Chicken Coop 101.

We drove into town today for lunch at one of the cafes....... I splurged on Sweet Potato Fries. When we go to that particular cafe, that's all I order. The Sweet Potato Fries are (and I hate this phrase, but it works here) to die for. My husband ordered a Reuben sandwich-- and with it came fried pickles. We had never heard of, nor seen, deep-fried pickles before. The waitress, who calls everyone Honey, assured us that they were delicious. I tasted one.... it was a dill pickle, dipped in egg and bread crumbs, and fried till it was crispy. A nice taste, surprisingly, but dill pickles aren't my favorite, and besides, I was using up enough calories for the day with the fried sweet potato strips, so one bite was enough for me.

After lunch, we went to Lowe's and Tractor Supply..... my husband had measured the dog pen on our property, which he plans to re-make into a chicken pen. The dog pen already has a solid roof, and it's just far enough away from the house that the chickens will be near enough to check up on every day without having to walk farther out on the property. All my husband has to do is to attach chicken-wire to the existing chain-link fencing.... and put some wood trim around the edges so other animals can't crawl in (and the chickens can't get out).

According to our neighbors (those with chickens, that is), the chickens will know where their roost is, and will walk around the property and eat the bugs all day long, but will walk themselves back into their coop before it gets dark..... and that's when we have to latch the gate. The chickens will stay in the coop all night long, and hopefully, will thank us for their safe housing by leaving us an egg or two every morning.

We have already bought the vintage tin chicken nests.... we found the four-sectioned nesting house in one of the antique shops. A four-chicken condo, ready to place in the new coop. We also stopped at a feed and produce store in town... they sell baby chicks for $2.75 each. They had about 40 of them there this afternoon, but they had all been sold. We're not ready for new chicks anyway... we need to have a safe place to put them first.

Another country adventure....... the little baby chicks were so cute. Some were all yellow, a few were bright orange (The Little Red Hen comes to mind) and some were yellow and black. Being that we plan to get four, I think we should pick out chicks of different colors.... this way we can give them all names and be able to tell them apart. After all, how would we know who was who if all four had yellow feathers?