Our new chicken coops

Yippee!! My new chicken coops will be delivered on Tuesday and after much research and daydreaming, I'm happy with what we picked out. As mush as I wanted the hobbit house, it just wasn't practical and it was too expensive. We ended up with two 8 x 6 coops. The "little" one has two working screened windows, a door, built-in nest box and a chicken door/ramp. It's cute! The "big" one is basically the same size except it is much taller. It has a full-size people door, windows on three sides, vents, a front porch and a porch swing (although that's not on in the pictures). My new friend Ron, our amish builder, is going to put two chicken doors in for me and I already have a great galvanized nest box that I bought from a chicken farmer in Georgia. We bought some red barn paint today and white gloss for the trim. I'm trying to decide whether I want to paint the coops or not. The big one is already stained and I could have the little one stained the same color. It's nice but just seems a little boring to me.

My little coop

The nest box has access from the outside so you can collect eggs without going into the coop.

The nest boxes from the inside.

The cute little chicken door that folds down into a ramp.

The big coop.

The kids checking it out. I can already see Annaliese's wheels in motion. This would make a great playhouse!

Can't wait for the porch swing which Ron assured me would "hold anything".

Here's my new friend Ron. I'll be back for the greenhouse soon!

After the coop visit, we headed out to the farm to mark off where we want them. Luckily we have electricity available near the Chicken Area which will come in very handy since the big coop is already wired for electricity. Did you see the spot for the porch light? So cute! And the window boxes! We marked it off with paint, took advantage of a few trees and will end up with a cute little neighborhood for our chicks. Cole and I will attempt to build a run with walls and a roof for them to ram around in and keep them dry and safe from hawks, foxes, dogs, coyotes and any other varmint that wants to steal my babies. If we can figure out what to we're doing and I promise you that it's questionable, the chicken run will be 22' x 25' and that's big enough for me to have lots of chicks!

While we were figuring out the coop, Colin was busy on the dirtbike and Annaliese was running after him.

What 9-year old boy wouldn't love having a ton of land to zoom around on and looking so cool in the process? He's in heaven!

Annaliese was also busy helping her daddy measure this ugly shed we got with the property. Cole thinks we can put log cabin siding on it and make it look like a log cain. I have no idea what he's talking about but we measured it just in case. I hope he remembers the dimensions because I sure have forgot.

Yes, Cole's pretty proud of his overalls. I've tried to throw them away twice but he always finds them. Today was overcast and sprinkly but it's always a great day for the farm!