I really like all of the planning and speculation that comes along with the start of a new year – 365 clean, bright squares on the calendar expectantly waiting to be filled with exciting things! The start of a new year feels like a good time to try and put your own little world to rights and I suppose that's why so many of us make new years resolutions. I did OK with mine last year although I never did get around to sewing very much and my email inbox is even more stuffed now than it was back then. On the positive side though, I did manage to spend some extra much needed time with Amy while my husband had Toby. That's something that needs to happen a bit more this year, but we'll take it step by step and hopefully balance out what both children need a little more evenly! I also did really well on the food front – I did end up making virtually all of our own bread, cakes and biscuits and relying far, far less on supermarket food for meals. The plan is to take that a step further this year and produce more of our own food. Which is why I am so happy with our joint christmas pressie this year…
…a chicken house! It's ready for residents but H is currently busy clearing the area where it's going and building a run. Once it's all in place we'll be going to collect our 3 chickens and hopefully not too long after we'll be enjoying some fresh eggs! Amy and I are so excited and she's already got a shortlist of names for them!
H and I have also been busy in the garden setting up raised beds ready for veggie growing. I can already tell that 2009 is going to be a more outdoorsy kind of year though hopefully I'll still have a little energy at the end of the day for a spot of bunny knitting!
little cotton rabbits 
Might we expect some knitted chickens in the future? Sounds like a possibility.
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How lovely to have your own fresh eggs. I really need to start making more fresh meals and relying less on supermarket food, but it is so easy to get into that rut when you are so busy; I think that may be one of my new year’s resolutions.
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My parents have chickens and its great fun collecting the eggs. They don’t lay so many in the winter, but with all the sunshine lately they have laid a few more than expected. They like to eat vegetable peelings cooked up and pasta too!
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Fresh eggs are fabulous!
Raised beds are excellent for veg, and lots of plants can be grown in big pots: potatoes, beans, lettuce, courgettes to name but a few. Fruit trees can be grown espalier style against fences/walls and even ballerina style apple trees in pots are pretty good.
Your kids will enjoy being involved in this(in different ways). Have fun!
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I hope you all had a lovely new year. How exciting to be getting chickens!! That is a little dream of mine, but where we live now it just isn’t possible. Nothing beats collecting those eggs in the morning, especially when they’re still warm!!
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I am so jealous. I want chickens so bad it hurts, but my garden is far too tiny.
I am planning some pots of veg etc though.
Love this blog by the way, keep it coming.
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The garden sounds like a good opportunity. I hope you will post photo of the produce!
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How exciting! Keeping your own chickens must be so super cool! I’m also very impressed by your efforts to be self sufficient.
And I agree with Tina, I hope there are knitted chickens in the future too. 😀
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Ooh! How wonderful! Have fun with those chickens. I looks forward to hearing all about them, and maybe seeing a LCR chicken one day too? Enjoy!
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wow, i’d love to keep chickens.. good luck on your quest for the outdoors. Hopefully we’ll have some nice weather this year
lisa x
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How exciting. I keep thinking about getting chickens but still haven’t got around to it.
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I’m so jealous of the chicken coop! I have wanted one for so long (along with chickens) but hubby is hard to convince!
Those chickens will be great for your garden (if you know what I mean, lol)! You’ve inspired me to get mine ready, too!
Can’t wait to see the new residents!
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My family wants to be somewhat self-sufficient when we get a house. A big garden, chickens, angora bunnies for yarn, making our own stuff- it is all something we dream about all the time! I cant wait!!
Your chicken house looks lovely! Cant wait to see your chickies! :p
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Happy New Year. The chicken house looks so cute. I am sure you will get lots of lovely eggs too. My dad used to have a chicken yard and we used to collect the eggs and feed the vegie scraps and snails from the garden to them which was lots of fun seeing the chickens gobble them up. I cannot wait to hear the names Amy has chosen too.
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Did you know chicken-keeping is the UK’s fastest growing hobby? 😉
We started off with two hens, we now have 13 (I think?) and 7 cockerels which are being raised for the table. We also raised and ate our own turkey for Christmas this year. We’re a little more hardcore than most admittedly but it’s great fun. And addictive!
Have you settled on which breeds you’re going to go for? I’d happily give you some pointers and I’d also recommend the forum on http://www.practicalpoultry.com for hints, tips and advice.
