Frumpy Farm!! HA! I should be changing the name of this blog...if my youngest girly is correct. Since we got the chickens she says, "We are farmers now!!" If momma has her way we will be considered a small self sustainable family farm in the next 5 years!!
The first step in this direction was chickens!! Encouraged by many other blog, instagram, twitter & Facebook mommas I decided early this year that I wanted to get some chickens/chicks. Well, with one thing or another (surgery), it didn't happen.
I thought I would just postpone the 5 year plan for another year...no biggie. I would focus on a bigger garden and learning how to can and preserve throughout the summer.
Well, the end of the school year found Mrs. Estes (Liyah's Kinder teacher) asking me if I'd like some chickens...insert "yes" answer here...as she was wanting to downsize her flock. The only thing between me and some free chickens...no coop...no fence....no home for the little cluckers....!!
Enter my Dad....He looks like this....
Mom was in on the building, as well as the Terribly Handsome Man of the Frumpy House....as this momma wasn't yet allowed to pick up much weight (due to surgery). I am an awfully good supervisor gopher tho'.
The only wood that had to be bought was the treated plywood for the floor...all the rest was rough cut boards that my dad had the Amish cut him from his own timber.
I always have this picture in my head of how easy it must be to put together a little coop...yeah, right! I learned a lot about building from my dad this past week. It all comes out of his head...no plans!
Frame and rafters up the first day....
Ready for the door and nesting boxes the next....
The door? Oh, just something my dad picked up at the dump....yeah, he's that kinda hoarder!!
Around the corner from our big door is this teeny-tiny door with a ramp for the ladies...oh, yes!!
The nesting boxes are accessible from the outside! That way my child labor littlest chicken lovers can get the eggs!! Whoot-Whoot!!
After the coop was safe enough for inhabitants we he got busy on the fenced yard. These poles, yep, a 30+' old telephone line pole became three 10' posts for the corners of the fence. Don't ask me exactly where he got it...let's just say mom's glad to get it out of the side yard after a decade (or possibly 2). The metal posts in between were free, my dad helped the township sexton pull an old fence out of the cemetery across the road from us and got to keep all the posts he wanted (did I say for FREE)!
Chicken wire was one of the few expenses we had...$50 for a roll of 4'x 150'. I decided @ that price if I had to do some wing clipping to keep them from flying I would!
Here's one of our new neighbor ladies!! She's lovingly named "Chip-Chip" by Littlest Liyah!! Lauryn has named a beautiful girl "Peck" & I have picked out a few with easily to spot differences names like Cleo, Nekkid, Ginger and Gladys...the others I really can't tell apart so they are just lovingly cooed to and called "Pretty Ladies" or "Lovely Girls" (my husband thinks I'm insane).
The first few days we had to keep an eye on the girls...literally! No one wanted to walk away and let them be! We enjoyed seeing them walk through the grass and under the trees, scratching and pecking!!
The best....watching them eat!! They got to get the fridge cleanings (don't worry I googled everything before feeding it to them, I'm a little paranoid about it) this week instead of it going in the trash!! Cooked brown rice and mashed sweet potatoes seemed to be the faves! They would peck at the potatoes and then wipe each side of their beaks on the grass... too fun!
See the jungle life!! They are doing well at making little paths and nesting under the bushes on a hot afternoon. I have to keep looking under the bushes and make sure they don't leave my presents there!!
Presents?!?!? Yep, wonderful, lovely, glorious (okay enough already) eggs!!! The first day, even with the move....4 eggs! How wondrous! Littlest Liyah and I had the first four eggs scrambled with toast and butter on the side....she said, "These are the best mom!!" (oh, these are the first 2 radishes out of my mom's and my garden)
So, the farming life has begun...in the near future, goats (2 for milking), pigs (for butchering), maybe a milk cow (not sure yet about that) and maybe some honey bees on the back 40....
Yes, this is the life!!!
Do any of you have wishes or dreams that you are seeing become reality? Do you have a crazy 5, 10 or 20 year plan like me? Let me know...I love reading about other's adventures!
The first step in this direction was chickens!! Encouraged by many other blog, instagram, twitter & Facebook mommas I decided early this year that I wanted to get some chickens/chicks. Well, with one thing or another (surgery), it didn't happen.
I thought I would just postpone the 5 year plan for another year...no biggie. I would focus on a bigger garden and learning how to can and preserve throughout the summer.
Well, the end of the school year found Mrs. Estes (Liyah's Kinder teacher) asking me if I'd like some chickens...insert "yes" answer here...as she was wanting to downsize her flock. The only thing between me and some free chickens...no coop...no fence....no home for the little cluckers....!!
Enter my Dad....He looks like this....
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So, the farming life has begun...in the near future, goats (2 for milking), pigs (for butchering), maybe a milk cow (not sure yet about that) and maybe some honey bees on the back 40....
Yes, this is the life!!!
Do any of you have wishes or dreams that you are seeing become reality? Do you have a crazy 5, 10 or 20 year plan like me? Let me know...I love reading about other's adventures!
