Monday, June 13, 2011

Casa de Pollo

Our second wedding anniversary was last Monday, June 6th, and as time was leading up to this day Shaun kept asking if there was something that I wanted.  One thing that has been on my mind for a while is to have a couple of chairs re-caned that are in desperate need of it.  There is a lady over on 41 in Greenbrier that does it but neither of us has had the time to drive over there and get her number.  I wasn't real sure if she was still in business or not.  The closer the day came I decided to think of something else and while I was at lunch one day the thought hit me.  I was actually driving back from the library and saw a fella on a small motorcycle with an old milk crate strapped to the back with freshly bought potted herbs in it and a bag of potting soil under his feet.  The guy was on a mission (where's the camera when you really need it?)  Why this made my mind jump to chickens I've not a clue but I called Shaun to let him in on my big idea for our weekend. 

We have been throwing the idea of getting some chickens back and forth for a while and I thought our anniversary would be a good occasion to welcome a handful of them to our farm.  We spent the whole weekend preceding our anniversary together building our chicken coop.  We used Miss Pepper's dog pen which she doesn't use anymore so she said it was OK.   
We built a house for them to get in out of the rain and cold. We hung chicken wire around the bottom and onto the ground, wiring it to the fence and hooking it into the ground to try and keep predators from digging under the fence. 
Shaun put boards and tin across the top of the fence and placed several heavy tires on top for that Sanford and Son look.  Naw I'm just kidding.... again to keep predators out.  However I do sometimes mouth the theme song out loud... wadom wadom, wadom wadom wadom wadom waw, wadow wadow.  You get the picture. 
We added an old metal nesting box that Shaun's Dad had and a couple of roosts for them.   
What we didn't finish over the weekend we worked on when we could during the next week and finished up this past Saturday.  After my Granddaddy's 91st birthday party on Sunday we drove to our friend's house to chase down chickens.  My husband is quite the chicken catcher I must say.  He caught four and we had them in the carrier box and then decided that we thought we had three roosters and one hen.  Mind you they are still pretty young so to us it's hard to tell the sex.  So he went back in and fetched us two more making sure to get what we think are the hens.  So we came home with three of each... we think.  
They are  enjoying their new home so far.  They've been on top of the nesting boxes, on the roosts, on top of the house.. you name it.  They are eating and drinking very well.  I am looking forward to our first egg, and the second, and the third!  Happy Anniversary to us! 
P.S. He also got  me a nice pair of farm work boots and some socks to go with.  Ain't he just the sweetest!  I needed them badly!  I can't keep wearing my rain boots all summer.. they're hot!

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