Chicken Coop

This is the chicken coop so far.  The chickens are living in it, but we still have to insulate it and put the siding on.

We made the coop under a big old apple tree, this part of the yard is the only part that is shaded from the sun all day, so the chickens stay nice and cool even when it's 90 degrees out.

The bottom of the coop and the run are lined with three (3) layers of chicken wire so that the resident fox family across the street does not get an easy meal some night.

The coop is big enough for Connor to stand up in and move around comfortably to clean.

The floor of the coop where Connor is standing, is layered with plywood - 3 layers of chicken wire - insulation - pine 1x10's.  Most of the materials that we used to build the coop we had laying around the garage or found in free piles beside the road.  The pressure treated wood we bought at Lowe's.

  The top of the run slides back and forth so we can get into it and clean it.  This is only temporary, we are going to build a door on the side so that we can walk in, but we have not found the materials for it yet.  I am doing all of this with as much recycled materials as possible and as little money.  It works for now, and the chickens are happy.

  This is the play yard that we built for the chickens to hang out in when we are not going to be home during the day.  It took me and the kids just over an hour to build, and again we built it from scrap materials we found in the garage.  

I would never leave the chickens in it over night because it is not that secure, but it works great during the day when they can't be roaming around the yard.                                                                     

I love my chickens!

Welcome to our backyard farm!  We are in the beginning stages of turning our property into a backyard farm and eventually getting off the grid.  It is now more important than ever to be eco-healthy and direct our focus on what we can do to become more sustainable.

I started this blog to share with you the process, the things that work for us, the things that don't, and the mistakes that we make.  I am a single mom with a 13 year-old daughter and an 8 year-old son, and even though we are just starting out, I am happier than I have ever been.