October 27th

Saturday, October 27th, 2018

WE GOT CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I may have teared up more than once today, and I’m not ashamed.

Paul and I have been talking about getting chickens for awhile now, but money for a decent, MN-weather-worthy coop just wasn’t in the budget.

Until last Saturday.

Last week I opened up the NextDoor app to create a post about our pumpkin patch, and there it was. A beautiful little kids play house – for FREE. With thumbs of fury, I messaged the gentleman and told him my husband travels for work, so we wouldn’t be able to come get it until Saturday, but if he was willing to hold it for us, we’d be there right away Saturday morning to pick it up.

I honestly thought he’d tell me “first come, first served, if it’s still here Saturday you can have it,” but instead he told me he’d hold it, it was mine for the taking! We borrowed our neighbor’s trailer, and brought it home Saturday morning.

Paul worked most of this week, so yesterday we worked like mad to modify it into a coop. Nesting boxes, a roost, poop tray (yep, that’s a thing), a feeder and waterer. We already had a kennel that we had used as a run for our ducks a couple summers ago, so that was easy to set up quick and attach to the coop. Then this morning we contacted a person selling 5 month old Rhode Island Red hens on Craigslist, and we drove out to Hutchinson and picked them up. We initially thought we’d get four, but my smarty pants husband sneakily brought extra cash just in case (he knows me so well!), and sure enough, when the flock of 18 happily ran up and greeted us at our truck when we pulled up, I fell in love with them, and we ended up bringing home six.

The first one I reached for let me pick her up, and nestled into the crook of my arm. I was a goner.

So we loaded them up, brought them home, and when we let them out in the run, they were so curious with their new home! We left them in today (and will overnight) so they understand where their new home was, but we’re hoping to let them out tomorrow!

I’m now a chicken lady, and it’s the best thing.