Saturday, December 1, 2007

Our Awesome Chicken House!


After our problems with our previous chicken housing we decided to build them a Fort Knox! We needed to find the most inexpensive way to make a really good building. Last winter Kevin saw this amazing little story about an 80 yr. old man who had an idea to build a shed or outbuilding out of those inexpensive landscape timbers. The story was from the 'Farm Show Magazine'. I looked everywhere for other examples but could find absolutely nothing so we decided to go ahead and learn from trial and error. Part of the bargain, when we bought one of those plastic pools for our backyard was, (that the kids begged for and Kevin wanted no part of) that if they did not keep it clean it was gone! So the pool that the kids never cleaned went from this...



to this!






Our FORT KNOX CHICKEN HOUSE!



It measures 16 x 8 and was built for maybe $400 or so dollars. The walls are very thick so no insulation is needed. We are going to build a cute little outhouse back by the barn next summer out of the same timbers 'cause I am tired of walking all the way to the house -when you gotta go, you gotta go! I would much rather take care of what goes on in a chicken house than pour chemicals into a pool any day!


Anyway, we made this...




so we didn't need the algae growing pool anymore anyway! I would much rather swim in a green colored pond than a green colored pool! I've got lots of pictures of the step by step pond building experience too. That was amazing.


Kevin also designed the handiest nesting boxes or I guess buckets. Here is one picture but I've got more pictures of those too. The buckets are on a slant and have a hole in the back so the eggs roll to the back.





Kevin, his dad and the youngster are down near Millersburg Ohio hunting today. They left at 3 a.m. so I've had all day to myself. I had all kinds of plans to get things done. I wanted to go work in the chicken house, tidy things up a bit in there, run to the store and get some things, decorate the poor lonely Christmas tree sitting all bare in my living room and make a wonderful dinner for when the men come home out of my new Taste of Home cook book!


The only problem is, I've been working at the computer all day, working on a surprise for him and my family (I can't tell what it is cause my sister reads this and she will know) and all I've gotten done is one load of laundry and that is still in the dryer getting all wrinkled! You can barely see the top of my computer desk cause I've got bills to pay and papers to organize not to mention all the snacks and cups and an awesome box of candy that my other sister gave me yesterday at work. Yum, I think I will have a piece right now. It is toffee covered with chocolate and then rolled in nuts! I am going to take a picture of it so you can see how delicious it looks!





I am not sure if you can see from the box but it is from a company in Boston. Yummy! That is enough to put me in sugar shock for the afternoon. Kevin surprised me the other day by making some tapioca pudding. (what is that stuff anyway?) He made it from scratch and was very excited because he did not add as much sugar as the recipe calls for. I am always complaining about our family's sugar intake and we try to stay away as much as possible. (Except for the occasional chocolate covered toffees that the kids don't know about and I hope you didn't notice that half the box is gone, all me!)


Well, most cooks know that if you leave something out of a recipe it could cause the end result to change and the shortage of sugar sure changed that pudding! I didn't say anything to him but the texture was nothing like I've ever eaten before. Kinda like gluey paste. I think you could paper mache' with it. And the flavor was odd. You could only taste the flavor if you held it in your mouth a long time. (I hope he doesn't read this. It might hurt his feelings.) But it didn't stop me from eating it.

Kevin just called and said they had a really good day down south and are on their way home so I asked him to pick up some chicken and jo jo's, so much for my really great home-made dinner. I hope your Saturday was more productive than mine!

2 comments:

amy said...

Working on a suprise huh, Im excited. Oh by the way I want some of that candy. Does Diane have any more??

The Unusual Farmchick said...

My chickens would be very jealous. Heck! I am! Very impressive job.
Mine just get an old 8x10 shed they share with a very spoiled big goat.
They also no longer get to free range as they did in their younger years. We have 2 hens which are about 5 years old this winter. They were our first so for them the shed is the best yet. Some of the first "coops" were as simple as PVC frames and a tarp tunnel... They've moved up since then. :)
I will be adding your blog to my side list for future reading, if you do not mind.