the sweetest little chickies EVER!

Last week I posted about my chicken order. And do you know that a few hours later they called with news? Some easter eggers had hatched. THAT DAY! And would I like these or would I like to wait for the next batch? Which could be who knows when? Well HECK YES, I WANT THOSE CHICKS! And thus began our adventure with backyard chickens.

We are now part of a growing trend called "Urban Farmers." We will raise our chickens in the backyard. They will have a coop. And we will let them out each morning to "free range" in the yard, allowing them to eat bugs and grass. But of course we will feed them real chicken food also. The most important thing to know is that HAPPY CHICKENS MAKE LOTS OF EGGS! And I intend to make these new family members VERY HAPPY.

I got a call from the post office at 7:19 a.m. on Friday that my chicks had arrived. Come get them! they said. And off I went, unsure of what I would find. But here's how they show up in the mail (in case you're wondering!).

So then I brought them home and opened them up, with Abby's assistance, of course. There's some really great video of this process, but since I haven't mastered the blog thing yet, I can't get it to upload. Grrrrr. Or rather, bawwwwwwk bawk bawk bawk!!!

Anyway, let's talk chicken coops. I am a recycler. I like repurposing things. And I like getting gifts that have been repurposed. I love giving life to old, chippy things. So when The Man asked what I thought of using the kid's playset to repurpose into a chicken coop, I jumped on it! I had actually tinkered with the idea and then figured he'd never go for it. So here it is in all it's kid glory:

And here it is today, minus the slides and the swings. We're using extra wood from the deconstruct and some pallet wood I got from a friend (Thank you Shawn!!). We did have to purchase some plywood since this is an older structure to begin with.

Here's the coop itself, where my little gals will sleep and nest, protected from wind and rain.

And this is the run, underneath, where the old "rock wall" got turned into a ramp for the hens.

And the best part is that the girls are so excited, they keep standing around the water cooler talking about how much fun they are going to have on the Frakes Family Farm!