New Chicken Coop = No More Poop on My Porch!

We have a new chicken coop! It's so exciting to have a nice chicken coop.

Have you ever played the movie line game?

Our family has several variations of this game (it's a favorite vineyard game): One person says a line from a movie and everyone has to guess which movie it is from. Or, one starts the movie line and another completes it. Or, after a movie line is said, someone adds the next line.

One of my favorite movie lines is, "It's the little things in life..."

What movie is it from? Leave a comment if you know!

Well, for me, one of the "little things in life" is my new chicken coop - complete with tile roof!

John and the boys built me (and the chickens) a cute coop complete with five laying boxes that are easily accessible. The side of the coop has levers that when turned, allow the door to open.

 "Easily accessible" is an important feature since it is our 7 yrs old's responsibility to gather the eggs!

Once the side door is opened, she looks in to see where the eggs are and if there are any hens on them.

"And, what do you think you are doing?" the hen asks.

Moving the hens off the eggs can be challenging. Even thought their peck doesn't hurt, it is startling! Once the coast is clear, eggs are gathered.

The chicken coop is on stilts and has a ramp that the chickens use to walk up to the front door. I am easily entertained and find it so funny to watch the hens lined up to take their turn in the laying boxes - I love to sit and watch them - It gets real exciting around here when they all want to lay at the same time!

We used garden timbers for the legs, as well as, the new fence posts. We (read, "I") wanted to make the fence about 7 ft tall because the chickens kept flying out of our shorter fence. I know, it is suppose to be easy to clip the chickens' wings but honestly, it is just one more thing to do so... I wanted a tall fence. Since it was less expensive to use a 3 ft and a 4 ft piece of fencing rather than one 7 ft tall piece, we stapled the two together and it is perfect!

With a shorter fence, the chickens would fly out whenever they wanted and, to be honest, I was tired of chicken poop on our porch. Now, we let them out in the evening and they run for the pasture because that is where the cows are. And, it is a well know fact that cows rain manna from heaven.

If you are not sure what I am talking about, let me help you out ... chickens love to scratch through the cow pies (cow plops, cow manure, whatever you want to call it) for any undigested grain left behind. When they are left in the chicken yard until late afternoon, the chickens are more interested in the manna left by the cows in the pasture than what I have on the porch!

That means, no more poop on my porch!

Why a tile roof?

We had planned to use clay tile on our house and found a deal on craigslist - we saved a lot of money!

But, the best laid plans of mice and men ... change.

Now, we plan to use a metal roof and have clay tiles sitting around waiting to be sold - or used in projects on my "to-do" list!

I think they make a nice addition to the chicken coop!

Let me know if you have a hankerin for some beautiful clay roofing tiles - I can make you a great deal!