City chicken run nears finish line!

Bottom wire completed Dec. 25, 2012

The bottom wire of the backyard chicken run was completed on Christmas morning. It was a beautiful day and I had some time before I went to family for dinner. This part of the project was challenging but I am confident that it will be secure. I am not so confident about the upper portion. I was not careful and picked up 2" x 5' x 50' chicken wire. I really needed 1"! The holes are very large and the wire a bit flimsy. I didn't realize my error until I had unrolled the wire and it was too late to return it.

I finished the frame for the chicken run today and started to install the chicken wire. I will use this wire and at a later date I will add a heavier layer over the bottom section. I am disappointed I didn't look closely at the size but it will be fine, just a little more work later. I am excited that the coop and run are just about finished but I am also a little sad that the building part is coming to an end as I have really enjoyed the mental and physical challenges of this project. It is far from perfect but I feel satisfied that it will stand up to the elements and provide a good home for the "girls".

Speaking of the "girls" I have made contact with a local (small) farm that may provide me with the hens I am looking for. I plan to visit in the next week or so to perhaps place my order for 2 day old chicks. You may check out the farm at www.sumner-byrdfarm.com . I know that I would like one of the breeds they carry, that being Ameraucana, I need to research the others.
The journey continues!

Chicks' Play Pen Part 3

Today's work on the city chicken coop run was some of the most challenging work to date. As noted in the previous post, I had the trench finished so I thought the fence would go quickly.

As it turned out the trench was not deep enough all the way around and I also needed to set the three remaining corner posts and attach the rail that would secure the fence. Working alone and trying to get the post straight was a challenge but with a little extra effort it was done. I still need to close the two ends and then I will begin the challenge of the chicken wire that will complete the enclosure.

After the enclosure is complete I will need to make the door to enter it (the run) and decide on the front door of the coop. I still need to add the roost bars inside, make a ramp into the run and fix the doors that open into the run from the coop. When these items are finished I think I will have what is needed for the "Ladies". With that done I can begin to have some fun and add pieces of "rick-rack" here and there.

The journey is good!

December 18,2012

Chicks' Play Pen Part 2

Backyard city chicken run update. This week I finished digging the needed trench to bury the hardware cloth the appropriate 12". Who would think so much dirt would come from such a small opening in "Mother Earth"! As you can see I got a little wiser this time and put a tarp down so it will be easier to put all that dirt back! When I did the shorter piece of fencing in the front I did not think to do this. It was not only more difficult to move the dirt back into the trench but I came up short! Some of the dirt of course became fixed where I placed it. Lesson learned; use a tarp.
Today is to be another beautiful day in Raleigh, NC so I hope to finish the bottom hardware cloth project. Once again I bought a 50 foot roll of 1/2" by 3'h hardware cloth. I'm fairly certain it will be enough to complete the bottom part of the fencing. The upper portion of the chicken run will be a heavy gauge chicken wire, that will be part 4.
The above picture was taken Dec. 16,2012 and shows the back of the chicken run.



Chicks' Play Pen part 1

It was a beautiful day in Raleigh, North Carolina today. The temp was 54 degrees and the sun was shining!

Great day to get a little more done on the City Chicken Cottage. I set the fence and attached it to the post and the bottom of the coop. It looks like this part of the fencing will be very secure, may the rest go so well!

Just a note, took time to total my expenses thus far and was very surprised and happy to see I am coming in under budget!

The journey continues!

City Chicken Coop Safety Net

All the walls of the city chicken coop are up! The front door is still in the planning stages. I am not sure what
I want it to look like and how I want it to function. It will probably be one of the last pieces of this puzzle to be put in!
I have left all the odds and ends still to be completed in the coop for a later date and started working on the "play pen". I have done a lot of research and am probably going a little bit over the top with safety but I have a saying "not on my watch"! Meaning I want to be sure the hens are not only happy but safe!
I am using 1/2 inch by 3 feet by 50 feet hardware cloth for the bottom section of the enclosure. I am burying it 12" deep, well as close to 12" as I can manage! I am not sure if I will leave it at 6' long as shown here or add another 3' as I planned. I am trying not to be cheap at this stage but as the material adds up and the project seems not to want to end it is difficult not to want to take a short cut and save some time and money.
I try to remember that chickens can live a long time and a job well done now will pay off with less headaches latter. I am enjoying the challenge of this project but I can't help think, all of this for 4 chickens?
Perhaps the answer will be to up the number of ladies in the house! Watch out!
The City Chicken Cottage continues to grow!

Front wall of hen house

I was not sure what material I wanted to use for the front of the chicken coop. After a good deal of thought I decided on a rustic look. I chose common wood fencing material to get the look I wanted. It is inexpensive and will not need to be painted. It does leave air leaks but with our North Carolina weather I believe that will be fine. I have read that chickens release a lot of moisture when they breath and need good air circulation in the hen house. The other three walls will be solid so with this "breathability" I will not worry about adding a window. That will be one less place predators may get in. The front will not receive any wind to speak of so rain will not be a problem either. I think it will work out well and I like the look!

The front was completed Nov. 14 2012.

The journey continues!



View from the Top!

Roll out the carpet!

I have done a lot of things in my life either with others or by myself but one of the things I have never done was to install roof shingles. I looked it up on Google and found that it was a fairly straight forward process. BTW what did we do before Google?!

After learning how to do it I started to price the materials. I found that you can not buy just a few feet of the "black velvet" paper, which is not velvet at all! It is sold in large, heavy, expensive rolls, well expensive if you only need a very small amount of the large roll! I also was not sure of how many shingles came in a "package" and how heavy that was! Heavy is important to me at this point of my life!

As it happened I went to "nanny" for Joe at the time I was working on this part of the project. As I approached his house some construction workers were rolling out that most precious "black velvet"!
Learning not to be timid about asking for free stuff I went over and asked if I could perhaps buy 16 feet.
They were most gracious men and gave it to me free! I also learned how many shingles come in a pack, about 26 or 27.

Now with the "black velvet" and shingles in hand I went to the roof top to install my first roof! It went rather well but just as I was about to finish I was short 4 shingles!! Had to run to the store to pick up the extra shingles and finish before the rain began to fall. So for those of you who are taking notes it was 1 package plus 4 shingles to do the job.

The view from my first roof job was beautiful! Tivo, my faithful friend was sunning herself between the clouds and the beauty of a good job done was admired by one, me!

The shingleing of the roof was done in one afternoon on Oct 26, 2012.

The journey continues!

City Chicken Coop Framing





The work on the hen house has been slow but I am savoring the journey. 

For those of you who may be interested in some of the dimensions and other such stuff here it is:

   length: 72"                                                       

   width: 44"

   height from floor: 48" front, 45" back
   height from ground" 18"

The width and length was determined by the plywood I found on sale. It would have been easier in some respects if I had made it 3' x 6' or 4'x 8' but where is the challenge in standard measurements! It is not perfectly square either but my hen's will be happy for a home where they are not considered for the pot of soup on the stove! And in the end "rickrack" will cover any deficiencies the chicken cottage may have.

The top picture was taken Oct 9, 2012 and the bottom Oct 15, 2012.

This City Cottager's journey continues! Yea for that!

Backyard Chickens at the City Cottage



The foundation.



 Where do I begin my tale of the city hen house? With the foundation I guess but in reality it started long before the foundation was set. As I have written I was off and on about doing backyard chickens until this last September. When I was on about the idea I played with many different locations for the hen's cottage. I purchased the 4 concrete blocks long ago and measured and placed them in two or three places trying to imagine how the hens would like the location. Would they get some morning sun? Would they get enough shade in the summer? Would the winter wind give them a chill? And then I got "chicken" and put the idea of backyard chickens to bed and used the cinder blocks for another project. One thing you must know about this city cottager she is never without an outside project!

As it turned out all of my procrastination paid off in finding a good location for the hen house. This site in the picture is located at the back of my lot. I never gave it a thought in my earlier exploits don't know why. It will receive morning sun all year round and shade in summer from the hot afternoon sun. It is close to my new vegtable garden and my compost bins. So on September 9, 2012 the foundation was started! I am on my way to raising some city chickens....well I am on the way of having a coop for some city chickens!

The City Cottager's journey continues!

















City Cottager Goes Chicken!



