That's cute liann
although i don't have chickens in my garden but two beautiful peacocks i had bought last week :)

I am new at trying to post pics in the gardenweb forums. I am still trying to get it to show up without clicking on a link. Sorry if this still doesn't work.

I am an artist and I occasionally paint murals. My daughter has been wanting to do some since she is an budding artist as well. The chicken coop was a fun first project for her to paint them in. She is 8 and I am very happy with the job she did.

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Where this one is in the chicken coop:
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My small city sized chicken coop in the garden:
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Another view of the garden arbor off to the side of the hen house:{{gwi:56838}}

Here is a view from the same arbor looking out into the backyard. The plastic bin on the right in the photo is for my gray water that irrigates the ornamental mulched beds. The wire fencing is too keep the hens out of areas I don't want them scratching the mulch out with they are roaming the yard. It is easy to fold up and put away when the chickens are not out. {{gwi:56839}}

Two of the hens on a rare visit into the veggie garden:
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Part of the vegetable garden:
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One of my older flower beds:
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The Blackberries:
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thanks for posting all the photos! soooo cute..the photo of the hens, and it looks like you've got a green thumb. I've wanted to raise hens...tried ducks once...didn't work out so well in alaska where we have eagles.

so so lovely hens and i loved your garden too
I must say : Well Done lianne, great Job done!

Here is a picture from the early fall of the little flock enjoy an afternoon perching on the tortoise pen after a day of hard work in the veggie garden. I let them have a week in there of going over everything, weeding and eating the bugs before putting in my winter garden. They were in heaven! And they fixed the soil up beautifully. The only downsize is they also made a mess of the pathways that I had to clean up.
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{{gwi:56845}} Opps. Here is the picture.

Love this photo!

Thanks for the kind words, goldenpond!

Here is another picture I took about two weeks ago.

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I am always adding more photos at my blog too.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://hanburyhome.wordpress.com

My husband is under the impression that chickens/coops are very smelly....... So, he doesn't want me to get one!

Is this true? Anyone with chickens.... what is your experience?

Thanks!

My chickens and coop don't smell, even if you stick your head in the coop.

Any conscientious pet owner takes regular care of their pets' needs, including cleaning up after them. Folks who let dog poop accumulate for long periods around their yards or cat boxes left uncleaned have homes or yards with bad smells. Same with chickens. It is people who totally neglect their chickens or keep more chickens than their space can handle that have "smelly" coops or chickens. Treat them well like your other pets, and they won't be smelly.

If you let chickens free range, make sure you set up your yard so they stay off of patios, porches, and furniture. If they poop on that, it can get unsanitary and you'll be doing a lot of hosing down of the surfaces.

Baby chicks raised in the house could potentially be smelly if you don't change the bedding a couple of times a day. They also make a lot of dust in the house.

I usually clean under the roosts most days in my coop since that is where the majority of the droppings end up, but have let it go as long as a week with no real noticeable smell from the outside of the coop. Typically, I only clean the rest of the coop really thoroughly every few months.

If chickens will be confined to a coop for a long cold snowy winter, an owner will need to make it extra big for them to have lots of room while they are shut in in order for them to have healthy conditions.

I would recommend maybe doing more research to support your case if your husband isn't on board with chickens.
www.backyardchickens.com is a really good online resource to start with where you can get all sorts of chicken questions answered. There is a large community of chicken keepers there, both rural and suburban.

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyardchickens.com

awesome! thanks for the reply...