Quick Chicken Cake

J.D. put so much hard work into the coop that I wanted to make him a special cake for his birthday this past June. I was very limited on time, but he loved it anyway.. Of course lack of time did not change the taste of it.

New little mama

Our broody hen hatched 10 little babies. We got 3 turkens out of the bunch. One of our turnkens started setting and then our buff took over her nest. They are so cute. I love this pic. of the mama and her little one, she is giving me the evil eye! I don't think she wanted to be photographed this day.

A completed coop

and a constant work in progress!!


I have not made the video yet to show the inside and out of the coop, but I wanted to show you what it looks like now. We added vinyl siding to it to match J.D.'s shop and a tin roof. Today we are cutting trees on the side of the coop because we have a prebuilt house coming for our silkies, frizzles, and our sizzles. We are also going to be building a small coop for Cappie's seremas. You think the weekend is for resting-not when you have chickens.

Now for the chickens

I have to get a picture of the completed coop as it is now, so I thought I would post a picture of our first bundle of babies.

This is when we first got them in December.








And this is them now. I took this picture last week. Yep, that is clothes on that chicken. Poor little missy the roosters are so hard on them, I made them some aprons to cover their bare backs.

Trusses and Walls

After much framing, we worked our way to the top. It was fun watching J.D. with the trusses- he hates heights. That of course is one thing we have in common. Legs shaking, heart beating, sweat pouring- I would love to think that this was all brought on by the site of me coming around the corner, but it was all caused by that beautiful ladder sitting beside the coop.





When we completed the trusses we started adding the sides. This is when it really gets exciting. It starts to look like a little house. During this time (Nov.-Feb.) I have a brooder box (a huge wooden and wire netted box) in my laundry room. While I love my chicken babies, the site of this house lets me know that soon they will be OUT of my house.

And the building begins....

After the blocks were in place and level, we layed the floor and started framing the walls.

Here J.D. is framing in the door and the window. On the opposite side of the coop is another door and a small door for the chickens to come in and out.

Keep the home fires burnin...

While we were working on our coop--oh yeah, did I mention it was COLD--I HATE the cold--Chandler kept a cozy fire going for us...

Better watch out Bear Grylls, Chandler is one bad fire startin dude.

In the Beginning

We have 75 chickens. When did it-- no how did it grow so fast. We are loving all of them. I am going to start at the beginning and lead you on a journey from then until now..

It all started with me telling J.D. I wanted some chickens. Ok so my brother had a rooster and maybe 3 hens and I instantly fell in love. He had a small open coop with a wire fence. I came home after visiting him and his family and told J.D. all about it. What started as an idea soon became all out chicken heaven..

This is the very beginning of our coop. Lots of measuring, leveling, and running line. Leave me to the cake leveling, this kind of leveling and measuring is not for me. Hum.... wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I can't read a ruler..I'd say that is a positive.