The Time Crunch

Recent days have been filled with increased attention to the loud and smelly teen like (eat, sleep, and argue) chickens still living in our house.  The chicken coop is nearly done, but the size of the chickens, their ever increasing chatter, not to mention their stink has caused a "get it done now" urgency to the coop construction.  It is funny to think back on when I first thought of making this little portable coop.  I looked over a few plans, and thought naively "that looks simple".  Well over three weeks later and the coop is nearly done, but for me and the family this will not be soon enough.   

In addition to the chicken time crunch we also have increased the time needed to get the weekly groce

ry shopping done.  When you attempt to purchase food from local farmers, as we have bee

n doing more lately, it changes the one-stop shopping at Safeway into a longer process. We have enjoyed getting some of our weekly food at a couple of local farms in a nearby vall

ey.  New discoveries:  

• Raw whole milk from the Dungeness Valley Creamery
• Farm fresh eggs from a couple of local farms (girls will help with this later)
• Fresh veggies from Nashes Organic Produce

Please see attached photos of progress on coop see above and local the milk photo is courtesy of "mostly-filler" (Thank you Lee). 

Footnote:  Phase one of operation "My Chickens!" has begun with our dog Sunny.  Phase one activities include blocking off the kitchen and bringing the girls out of their pen to nervously walk around on the floor while the dog is allowed to meet the birds.  All the while we assert our Alpha pack leader dominance over Sunny exclaiming "My Chickens!" so he understands that he isn't allowed to harass, nibble, lick, suck-on or otherwise taste the girls in anyway.  Thank you for this idea goes to John Grogan author of Marley and Me who wrote an article about his current dog Gracie and training her to not eat his family chickens.

-George 

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