When the ship has set sail...

Let me start by saying that Heather is an incredibly gracious and giving person and our latest adventure just adds to that reputation.  I (David) wanted chickens but Heather was less than enthusiastic about it.  She even vocalized that she was less than enthusiastic about it in her normal sweet way.  But she knew that I really wanted to try raising chickens for eggs so she relented.  As she told a mutual friend at a recent meeting, "When you see the ship has set sail, you just go ahead and go along for the ride."  

Don't get me wrong, had she said emphatically that she didn't want chickens, there would be no chickens.  But she knows that I'm always up for an adventure so when a Peace Corp volunteer mentioned that she was going to be buying some hens... well it was just like blowing on a hot ember... BOOM! It was happening!  

So, with Heather away at a meeting last week the kids and I started the process of building a chicken coop.  I thought it would be a fun bonding experience.  Yep, that's what I thought.  

The first day I had a welder build a frame for the coop to sit on.  It took all day because the power was out and he wanted to charge me triple the price if he had to cut the pieces by hand.  Naturally, I declined the higher price and opted to wait until the electric returned.  Thankfully, it returned that afternoon and I was able to get the frame done that day.  The next day the electric went out again so little was accomplished that day apart from putting the base down on the frame.  Finally, the third day into our little chicken coop experience we had electric.  We were able to build the nesting boxes and get a wall up that day.  

The following day we woke up and had electric again!  We were able to get the walls up and roof on before the sun set on our little adventure.  The following morning we finished off the screens, cut the windows and door and started the base coat (primer).  I really can't remember praying for God to grow my patience in my devotion that morning, but perhaps He knew I still needed more lessons in it.  Let's just say that three kids, each armed with a paint brush, never ends well.  Paint in their hair, on their legs and Karissa even managed to get a nice little patch of paint on her face. Seriously, we had fun... but it was challenging at times to laugh instead of scold!

 
We finished late afternoon and let the primer dry overnight.  Today, we started mid-morning putting the paint on and were finished within an hour.  We had hoped to get another coat on today, but it just did not dry fast enough.  So we still have another coat of paint to add, some trim pieces, the door and a ramp.  I won't be able to dedicate any time to our project over the next week, so the paint should have plenty of time to dry.  Here is a picture of the way we left it:

We are expecting to get our chickens the end of September or beginning of October.  We will update again on the coop once it is completed or once we get chickens!  Kind of funny looking coop if you ask me.  Perhaps if you ask Heather she would say it looks more like a ship... that's sailing away! 

If you have or had chickens for eggs and have any advice, feel free to comment below.  We are new to this chicken thing and are open for suggestions!