A box o peeps!

My wife got it in her mind last year that she wanted chickens. I told her to give us a year to settle in and get things ready for them. Well, today was the day...and of course we weren't ready.

In eggs two days ago, 15 Orpington pullets were delivered to the local post office from Texas this morning. Since Shae had to be in class, I had to go pick them up.

I wore my best barbecue bib and got our little peepers home. One poor girl didn't make the trip, but we have 14 that seem active and healthy.

These birds are destined to be egg layers and we will ultimately adapt the dog pen to hold them and also build them a mobile tractor to bring them to various parts of the yard to feed. The dogs are old and we walk them normally, so reusing the dog pen won't bother them at all.

Until they are big enough to move outside, we have them living in a pine box I had made while living at the train station. It was originally meant to be a blanket chest, but I wasn't quite pleased with the look and size of it.




I made it all with hand tools. The panels are all edge glued and rabbits were my joint of choice. I'm not sure why now, but I used modern screws to cinch the rabbits tight.

It's been sitting in the corner of the workshop since we moved here, holding junk off the floor. When we were talking about getting something a little bigger than the plastic tote for the chicks, I knew I had finally found the reason for this box's existence.




Now I can plan to make a blanket chest that will please me.