Tractor Chicken Coop Build

I will show you how we built our chicken coop (as it is right now, but not complete yet).

I have a very talented husband that I basically told him what I was looking for and he made it exactly how I had imagined it in my head.  Here is the plan he drew up.  (See talented eh?)

 

Getting started on the frame

 

Framed up the coop house

 

Installed the coop floor.  We laid down individual lanolium tiles for easy clean up.  The wings on the sides will be the nesting boxes

  

Framing up the nesting boxes

 

Coop all framed (other than the doors and the roof)

 

Coop with roof

 

We started to wrap the coop run and realized we had to paint it still.  So we had to take it off to paint.

We chose a light green color.  Hopefully to help keep it cool in the summer and keep it warm in the winter.  Here it is competed to date.  We still have to add the galvanized roof, another coat of paint, and handles to move it easier.

 The girls love it!

The inside of the coop.  We plan on adding some insulation before winter hits to keep it warmer in the winter.

It was a fun but long project.  And its not even completely finished.  We made it so it is liveable right now, and we will do the finishes after our vacation that starts next week.

Local Govt Jab Continued

So the meeting on July 25th with the planning commission went very well.  The room was completely packed when it started and the meeting lasted 2 hours!  The commission said they thought that was the largest turn out.  I was the first to publicly comment on reasons why I wanted chickens to be legal.  I never once mentioned that I already had chickens.  The City Planner read in one email that was opposed but every single person that was in that room stood up and were all for having chickens.  It was an amazing experience to be able to witness and to actually have started.  So many people supported it I was flooded with emotions.  It was so exciting to see all of the enthusiasm people had to help push to let us all be able to have chickens and bees.  I felt amazing after that meeting and had high hopes.  It seemed pretty set.  This past Tuesday was the continuation of the chicken and bee conversation. This meeting went well too.  There were 2 people that stood up and said that they were opposed to having bees and chickens in our city.  The main complaints was because of allergies to bees.  I dont see how that could be a valid argument since bees are already all around outside.  But there were still several people (some repeats) that stood up and expressed their reasonings in having chickens.  I came clean with the commission.  I told them that I have chickens.  The Thursday previously my husband and I built the chicken coop for the girls.  Ever since I bought them, they have been living in my basement.  They first started out in a box, then a hamster cage, and then the closet under the stairs.  Finally 5 months later they can live outside.  We built a tractor type coop so they can go outside on the grass as they please without being pestered by the dogs. 

 

It is missing its roof, a galvanized steel roof, but it is still functional.  The girls love it and love to be on the grass.  We just need to finish the handles so it is easier to lift and move around.  But in the mean time it is functional and I have happy chickens!

 3 of my ladies.  The golden girls Sophia and Rose, and my light bantam Snow White

This is my blue silkie, Dixie Blue.  She is our favorite.  She comes on call and my daughter absolutely adores her!

 Checking out their new coop

 All my little farm animals playing with my daughter.  I love that I caught Lady Vera (my rabbit) eating some grass in this picture.  Sophia is posing so perfectly too!

I love my little farm!  I hope and pray that the city doesn't make me get rid of our cute little animals!

Adding to the granolaniss

 When my husband and I first moved into our house, one of the first things we did was cut out grass for a garden and planted a garden in the beginning of June.  Shortly there after we got a dog.  We got a dog who loved to graze on plants and grass.  So we quickly we built planter boxes with a fence around the entire garden to keep our little Mercedes out of the garden.  Our little plot has done well.  Enough to add to our meals, but nothing to be able to harvest and store.  So earlier this spring I decided to talk to my in-laws and ask them if I could put a garden on their unused 1/2 acre.  We got 4 yards of compost and began to amend the soil for the future garden plot.  My father in-law Dan, my husband and I quickly began to install a drip system for the garden.   I decided this year was going to be a "canning" garden.  As my whole trying to be more granola thing has really kicked in.  I grew tomatoes, peppers, green beans (pole and bush), zucchini, squash, cucumbers and watermelon.  I thought it was a good variety.

  

(The garden at the in-laws)

 I got the tomato plants from work.  I work for the Salt Lake County Jail and I work with prisoners and I help teach them how to grow and maintain a garden.  We are an organic garden and try to grow all heirloom varieties.  All of the tomato varieties we grew were all heirlooms.  I have never had an heirloom tomato (that I could think of) let alone grown them.  They are all indeterminate varieties which means they grow until they freeze (could get 8-10 feet tall).  We put up a trellising system with t-posts and wire and have to tie them to the wire. 
    I have come to realize with heirlooms, there are not as many fruit as hybrids, but the are very large fruit.  I have found a couple varieties that I love but I dont know if heirlooms are my thing.  Most of my tomatoes have catfacing (google it) and split easily.  They dont look ascetically pleasing and I dont like having to cut around it to cook with them.  I think from now on, I will stick with what my grandpa (who I learn the most from in gardening) knows best, that is hybrid varieties.  There is a reason why the developed hybrids, they take certain features from one plant and other features from another variety and make a new and improved variety.  So I will grow what my grandpa has found is the best variety for canning, Celebrity. 

