Chicken hoop coop

I'm adding 5 more chickens to my flock on Tuesday so their previous abode would not do.

There was already a pen on the grounds when we moved here. Its a very sturdy welded rebar pen measuring 14 by 14. The side are chain link and are buried down into the ground so stuff can't dig in
Moneys tight and my property isn't fenced. What's a gal to?

I really liked the mobile coop hoop designs that are popping up everywhere. But that's not safe here out in the open. So I just took the basic principles and added the hoop to the top of the existing structure. The pen had a rebate divider down the center so now There's a duck side and a Chicken side. Eventually I will have the regular mobile hoop house for them but This will do for now.
Its not complete.  I still need to tarp it. I still need nesting boxes. The pink 5 gallon buckets are substitutes for now. ( they'll be 5 of them raised up off of the ground with a barrier in from to keep eggs from rolling out). Each end had two Welded wire panels attached to each other and folded over ( livestock panels aren't readily available here).

I didn't have enough panels to cover the whole thing so I used pex pipe and bamboo to support the over laying chicken wire in the center

The pitter patter of little........hooves?

I managed to convince Lover that I would make an excellent goat farmer. Translation? I'm getting Nigerian Dwarf milking goats in the spring along with some new chickens. NDs have a high yield of milk, which is also high in milk fat. It makes great cheeses, soaps and lotions. Not to mention lots of little terds for manure/composting and weed abatement. Just handy and cute all the way around. These little fellas are a bit pricey though. I can get a nubian for about 1/2 the cost of the nigerians. Why nigerians then? SIZE. They are no bigger than a medium sized dog and can be kept in smaller areas. They also have incredible sweet dispositions. I love them. With lots of hard work, luck and $$$, by this time next year I'll be knocked up and having my first kidding season. Fingers Are Crossed.

Magical Moments with wee ones.

I'm sure i'm not alone when I say I want my families life to be magical, especially my kids (but me too... I do believe in faeries I DO, I DO). This morning as been good. Its getting chilly here in the desert, which is a rare occurance. So I make sure to take advantage of it. My kids had hot cereal and hot cocoa with marshmellows. They went out side with me to 'help' me hang the laundry, wearing homemade mittens to protect their tiny hands from the cold, wet laundry. They ran in front of me, towing their little wagons to help mama gather firewood for tonight. From there, we went to feed the chickens. Mace LOVES feeding the chickens. I get so warm watching him concentrate on being gentle as he scoops out fists fool of feed, gently placing it on the ground for the ladies. He smiles and watches as they gobble up every morsel. Then we head back inside. These are rare moments. There were't any tears. There wasn't any shoving or fightnig over toys. It was magical. And while I know it won't last, i'm going to wrap myself up in this moment like a warm blanket and breathe in what is, at present, perfect.