My Crazy Homeschool Project!
The lumber arrived.
We have a local lumber yard that burns their left over scrap wood. They keep this wood in a pile and we were free to grab odds and ends of wood. My husband was able to rip this wood down to fit our chicken coop needs. This worked fine for framing the coop! Cost = $0.
The children were anxious to help!
There's a lot of learning here, math and science, galore!
SHOP CLASS!
Here my husband is teaching our oldest son how to use a power hand saw. I just have to look away when I see my son using this, but I looked long enough to take this picture! My son WAS wearing safety glasses, I don't see them here in this picture. I think they kept falling off his face while he was bent over!
Keeping the younger kids busy in our sand/water table while the building is happening!
Doesn't everyone need a little entertainer?! Our 6 month old LOVES it outside with his family!
He makes the work light and joyful!
Here is the front of the chicken coop nearly finished with siding.
For walls and roof we did actually buy materials.
Here is what the front of the coop looked like from our back deck before it was painted.
It looked so good, I posted it to Facebook and my mom thought the coop was finished even though she lives next door, (behind the coop!)
It was a great place to stop and take a family vacation
because it looked finished, but it was not!
Here are the kiddos on vacation while the chicken coop project sat idle.
There was painting to be done!
The kids all helped and I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of it! They came in covered in paint!
Here is the finished coop!
Here is a view with the front door open so you can see inside.
Straight ahead are the nesting boxes.
Here is a better view of inside the chicken coop. There are six nesting boxes for our ladies!
Here is a photo of the back of the coop and the custom built door for collecting the ggs!
Here is the egg hatch door open!
Isn't it cool! You can really reach your hands right in and find the eggs!
And here is Caramel sitting in her own nesting box! She hopped right up as soon as we let her in and made herself at home!
I think she likes it here!
"This isn't just another crazy homeschooling project," my husband argued in the past,
"chickens are a lot of work!"
The top 5 reasons that kept my husband from wanting to get chickens:
1. a coop-where would it go, what would it look like, would be build it or buy one (probably build one which leads to reason number two)
2. costs-chickens cost money, for the coop, fencing, feed, for the chickens themselves, etc. etc.
3. Time-they take time to care for and you can't just up and leave them and go on vacation, they need care
4. Noise-they can be loud, if we ever got chickens, we would not get a rooster he said.
5. Smell-chickens smell, and they need care, back to reason number 3 and 2.
But in the end the Top 10 reasons to have chickens out weighed the other 5!
1. Fresh eggs
2. Weeds and pest control
3. Table scraps eaters
4. Fertilizers for the garden
5. Educational-great homeschooling lessons here!
6. Fun for the kids-children LOVE chickens!
7. Promotes love of family and farm friends
8. Potential small business opportunity for the kids
9. They're kinda' cute, we get to name them!
10. FRESH FREE RANGE ORGANIC EGGS!
COST OF THE COOP:
Lumber, nails for framing $200
Chicken supplies $ 30
Fencing $150
Chickens $0
Total cost = $380
Very well done, Smith Family! And if you ever need someone to "babysit" the chickens, I grew up on a small farm, so I've been there and done that!
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