| We had the idea to get a few hens so we could | | | | to most climates, so I figure they'll be fine. |
| gather our own fresh eggs. I picked up a few chicks | | | | When I was ready to move on to attaching the |
| at the local feed store and brought them home. I had | | | | wire, I made sure it was secure all the way around. I |
| read that they needed to be feathered out before | | | | didn't want to lose any of my precious hens to a |
| they could go outside in a coop, so that gave me a | | | | wandering dog or cat. From what I've read, raccoons |
| few weeks to figure out how to build my chicken | | | | and opossums can be a problem also. I chose a fine |
| ark. | | | | mesh chicken wire, but I think you could probably use |
| I found some plans online in an eBook that I | | | | a good hardware cloth if you have problems finding |
| downloaded. I was worried at first about how hard | | | | chicken wire. The important part is securing it to the |
| this would be. I don't build much of anything from | | | | frame of your chicken housing as good as possible. |
| scratch. I picked a small ark since we only had a few | | | | I finished up with the final details of our chicken ark |
| chickens. The book listed all the materials I needed, | | | | and it was ready for our hens! I set it up in a nice |
| so all I had to do was take my list to the home | | | | part of the yard. We'll be moving it around every day |
| improvement store. I was able to pick up everything | | | | or so to keep the hens on fresh grass. This lets our |
| I needed in one trip for our chicken housing. | | | | hens have a more varied diet and get all the nutrients |
| When I got home, I laid out all the materials and | | | | they need to thrive. I set up the waterer and feeder |
| referred to my plans. I really appreciated the effort | | | | and filled it with the growing ration our girls were |
| taken in prepare these plans. They were illustrated | | | | eating at the time. It was time to introduce them to |
| and explained very clearly so it was easy to | | | | their new home! |
| understand what I needed to do for each step. If | | | | We put them all in the house portion first. One by |
| you've ever put together furniture or a barbecue | | | | one, they ventured out into the run, eagerly |
| following the plans that are included, you know how | | | | scratching at the ground and eating grass and bugs. |
| confusing most plans are. These were easy to follow! | | | | They were having a blast! As night fell, they went |
| Before I knew it, the skeleton of our chicken ark | | | | back into their secure little house and fell asleep. We |
| was taking shape. I put in the perches, the nest box | | | | moved the ark a little every other day at first. Our |
| and started putting the siding on. We live in an area | | | | first egg was laid right in the nesting box where we |
| with a moderate climate, so I didn't worry too much | | | | were expecting it! Now we gather a few eggs every |
| about insulation. I have read the chickens adapt well | | | | day from our happy hens. |