The City Cottage Backyard



After saying I was going to raise chickens and then getting "chicken" and deciding NOT to raise chickens I am now going to raise chickens! What ever made me think of raising chickens in the first place? I guess it has a lot to do with what I would like my mission in life to be. I strive to live a simple life style because I believe that simplicity brings harmony which brings peace and from peace comes gratitude which brings joy. This becomes a circle of life; simplicity,harmony,peace, gratitude, joy!  I believe the closer we live with nature the more simply we live. Nature is not in a rush and if you listen to Mother Earth you will slow down and enjoy what she has set before us. When I look out into my yard it seems to call for chickens! Chickens are suppose to be easy to care for and a lot of fun. I am not convinced that they are as easy as the books claim after all most of the books are 200 pages of directions on how to take care of your chickens! They cover the size of the coop, how to protect your chickens from predators and what to feed them. There is always a full chapter on illness and diseases that they will probably get over the course of their life which is generally 7 plus years if you don't get fed up and eat them! One book made it very clear that veterinary care for your chickens will be very costly and that poultry diseases are some of the most difficult to diagnose! Yikes! That right there made me think I was trully nuts to think about raising chickens! But the yard still called out!

So after thinking about all the people who are now raising chickens in their backyard I feel this City Cottager should be able to raise a few hens without needing a veterinary degree to get a few eggs and good poop! After all that is all I want; some good poop to add to my compost pile, good eggs to share with family and friends, a live weed eater and the sound of hens clucking. The yard calls out for chickens so chickens it will be!
The journey continues!!

City Cottager Goes to the Fair

I have no picture to post but just imagine a lot of people, the smell of fried food, the sound of metal rolling fast and country guitar music playing loud; welcome to the fair!
I have lived in North Carolina for 12 years and have never been to the state fair until today. The opportunity presented itself so my best little friend, Joe, and I went off to the fair! We got an early start so found free parking and did not have to fight the crowds until we were leaving and everyone was still "pouring" in!
The fair. I remember as a child going to the New England State Exposition ( I think that is the proper title). It was held each year and perhaps still is outside the city of Springfield, MA. It was big. My parents would take us out of school for the day and we would go to the "fair". We didn't do the rides but walked through the state houses and learned what each New England state was noted for and along the way we would get a lot of "free stuff". It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of animals, tractors and people. It remains a wonderful childhood memory.
I was glad I went to the fair today with my little friend. Fairs are about people, food, noise, smells and memories. I'm not sure Joe is old enough to remember, but I am. Someday I will share with him how he put his bare feet up on the "dash board" of the stroller, ate his pretzel and watch, listened, and smelled the state fair.
The journey is wonderful!

Fall 2012

Tivo catching some "shut-eye" and sun rays.

Fall, the time of year when everything starts to slow down except for me. I have come to realize that I get frustrated with fall because I am not ready to slow down in my gardens but that is what the season is all about; slowing down, preparing, time to get ready for winter's deep rest. Tivo gets it!

As I get older I have a deeper sense of the human life cycle and how fall relates to us as a living creature. The fall of our life is a time of slowing down whether we want to or not. The energy of our "spring" and "summer" is fading and the body even when pushed can do just so much.

This fall as in the past falls I will begin to transition from working in the gardens to planning for spring. I am going to review some of my early spring gardens to see how they look now in the fall. That will energize me and be fun to see how things grew! In my planning for the future gardens and plants I will look for ways to keep it all fresh yet easy to care for remembering that some falls last a long time!

Points for my Mission statement:
 - Live in unison with "Mother Nature"
 - Enjoy the rays of the sun

City Cottager's Snippets



City Cottager with her dear little friend!

 It is a gray, rainy, cool, damp day at the Cottage. As my outside activities are on hold I thought I would play with my blog a bit. I have a large pot of homemade chicken soup simmering on the stove top and a warm cup of tea to sip on as I type my thoughts. Life is good at the Cottage!

I have the idea that I need a mission statement to help me navigate though the years that are left to me, which I intend to be many! So with this quest in mind I have begun to collect meaningful pictures, quotes and my thoughts that I have had while working in the garden or just sitting on the back stoop with Tivo Le.

This is a perfect picture to begin this personal quest for a mission statement. That is Joe when he was about 4months old and me, "The City Cottager". I have had the wonderful pleasure of being Joe's Nanny since he was 2 and 1/2 months old. Watching him grow from a new born, helpless and completely dependent to an active, inquisitive 9 month old has been a journey of wonder and amazement on my part. Life is so very precious and beautiful. Joe radiates the joy and excitement of living and learning.

The following Native American Proverb is most appropriate for this picture.
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you from your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

My mission statement will most certainly contain some of these ideas;
 - radiate joy and excitement of living and learning
 - treat the earth well
 - remember that the Earth is on loan to us

Raising chickens in my backyard will add to my life's journey and help me to live out my mission to treat the earth well, and be a bit more green!

Well my soup is ready and I am ready for my soup!
The journey continues at the City Cottage!