Daisy, Geraldine and Boris - Part 1

Each year here in Australia, the end of August to beginning of September is always a treat for me. With my birthday on the last day of August and Fathers Day normally just a few days later, I get treats in heaps and this year was a particularly bountiful one.

As part of my goal to be more involved and knowledgeable about the food we eat as a family, I have long wanted to keep chickens.  I don't think I am ready to keep chickens for meat (and my kids are certainly not) but fresh eggs from chickens where I knew exactly how the chickens had been cared for, what they had eaten and how fresh the eggs are seems to be attainable to me.  

So, my birthday present this year was a chicken coop big enough for 4 chickens. The day after my birthday was a Saturday so I spent part of the morning assembling the coop and building the chicken run in a rarely used part of the garden to one side of our house.

Here is the coop in pieces, how hard can it be! 

And partly assembled before being moved to the chicken run at the other side of our house.

 And finally, fully assembled in the chicken run on the west side of our house.  The chickens will get good shade here, and also, once I have finished building the fencing for the chicken run, will be well protected from Tia Belle, our English Springer Spaniel gun dog who loves chasing Brush Turkeys and no doubt, chickens.  It is very unlikely our dog and our chooks will get on!

Daisy, Geraldine and Boris are getting used to their new home and I'll post an update in part 2 soon.