At the end of last week we went out of state to visit our friends who moved away last spring. It was SO wonderful to see them. ALL of my kids have a best friend in that family, so it was a really fun trip for everyone. I was a little scared to make the drive by myself with all the kids, but it really worked out well. It was a beautiful drive. It was really nice to see our friends and see their *wonderful* new home and just get to visit. We miss them a lot! [I have not included any of the cute pics I got because their parents don't like to have their kids' pics on the internet, but be assured, if I HAD included pics you would be impressed by the absolute adorable-ness of my friends' children! ;) ]
We got home Friday evening and then spent all day Saturday running errands, cleaning, doing laundry and all that fun stuff. I thought the kids were getting sick Saturday because they behaved SO terribly bad - so whiny, fussy, unhappy... you know how it goes. It turns out it must have just been them being tired from losing sleep for a few nights due to our trip, because they were all fine by today. They missed breakfast with St. Nicholas at our Church yesterday morning though because I was convinced they must all be getting sick because they were so horrible! LOL!
The coolest thing we did this weekend was to build a nesting box for chickens. We've decided to get a few chickens to raise in our back yard. We've wanted chickens for years but thought until recently that it was illegal to have them within the city limits. Turns out it is illegal to have a cow or a pig, but not chickens. And our neighborhood does not have covenants against chickens, so we are getting some. [We are only getting girl chickens so they won't be crowing and driving our sweet neighbors nuts!].
The kids and I and my husband are all so excited. We have a friend from our homeschool group that is giving us 4 hens from her flock soon and if those work out OK for us, we plan to buy more in the spring.
We have an old play house in the back yard that is going to be just perfect for a chicken house. For whatever reason, my children have never liked playing in it [they like to play ON TOP OF it, see pic below, but not in it!].
So, we have all decided it will be a nice home for our chickens. We are in the process of fixing up the house to be a good place for the chickens and we are reading and learning everything we can about chickens right now.
So, we needed to build a "nesting box" for the hens so they can lay us some nice organic eggs. :) My husband and I studied our chicken book and then he went to Home Depot today and got the stuff to build the chicken nesting box according to the directions. Then he built it.
While he and I were busy with the nesting box, the kids played in the front yard with our neighbor.
Here is my husband getting started. He got to use power tools today - he was a happy man. LOL!
Here is the almost finished box and my husband and son. All the kids were fascinated by the whole process.
Here are all the monkeys in the finished nesting box. We tried to explain to them that it was a box for *chickens* NOT *monkeys*. They wouldn't listen. ;)
Here is my husband with the finished product. I was really proud of him - I thought it turned out great, and I had no idea he could build something like that! Plus, just personally, I LOVE a home made gift better than anything else, and this was definitely a labor of love on his part - indulging my chicken mania!
I have told him that next I want him to build built in shelving in our family room and he has agreed! WOOHOO!!
So, it has been a very busy but fun week. Hopefully soon we will have some chickens to take pictures of and share!
5 comments:
How exciting!! The nesting box looks great! I can't wait to hear all about the chickens. Oh, and what is the name of the book(s) about chickens? I need to do some research myself.
My only question is...
What about the dogs?
That looks like a fun adventure! I wish we could have chickens here. I think it would be a great project for the kids (It's too dad-gummed cold in these, here parts!). Plus, my hubs and son are allergic to anything "animal" so we stick with fish for now! The monkeys look so cute in the box like that. Ask them if they are ready to lay eggs yet heehee. The whole "chicken rearing experience" will be the impetus to many, good lessons in life, that's for sure!
Vicki - the book I got was "Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock" by Jay Rossier http://www.amazon.com/Living-Chickens-Everything-Raise-Backyard/dp/1592280137/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196774319&sr=8-2
This was the one recommended by the chicken raising people I know.
If you get some chickens I can't wait to hear how it goes!!
Kristin - the dogs will be interesting.
The collie is far to lazy and aloof [um, snotty actually] to engage in any chicken chasing or "ridiculous" activity like that.
The lab/husky mix is a whole nother story - I can see him chasing and eating chickens with no problem.
Right now we have the soon-to-be chicken house dog proofed [and raccoon proofed... LOL!] so it will be a situation where we bring him inside while the chickens are out and then have them locked away safely while he's outside.
My husband is also considering building and actual "chicken run" where the chickens can have their own little fenced in back yard to play in - which also keeps them safe from hawks and things that fly up and eat chickens because it has wire fencing over the top too.
My ideal situation would be to teach the lab not to bother the chickens [and he is really smart and responsive to training so it is possible *maybe*....we'll see] and let the chickens "free range" in the back yard for the daylight hours. We have to determine if chicken hawks are going to be a problem or not before we do that though.
OK, I misspelled too and my amazon link got cut off, but the baby is eating wires and I don't have time to rewrite all that - so just know I'm not *really* an idiot...mostly. LOL!
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