Day 78 - Trial and Errors

Knowing we wanted our chickens to be outside as much as safely possible, we needed to add an outdoor extension to the coop we had just created. In my mind, the task was quite simple. In reality, it was a whole different story.

I initially thought of simply moving the temporary yard we had closer to the house next to the barn. However, after realizing it was too low for safe adult access and the full-sized coop door would not open in its current design, we were forced to make adjustments. 

We started by stabilizing the fence pieces with wooden garden stakes and using hooks screwed in the side of the aluminum siding of the barn to make a taller roof made of snow fencing.

Again, putting aesthetics aside, we focused on function.

Unfortunately, function wasn't on our side as well.  A few unexpected hurdles needed to be jumped before we had an outdoor space that worked for both the chickens and us.

We didn't factor in that the coop was on the side where the wind was strongest, causing consistent reinforcement of the roof.

We also didn't factor the uneven ground creating crevices large enough for chickens to squeeze through. Although they didn't venture far, they couldn’t figure out their way back in. This created a daily ritual of chicken catching. While initially kind of fun, it was something we wanted to try and avoid in the future as it created unnecessary stress for the birds and wasted time and energy for us.

We enjoyed watching the girls grow, seeing their unique personalities come to light, and building a relationship with us. They associated us with food so every time we came near, they would follow us around the yard like puppies anticipating a treat of mealworms, fruits, and veggies. They also loved weeds and grasses from just outside the fence. We now had ten mobile weed trimmers. 

Through trial and error, we made necessary adjustments and alterations. Learning on the fly was a mixture of stress and satisfaction. Every accomplishment was magnified and every mistake felt monumental, but in an odd way, this process was a microcosm of being a new farm owner.