"Peep-peep-peep" is the sweet sound we've been hearing nearly all day long ever since we purchased our first set of baby chicks right around Easter time. They are so adorable--the perfect symbol of the new life of Spring and the new life we have in Christ!
We were introduced to the idea of raising chickens last summer when we rented a house out-of-town whose owner asked us to take care of his chickens. We liked the fresh eggs so much that we decided to start our own little hen house when we moved to our new home. We brought 5 Buff Orpington hens with us from the rental property, and then purchased 10 Red Star chicks to expand our chicken family. Thankfully, the location of our new house is ideal for raising chickens. We are out-of-town with a secluded 7 acres of land---perfect for chickens to roam (and boys to explore)!
Paul and the boys did a beautiful job turning a little shed on the property into a cozy coop for our hens. It was a lot of work digging holes for the posts, putting up the fence, building nest boxes and roosting bars, etc... Paul's attention to detail was superb! He created a little hen door that opens and closes by pulling on a string from the outside of the coop, and he also made a hinged door on the nesting boxes on the outside of the coop so that we really don't ever have to go inside the coop at all! It's great to avoid getting poop on our shoes!
We are having so much fun learning how to be amateur farmers! We really have no idea what we are doing, but Google and some good friends are teaching us as we go. It feels so good to be on the path towards being more self-sufficient, and we think it will be great for the kids to take on some more outdoor responsibilities to make them enjoy nature more than their silly electronics games (we sure hope that will be the case anyway) :)
I hope you enjoy the pictures of the whole process--from coop to chicks--in reverse order :)
Even the deer came to inspect the new coop!
I'm guessing that they were disappointed with how well it was constructed,
which prevented them from stealing any of the chicken feed :)
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