Poultry Preparations

This weekend my parents came down with a small house trailered to their pick-up.  Our chicken-house.  Since we agreed to take HaPa and Grandma's chickens in the "off season" while they are in the sunny south, they built us a beautiful coop to keep them in.  Dad milled the lumber himself from cedars taken down at the camp on Lake Champlain, and it came out perfect.  There are four little roosting boxes inside, just at the right height for the kids to collect the eggs, a removable droppings tray under the roosting bar, a varmint-proof door that automatically closes on a timer at dusk and opens every morning, and a well covered child-proof electrical outlet so the chickens can have 16 hours of light during the dreary winter months.

Over the long weekend, we built a partially covered run for the chickens too.  It's quite big enough for 7 laying hens, and they should be able to scratch around and attack vegetable scraps that we throw in to keep them busy.  We also painted the house a nice brick red color, and it looks really nice in the yard.  Now we just need some chickens!  Sometime in November is the planned transfer date for that.

We also had time this weekend to go to the UVAC splash park and hit the Warner Fall Foliage Festival with the Kennedys and VanVrankens.  Buffalo Plaid, a cover band featuring 3 of my co-workers, was playing at the festival and we had a good time dancing to their music.  Aiden is especially entranced every time we see them, and he dances like a maniac and then has to go up and personally say hi to the band members when they're done.  He's a Buffalo Plaid groupie.  Between that and the midway rides, sno-cones and a stuffed "chickie-pie" won at one of the carnival stands, it was a great night for Aiden.