Handmade 52: Item #9 Chicken Coop!

It is DONE!!!
Phew! It took me over 3 months and far more cash than planned to build this coop. Oops.

Coop shown with flaps open.
The brown you see inside near the center is a tall cardboard box I used to section off some of the coop, so that the little chicks would be in a smaller area inside the coop to start with. This came in handy when Buttercup needed to be separated from the rest during the "Broken Beak" episode. o_O
More on that and her recovery soon.

Note to self : Use a plan (bought or free) that comes with a cut list and step by step instructions, and remember that you don't have the spare time to make elaborate things during nap times - less is more!

Chicken Coop and Run

• Our coop is taller than my husband! 
• It consists of a 6ft x 3ft coop on top, and a 6ft x 4ft run below. 
• There is a 2 section ladder for them to go up to the coop and down to the run. They enter / exit the coop via a pop-door in the floor. 
• I used hardware cloth over the windows and run sides. We do NOT want to take the risk of anything hurting or taking off with our little ladies, so I tried to make the coop and run as secure as possible. But I also made as many doors and windows as possible. It gets VERY hot here in Texas, and the last thing I wanted was for our chickens to overheat and die....and then I'd have to tell the kids what happened. Nope, not our kind of fun. So lots of windows to open for airflow, while still keeping them secure, and lots of doors so that I can easily clean it out, reach food and water, catch chicks that need medical attention, allow the kids to feed treats without them escaping, and so on.
• Thankfully I thought ahead and put together the whole thing with good quality screws, because the only way I see us being able to move it / sell it off if we move....is in pieces or at least in sections. It is huge, heavy, and strong enough to hold an adult or several kids in the top section without it even moving. I'm pretty proud of it's strength and security features! ;)

(I'll do a separate post with more photos of the building process, inside details etc.)

Our girls are:
Buttercup (Blue Splash Marans - standard size chicken)
Izzy (Black Australorp - standard size chicken)
- named after Isabella on the TV show Phineas and Ferb
Millie (Welsummer - bantam chicken)
and
Meep (Black Frizzle Cochin - bantam chicken)
- named after the cute alien character in Phineas and Ferb.

I'll do a separate post showing off our beauties!
Okay, okay, one sneak peek:

They're MUCH bigger these days!

Where did we get our chickens?
After much deliberation, lots of emails back and forth between myself and several people, I made the executive decision to order our girls from My Pet Chicken.

Why?
For so many reasons. The main ones being:

1. We had to be sure we received girls. Our landlord sweetly said yes to our out-of-the-blue request for chickens in this suburban neighbourhood, but we promised them no roosters would ever call our coop home. Unlike most places, MPC sexes their bantams. Yes, there is always a small chance they will get it wrong, but the chances are far lower than ordering through the feed store, or on Craigslist, and simply taking our chances with what sexes we receive for our bantams.
2. We could get a variety of breeds without having to reach a minimum of 15+ chickens. We are allowed no more than 4 and to be honest, that's plenty for us. For our zipcode, the minimum order is 5 when you order bantams and standards in one order. Thankfully I know a sweet lady nearby that would add to her flock so that we would meet the minimum. Yay!

This is by far the biggest handmade item that I will tackle this year (thankfully). And while it's certainly not perfect, especially up close, it is fully functional and I'll admit I'm pretty impressed that I did the majority of it without help! Though the help I did receive from my husband was invaluable. I could never have finished certain areas like the roof, without his strength, height, and all-round awesomeness. Thanks Handsome! ;)

Handmade 52 Items #7 and #8: Marvin Goes To Mars

I realized the other day that Little Man has been a bit neglected, being the third child that he is. He had been using one of our pillow cases on his pillow, and when I put it in the wash the other day I realized I didn't have a single spare one to replace it with. Mmmm....what else is a sewing mama to do but sew him some! :)

A while ago, oh I guess about a year or so, I stumbled across some super cute fabric on www.fabric.com . A line called "Marvin Goes To Mars". I grabbed a bunch of it with the plan to make a quilt and pillow case set for JBug (aka Booger), possibly even add some trim to a bought sheet set to go with it. But these days he's more into Iron Man than cute little aliens and boys in rocket ships.
Thankfully we have another son, one who happens to be in desperate need of bedding. And wouldn't you know it? I just happen to have a stash of super cute fabric, just begging to be used! Win!  ;)

See having a fabric stash really IS useful!

Now comes the fact that I don't think I've sewn a pillow case in YEARS...possibly since the throw pillow covers of my Home Ec classes in school! Ha ha!

Never fear, I know just the tutorial for the job. Enter the Fishsticks Designs, 9 1/2 Minute Pillowcase Tutorial!

And yes it really is that easy. See for yourself:

Two adorable pillowcases done in record time!
Please ignore the fact that the top one is wrinkly and needs a wash - I couldn't very well force my sick baby to wait for his pillowcase until after I had taken photos. So just pretend it's all cleaned and ironed, ok? ;)

And great timing too. Once they were done a sick Little Man I know was contemplating a nap, and was oh so eager to lie down on his new pillowcase, on Mommy's lap, for a nap. Awww, too cute!

Poor tired guy.

Of course that means Mommy had to wrangle said (30lb) baby, and his newly covered pillow, all the way back to his bed, and get them both in and down without waking up Little Man. Thankfully watching Mission Impossible paid off, and together with my USMC hubby's stealth training, it ensured nap time was a go!

Oh and did you see the tags I used?

Night Owl's Menagerie tags - they're woven and foldover.

They're a foldover tag with "Handmade" on the one side and a cute heart lock on the other. They're designed and sold by Night Owl's Menagerie on Etsy. You also need to see the amazing creations she has available for you on Zazzle.
I can't say enough about her talent...I wish I could design beautiful things like she does. However, my Grandmother's artistic talent was NOT passed on to me, and so even my stick figures run in terror from their reflections, ha ha ha!
I'm not kidding...sadly.

Those are not affiliate links. I simply want to give credit where credit is due. And I also want to make sure everyone can enjoy her crafty goodness. I could write an entire post on my woven / satin tag addiction - in fact I might - but for now I simply want to pass on my love of tags!