Chicken neighbor

Maybe I didn't say that correctly- we don't have a chicken for a neighbor, we have a neighbor that has chickens- a chicken person!  We saw her sign for eggs and decided we would stop to buy and then talk chickens with her.  Her chickens are free-range.  We pulled in and got out of the car and they all made a mad dash for us.  Our neighbor, (we learned her name is Teresa), came to the door and we told her that we wanted to buy some eggs and would she tell us about her operation? With a big smile on her face she replied "let me get my shoes!"  She was so friendly and nice and told us about her years of experience.  We told her that we were just getting started.  There was a big cage sitting in the back of a truck.  She asked what our chicks were living in and I told her a lawn mower box.  Then she asked if we would like to have the cage- said she didn't need it and they were going to junk it.  We were in my Honda Civic so Doug arranged to go back the next day with his truck to fetch it back to our house.  We are so happy to have it.  It is a huge improvement over the lawn mower box that I had put screens on to keep them from getting out.  (Teresa said this was orginally a cage for ferrets.)

multiple floors- enough room for all

 And look at the eggs we bought from Teresa- a multitude of colors.  She has Americaunas, (I think I do, too) which the call the "Easter Egg Chicken" because it lays beautiful colors of eggs.  This picture doesn't do them justice, they are a beautiful green blue.

beauties

 The chicks will be five weeks old this weekend.  Doug is working to secure the room of our small barn where the chickens will be housed and he is building the outer caged area. We will let them roam part of the time but have decided that most of the time they will be in a secure environment.  There are just too many predetors here.  The barn where they will live backs up to the woods.  Much of what Teresa told us was how many chickens she has lost through the years.

measure twice, cut once

 Most of the wood trim needed to be replaced and Doug covered the two windows with chicken wire.  We think he will make some sort of shutter covering.

I was so glad to meet Teresa.  To know that just a couple of roads over there is a resource if we get into trouble.  Plus, my egg-lady friend, Mary Jo and Tony the guy who plows our garden for us.  And tomorrow night we go to the Purdue University extension class on backyard fowl.  Surely we will make other chicken friends there!  (I mean friends who have chickens.)