farming update, etc...

the girls enjoying more room and fresh air in their new abode!

i have missed updating my blog, but somehow day to day life and chores seem to overtake my time.  sometimes i let them... sometimes they overpower me.  either way, we are still loving life in the country.  on our little 'farm.'  we like to call it that even though we are in a subdivision with large lots.  it feels country with empty lots all around us, an old barn on one side, an average age barn on the other lot, and a pond behind us. 

so, this week, i will post updates to what has been going on in our little part of the world.

today,  i will give a follow up on our chickens (ruby, amelia, henrietta, emma, & olive oyl).  they are doing great and have now moved out of our basement into their finished coop!  thank goodness. shoo-wee.  our basement was starting to turn into a mini farm all by itself.  (since we moved in, we have had the following in our basement... 5 chickens, 20k bees, 2 pear trees, starter seedlings, and other misc stuff!)

anyway, here is the progress of the coop over the last couple months.  you can see how the ground turns from frozen tundra to green spring grass.  let me just say, building in the winter is not easy!  my fingers don't last long in freezing temps while hammering and such. nope. thank goodness my husband can withstand the cold much better than me or our girls (the hens) would probably STILL be in our basement!

here is the beginning... frame work and putting in hardware cloth (tough wire screen)
at the bottom to keep out wild animals who might like to make a meal of our chickens!

looking better... roof on, hardware cloth on some parts, coop taking shape.

homemade windows by my husband!  he did a fabulous job on the whole coop & run!

my hardworking guy after more updates!  we used reclaimed wood from the
old barn next door.  the door here was inside the barn and worked perfectly!

here is a look inside the coop.
the three areas divided are the nesting boxes where, hopefully, they will lay their eggs.

the other side inside the coop has a sliding door we can open/close from the outside
with a pulley system. 

and, ta-da!  the finished coop & run!  the chickens seem pretty happy to be there!

and on a different note, just thought i would throw this in...

cooper.  crazy-eyed, sweet cooper.  he likes the farm.

more on the bees, garden, etc in the next few days!

hope you are having a great start to spring. it has been fun to see where flowers come up in our new place... you know when you move to a new place it takes a year to really understand the land & what it has living on it.  it is an adventure.

happy monday!

~ julie