Friday, August 5, 2011

Repurposed

When we found out that our family was going to grow, we knew that our house would have to expand as well. A year and a half ago, we decided to put an addition on the house, which meant our deck would have to go.

For a year and a half, cedar decking and railings have been sitting in a pile in the yard.

For a year and a half I've been wondering what we were going to do with the sizable pile of perfectly good lumber.

Insert my Dad's great imagination. One day about a month ago he pointed to a part of the former deck and said, "That would make a nice little chicken coop." A couple of days after that stroke of genius, we began constructing this little hen house.

I love that it's made entirely of deck pieces. All but for the chicken wire and screws to fasten it all together, each piece is reclaimed. It's weathered. It's rustic. It's perfect.

We completed the project last weekend. Today, we added the residents. Three sweet little birds who have yet to be named.

These little girls (hopefully they're all girls) arrived with little fanfare, but much excitement by all three kids.

The boys just wanted to hold them. Gavin was a natural, gently handling the birds as if he'd been doing so his entire life.

Benett was a bit more... excited. This made the birds a bit more... nervous.

When he did finally get his hands on one, there were a couple of nervous moments. You see, he tried to hold the bird the same way he hugs his sister... tightly and around the neck. Not a good situation for a little chicken.

The other part of the equation that we're going to have to work on is the Retriever. Jackson was very excited to see the chickens, but something in his excessive slobbering betrayed a more sinister kind of excitement. He only dashed into the coop once, when I was too slow to close the gate behind me. He's a curious fellow... who wanted to play. Lesson learned.

Tonight I went back out to the coop to button everything up for the evening. I lingered a bit, because these little creatures are so much fun to watch. There is also something very soothing about their sounds. Benett was surprised and said that they were "tweety birds." But to me the sound is more reminiscent of a cat purring. 

It was also fun to watch them chase and gobble up the crickets. I'm pretty sure I could sit all day and watch that. 

Although the coop construction is complete, I'm sure we'll spend a good part of our day tomorrow putting the final touches on our new arrangements and making sure our little fowl are happy in their new home. But for tonight, everyone is ready to settle in for the evening. The boys are so thoughtful... they're watching Chicken Little in honor of our new additions. Very fitting.

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