Ok, it is the end of Oct and the cold weather hasn’t even hit yet. And what am I doing? Planning projects for next spring! I haven’t even accomplished the projects I wanted to accomplish for 2008. I still need to get one of those outdoor storage closets for the back deck and a new shed for hubby so I can turn his man cave into my pantry. The money hasn’t been flowing lately and so several projects are still waiting to be done. Inside I still need new shoe racks for the laundry room and pillows for the new dining room banquet we built this summer. With the summer garden now behind us, it is time to look at outdoor projects that usually include some sort of building or hard, physical labor.
When we moved into this house, my husband literally threw up a barn and coop for the goats and chickens. It does the trick, but it is on the ugly side. With only a 1/5 acre lot and being very visible from the street, our animal keeping habits are closely scrutinized by all who go by. Now we have nothing to hide as we take excellent care of our animals, but I do believe that anything in my garden should be pleasing to look at as well as perform it’s task well. We have known all a long that we would be building new animal structures within a few years and I am getting the itch to get started. I have been looking at coops online and have a bad case of chicken coop envy.
So I am going to plan the perfect chicken coop! We have been keeping chickens since 2001 and have had 3 different coops now. With all this behind me, I now know exactly what I want in a coop and more importantly, I know what I don’t want. We know exactly where it will go and we know that we want it about a foot off the ground. I also want it right by the edge of the driveway so it is easy to get too in the snow. It will be a wonderful spot for them with oak trees for summer shade and plenty of south facing sun in the winter. It will be visible from our living room and the dining room and easy to get in and out to gather eggs and cleaning and feeding. I want room to hang their feeder and waterer inside. I am tired of frozen water and lugging hot water to the coop each winter morning. It will also have a solar motion sensor light so we can see at night when locking them up and so on. It will also alert us if something is prowling around the driveway. I am thinking about installing a heater as well, but not sure if I can find a solar one. But at any rate, it will be well insulated, including the floor and roof. Luckily we don’t get sub zero temps here and it rarely gets down into the single digit temps.
We will use the 6 nest boxes that are in our current coop. I also have some vintage windows that we rescued from a cabin that was being demolished this summer. I have the wire to make screens for the windows and insulation for the walls. I could also use the door I have on their current coop but it will need fixed up and fitted with some plexiglass and new wire screening first. I also want to get rid of the floppy chicken wire that currently keeps them in their yard and replace it with wooden lattice that is lined with wire screening. I then plan to put netting over the top.
So I am off to a good start, but there will still be much to do and buy. I have visions of a little storybook cottage type coop. It will be called “Le Poulet Chalet.” Not that original I know, but I like it and it has a classy French ring to it. We are considering using metal roofing for this one and I want to put rain spouting on it with some rain barrels for water collection. I also have two large green pots to put on either side of the step we will need to get into the coop. I also think window boxes are a must have. I know I tend to go a little over the top on projects like this, but with it being so visible I do not want to run the risk of people calling code enforcement for my ramble shack chicken house. They are much more accepting of things like chickens if the whole thing is pleasant to look at. I also put an old claw foot tub on the left side of their pen, which will stay. I am planning to plant a small Japanese maple tree in it come spring.
So, it will be quite the project. But we kind of know what we are doing this time and we are of to a good start and have a few things already. I do need to decide how I want the outside. I will probably use the same siding that is on our house, unless I can find someone giving away cedar shingles. Sometime you can and sometimes you can. Time will tell. I also have in the back of my mind to eventually host a chicken coop tour for the local sustainability group and if that ever comes to pass, mine will have to be up to par and worthy to be on a tour. So how many weeks until spring?
