Our New Chooks

The funniest thing happened.  On Monday I came home from work and told my husband I had purchased 9 new additions to the whanau (family) off Trademe and they were arriving on Thursday night.  Yes that's right, 9 laying chickens were arriving and I had just upped my husbands stress levels by giving him 3 days to design and build the chicken coop.  Seemed like a doable project, and after trolling through the internet that night to give him some idea of what I wanted, it was very clear I didn't just want a chicken coop, I wanted the Taj Mahal.

We decided the best place to put the chickens was in "The Pines" - an area in the back paddock under the mature pines trees.  We figured it would give the "gals" plenty of space to scratch around.

We searched the internet and books high and low to find out what essentials chickens needed in order to accommodate my spontaneous purchase.  Nesting boxes (but not one for each chicken as they tend to share the same boxes), roosting area (much higher than the nesting boxes), small door with ramp so they are able to come and go as they please from the coop, lots of fresh saw dust to keep the coop nice and toasty at night, plus it makes it easier for us to clean the coop which is an added bonus, a little light to assist in the egg laying process, feeding process, watering station ... and the list goes on.


Tuesday night the design came home for me to view and Wednesday the build project began.  The floor, and two sides were up that night but unfortunately we ran out of light to continue after the sun had gone down.  Thursday my husband took the day off work and finished the build while I took half a day off work running around get wire mesh, tin, sawdust and not forgeting the kids from school.


6.30 pm came about and the roof and run still wasn't finished so I left my husband to carry on while I made my 30 minute ride to Ohaupo to pick up "the gals" with my daughter.  On the way home a sense of excitment hit me.  We had our first farm animals - chickens.  Chickens for fresh eggs ... YAY!!!


We got home and placed them carefully on their roosting perches in the band new, rustic coop, then went into the house to reflect on the last few days activities.  

What I got wasn't anything like the pictures I had seen on the internet, but knowing my husband's logic and eye for practicality in my eyes it was 100 times better than the Taj Mahal. I do envisage plantings of some sort to soften the area and provide additional shelter from any wind but I am happy with the outcome of my outrageous purchase.  Fresh free range eggs was this projects main objective and I'm excited about the outcome.  Next time I'll try to give my husband a little more warning!! 

THE CHICKEN COOP - TAJ MAHAL

6 OF THE GALS

OUR VERY FIRST EGG