chickens. or as my husband refers, peckers.

After years of proclaiming his love and desire to have chickens, Jed's dream FINALLY came true.  I finally gave him the go ahead to get some, and let me say that he jumped on that boat FAST.  He must have been pretty worried that I might change my mind.
I gave him some limitations on the birds.  They had to be as far back in the yard as possible.  They are HIS birds, he feeds, waters, and cleans up after them.  And, they are to never run free poop in my backyard or they will be made into soup.  I totally sound like a mom. He has kept his end of the bargain (I have only fed them a few times).

Jed chose out his birds back at the beginning of April.  He picked out an Orpington (the yellow), 2 Rhode Island Reds (obviously the little red ones), a Barred Rock (my favorite), and 2 Black Sex-linked.  Although he asked for hens, we think that the Orpington just might be a rooster, we shall see.

The cute chicks, only a few days old when they came to live in our basement.  I am very glad that it no longer smells like a barn down there.

He borrowed his dad's brooder (box/crate with warming lights).  And he began his hunt for the perfect coop. Of course, he couldn't find the perfect coop to purchase.  Either they were too expensive, or they were made poorly.  So, he began accumulating plans and pictures of coops that he liked and began the process of building one himself.

He began building the coop, in the basement shop.  His tools were all right there, and the weather has been less than cooperative over the last few months. 

And during the building process, he kept getting inquiries from me.  They pretty much entailed, "how in the heck do you plan on getting this out the back garage, turn the corner, go up the hill, turn the other corner, go across the grass, and make it to the back of the garden?"  He got pretty annoyed by these inquiries.  But on my behalf, it was completely a legitimate question.  And, I wasn't the only one asking.

So, on "moving" day, this was his plan of attack:

And let me say, it was a little bit intense.  Not to mention, my blood pressure was boiling as I watched my paint job mess up (I did contribute to the coop a bit-have I mentioned how much I despise painting?  Hey, I have to get my share of the eggs somehow.)

I think I was the most scared at this moment.  Turning that corner is crazy even without a little house on the front loader.

Poor little house needed a few touch ups when the job was complete.  Thank goodness Jed did the touch up paint, I think he might have gotten the hint that I was completely DONE painting.

From this point, on the edge of the grass, I was very interested to see how he planned to get it the rest of the way without the tractor.  He wasn't about to mess up the back lawn and garden.  This is where we definitely are missing a big piece of the move.  Just imagine the house up on stilts with long boards connecting them and 4-5ish strapping young to middle aged men packing it.  I don't know that our neighbors will ever answer the phone when Jed calls again.

Cute little coop, finally complete.  After he got the house back there, he had to patch it up, shingle it, and complete the run/yard.  He was pretty excited when the project was complete.

The nests are inside this door, easy access to the eggs once the hens start laying.

Our mystery Orpington.  Boy or Girl??? We are kind of hoping for a boy at this point.  One rooster would complete the bunch.  He can compete with all of the blankety-blank dogs in our vicinity.

The Orpington and Barred Rock (the black and white speckled one) are the most interested in us.

I will say, that they have grown on me.  But, I still will not include them in my chores. 

Little biddies better be good layers or we'll be having chicken soup!