Chicken Run....For Real, Not The Movie!!

Okey Dokey Artichokey, let's get on with the chicken story!!

So, as I told you yesterday, we finished the chicken coop and surprised aCOWntant Willie with it! He was very surprised and we were all pleased because when it rained that night, the inside stayed dry!! I think DD#1 and I might become pro chicken coop builders!! :)

Next step was a chicken run because we need a safe place for them to play out in the fresh air when we can't watch them. There are a gazillion ideas for building chicken runs, but due to the rain we needed something quick because we were just hours away from getting our four girls!!

The decision was made to go with a portable pvc pipe run, so we all set to work!!

We got the frame together!!

Once the frame was done, we wrapped it with chicken wire and used zip-ties to connect it.

It was then that we ran into a bit of a problem.  How in the world could we safely connect it to the hen house so they can go in and out during the day?

Well, at this point aCOWntant Willie was starting to feel sick so DD #1 and I crawled into the run and went to work trying to figure it out.  We came up with a few ideas that DID NOT WORK and finally came up with something that will work for now.  We used a staple gun and stapled the wire to the hen house.  It is not the most secure thing and we will need to revise it in the near future, but it works for now!!

Then we needed to get nesting boxes and roosting bars in the coop.  I had read a quick and easy nesting box idea where you just use dishpans, so we went to work on that!!

And tah-dah!!!  We have nesting boxes!!

So every night around sunset, we go and call them into the hen house (coop) and lock all of the doors up for the night.  Apparently chickens go almost comatose at night!  Who knew??!!

When we went out to check on them yesterday morning, they were all four snuggled up in one nesting box.  Sooooo cute!!

DD #3 has become our chicken queen!  All four chickens are in love with her.  As soon as they hear her voice they come running to her.  She will sit down with them and they all climb up in her lap and go to sleep! Total cuteness!!

Yesterday afternoon we were presented with a great opportunity to go in with a neighbor and acquire 4 more chickens, 3 of them are already laying eggs!  So...DD #1 and I headed back to Lowe's so get the supplies to build another coop!  We almost finished it yesterday so I will post pictures tomorrow of our new hen house and our 4 new additions!

I believe that we have decided to try and sell any excess eggs as a fundraiser for our family mission trip this summer!!  It was aCOWntant Willie's idea and I must say that it is a great one!!

See ya tomorrow!!