Finished Coop & The New Yard

We wasted no time getting the chicken coop finished once the parents got whisked away back to California. Here are a few photos of us finishing up the coop-mahal:

Jenni finishing the door

The inside with nesting box and roosts

Installing the wheels

Rowan's special window feature

We saved some of the old original redwood siding from our house to use on the coop.

The next photos of the coop will be when we get the chickens in late August. We decided we will purchase them from the 4H kids at our local county fair, so stay tuned.

Our next summer project has been getting the entire yard re-graded and adding new soil and a new driveway. The guys spent about a week digging, scraping, adding new top soil, drainage and a flagstone paver driveway/walkways.

First order of business was to get the old driveway removed. Thank goodness the Bobcat made easy work of it.

Once the old driveway and top soil was removed,  Rowan and I helped supervise the drawing out of the driveway/walkway design. We painted out the basic design first so the guys could follow the pattern.

 Installing the forms

 A couple of truckloads of gravel went down first.....

 ........then a couple of loads of sand and everything was leveled off.

 Then, the pavers being laid down.....

The locking sand being brushed in.......

 The vibrating machine packing the sand into the cracks

Once the stone was laid, the new topsoil and mulch were added.

 The end result is very nice indeed. Now we will wait until our heatwave here in the midwest is over and plant the new yard in the fall.

In spite of all of this yard commotion, we did have another exciting new birth in the yard (see the Doe birth in my last post). Our Carolina Wren couple that moved into our little birdhouse a few weeks ago now has a family of 4! Here are a couple of shots of the new arrivals:

Getting vegetables from the garden is a very entertaining experience as the bird box is just above the cucumbers so every time we are out there, the babies think we are there to feed them. 

Where is my worm? Wait, you aren't my mom!

 It seemed like no time at all and the wee ones were out for their first adventure in the bush. I just happened to be out in the yard as they came out of the box. Just too cute! We hope they made it off on their first flight........

Next..........travel news is coming from Across The Pond...........

Family & Chicken Coop 101

Family Visit and The Coop......May/June

Spring is always our favorite time here in the midwest. New beginnings of all sorts. Everything in bloom, baby bunnies, birds, bugs, deer and all sorts of creatures in the garden. It is always the perfect time for our parental unit from California to come for a visit (and to build something!). Mom & Dad paid us a visit in late May with ideas of chicken coop building, antiquing, movie watching, eating (of course) and some local sightseeing in their heads. Well, we got right to all of that once they arrived.

First, the chicken coop is such an exciting endeavor, Dad and Rowan and I couldn't wait to get going on the design and build. We made a trip to the local book store (yes! we still do have book stores here), to pick up the 4H Guide to raising Chickens and the Backyard Chickens Guide to Coops and Tractors (here is the website this excellent book comes from: http://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops)
Anyway.......we (especially dad) couldn't wait to get to building the coop. Luckily we had many building supplies left over from our house remodel, so the coop was an adventure to build.
The really cool thing is that one can build a coop out of just about anything, so that's what we did!
The most important feature is security. Security from predators such as raccoons, opossum, birds of prey and especially domestic dogs. You will see how we dealt with that in the following photos.

Dads feet barely hit the ground here and he was ready to get to work. Laying out the framework on the garage floor was the first order of business. We built an A-frame chicken coop tractor on wheels (this way we can move it around the yard and distribute that excellent poop to fertilize the yard).

Here, dad and I are laying out the template for the framing on the garage floor and building the A-frames:

 Rowan and dad

 The 3 Stooges :o)

Meanwhile, mom is playing an extremely important role on the inside: finally writing down her macaroni salad recipe for me. I realized after all of these years I don't have it written down by her. So now I do!

Mom was making this salad for a reason. We had a neighborhood party for Memorial Day, so the macaroni salad and a waldorf salad and deviled eggs (YUM!!!) will be our contribution. A bunch of our neighbors joined us with all sorts of other goodies. I also grilled up 3 beer butt chickens. Of course by the time I took any photos of the party we had already finished eating and just about cleaned up (too busy to host and take photos too), but here are some of our guests:

Our neighbors Jane and Judy

 Alex, Lee, our German guest Heike, and neighbor Werner.

 From left: Heike, Werner, Mom, another German guest Oliver, dad and Alex

We also took mom & dad on a trip south to West Baden Springs and French Lick for a day of sightseeing and delicious food. Go here for more info: http://www.historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/west-baden-springs-hotel/   -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Baden_Springs_Hotel  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Lick,_Indiana

Me and mom kicking back on one of the fainting couches in the dome of the West Baden Hotel.

 Mom & Dad on the veranda

Back to the coop...........
It only took us a couple of days to get the structure to really take form. We had to buy very little new material as most of the supplies were left over from the re-model of the house. So.... the coop just happens to match the house pretty well! :o) The floor for the inside just happens to be made out of left over ceiling boards from the front porch!

It is really a joy to have mom & dad come and visit.

We had a very special thing happen while mom & dad were here........a very pregnant Doe (as in deer)
appeared in our side yard and decided to make it her home. Well, a few days later, there was Bambi. We have to remember we are living in their living room so no reason to complain about all this wild life. The folks really enjoyed seeing all our rabbits, birds, deer, etc.

Here is our doe right next to the car in the driveway:

Here is a short video of our cat Fergus getting a bit too close to mommy deer.

Our cat Fergus thinks he has a chance against a pregnant doe. Yeah, right!

And finally, here is little Bambi in the yard across the street from us.

There go all of the flowers in the yard! :o)

The finished coop and more animal farm news coming. Stay tuned...........