Building the Coop

Being a school librarian I thought a literary theme would be appropriate for our urban chicken farm. Baba Yaga, the infamous witch of Russian folklore seemed a good subject.

Baba Yaga lived in a hut named Izbushka. The hut ran around the forest on a pair of chicken legs, making Baba Yaga an early version of granny with a motorhome - one that likes to eat little children with her sharp steel teeth...

Our Izbushka would have to be sturdy and carefully balanced to be able to stand on two angled chicken legs. I managed to construct and paint it while the four remaining hens ranged in and around it. The girls didn't seem to mind, but the process often reminded me of the cautionary words in our how-to book: prepare spaces BEFORE you actually acquire birds.

Somehow, the coop and the run were ready by the time the first eggs arrived. hens liked the new space and all was well with the world.

Sorting Out the Flock

By the end of the school year we knew we had to move those chickens out. They were big pullets now. The crowing of the two Araucana "hens" was excruciating from the bedroom next door at 5:00 a.m. I scrambled to get the yard ready for our new flock and we found a breeder who would take the young roosters in.

Every weekend was another project. The 30x30 side yard of our old foursquare house made a perfect chicken yard. But it was overgrown and full of debris from past projects. I cleared the land, rebuilt the sagging fence and completed a small storage building along the property line.

Then the fun stuff got underway. I found lots of good advice online regarding urban coops for small flocks and I had some scrap lumber left over from other projects. A neighbor's losses to raccoons made us feel that we needed a Fort Knox approach to the chicken run. I built a serious covered run and we used makeshift boxes for housing while I prepared to build the coop itself.

We had chickens in the yard! We were urban chicken farmers at last.

Our Urban Chicken Adventure Begins

In the spring of 2007 our family was invited to visit the farm of my principal to see the baby lambs. All was going very well until I stepped out to spend some time with our daughter exploring the adjoining woodland. We came back to discover that a plot had been (literally) hatched in my absence! We were off to the farm supply store to buy chickens..."For whom?" I asked naively.

I bravely put on a strong defense, making a great kerfuffle of objections, denial, bargaining, etc. But, It was no use. I soon found myself driving home with a box of 6 tiny chicks, $80 in supplies, and a book about raising urban chickens. First piece of advice in the book: NEVER buy chickens without careful planning and preparations at home!

I quickly converted my quiet weekend into a frenzied building project, constructing a pen in our spare bedroom. For several weeks the chicks were a delight for our daughter and a happy distraction as my wife and I worked to close the school year. We had one New Hampshire Red, one Black Australorp, two Barred Plymouth Rocks, and two Araucanas. They made a colorful little flock, and grew quickly under the glow of the heat lamp as the spring progressed.

Then, the crowing started.