Sunday, April 19, 2015

City Farming (Underground) Part 1

I thought I better update life... LOTS of life has happened since I last updated. If you don't know me well then all of this information will look a little crazy, but for those who know me it won't come as a shock that I do things a little differently. Time for a picture...

 
 
Yes that is a goat.
Kiki lived with us for a total of six days before I realized that our small, newly established micro farm (we live in a townhome!) was not ready for her antics. So sad, we will be getting a new goat, possibly in the fall but for now we are working ourselves up to that point, starting with Chickens!!!
 
 
Yes I said Chickens.
And for the record when I have farm fresh eggs I won't seem so crazy, you will be trying the basement chicken coop...
Yes I said basement. And for the record it doesn't smell bad, it's not dusty and my kids are probably the happiest kids in the world right now.
So since we live in a townhome it is kind of short on yard space. I did a lot of research and found a website of a woman who brings her hens inside in the winter. It seemed a lot less disgusting than all of the people in the world said it would be so I did the unthinkable and built a coop in part of the basement (we have a room that has just been a mess since we moved in so I went to work).
 
Before                                                                     After
                    
This was the original space that was going to be the coop, but I ended up moving it to the opposite corner and this corner became my craft nook. Little bit of a detour but I like being in the room with the animals!
So I got to work on the coop, I used scrap wood from the garage and chicken wire from Lowe's. Lined it with Pine Chips because Cedar is not good for them. And then had fun buying chicken décor from Hobby Lobby.
The end result was pretty cool. I will add nesting boxes later when the need them.
 


We have six ladies in all... A cochin, Americana, Polish, Fuzzy Bantam, Penciled Hamburg, and Sussex. They are named after Disney Princess Characters.
 








 
 And if only I had stopped there!!! I also got two bunnies...
So it was time to build a rabbit hutch!
Such pretty girls, I got a Lion head named Frenchi, and a Hota named Freckles.

So the cheapest solution to a hutch that would require less work for me was to buy a shelf that you can assemble and then custom fit it for the bunnies, I got mine Home Depot for like 45 bucks... Not bad, and then bought bunny wire (also at Lowes next to the chicken wire.)

 I put two tubs under it for easy clean up not only for the bunnies but when I sweep up the chicken coop, then I take it outside to mulch my garden.
 Oh and the sides are enclosed by kitchen cabinet doors that I am using the cabinet minus the doors in the garage.


 Bunny Loves!!!