Our Chickens

               

  

We built the coop in April of '05 when Michael decided he wanted to raise chickens.  The entire building is made out of rough cut lumber we got from the Amish nearby.  I had originally wanted it to look like an old fashioned coop, but it ended up looking like either a one room schoolhouse or church.  I didn't use any plans or designs, just what I scrawled out on a piece of paper.  In hindsight, I'm not sure I would have went through the hassle of building the cupola and the roof would have a slighter pitch.  I thought I was going to break my neck putting on the shingles!  The interior is divided as well with two outdoor runs so we can separate the Polish from the laying hens.

   The laying flock was comprised of Black Austrolorps, 2 New Hampshire Reds, and Dominique Hens.  We had originally wanted to stick with heritage breeds, but I've always like the color on the Austrolorps and they are prolific layers.  We kept back one of the Dominique roosters and hope to set some eggs this spring/summer. For 2007 we've added some Barred Rocks and some Cornish/Rock crosses for new layers and some table birds.

    

Michael's taking weeds he pulled from his strawberry patch to feed the chickens.

The White Crested Black Polish are Michaels' pets....

 

I call them food.....