So, it isn’t totally finished but my backyard chicken coop is a sight to behold. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do (after I grab my cup of thick coffee and kiss my bug) is go to our back window and stare at it.
I have mentioned that my man was less than thrilled about my dream to keep chickens. Our life is too busy to add bird livestock (can you call chickens livestock or is that just for large mammals like pigs and goats and cows?). But, it was my deal and I went for it. Because when I want something, I go for it regardless of if it is a good idea or I have time or anything rational like that. And, I’d also like to point out that he didn’t want our first cat or our second cat or our dog and he now cuddles with all three every night. I predict he’ll be hanging out with the girls before the summer is over.
The chicks grew into large birds within a month. And with our brooder in our bathroom, well, life was interesting at our house. Andy agreed to help me with the coop. We picked a spot at the back of our property under a huge maple. He is like the most thorough and skilled carpenter in Montana as far as I’m concerned, so this was a large help. He does things I would never think of like use a level. On Saturday morning, we visited Home Resource and picked up a cool orange door and and old window. I grabbed some scrap corrugated metal from a construction site near our house for the roof and he gave me the supply list for lumber and a-coop buildin’ we were.
Well, really, I gardened with bug while he built the coop but I totally tried to help. He just gets on this mission and he can do everything better anyway so I did things like hand him stuff while he was on the roof and get him water and make dinner like a good wifey.
The thing I love about our coop is that Andy did it totally for me. And, the structure is gorgeous and sturdy and interesting and creative. Just like our relationship. Yes, I am using a chicken coop as a metaphor for my marriage. But, the whole weekend, watching his strong hands swing a hammer from dawn to dusk, two days in a row, when he’d rather be biking or skiing or painting or anything else but he was building a chicken coop because I want to have chickens….well, it made this girl very grateful for her man.
He did things like trimmed it out with salvaged fir and, without knowing it, built the perfect little shelf for a martini. Ida, Clementine and Bossy made the move to their new home on Sunday night. They narrowly escaped peril. I moved the water and food first and returned to get the chickens when I noticed I hadn’t fully closed the door. My heart started racing. I lept into the bathroom and there was our fierce cat Olive sitting in the shower stall with all three chickens. She was just sitting there with a twitchy butt, staring at the girls like yeah, I own you. I scooped Olive up and the paralyzed chickens began peeping again.
We still have to side the coop and make the run but they are loving it. In other weekend poultry news, I made a chicken shirt for my friend‘s kiddo on the way.
