New neighbors in the Old West Side
What happens when a science teacher, a woodworker, and a civil engineer find out there are four cute new chicks on their street? They build a chicken coop! Sounds like a joke, right? Actually this is the true story of three Old West Siders and how they spent their spare time over the past few weeks.
When Eileen Dickinson decided to have chickens in her yard, she hired a carpenter. Neighbors Dan Ezekiel, John Kushigian, and Don Todd told her she didn’t need to hire a carpenter; they would be happy to build the coop for her. After several days of hard work, the coop was complete.
Eileen says that the coop was designed with three groups in mind: predators, chickens and neighbors. If it functions as planned, it will keep the predators out, keep the chickens in, and keep the neighbors happy. Any project that starts out sounding like a ‘three guys walk into a bar’ joke and finishes with a chicken coop that looks like this must be a sign of something good.
Welcome to the neighborhood, little chicks.
Amy Frontier is a resident of the Old West Side, an English teacher, and the mother of three young boys who really like puppies, cats, and cute chicks.
Comments
dtaa
Thu, Aug 6, 2009 : 11:27 a.m.
Good call on the raccoons... Wisely, the design calls for sturdy fencing to be secured to the entire bottom. All three of us "builders" like the overall design, which I think Eileen obtained on-line. But we also all thought the plans/specs could be improved -- some of the details took all three of us to interpret. Luckily for Dan and I, John has incredible woodworking experience, as well as ALL the right power-tools. John also deserves credit for many, many improvements along the way, and is easily the project's MVP. As for me, I had a lot of fun. - Don
Lisa Bankey
Mon, Aug 3, 2009 : 2:22 p.m.
That is a stylish chicken coop! Is that a metal roof? It's great that one can see in from all sides, great viewing for the kids in the neighborhood!
susan
Mon, Aug 3, 2009 : 10:16 a.m.
Make sure the kids wash their hands with soap after handling chickens! By the way, a raccoon or a fox could easily dig under the fence. Watch out!