Chicken advent[ure] 2 -- rolling coop plans?

Son Ian, an organic farmer and surfer, emails from his winter home in the Bahamas, "I'm going to be building a rolling chicken coop when I get back to the farm [That's him working a concession during the Tomato Fest at Red Fire, Farm in Grandby, MA]. And I'll probably be helping to take care of them Patrick, the chicken guy, says his chickens are particular about their feed, and he drives to Sudbury to get it."
That's 73 miles! My chickens will have to eat the same way my four children did: from what's put in front of them, or scrounge for something better!

I started reading "Keeping Chickens" by Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis. Some of the breeds are astoundingly beautiful. There's a sub-culture of chicken enthusiasts. I'm not in their class. My goal is simple: to raise chickens to eat their eggs and have a modicum of self-reliance. MAYBE I'll learn to butcher them, especially if they taste good.

Jeremy's book is giving me confidence I can do it. "Keeping chickens is an excellent hobby for children, teaching them responsibility through feeding and general care."

If a child can do it, I can do it. I've been a 4-H leader. The only animals we focused on were dogs. DRAT. Another missed opportunity. I wonder if I'm too old to join a 4-H group?
This weekend, I'm going to install the drying rack and talk to hubby about us building a chicken coop. Does anyone have any plans for a modest chicken coop on wheels? My plan is to wheel it around the lawn so they can feed, fertilize the lawn and peck the pests from the lawn.

Light a candle for my chicken advent

"Chickens are much easier to take care of than dogs or children," said the chicken guru at the Groton Local meeting. I presume he had brought the delicious deviled eggs to the potluck dinner.

The baby chicks will arrive in about a month. I'm literally nesting. I need to get some books on how to raise them, build a hen house and gather a support network.

I wonder if I need a chicken shower so I can be given all of the accouterments of raising chickens.

It's very exciting to anticipate the animals joining our house. At the least, we'll have delicious fresh eggs to eat and share. Already, it's interesting conversation at gatherings to announce, "I'm adopting chickens in March."

"You'll have to watch out for predators," came one warning.

I will become intimately acquainted with foxes, racoons, fisher cats and other hungry beasts in my pond-side location. It might be interesting to see what and who the chickens attract.

I wonder how my dog Gonzo -- black Labrador-mix -- will react. As a girl, my neighbor Michael Sedgewick got a baby chick for Easter. A dog that visited chased the chicken all over the city backyard until the chicken lost the battle of the survival of the fittest.

Maybe Gonzo will protect the chickens from predators. Right now, Gonzo is trained to come to the kitchen every time she hears me crack an egg. She hopes she'll get an egg yolk.

If I reward her with an egg yolk for protecting the chickens, that could be a motivator. We all have our ulterior motives.

BTW-- I mean Chicken Advent, not Chicken AdventURE. Advent is the time before, the anticipation, the building up before a city slicker adopts chickens.