Is that coop built yet?

This is a question I'm hearing more frequently lately.

We made some progress on the chicken coop over the weekend. Jim has fully sided both the right and left walls. It's beautiful. I'm a little embarrassed at the way this thing has taken on the 'fanciest chicken coop ever' quality. I read frequently all the clever and imaginative ways people have found to gather, scrounge and recycle materials to make the perfect home for their girls. That's not this. Outside of the used windows I found, anyway. Oh well. It is our first major project here on our new farm and we are learning from it. My girls will be, ahem, very comfortable.

Jim is still going to put cedar trim around both the windows and will cut a 12"x 12" chicken door in the lower right-hand side of this wall:

Roxy, our pup, is always on hand to supervise.

There is still the small issue of this gate:
It needs to be moved. Or a new one needs to go in closer to the coop. See the coop way in the distance? Our house is over there, too. This means that to get to the coop currently, one either climbs through the electric fence (it's not turned on right now) or walks the length of the fence to this gate, goes through the gate, and walks all the way back to the coop. In the summer, this won't be a big deal, really, but in the winter, when it's dark and cold and I'm lugging water, it will become un-fun. Unfortunately, I may be making this walk or climbing through the fence wires for quite some time, as the quote I just received from a fencer priced us at almost $800 to rewire, reground and install a new gate. Who knew electric fencing could be so complicated. Not me, that's for sure.

This evening, Jim came home from work a bit early and got the tar paper up on the back wall and got a good start on the siding. Every day, we're getting a little bit done and before we know it...it'll be time to work on the run! :-)

The warmer weather we're having is helping a lot. Somehow, having your fingers and hands frozen after 10 minutes of being outside is not conducive to quick coop building, so let's hope the warmer days are here to stay.

It was so sunny and warm yesterday that the chicks got to go outside for the first time. My son and I loaded them all up in a big Rubbermaid container and off they went...for a field trip to the driveway - woo hoo - much better than the field trip to the kiddy pool in the family room!! I put up a small dog play yard to contain them and out they came. My niece, Julia, insisted on getting in the pen with them. She loves my chicks as much as I do:

Roxy, my pup, spent most of the time looking over Julia's shoulder. I think she would have gone into the pen, too, if she'd been invited:

Here's a bird's eye view of being outside, there's not much baby chick-ness left in THOSE faces, is there?: