Now, for a little backgraound. I have had a fasination with having backyard fowl since we lived on a two acre plot in Raleigh some years ago and the thought has propagated on several different occasions since.
The neighborhood was a private one and all of the houses had at least two acres. We were alowed by coventant to have horses and the like but never lived there long enough to do anything about it.
One of our neighbors has a couple of Guinea Hens and we took such delight in watching them roam the neighborhood and our back yard. There were two of them and they made such a raquet. We could almost set the clock by there comings and goings.
So we moved for a time to New Haven Connecticut and the apartment that we had had a great basement that had all the workings of a coop still in existance. Mind you it was an old apartment near Yale and it was from a time where most folks raised their own chickens for eggs and meat.
Anyway we moved into an old convent that was on the grounds of St Rita's Catholic church up the road in Hamden and it too had the old skelton of a working chicken coop in the basement.
We had since moved back to Raleigh and I had joked with friends for a few months that I was going to build a chicken coop. It was the source of great humor amoung them and our kids.
Last year about this time it happened again. The first annual "Tour de Coop" was announced here in the city where local backyard coops would be open for tour on a given Saturday. It was a great success so much so that they are doing it again this weekend. I'll have pictures and a report in a future post.
Fast forward to a few months ago when we discovered that a close friend of our has chickens and someone in our carpool also has them. Just can't seem to get away from them
So after many months of planning and joking we have finally started the coop. Planning to have up to 6 fowl of some sort. The oldest want to have Guineas and the younger of our brood want chickens.
Thinking of: (all good layers)
Rhode Island Reds
Buff Orpingtons
Leghorns
All for now...
