The Bovine Bugle

Chicken "coop" for the soul

Son Ben begins constructing the frame for one
chicken coop wall.

Over the weekend, my brother, Steve, and his girls and my boys and I started building a chicken coop for someone we know. It"s sort of a community service project for Ben, one we came up with after visiting a customer of our farm's products.

We were delivering beef and eggs to Sylvia Peltier. She and her husband, Ron, have been buying our products for some time. Sylvia has severe rheumatoid arthritis and is wheel-chair bound. During our delivery, she once again talked about her wish to have chickens in the yard in back of her house. Her daughter had given her some money for materials to build a chicken coop, but the cost of hiring a builder was holding her back. As Ben and I headed home from Sylvia's house, I mentioned to Ben the idea of him and I and a few other people building the chicken coop for Sylvia and Ron. He loved the idea, as did Karen, and it would help Ben fulfill some required community service time for the National Honor Society.

We first got the okay from Ron to do the project. He was really touched by the idea. And when we told Sylvia she was so excited she couldn't stop thanking us. Over the next few weeks the project took shape. My brother put together a material list. Then I worked with a friend of mine, Mike Lemnah, who works for a local lumberyard, to price out the materials. Mike, with the blessings of his boss, sold us the materials at a discounted price and also donated 3 windows for the building. The materials were delivered just before the weekend, and we set to work Saturday morning.

Big brother Ben and Uncle Steve help Noah do some hammering on the coop frame.

Between Saturday and Sunday we probably put in 6 hours on the project. We are building the chicken coop in our farm utility building, and then we will dismantle it, truck the pieces down to Sylvia's (about 10 miles away) , and put it together in her backyard. Hopefully by Memorial Day the building will be up and standing behind Sylvia and Ron's house, almost ready for the 6 laying hen chicks that Sylvia has started in a large cardboard box in her home.

One wall of the coop is up by the end of the weekend.

Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at May 25, 2005 08:34 PM