I stopped at Agway on the way home and I think I got everything I need to feed and water chickens. That was surprisingly easy. It must be coming up on chicken season, because the chicken stuff took up a whole shelf, right in the middle of the store.
Instead of working this afternoon, what I really did is try to put the playhouse together - on the porch. It's not working. The seller of the playhouse did mention using vegetable oil to ease the parts together. I bet that's what I need to do. My intention was to lean the parts together so I could measure and make a shopping list for Home Depot tomorrow morning. When I brought the pieces into the porch to take a look, it occurred to me that this chicken coop could stay here on the porch. Yes, that's where the dogs stay, but I suspect that the dogs will spend a fair amount of time near the coop no matter where it is. That's what the hardware cloth is going to be for. Having the chickens live on the porch will solve some thorny problems having to do with wind and cold and snow, but add a problem in that I'd have to take the whole thing apart to get it off the porch in the spring. It's probably worth doing anyway. Hmm. I wonder ...
Good morning! Ya know, I gotta say . . . that wouldn't be the worst idea! And, really, it would be NO problem to shoo the girls out on a lovely spring day and disassemble the thing (hosing it off as you went) for reassembly in the proper spot.
ReplyDeleteThe only caution I would share is that having the chickens in the porch, even inside the playhouse, will make your porch DIRRRRRTY! But, as long as you're okay with that . . . I actually think it's a superb compromise! A perfect and handy place to keep all the feed, too, etc. Do the porch windows open? If so, that will be nice on those early, sun-shining, snow-melting days of spring. AND, if you could keep the dogs & cats closed up in the house for a period of time, you could easily create a "shoot" to herd the girls down, thru the (human) porch door & outside to hunt & peck on the nice days! (Then, same for getting them back in at night!)
Maybe you CAN take ownership tomorrow, after all!
:) Keep me posted!