"Gypsy gold does not chink and glitter. It gleams in the sun and neighs in the dark."

~ Saying of the Gladdagh Gypsies of Galway


Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Coop Addition


We have a new addition to the Chicken Coop Palace.
I didn't want it - I didn't think I would like it.
To be blunt, chain link anything screams hillbilly to me.

But... hubby scored this chain link dog kennel type structure from a friend for FREE. Usually these things can be quite pricey. So FREE is good :) Being FREE made me give it a chance.

The back of the chicken coop, if you recall, had an old wooden enclosed-with-chicken-wire type structure for chickens to hang out in if they wanted to be outside the coop and still out of harms way.


Back of the chicken coop - pretty unshightly...especially in late winter/early spring when this photo was taken :)
Even though this couldn't look any more 'hillbilly' itself, if I had decided, I would have voted for hubby to buy some new wood and spruce it up. It would have looked good as new. But new wood and chicken wire isn't FREE!


So I gave the chain link dog kennel contraption a chance. I told hubby for sure though, the brown weaving would have to be removed. I thought it was hideous and made grand plans to plant something like Morning Glories around it so they could grow and climb fast up the fence to hide it!


But now, when I look at it, I am thinking, I guess it isn't so bad.
It kinda blends in, right?

Hubby fashinoned it up all nice with pieces of sheet metal to attach it to the actual coop so it doesn't blow away. He tidy up any parts that would allow predators - aka, Savannah - to get in.


He cut a hole in the chain link and fashioned more sheet metal to fit it around the doorway for the hens to go in and out as they please.

We left that small tree in there because the ladies like to stand on it!
This definitely gives them much more room than the wooden structure did too.

View from opposite side - and yes, that is the former structure laying in a heap on the side destined to be bonfire

So, I guess it isn't so bad. It faces the back of the property, looking into the orchard. So when I am looking out the kitchen window, it isn't like I see this huge dog kennel type thing sitting in the yard.

We do let them free range as much as possible, but when they can't, having this outdoor enclosure for them is the next best thing.

But, I am still planting something around it that will climb up it and make it look like a huge bush ;)


4 comments:

Vanessa said...

I don't think it looks hillbilly, it does blend with the red coop. Although flowers going up would look gorgeous!

Susan said...

I bet the chickens will love it! I have a question...my sister is raising chickens and she said she had her first "double" yolk. Would that have been twins if fertilized?

Unknown said...

Susan - Hmmm, I honestly don't know. Thats a good question! I am going to find out the answer for both of us :)

Barbara Good said...

Not hillbilly at all, though being Australian I'm no expert on things hillbilly. We're more into bogans and country hicks than hillbillies. But something growing up through the wire would be gorgeous, passion fruit vines perhaps?