line to the house, and our front porch, which now needs another hosing down. Grrr. They have been so funny in the back yard though... it's like they knew they needed to be under cover and would run waddle fast from tree to tree. 

With Coach being off on Mondays in the fall season, and with a hawk being spotted flying around the premises, we FINALLY got started on this coop shenanigan, and Coach and my FIL got it finished today while I was at work. 

Before we got started, I had been googling for any info I could find on coops and ended up stumbling upon The Chicken Chick. Such an awesome blog! In one of her posts, she had broken down the pros and cons of different types of coop bedding, and sand ended up being the best to use. Lucky for us, there is a creek bed in the back of the pasture where there is tons of sand. 

Coach hopped on his big green tractor, I hopped in the truck yes I actually drove the stick shift!! and we set out thru the pasture. We got the back of the truck loaded with 3 buckets of sand and brought it back to the house to get the coop floor started. 

I will say that I was not trying to spend a ton on this coop and also talking to other people who had chickens, all said you can find a way to do it without it costing you an arm and a leg. One afternoon, me and MIL started cleaning out the milk barn and I stumbled across the old kitchen cabinets that came out of the house. We ended up deciding that it would be a perfect for what they would nest in. She also found an old desk that we reconstructed for the cabinets to sit on.

Amber and Sass came over one afternoon and helped me paint it.. thank you ladies!

Touching up a few areas that needed more paint.

Getting posts in the ground!!

Of course, Miss Diva had to supervise.

Sunset!

Got all the posts in the ground! Notice we centered the top of the cabinets. Not sure why it was off centered to begin with.

Got half the wire up..

Chicks finally got to check out their new home today! Coach sent me this while I was at work.

Easy access to getting our fresh eggs. Can NOT wait!

When I got home, Coach and I checked it out together and I got some more shots with my iPhone. I do believe they are loving their new pad! 

Love the tin roof!

Dirt bath.

You can't see the grandaddy long leg but the white chick saw it and actually got it in her mouth.. it must not have tasted to0 well or she couldn't get it down.. let's just say its life was sparred!

 I am SOOO HAPPY this project is finally crossed off our to-do list and thank you to Coach, my MIL, FIL, Amber and Sass! For a bunch of rookies I think it turned out pretty dang good! We do have to make something for them to perch on and I want to get them another water dispenser and feeder this weekend.

I checked on them again later on when I got home from the gym.. the red and white chicks were all snuggled up on the bottom shelf and Mr. Blue was up on the very top.

 I leave you with this video.. We watched them for some time doing this.

They are just too funny!

Anybody else out there have chicks of your own?