Baby Steps

This project seems to be going in baby steps.  My mower, gate and posts arrived yesterday and the delivery guy helped me get the chicken coop out of the truck.  A friend from church came over to help me put up the chicken coop and gave me a lot of good tips.  She also told me about the place where she gets dirt, as she had just done.  It's a bit more expensive than what I bought last year, but they will load it in your pickup.

We didn't assemble the coop after all because a few things need to happen first.  Primarily, I need to determine where to put it.  My friend shared several suggestions:  it needs shade, ventilation, and of course, protection from predators.  She also suggested that we paint or stain it, as it's bare wood.  In addition, it needs to be accessible for my neighbor, and close to the compost for easy cleaning.

Another suggestion was to get a metal chicken run, preferably with a roof or cover of some sort and put the coop inside it.  

When I went outside to take this photo (of the box), I picked up the mail and went to my neighbor's.  We reviewed the area and have decided where we want to put things.

This photo is the garden area.  It will be L-shaped with the vertical section just to the right of the burn barrel and back past the mulch pile.  The horizontal bottom of the "L" will go across from the mulch pile to the greenhouse, encompassing the keyhole garden (in green, far left).

We will put the compost in the back beside the shed, against the fence-panels.  The chicken coop will go near the shed, but in front of the tree.  This will make the coop visible from both houses, somewhat shaded and easily accessible.  I'll get a covered run to put the coop inside.

I finally saw the hawks I'd been hearing.  When this one flew, I could see it was a Cooper's Hawk.  There was another, so I assume it's a pair.  The very blurry picture below is from the picture to the left.

Until next time,

Stormy