Day 87

Still relatively new to raising chickens, we had been enjoying the process. It was fun to have chicks and see them grow and I felt accomplished and proud in being able to transform a horse stall into a coop. Our outdoor yard had a bit to be desired but we had some work around the barn that we wanted done before we could improve it. That “wanted” work quickly became needed work.

I have a hard time saying no sometimes. I also love a good challenge. I also tend to find extra energy when I am excited about something. These three factors came into play when a friend decided to downsize their chicken flock. We gleefully (and somewhat naively) accepted their invitation to take many of their birds.

However, before we could actually adopt many new feathered friends, we had to make sure our indoor and outdoor areas were improved.

I already turned a horse stall into a coop. Why not do it three more times?

The pattern of replacing wood, creating doors, removing dirt, adding hardware cloth, dropping in some gravel, and putting in some type of base before adding inches of wood shavings stayed the same. However, the help I received was a bit different for this expansion.

Rather than relying on Ice Age Trail friends for the majority of the assistance I needed, I turned to my children. Though their level of experience was not nearly as impressive, their enthusiasm and energy level was high. They needed a little bit of motivation at time, but knowing more chickens were the light at the end of the tunnel certainly helped. 

My oldest  loved using the power tools. My middle child enjoyed dragging the magnet stick around in search of metal. My youngest and only son kept busy and entertained running around. 

It took extra time, but I actually enjoyed trying, failing, and trying again as I worked on a contiguous collection of coops. While mostly separated, they were each connected by either removing the bottom boards and/or cutting through the stall walls. As my vision came to life, I tried to design each section of the coop to serve a different purpose.