The Coop

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Measure twice, cut once!

There are many other pieces of news more important and of more consequence than this. But it is 23:33 and while I feel the compulsion to start my blog again I don’t have the presence of mind to deal with important matters. So, I’ll share some fun news.

Toward the end of last year Carrie and I were watching a series on the TV called Edwardian Farm. It traced the lives of three historians who lived on a farm for a year and ran it in the way it would have been run in Edwardian times. It was very interesting and good, clean entertainment. Something I enjoyed was their “chicken concern”. I’m not sure why, but it struck a chord with me.

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Then, toward the end of last year the idea of getting some chickens hit me and would not go away. So, I began to research getting chickens and before I knew it I was drawing up plans for a chicken coop! Over the next few weeks the coop slowly took shape. I took an old dog kennel out back and used that as the basis for the coop. I planned to build some nesting boxes on the side and raise it 18 inches off the ground. Easy right? The old saying I started this post with came to mind many times as I built this thing!

If I had known what I was doing it could have been easy, but very soon my lack of tools and knowledge became apparent. But, I pressed on and eventually it was complete! I picked about the worst time of the year to do this type of work and ended up caked in mud numberous times! However, I did enjoy it and the children enjoyed spending time with me outside!

The main benefit will be a supply of fresh eggs! So far they have been scarce, but hopefully they will start appearing regulaly soon. God answered many prayers in the supplies to build the coop and even in the supply of chickens themselves! We have started with 6 and will go from there. For more pictures of the construction and chickens go here: Our Chickens-The Beginning

Another benefit will be the possibility of selling some of the eggs. We hope to make it the children’s responsibility to care for the chickens and sell their eggs. Then, we will use the profit to teach the children how to wisely use money.

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