Al Welcomed Home At Newly-Constructed Fenway Park

No we aren't about to become Red Socks fans just as the Brew Crew is having an unexpectedly hot start to the season. And so why did we name our newly-constructed chicken pen after the Boston's stadium? Well, it guess it comes down to our personalities which take great delight in being cheap. After looking at our schedule for the coming months, we saw that we were going to be in Gesas for several long stretches between now and November (and then not so for some time). So, if we were going to attempt yet another round of raising chickens, now was the time to start. Yet, after so many failed attempts since our return from the States in early 2013, neither of us were wanting to invest too much money or time into building a pristine coup. After all, last year, we poured hours into cleaning coups and mending fences before parting with more than $50 in exchange for 10 hens and a rooster, one of which brought an unwelcome virus which left us two weeks later with only 3 eggs and a handful of meat. That was a waste and we weren't about fall for it again. This time around we were determined to start up without much of an initial investment.

Needing to build a new fence, we looked for a place with trees near enough to each other so as to not require the planting of any extra posts, as that would require either chopping down trees or buying metal of some kind. Then, seeing that we only had a about ¾ of a roll of chicken wire left, we knew that the enclosure would have to be small. Though I would never credit chickens with any level of notable intelligence, they do get pretty creative in finding ways over whatever restrictive barriers stand between them and the glamour of the outside world (hence the whole point behind the Chicken Run movie). Knowing that the small enclosure would shorten the distance between the roof of their coup and the nearest fence, I realized that even putting the coup in the very middle would not create enough distance to discourage their training in long jump. So instead of breaking down and buying more chicken wire, we opted for making one wall extra tall, and putting the coup directly beneath it. Those of you familiar with Boston's Ballpark can see the obvious left field connection.

Our motivation to stay cheap also carried over into the construction of new coup. Rummaging through the junk tent of those who came before us, Micah and I found some dismantled aluminum frames from a table and chairs and the badly beat up bucket from a long-retired wheelbarrow. "Perfect" I said, "Let's go build a chicken house!" The mounting pile of junk on our front porch soon caused more than a bit of confusion for Andrea and Grace…

 but as the house began to take shape, both of them found ways to lend a hand.

 Grace quite enjoyed playing the role of the first chicken to enjoy the coup.

 At some point, Andrea commented, "My grandpa would appreciate this project, he always liked building things out of junk." And so, right then and there it was decided, the first rooster to sleep in our junk house would bear his name – Al.

 That next Saturday morning, a couple old tires, plastic barrels, and an old wicker shelf unit were screwed together to create some pretty nifty egg laying boxes. 

And so with everything set, Micah and I went into market where we bought four new chickens: Al, Mary, Rockey and Salt 'n Pepper.