A Year in the Life...

I'm back.  For those of you that follow my blog, you may have thought that I fell off the face of the earth.  Although some of the events that took place since my last post (October 22, 2012) made me feel like I had fallen off the face of the earth, I am still here.  The earth being a round sphere also makes it a bit difficult to "fall off" the face of the earth.  The best I could do is just run in circles.

So many things have happened and I want fill you in.  I'll hit the highlights in this post, and then give you additional topical updates on the bees, chickens and other things around the home in separate posts in the next week or so.  Here we go...

My posting vacancy started with a Thanksgiving week family trip to AZ to visit dear friends we left behind when we moved to VA.  The one thing that I wanted to do while I lived in AZ that never happened was put on the priority list of my visit.  I quick suggesting to my old college roommate, who was also my co-worker in Phoenix, and we were on our way to Antelope Canyon.

It really is that beautiful and amazing.  The colors that come down from above and bounce off the sandstone are incredible.  Our guide told us that when they have a flash flood through the canyon, it can add or remove up to nine feed of sand, raising and lowering the canyon floor.  NINE FEET!  It is hard to believe until you see footage of a flash flood in that area.

Our guide did a great job of keeping other tourists out of our photos.  During the busy months the five licensed tour companies take an estimated 1500 people through the canyon per day.  If you haven't been there and seen Antelope Canyon, I highly recommend it.

Upon returning to VA after our family vacation, I got laid off from my job.  How is that for timing?  Never having been laid off before, I was a bit nervous to say the least.  I think the Good Wife took it all better than I did.  My severance package took me through the end of the year, so at least I could enjoy the Christmas holiday.

First some friends from AZ that moved to WA before we moved to VA came to visit us for Christmas.  We happened to be touring through Washington, DC when the NRA was making their public statement after the Newtown shooting.  We got swarmed by foreign reports looking for sound bites.

I'm not sure why they latched onto us for questions, other than we were the only ones in the area wearing camo jackets and blaze orange hats.  They figured we must be pro gun.  They were right!

Once they headed back to WA after a very nice visit, I headed to WI with the boys.  Remember, I'm unemployed at this point, so why not?  I left the Good Wife home to work some extra shifts at the ER.  At least she said she was working!

They were having some very cold weather in WI during our visit to my parents, so the boys got to experience walking on water.  Or at least walking on ice on water.

Once we got back from WI, it was time to get to work.  Finding a job that is.  They say it is a full time job finding a job and I have to agree.  Sitting at the internet surfing job sites doesn't work.  Getting out and meeting people face to face and networking is what works.

We did take a little time out to go squirrel hunting at our friends cabin.  We saw tons of squirrels in the fall while hunting turkey, but didn't see any on this trip.  We did come across a snake though and Oldest Son dispatched it quickly.

I'll give a separate post later about the bees, but it was a good and bad year.  Good in that all my hives made it through the winter.  But bad because we had so much cold and rain in the spring with a couple weeks of mid-summer temperatures, that all my hives ended up swarming.  I'll elaborate more later.

I was able to find a new job here in the Richmond, VA area so we didn't have to go anywhere.  That started in mid-March, so I am finally settling into my new position and enjoying the work.

We did another batch of meat chickens this spring.  One of the Oldest Son's friends wanted to experience the butchering, and jumped right in and did a large portion of the killing.  He also got projectile pooped on during the process.

We took a family vacation, that was planned before the layoff, to Morocco to visit the Good Wife's parents.  We all had a great time and I will post separately about that.  Concerning our rural living experiences, the Oldest Son got to learn how to butcher rabbits.  That was a highlight for him on that trip.

Our egg chickens are doing fine, but we have a coyote or fox that is slowly picking off our chickens one at a time.  That is making us keep them locked up in their run for most of the day until the boys get home from school and let them out to free range while we are around.  Some of our broody hens hatched out a few chicks and the Oldest Son bought a rooster at a chicken swap.

Are you starting to see a trend here?  Oldest Son seems to keep getting us involved in more and more activities when we are trying to take more time to ourselves and slow down a bit.  I don't think it is going to happen until he heads off to college.  The scary part is, it will be less than four years!

I know this is a very abbreviated post since I finally broke radio silence after almost a year.  In the next week or so, I'll have more detailed updates on the chickens, bees, our trip to Morocco, meat rabbits and our garden.  I'm glad to be back!

