A friend on Facebook recently woke up on her birthday and went out of her house to find her husband bought her a shiny new car and there it was with a big bow on it. We all know this moment– from television commercials, mostly. My female creative writing students regularly featured this moment in their short stories (said husbands were usually firemen and the cars ranged from Lexus to Mercedes).
My choice in husbands (and lifestyle) is such that I am quite sure I will never have such a moment. However, when I looked out the bedroom window yesterday at my garden I got an equally wonderful surprise– a chicken coop made by my husband had been delivered! I was so excited. I just love the way the garden looks– more like a little village with the cold frame and coop.
I’ve been wanting a chicken coop for a few years. It needed to be varmint-proof and big enough for four chickens, easy to clean and sturdy. I showed Steve a bunch of designs from a website, including one that had incorporated four toilet seats for reaching in and getting the eggs behind the chicken’s backs.
My chicken coop is decidedly a Steve Heymans design. It echoes the shape of our house, with one long sloping side and plenty of windows. His new favorite material is polycarbonate, so that was put to good use. The bar across the door will keep the varmints from breaking in. There’s a shelf for roosting (easily removed for cleaning). What is not there yet is the covered run, which will extend from one side and allow the chickens easy access in and out without being in danger from predators in the air.
It is still very cold outside. But I’m driving over to the Cold Spring Country Store today to order the chicks. They’ll arrive at the end of the month. The idea is to get them started inside so we’ll start getting eggs earlier. We’ll move them to the coop when it’s warm. Then in winter we will move the whole coop, either to the furniture shop or the barn or even the greenhouse.
And so, I (will soon) have my very own animals in their own little house on the farm!
Oh! I’m so excited for you! I’ve been talking about getting chickens for the past few months but Charlie is turned “parent” on me and said~”Who will wind up taking care of these chickens? Me!” So I’ve dropped it- for now. In the meantime, I’ll just follow your chicken adventures!
Thank you Steve for the Coop!
I would take a chicken coop over a car any day! My friends near Montevideo have chickens, and we love sitting out in the back yard with a glass of wine watching them run around. They’re really quite funny; a microcosm of contemporary society. She had about 30 chicks last spring and they’re just a hoot. And there’s nothing to beat free-range organic eggs every morning! Enjoy your new venture.
Looking forward to seeing this next month:)