Thursday, January 28, 2010

Who Am I Kidding?

There's no way I'll be able to pick up 5 laying hens on Sunday morning. 

 
Here's what the chicken coop looks like just 10 minutes ago.  Yeah, I'm going to put it together, figure out how to make this playhouse into a chicken coop, design nesting boxes, buy the materials, do the carpentry work that will protect the hens from, a) the cold, b) the dogs and c) from being blown away.

And oh yeah.  It's 10 degrees outside right now and the wind is blowing so hard that the house is shaking. The cold snap hasn't even started yet.  This weekend is going to be the coldest weekend of the season.  Never mind that it's going to be in the single digits while I try to do carpentry work outside, but every time I need something from the shed, I'll have to crawl through a little hole in the wall to get it because the door doesn't open.

Then, I'm going to figure out what I need to buy to feed and water the little things.  Both the equipment and the actual food, scratch, grit and whatever else.  Then I'm going to find out where I can buy it.  Then I'm going to go buy it.

Oh, and by the way, I have a job I have to be at all day tomorrow and plans I don't want to cancel for much of Saturday.

I'm going to call the owner, talk to him and see if he can hold the hens for a week.  I'm not sure I can do all this stuff even if I had another week, much less trying to do it in 2 days.  If he'll work with me, great.  If not, I'm going to pass on these hens. Period.

8 comments:

  1. Makes sense.

    It is howling out there, by the way, and we're protected in the city.

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  2. Limiting your stress-factor is a good thing. There will be more chickens if this deal doesn't work out. When we try to do too much in too little time, it can make life less than joyful. Give yourself room to relax. You'll have your chickens soon enough!

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  3. You're making a good, sensible decision. You're getting wise and you're not even old! Wish I could have learned to look at things realistically without the guilt and self-torture sooner. Duh. We are not super-human and no matter how much we might want something to happen when we WANT it to happen, there are times when it's foolish to push onward. Don't have one single, itty-bitty moment of feeling bad about it if you miss out on these chickens. Even in your time-limited, snow covered, frozen state, you're farther along than you were before!

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  4. Thanks guys for the props. I haven't heard back from the owner yet. This is one of those situations where I made an unrealistic goal and now there's going to be pain no matter what happens, either guilt and self-torture or physical pain and probably still not make the goal. I'm not dumb like this very often any more, thankfully!

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  5. If he doesn't hold the chickens or if he does, a little more time can make a world of difference. If you had a garage as a 'temporary' home, it'd be a different story, but you don't so you have to work with what's there. And I'm not a chicken and I don't want to be out this weekend!! It's just not meant to be this weekend.

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  6. Jordan, if something changes your mind, or if you make future plans and need another set of hands, let me know.

    As I said, I have two hands. I don't know much about chickens, but we can learn!

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  7. You may regret that offer Kate!!

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  8. Now that you mention it, there's that pesky hill to climb and a ditch awaiting me.

    Maybe in the spring?

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