Cornish Cross Meat Chicken Butchering

The time has come.  Seven weeks and three days from the day they were hatched.  It was time to move the chickens from the pasture to the freezer.  A small bit of work would be required to make that transition, and this time we were ready, having learned from our previous chicken butchering venture.

The process was reviewed, bottlenecks analyzed and new equipment prepared.  It was go time!

Cornish Cross Meat Chickens - Week 5

So maybe I'm not as diligent as anticipated in getting photos and posting in a timely manner.  There won't be any more promises made at this point, since life seems to get in the way of everything that needs to be done.  Priorities?  Another post another time.  Back to the topic at hand, meat chickens at five weeks old.

OK, last time, the pictures were from four weeks, and the post was late.  This time, both the pictures and the post are late.  These pictures were taken Wednesday evening, which technically was a day short of six weeks of the hatch date on these chicks, although we didn't get them until later that week.

Everything that was read online about the Cornish Cross chickens is that they have a 10-15% mortality rate while raising the chickens.  We had been fortunate at receiving 132, having two DOA (Dead On Arrival), and then losing three in the first couple weeks.  Not counting the two that were DOA, that is only a 2.3% mortality rate, which is really good.  Unfortunately, things aren't holding so well.

Earlier this week we had a hot spell into the upper 80's, with humidity.  It wasn't pretty, and one of the coops ran out of water before I got home from work.  One chicken was not looking good, and died that night.  Shovel in hand, out to the woods, and bury the dead chicken.  A bit of lime over the chicken to help it decompose and to keep the dogs from digging it up.

Wednesday evening, after pulling one of the chicken tractors forward, the Middle Son declared that one was left behind.  After questioning, I found out that it wasn't so much left behind as it was dead and didn't move while the tractor did.  Shovel in hand, and back to the woods.

Thursday evening, our local beekeeping club had their monthly meeting that I had planned to attend, so Scott did the evening watering and feeding.  Calling on my way home, there were two more down.  One was found dead, and the other was culled.  Asking about what he did with the dead chickens, Scott said he walked towards the woods and chucked them in there.  So much for the shovel method.

The chicken that was culled had a problem with its leg and wasn't moving or able to get to the food and water.  We had been setting it next to the waterer and putting food in front of it, but the other chickens had been walking on it and it hadn't been growing.  No sense wasting food on a chicken that wasn't going to get to size.

With the seven total that have died, we are now up to 5.3% mortality.  Higher than we had with the Red Rangers this spring.  Apparently in all the reading online, people forgot to mention WHEN the chickens had died.  At this rate we may hit the average rate of 10-15% by the time butcher day comes around on October 13th.

However, the chickens that are alive are getting big.  They are growing day by day.

The picture above makes the chickens look like monsters with their glowing eyes from the flash.  Unfortunately I remembered to take the pictures of them too late in the day and it was starting to get dark.  Hopefully the rest will hold on for the remaining week and a half so we can do the job rather than nature doing the job for us.

Cornish Cross Meat Chickens - Week 4

It was hard to believe when the little yellow balls of fluff arrived, that they would be ready to butcher at seven weeks old, but these wide legged white monsters are growing daily.  Looking straight on, they are stocky like a cross between a pit bull and an offensive lineman in the NFL.

Although this post is a bit late, these pictures were taken last weekend, just a day or two over their four week point of being with us.  Most of them are growing rapidly, although not totally feathering out, leaving pink bald patches here and there, with more up front and less in the back.  It is assumed that is another characteristic these are bred for, having fewer feathers, especially the little fluffy downy feathers underneath, making plucking easier.  We will know in three weeks.

They are very broad breasted and you can see that they are getting meaty.  These do sit around a lot more than the Red Rangers we had last time.  We do have about four or five that are medium size, and don't seem to be growing very fast.  These may not have gotten the genetic traits of their brothers, or they may be hens.  These will turn out to be "Cornish Game Hens", which are Cornish Cross chickens processed at about three weeks.  There is one that is tiny, and seems to be growing about at the same rate as a normal chicken.

Although 'Tiny' does have large feet.  For some reason, as soon as we go into the coop or let them out, the smallest ones run to hide out between our legs, maybe looking for cover not to be picked on by the bigger chickens.  All that fast growing and testosterone is starting to show as the chickens face of with each other in their pecking stare downs.  'Tiny' may get a reprieve on October 13th if he doesn't start bulking up.

So far so good overall.  We did have a hot day yesterday, and we ran out of water in one of the coops by the time I got home from work.  Several were panting heavily and we got water to them right away. One seemed lethargic, and I am assuming that was the one that was found "belly up" this morning in the middle of the coop.  

Having to feed and water them isn't too bad in the morning, although it doesn't get light until about 6:45am, so chores can't start too early.  But having to dig a hole in the woods to bury one before work, isn't my idea of a good time.  Youngest Son and Middle Son came to watch, and apparently found it amusing.

We added an extra waterer and feeder, so total we have two waterers, 3.5 or 5 gallons each, and three feeders in each coop with approximately 60+ chickens in each.  It isn't as tight as the 95 Red Rangers in one coop, but these sit around a lot more, which makes it look tighter.  We try to let them out as much as possible when we are home, which helps move them around a bit more.

It is supposed to cool down this weekend, so I will try to get my week 5 post up as on time as possible. Until then, thick nuggets!

Fall Meat Chickens

Summer has come and gone, and with the cooler temperatures, comes a new batch of meat chickens.  As all great planners know, the ability to change plans and adapt on short notice is crucial.  That is true in all facets of life, not just chicken farming.  But it became relevant at the end of this summer.

The same crew that ventured out this spring on a meat chicken journey, decided that the journey was worthwhile, and worth doing again.  Everything had gone well, so the plan was to follow our template on the first go around, with the small change of expanding our numbers.

The Red Rangers were ordered and all we could do was sit and wait for them to arrive at the end of July.  This would give us approximately 10 weeks until Columbus Day weekend, the first weekend in October, to get them to weight for butchering.

The day came in July, and no calls that our chicks had shipped.  Checking online, there was only a notice that the supplier had run into a "predator problem" and that starting the week we were supposed to get our chicks, they would be shipping no more chicks the rest of the year!  Oh no!  Now what?

Turning a Rooster into a Meal

This past spring, we fell for the trick at the local feed supply store, where if you buy a bag of chicken feed, you get six chicks free.  We split them with a friend, and they were supposed to be pullets, or female chickens.  Apparently someone at the hatchery isn't very good at their job, or the feed store got a deal on chicks and didn't care what they were.  Either way, the three chicks we raised and nurtured, hoping that one day they would repay the favor with fresh eggs for our family, turned out to all be roosters!  All of them!  Roosters!

With a flock of only 15 hens, having three roosters is at least two too many.  Once we figured out that at least one was a rooster, he ended up on Craigslist.  The rooster was posted just before I left for work on a Friday evening.  Before I could get half way home, I already received a call.  The post was very clear that I didn't care if it was for breeding or for their pot.  The rooster had to go.  One down.

The Oldest Son got somewhat attached to the other roosters, and was trying to convince the Good Wife and I that we should keep them, at least one.  Since it was warm this summer, the windows were closed, and the chickens in their coop at 5:30 in the morning when the roosters would start to crow.  Their crowing could be faintly heard if already awake, but it wasn't too strong to wake you up early.  Kind of a novelty around the place, having a rooster that actually crows.

This happy, "Let's keep the roosters!" attitude all changed a couple weeks ago when they started getting aggressive and attacking the boys.  One chased the Oldest Son all the way from the coop to the house.  When Youngest Son went to get the eggs in the afternoon, he also go chased away from the coop.  These "stories" were brushed aside.  Until one chased the Good Wife.  At that point, everyone else in the house was abandoning their chicken chores, and I was getting stuck having to feed them, water them and collect the eggs.  The roosters had to go!

The family and the Good Wife's sister headed to Virginia Beach for Labor Day weekend so the Good Wife could run in a half marathon.  I stayed home since the usual dog sitter was not available.  No time like the present to "turn the roosters into a meal."

**WARNING - From this point on it is more of a pseudo tutorial on processing a chicken.  Some photos may be graphic to some people.  However, if you eat chicken, it is a fact of life.  **

Red Ranger, How Do I Love Thee...

Let me count the ways...

Grilled.

Roasted with peppers.

From Pasture to Freezer

The meat chicken journey has come to an end, at least for the meat chickens.  It was a day filled with anticipation and apprehension.  For me, it was something totally new that had never been done in the past.  And before the deer hunting class, probably would have been unthinkable.  But we had 95 Red Ranger meat chickens that were ready to go.  Memorial Day weekend was definitely going to be memorable.

**Notice that some of the pictures that follow may be considered graphic, although they are just a part of life and death in our food chain.**

The first step consisted of gathering the chickens together.  They were not supposed to eat for 18 hours before being butchered to allow time for their crops to empty so it wouldn't be so messing during the process.  This meant we had to move the chicken tractor from the pasture to the concrete at the driveway.  It is possible that "herding chickens" is very much in the same vein as "herding cats".

Scott using a stick and broom to try and "herd" the chickens.

After trying to get them all collected at the moved chicken tractor, they all ended up back in the pasture.  Total failure on our part.

Chickens back in the pasture enjoying their last clover meal.

This resulted in our having to catch them one by one and carry them into the chicken tractor on the concrete. They received lots of water and time waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

Everyone arrived at our house by 5am to start loading the chickens into the trailer.  We were at the butchering facility by 6:05am.  This was in anticipation of a very hot day ahead of us.  We found a gentleman in our county that has a USDA inspected facility for processing chickens.  He allows people to use his facility for a small fee.  He teaches people how to process chickens, and then we go ahead and do the work, with him nearby if needed for any questions.  It's really a pretty good setup, although if this is a USDA inspected facility, I just lost all faith in the USDA inspection process.  However, I have no doubt about the cleanliness of the facility before we started.  Plenty of bleach was used and I'm sure there were no germs left to cause any troubles.

Processing facility - AKA Mr. Fitz's Playhouse

After allowing about 20 minutes for the chickens to calm down after the ride in the trailer to Mr. Fitz's Playhouse, it was time to start.  Mr. Fitzgerald grabbed one chicken and walked us through the initial process of putting the chickens into the kill cones, cutting their arteries and letting them bleed out.  Then sticking them into the scalder and moving them into the Featherman plucker.

On a side note, the Featherman plucker is the key to making this process go smoothly.  With a properly scalded chicken, about 30-40 seconds in the plucker and two chickens are in their birthday suits ready to be eviscerated.

Oldest Son did a great job along with Scott's two boys that are 13 and 15 of catching the chickens and killing them.  They took pride in their work and got the job done while the rest of us did the next steps.

Oldest son using the kill cones to dispatch the chickens.

After a couple hours, we had over half of them killed and chilling, ready to be eviscerated.  It was a milestone that we were moving along quite well.

The next step was eviscerating, where the head and feet are cut off, the guts removed and the crop along with the lungs removed from the chicken.  My BIL from Knoxville was the "King of Evisceration".  He was able to take a chilled chicken from whole to carcass in about a minute.  Scott was a close second by the end of the day and I was a distant third.

Once we got to this point, we shifted and I moved to the rinse and inspection process before the bagging and shrink wrapping.

A processed chicken ready for bagging.

Mr. Fitzgerald said that a real chicken farmer would be able to eat chicken that night.  After working our way through the chickens, we looked at each other and said, "Yep.  I could eat chicken now!"  It wasn't nearly as graphic as I had anticipated.

When we arrived, Mr. Fitzgerald said that we would be there until dark.  After we got going, he said he had never seen new people work so well together and get the job done so quickly.  We were finished processing, had the facility cleaned up and had 95 chickens shrink wrapped and on ice by 1:30pm.

On the way home, we realized we were short on ice, so I went to town to get some ice while Scott headed to the house to find refrigerator space for some of the chickens so the meat could "rest".  On the way, I got a speeding ticket for 67 in a 45.  In Virginia, this is considered Reckless Driving by Speed and is a Class 1 misdemeanor.  That would give me a criminal record that would be "on my permanent record".  Luckily on my court date, the judge was lenient and changed it to basic speeding.  So if you happen to visit Virginia, be careful with your speed.  It is considered the most expensive state to speed in.  Also, anything over 80 is also considered Reckless Driving by Speed, even if the speed limit is 70.

Sunday we decided that it was time to celebrate with family and friends and try out the finished product.  This included Scott and his family, my BIL from Knoxville, my BIL from north of Washington, DC, a couple of the Good Wife's friends from Lynchburg, the Good Wife's sister and one of the Good Wife's friends and her son from North Carolina.  We cooked up seven Red Ranger chickens.

First chicken getting fried.

Some were fried whole, some were pieced, breaded and fried, and some were pieced and put on the grill.

It cooled down a bit that evening and was a great time with family and friends.  That is what it is all about.  Hanging out and having good food with each other.

Overall the process went smooth.  The raising was simple enough, and the processing went quick.  And the end result was chicken that was delicious and good for us.  It went so well that we already have our chickens on order at the hatchery for this fall.  We are going to be getting 151 Red Ranger roosters and letting them go for an additional five days.  This should get our average dressed weight well over 4 pounds compared to the 3.75 pounds we averaged this time.

It is a life skill that Oldest Son has now inherited and something I anticipate continuing on a regular basis.  The best part is that the license plate on the car that the Good Wife usually drives came up for renewal.  I took the opportunity to show our enthusiasm for this whole process.  Although the Good Wife isn't so happy for the change since she is the one getting the comments!

Stay tuned for a follow-up post of all the ways the Red Ranger's have been cooked.  Any way they are prepared, they are delicious!

Meat Chicken Update

It has been a long time since my last post, but it hasn't been because of a lack of things happening around here. On the contrary, so much has been happening, that by the time the boys are in bed and I have some it to write, I am usually ready for bed myself.

As soon as the meat chicken tractor was complete, I took off to China for a couple weeks for work, right when the Red Rangers were supposed to arrive. This left my partner in poultry, Scott, responsible for the initial stages of the chickens, which didn't start out as anticipated.

Scott made sure he talked to the post office and let them know that the chicks were coming. Although when Saturday arrived, he didn't receive a call. Hmmm. A call to the hatchery, and we found out that the chicks had been shipped to the wrong zip code. Oops. Since they couldn't be shipped again, the hatchery told the post office to give them to someone, anyone, and he would ship ours again the following week.

The morning came, and soon after the phone call, Scott went and picked up the package. What was originally agreed upon of 50 chicks, turned into 76 to get the price break discount, and due to the mix-up with the address, the hatchery sent us 102 chicks to make up for it! Little bundles of fluff!

Scott made a nice brooder in his shed to house the little Red Rangers until they got older and the weather got warmer. It didn't take long for them to get feathers and get into that awkward teen-age phase.

After almost four weeks, it was time for them to move to the chicken tractor in the pasture at my house. A quick ride in a dog crate in the back of a pickup, and they were in their new home. Although first we had to get the chicken tractor into the pasture. We didn't think that far into the future. Four men and a quick lift and shuffle and the chicken tractor was in the pasture.

It didn't take long for the chickens to get used to their new home and think they were in the circus on the high wire.

Several weeks more and we are now at today. Feeding and watering the chickens every morning and evening, moving the tractor every evening, and letting them free-range in the pasture when we are around to keep an eye on them.

 

They are growing and enjoying the clover in the pasture. Running through the flowers.

Look at the meat in these birds!

 

Two more weeks and it will be butcher day. My BIL from Knoxville will be visiting, along with another BIL from the DC area, Scott, myself and the Oldest Son.


Stay tuned to learn how our first meat chicken experience will end. What a way to spend Memorial Day weekend with the family!

Chicken Snow

This has been a crazy winter and spring here in Virginia.  One day it is 70+, the next day 5 inches of snow, and then another day of 70+ temperatures.  Although every other day feels like either spring or winter, we know that spring is near.  This is confirmed by the arrival of chicks at all the Tractor Supply Co. and Southern States stores.  That's chicken chicks, not the other kind.

This morning I received a text from my meat chicken co-conspirator, letting me know that it was starting to look like "Chicken Snow". You may be wondering, "What exactly is Chicken Snow?", which is exactly what I was thinking as I read the text.

Chicken snow?

He was kind enough to follow up with a full definition:

Chicken Snow -n. A snow event in which you accumulate more chickens than actual inches of snow.  

Once the boys learned that school was closed for the day, they connected with the meat chicken co-conspirator and his boys to head to the farm stores.  It didn't take them long to end up with small Happy Meal sized boxes full of chicks.

Once home and in the makeshift brooder, our second annual journey of egg chickens had begun.  In keeping with our eclectic flock of chickens, we added some new breeds.  To our existing two Barred Rocks, Black Australorp and two Ameraucanas, we added three Rhode Island Reds, three White Leghorns, two Brown Leghorns and three more Barred Rocks.  This will help increase our flock to get more eggs, while getting some white egg layers and some more prolific egg layers.  Hopefully this will allow us to get more eggs so we will be able to supply more customers than our current one regular customer, in addition to our family.