Good luck!
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Ooooh! I’m so excited for you! Chickens are a big part of my life now, I love them so. There is nothing more calming for me, than sitting with a soft, warm, gently clucking chicken on my lap. They are wonderful, truly. Are you getting ex-bat hens? We can’t do that here in the US but I follow the charity in the UK that rehomes battery hens through their newsletter. It’s a wonderful operation. Well, I can’t wait to see your residents. Congratulations on entering the world of chickendom!
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What an adorable little chicken coop!!!
You will love having fresh eggs, and chickens are good for enterainment as well, they are fun to watch!!
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Funny – my daughter suggested we raise our own chickens/eggs the other day. The problem is that she would name them and then nobody would be allowed to collect eggs or eat the pet chickens. Not to mention that we live in the city and they have by-laws to prevent people from owning livestock. Such is the idealism of a 16 year old! Good luck with your new chicken venture and I, too, am looking forward to seeing some knitted chicks alongside the rabbits.
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Wow, what a great chicken house! We have Button Quail: I’m wondering if a smaller version of this would work for my little buttons?
I love your pics and bunnies!
Sincerely,
Lisa
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Great coop hope the chickens like it. Good luck with your gardening. Jane x
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Hope the chickens love their new home, it looks great xx
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Good luck with the chooks – I hope you have many sunny side up mornings
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Can’t wait to see the chickens! Happy New Year and I hope 2009 is great!
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Have you decided what your ‘calling the chickens in’ sound is going to be yet? My family laugh at mine!
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Be wary of naming young chickens. Our neighbours had to re-name Martha, Arthur. Bit of a shock in the lane I can tell you! t.x
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P.S. for chicken keeping tips and advice check out Lottie the Allotment Lady in my sidebar. She’s amazing! t.x
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Fantastic news, Julie! Welcome to the chicken crew. Your chicken house really is a fine abode. Are you going to name it? Ours is Peckingham Palace 🙂 Enjoy your outdoorsy year and I look forward to reading about your chicken (and knitting) progress x
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Oh you’re very brave with the chickens! I’d love fresh eggs but I’m not sure I could get over having to chip the chicken poop off them myself 😉 That said, our garden is way too small for a hen house. It isn’t too small for raised veggie beds though and that was on our list of things to do for this year. I think I need to buy a book though! Alan Titchmarsh I’m not.
xMx
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We lived next door to a family with some lovely chickens in our last place. We used to look after them when the family went on holiday. I hope you have fun with yours – it amazed me what pronounced characters they had. x
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Oooh, chickies! I am very tempted but we’d have no garden left if I filled it with chickens so it will have to wait till we have our mansion 😉
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What a lovely present! I can’t wait to see the progress with your chicken house ^_^ I wish I could have one, but I think my backyard is just too small.
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Chickens make the most wonderful pets, of course they aren’t really cuddly but they are such good company in the garden and it’s just wonderful the way they will rush over and say hello if they think you have food. Cupboard love I know but at least they repay with the odd egg or two.
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I love your chicken house, I have wanted chickens for such a long time, well done you for actually doing it. I need to take a leaf out of your book and just go for it, the thought of all those lovely fresh eggs, perfect.
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How exciting – I dabbled with the idea a year or so ago, but came to the conclusion our garden isn’t really the best for them.
But now I can live vicariously through yours! Hooray.
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Ooh – that looks great. How fun. I had a chicken as a child. Her name was Perdita (I had just read 101 Dalmatians at the time). Hope you get lots of sunny side up days.
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Well done you for keeping new years resolutions, I don’t think I’ve ever managed it! I’m a year behind you, in that mine is to make bread, cakes etc this year and rely less on the supermarket, but if I’m successful, who knows – maybe chickens next year – I shall keep watching and see how you get on first!
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Maybe we’ll be seeing some Little Cotton Chooks soon? Or perhaps some nice little egg-warmers, hee hee.
Happy New Year =)
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Hi my son’s friend has three chickens and they are all called after the film CHICKEN RUN, there is Marjorie, Bounty and Ginger we all go to see them when we visit for coffee it’s great fun and the kids love them
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Green with envy as I view our chickenless garden. we keep saying we’re going to get them…but then…perhaps this year?….Good luck with yours…and I love the chicken house, can’t wait to see the ladies!
