My New Chickens!

After moving into my new place, I was really excited to have such a nice yard to work with. The very first idea I had after seeing the yard was that I could have chickens! So, after talking to my two "enablers" (Adrienne and Jan), I had a source for chickens and a coop to house them in, both for bargain prices. I picked up the chickens after their feed trial at OSU was over and dropped them off at Jan's house until I was ready. Last week, Adrienne and Paul brought the coop over and one afternoon after work, I put the fence up and finished the surround all by myself! It's not the fanciest coop I've ever seen, but it's sturdy and I was very proud of my efforts. This morning, Jan and Neil came over with three chickens chosen out of the bunch I picked up and we turned them loose in their new home.

Here is a photo of the whole shebang, what do you think?

Within minutes, the hens were digging in the soil, eating pillbugs, fresh grass, and weeds...

access to the nest boxes, full of fresh straw...

and by one in the afternoon, I had my very first egg!!!