They are small now, but come June or July, we should be enjoying white and brown jumbo eggs.  Now where are we going to put them once they get out of the brooder?  Hmmm.  Haven't thought that far through.  I guess I better get building on the new expanded chicken condo!

Meat Chickens - Part II

My BIL, a friend and I have gotten the ball rolling.  The chickens are ordered and the clock is ticking.  76 chicks will be calling our place home in a couple weeks.  The chicks will live in a brooder for a couple weeks, but they will grow quickly and need a place to live outside on the pasture.

Again, the internet was researched to learn from the great chicken farmers that had gone before us.  Why make the same mistakes others have made?  I'm all about letting others make mistakes.  It was narrowed down to the flat rectangular chicken tractor that Joel Salatin made famous, or try a more hoop-house type of shelter that would allow me better access to the inside.  Even while getting materials at the big orange box, the decision wasn't finalized.  That probably accounted for the excess of wood and supplies that were purchased.

After getting the cattle panels from Southern States and seeing how flimsy they were, the decision was made to go hoop-house style.

I started out by laying out the cattle panels slightly overlapping.  I nailed the short ends of the panels to a 12' 2x4.  All the wood was pressure treated to hold up to the outdoor weather.  Once that was done, an 8' 1x4 was connected between one end of the 2x4s.  Then an 8' 2x4 was connected between the other ends of the 12' 2x4.  This made the basic frame of the chicken shelter.

I chamfered the front ends of the 12' 2x4s to make it easier to drag.  A 1x4 was also connected in the center to keep the 12' 2x4s from bowing out too much.

The next step was to put some framing on the back side to help make it more rigid and hold up the chicken wire that would enclose the back side.  A couple 1x4s would do the trick.

The edges of the cattle panel were nailed to the supports along with a few zip ties for good measure.  Surprisingly for looking so flimsy, it is actually quite rigid and strong.

The next step was the front side.  I wanted a door that I would be able to walk into easily.  Using a few more 1x4s to make the door frame along with another 1x4 on the sides for lateral support, the door frame was created.  (The top of the side supports are 48" above the ground, so the 48" tall chicken wire would fit perfectly between the bottom board and the lateral support board.  A couple hinges and some more 1x4 framing and the door was attached.

A note for others to learn from my mistakes, be sure to wrap the chicken wire around the shelter before attaching the door.  This will save you from installing the door twice.

The two door cross members are for the chicken wire.  The top support is 48" from the ground, and the bottom support is 48" from the top.  The middle section has overlapping chicken wire.  The front and back top sections were covered in chicken wire and secured to the cattle panels using zip ties.  This was done first so the bottom chicken wire would overlap the top.  Then a bottom row of chicken wire was put all the way around the shelter.  On the front and back it was staple gunned to the boards.  On the sides it was staple gunned at the bottom and zip tied at the top.  The top of the cattle panels are open as it will be covered by a tarp.

You can see it was dark when I finished.  The Good Wife and her sister came home from the boys swim meet and helped finish up the zip-tying process.  It only took two trips to the orange box (1 more 1x4 was needed for the door) and one trip to Southern States.  It was a beautiful day this last Saturday, and surprisingly (to me at least) I got it finished in one day without any plans drawn out.  It is 12' x 8' and a little over 6' high in the center.

The next day, the weather turned as it seems to happen whenever I have a project to do.   I got the tarp on the top of the shelter for a full out weather check.

Five plus inches of snow later, it help up great!  It kept this inside snow-free, and it held up to the weight of the snow.  It can easily support a waterer or feeder hung from the top of the panels.  I added two eye bolts on the front 2x4 to place a rope for dragging it around the pasture.  It could be dragged by one person with some weight, but I would like to add at least a couple wheels on the back to make it easier.

Overall, the cost was about $175 or so.  The cattle panels were on sale and were $60 for the 3 panels.  The 48" x 50' of chicken wire was $40 and I still have about 10' left as I started with a left over roll from the original chicken run.  I also had to buy some all weather screws.  I used about half a box of the short screws and only about a dozen or less of the long screws, so that cost gets counted towards stocking up the garage supplies.  The rest was lumber, two hinges, two eye bolts and a door latch that I need to take back.  The tarp was something that I had.

Other than the tarp, this should last for several years at the least and probably more than five.  Overall, the cost wasn't too bad for such a sturdy and durable shelter.  As each dollar gets spent, we are becoming more and more committed to raising more than our initial batch of meat chickens.  What are we thinking?