No luck on low cost coop supplies

Well, all I can say is that I tried. I trundled up to Austin to check out the Austin Habitat for Humanity ReStore to see if I might be able to find any of my building supplies for the coop there at a low cost. I did manage to find a screen door spring and some inexpensive linoleum tiles for the floor of the coop, but that doesn't even make a dent in the page and a half of supplies listed in the coop plans. :) Guess Home Depot will be getting my money this time around.

I did however have more luck getting the baby chick supplies - so the weekend was not wasted! I got a galvanized feed tub, some hardware cloth, a brooder light and red bulb, a thermometer, a 1 quart waterer, a 1 quart feeder, chick starter and some stuff called "grow-gel" that the local chicken store recommended to reduce shipment trauma. Its this powdery stuff you mix with water and it expands into this green gel stuff that helps rehydrate the chicks after shipping and it has protein, vitamins, amino acids, fats, carbs and probiotic bacteria - I hope it does the trick and helps the new chicks settle in and recover from the shipping process!

I did not manage to get the fill dirt for the new garden beds - it rained today so the stone and soil store closed shop early. I will call them tomorrow though and see if they can bring it by so I can get that garden going. I found Chocolate Cherry and Green Zebra tomatoes at the grocery store today and some tomatillos too - things I don't have seed for - so I bought them and set them in outside in a shady spot and will put them in the garden hopefully as soon as the dirt arrives! I also have a whole bunch of Yellow Pear, Roma and Brandywine tomatoes, along with Pickling cucumbers and some Marconi red peppers (Italian variety commonly used for roasted red peppers) all growing in my living room under my new seed starting light (pic below). They are getting BIG and need to get outside so I need that dirt!!

Wish me luck with the dirt and coop materials - lots to do in the next few weeks!