Backyard Tour

Since we skipped out on the Funky Chicken Coop Tour this year, I thought I should give up an online tour of our yard. This way is a lot easier on the neighborhood and my backyard grass too, since some of the coops had a reported 600+ people visit on Saturday. Still, I would have been the only coop out here in the Northwest, stuffed shirt side of town, and irking off my neighbors seems to be a specialty of mine lately. So I have some regrets about not participating. But next year, we will show the 'burbs how to rock the coop!

My chickens are well documented around here, so I thought I would give a peek at how we cram all of this chaos into a suburban backyard. So, on with the show...

First of all, every Stay at Home parent NEEDS a playscape.

It makes all of the other nonsensical and time wasting projects possible.
The kids play and I cause chaos in our yard. It is a perfect balance.

Our garden/outdoor coop.

This is looking directly out our backdoor, so we can peek into the hen house from our living room. Also, I have wire panels and gates to keep dog and birds from digging up the plants.

The chickens still overnight in the luxurious shed beside the house.

If I had moved the coop to the north side of the garden, the chickens would have more shade and the watermelons and cantaloupes would be getting more sun. But it would have been harder to control pet access to the garden areas.

Making things easier to deal with was big on my list of priorities because I am nothing, if not lazy. Besides, I'll probably rotate everything around next year, to make use of the chicken poop under the coop.

A second shot of the shady side of our yard.

And my swivel chair that I can watch over my chicken and children and dogs and cats and there may still be a turtle around here somewhere.

So we have a lot crammed into about 5000 square feet behind our house, but there is still place to play football, baseball, soccer and ride an occasional trike. Our backyard has been in transition since we moved here and I doubt it will ever be truly "finished".

Someday I would like to add a storage shed/coop combo unit on the shady side of the yard. And maybe a go-cart track. Or a fishing pond. Or a...