Many Many Updates

I have been remiss in my duties as a blogger by not providing timely updates for my faithful readers. 

To summarize the past few weeks (full details will be added as individual posts):

1.)  The coop is "done" 
2.)  The chickens have moved outside
3.)  The run is up and the chickens get outdoor time every day
4.)  The boys are getting ready for freezer camp - they haven't packed yet, but they are demonstrating interest in going every day.
5.)  Two out of four dogs would kill a chicken if given an opportunity
6.)  I'm turning into a chicken hoarder (but I promise to stop at my max)
7.)  One of the original girls died.
8.)  Non-chicken related stuff, too

Genesis of an Idea

So I've decided to try my hand at raising chickens.  Crazy.  I have lived in a city my entire life and don't even go to the state fair.  I have had little to no exposure to livestock, let alone know anything about trying to raise or keep them.  So how did I get here?

I moved to a a new house.  In September, I closed on a new house that has just over one acre of land - in the city - on a lake.  The previous owners had done a lot of work on creating large raised gardens.  One of the gardens alone is bigger than all my previous vegetable gardens.  The other three are bigger than all the flower beds I had previously.  Even with moving most of my perennials, I still have more room than I currently know what to do with.  Next spring I will plant a number of fruit tree in the yard, and possibly even dig out an even larger vegetable garden that is not in the raised beds.  I would use the raised beds exclusively for flowers.  But that may have to wait a year.

My mother passed away back in September, also.  All her kids were able to come see her before she passed.  While we were sitting vigil in the hospital, my sister (who I don't see often) and I were talking about gardening, among other things.  She mentioned how she had a worm box for her compost.  I had been composting already, but had never thought to do it using worms.  I thought that was a great idea.  She gave me some background on how the process works, and it sounded simple enough.  I did a little more research on what it takes to have a successful, home vermiculture operation.  Sure enough, it's a pretty straightforward thing to do. 

Along with gardening talk, somehow the conversation turned to raising goats and chickens in an urban environment.  I'm not sure if I'm ready for goats, but chickens sure did sound intriguing.  I'm not quite sure what it is about the notion of raising chickens spoke to me, but the idea took hold and got me moving forward.