My New Patnership...But I STILL Hate Birds!

4 of my grandkids and a friend in front of our chicken coop

I have wanted to get chickens for several years, but was unwilling to give up any of my garden for them to live in. I didn’t want to lose my “Alice Garden”, my “Train Garden”, the Sandbox/play area for the grandkids, so I was frustrated as to how I could have chickens that I could get eggs from. I finally came up with a solution! My son in-law, Sam, and daughter live in a more “rural” part of Mesa where he helps his dad breed and raise Rocky Mountain horses (here is a link to his web-site for the horses:    http://www.rockyjohn.com/index.htm ) .

Sam, my "project manager" and son in-law, is the first on the left

I thought of asking him if he had a corner of their property where I could set up a chicken coop and buy some chickens to put in it and we could share the eggs. I figured I could get down there every day to feed them, since it is only 5 minutes from our house and I promised to do all the work. He was so enthusiastic about the idea that I haven’t had to do anything else. I have luckily become the silent partner in this project. He was able to find a coop that his brother was no longer using and he got some friends and family to help him move it to their property. I had planned on just a few, 5-6 chickens but this coop is so big that he thinks we could get up to at least 20 chickens in it.

He also has a few pigeons in it that he uses to help train his hunting dogs which he also raises (he is such a talented GUY!).

Pigeons in the coop...YUCK!

The first addition to the coop was a rooster that a friend, Jill, had and wanted to get rid of. Then we got a
a few laying hens.

Why is the rooster the most colorful one!?!?!

Last week we got some chicks that a school teacher here in Mesa had hatched in her class room. She didn’t want them after they had hatched and Jill, the friend who gave us our starter rooster, contacted us to see if we wanted them because she didn’t need any more chickens right now.

Miss G and Miss E introducing me to our chicks

They are so cute! My granddaughters introduced me to each of the chicks and told me the names of each of them, including Cutie Pie, Banana Bread, Blackie, and “Sticky”. They named him that because he has dried poop on his behind!

The chicks are too young to go into the coop yet but will be added when they are bigger. I have received about 2 dozen eggs so far, including 2 pigeons eggs that I just can’t bring myself to eat yet…I HATE PIGEONS! But the other eggs have been amazingly good!

My first eggs!

Anyway, this project has turned out great, especially for me, since I am the silent partner and just get to share in the eggs. Thanks to Sam, my great son in-law!