 

  The first picking at the big garden at the in-laws

 So far this year I have canned raspberry jam and green beans.  Let me rephrase that, I helped can raspberry jam and green beans.  I have never canned by myself, so I went and harvested and prepped all of the food in order to can it so that the master canners, my grandparents, could teach me.  I was pretty surprised at how easy it is, just time consuming.  I am excited to get to try out new canning recipes (I want to can pasta sauce and "Dilly Beans") that my grandpa has never tried.  Let the canning season begin!
 

Cloth diapering

I have decided to try out cloth diapers. I bought an Oh Katy diaper over a year ago to try out. It was hard and not really worth it with one diaper. Several months ago I entered into a contest with Oh Katy and just happen to win 9 cloth diapers, so that made it so I had 10 diapers!

 Once I received them I started at once. The first thing that you do when you get your cloth diapers, is the run them through a couple washes. The new fabric is not as absorbent at first, so washing them helps them to hold moisture better. Now I really got into using them and have been experimenting with the cleaning process. I have done a lot of research and have talked to several other moms that use cloth diapers. I have gotten advice like, using downy, hanging them in the sun to dry, using country save detergent, doing just a hot wash, using tide detergent, etc. Some of a few things that I have found out since I started using them:
- I love using oxyclean detergent
- do not use fabric softeners or dryer sheets
- I still don't know how I feel about the country save laundry detergent but I paid $20 for the box so I am still going to use it
 
- I do one cold wash and then a hot wash with detergent both times (country save and oxyclean)
 - wet bags are a MUST HAVE

- you have to wash them every 2 days
- it really only is worth it if you have an high efficiency washer and dryer so you don't use too much water
- dry them on low heat (in the process of putting up a dryer line outside) - don't use rash creams. You don't really need them with these diapers  (** UPDATE the buttons of the diapers would get stuck in the drum of my dryer and break the buttons, so I only air dry now)
- diaper sprayers make it so much easier to clean

 I'm not going to lie, it can be gross, but it is so worth it, to me. I am saving money, saving the garbage dump, and essentially saving the planet, one diaper at a time. Ha!

Just a note, Oh Katy diapers are on sale for the month July, buy 4 get 1 FREE!!!

My jab at local government

A few months ago, I decided I wanted chickens. I had been searching on KSL (a local online classifieds) for cheap chicken supplies. I found a galvanized waterer and feeder as well as a heat lamp for $15. It was a total score considering they are about $30 each. I had my supplies, now I just needed the chickens. So with a few extra bucks from my birthday, I went to IFA and bought the chickens I had been researching. With a blue silkie, a light brahama bantam and two buff orpingtons in boxes in the front seat of my car, I brought home my new additions. My husband was very sceptic. He is not an animal person and has never really had them growing up. So through our 5 year journey, I have conned him into letting me have 2 dogs, a few rabbits, and now some chickens. I have always wanted to have a little farm of my own, and I am on my way to that goal. My husband made an ultimatum, in my town, it is not legal for us to have chickens. So the deal was that I could keep them, only if I got the city council to change the regulation and to allow chickens. I began by going to a city council meeting and presenting what I was wanting in the city. I had spent weeks doing research and I had a speech all planned to deliver, and all the mayor basically said was to come up with an amendment to the regulation and have it pass the planning commission and then they will see what will happen with the city council. During the meeting one of the city council men was interested and willing to help me get it passed. So I filled out the amendment paper and I wrote a narrative to try to convince them that having chickens should be allowed. I now have a meeting planned with the planning commission on July 25th at 6pm. I hope and pray they pass this so I can legally have my chickens and not have to hide them in my basement! Until then, here are my cute little ladies!



 

Let's get this Party started!

I am not a creative writer by any means, but my reasoning in starting this blog is to share my finds and experiences. I have to come to be a bit granola through my years. But I still shave, I usually do all my shopping at Walmart, thanks to price matching and coupons, I love my meat and cheese and I love to garden. That makes me just a dash granola. I am a family of 3, plus a couple dogs, rabbits and chickens. We have a beautiful daughter for whom I try to be better for. I will share with you my adventures of living life, raising a family, and a small farm, and my creations and ideas on how to try to be more self sufficient and more self reliant. Jump on this band wagon, and please share your thoughts and ideas too! - M