CHEZ POULET

getting started

I have never built anything in my life. So I called in for backup...my dad. We pulled out all the power tools we could cram into the pickup and got started on Chez Poulet. The chicken coop. I ordered the chickens to be delivered (pullets - laying hens about 4 months old) on 4/11 not taking into consideration dad's work schedule...needless to say - in three days we managed to get everything ready for the gurlz. Not only was it awesome to work with my dad as a real live grown-up, but I knew that I was learning a lot about power tools so I could get things moving on my own DIY projects. I'm fairly intimated by the circular saw. I have had visions of what going thumbless would really mean to me.


So - he did the cutting and I did manage to master the nail gun. There are two things that have always piqued my fancy - powertools and tractors. (oh, and men in uniform - but that doesn't really apply here). So we got to work. We are not quite done yet - but the girls have a safe place to stay until the outside is completed.

Learning how to use the saw was the best part - and hearing my dad say, "You know, T - I think you're ready to build things yourself."  Not bad comin' from ole' Dad.

We had to get it to where the girls would have a nice comfy place to stay.  I didn't have what I needed to build a roost, so I put a nice big branch in there that they could huddle around.  Hung the feed/water from the ceiling and put in two nexting boxes w/ those fake ceramic eggs that you can get online...

My 9 year old was ecstatic to let me know that we had THREE eggs the day that they arrived... well, those were the ceramic ones - kind of sad having to break that news to him.

the door and shiplap w/ the window

Opposite the door, to the right there will be a storage box and to the left is the chicken door. 

The next day, he came up to me and said, "I found something in the coop!" and handed me this little egg.  I thought it was one of the fake ones and he assured me it wasn't.  Can you believe it???  Two days after they arrived, we have one that is laying already.  I didn't get any eggs yesterday (probably due to the nail gun and the saw - but we got a second egg today.  The yolks are about the size of a penny, but nice and firm.  AND they taste GREAT!!