Jx
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Just dropping by to wish you a fantastic Newyear !!! Sorry I’m so late, but I have been terribly busy already in this new year ; ) Lots of happiness and health !!
Great chicken house. I love it.
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Brilliant – we got two chickens last year – Frankie and Matilda and they are the sweetest things – and they are very forthcoming with eggs too which is the best fast food ever. I dabbled with one of those eglus but they are so pricey and our wooden coop has been brill. Good luck…
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aw chickens, and fresh eggs are the best. i have an allotment and love growing my own veg, its my second year doing it now, so i’ll be trying more and more goodies 🙂
good luck and enjoy x
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Chickens & eggs?! Sounds wonderful! I love the little chicken coop…so neat! My husband and I have had the “chicken discussion” also along with the puppy discussion…I would love to have all sorts of farm animals. I’ll look forward to seeing lots of pics and hearing stories!
Blessings,
Dianne
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A chicken house?!? That’s wonderful! Can I come and visit? I promise I’ll leave a basket of beautiful eggs 😉
(I believe my comment needs an explanation: my italian nickname Gallinavecchia means Old Hen in English and in my blog, that I call the chicken house, all the comments are called eggs!)
All the best for the new year
a warm italian hug and a dozen of golden eggs
Gallinavecchia
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Ooooh, how exciting!
Happy New Year to you all 🙂
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OMG! I’m so jealous! I can’t wait to see all the stories of chickens.
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sounds like the perfect lifestyle, we have chickens, so much fun! I was wondering if you would be knitting a hen too!
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I too am planning some extra gardening this Spring. But where i live, we are in the middle of a tough Winter and a few months away from thaw! I wish i could keep chickens here, but we are not zoned for that…So i go to my Farmer’s Market and buy their free range eggs. Delicious!
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That is the Cadillac of coops! Way to go 🙂
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Visiting your site for the first time this year, although I spent many hours before Christmas using your alphabet patterns for my tree decorations. You see, I got chickens last July, and they have kind of taken over! Our tree was chicken-themed and I knitted a whole collection of personalised egg-cosies for the neighbourhood children in bright colours, each with the child’s initial! They were made into hanging decorations with Kinder eggs inside, and they went down a treat!
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Lucky you to be getting chickens. Take a look at http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com/2009/01/biggest-kitchen-table-keeping-chickens.html – Rhonda has a wonderful post on keeping chickens which is very informative.
Happy New Year
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Hens are lovely to have around the garden. They will charm you quickly with their personalities. They are both calming and funny at the same time.
Our 3 old girls are now ‘retired’ and only supply the occasional wonderful egg, but I don’t mind. I love letting them retire here after all the eggs they have given over the many years.
Make sure Mr Fox can’t dig into that run though!
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Ooooh! Lovely chicken house! We got 3 chickens in about october and they are wonderful. The eggs are amazing – started very small and now they’re like the ‘large’ you get in the shops (only about 2 weeks fresher). We let them roam around the garden and they have a few little secret laying spots which my brother discovered practically brimming with eggies. I couldn’t believe the beautiful golden colour of the yolks. You can’t beat it. Be prepared for a lot of chicken poo in your garden though, if they’re free range!
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Your chicken coop looks very much like one we built for our suburban garden (in New Zealand) last October. We have three bantam orpingtons who have become very much part of the family. We let them free range for a few hours each afternoon, and that is working remarkably well (they haven’t flown around the neighbourhood yet). They don’t even seem to scratch up my vege garden, which is a bonus. Can recommend sand as a base in the bottom of the run, no smelly mud!
Happy New Year.
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Hey Julie.
Happy New Year!
We’ve had chickens for about 6 years now. We had have Bantams, Big heavy fowl, medium hens, cockerals, baby chicks, and ducks.
We now have 2 Bantams, 4 Heavy hens, 4 Medium hens, and 2 cockerals.
They are so much fun to keep. What type will you be having?
if your ever in Shropshire , visit the Wernlas collection. They have about 100 different types of chickens to buy. And it’s wonderful.
Have fun, and email me if you ever worry about anything. They can be a worry.
Laura x
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Hi
May I ask where you got your chicken house? I’m about to buy one online that I found via e-bay but I’m just being a little cautious.
I can’t wait to get my chickens, which I’ve already named!
Mx
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