My friends here in Costa Rica raise chickens for fresh, organic eggs daily. Tezzy and I decided to do the same because, like in many places around the world, food prices, especially eggs, are rising, and we love eating organic as often as possible. So we searched online and with friends for someone to build a chicken coop for us. We soon found Julian, a young Costa Rican who makes chicken coops. Not only could he build a chicken coop, but he could also supply us with young eleven-week-old hens for sale. He has an associate that raises chickens and sells the hens.

So we hired Julian to build the coop and supply us with four young hens, which should be laying eggs in another four weeks. So that’s four eggs every day. Not bad for the price we paid, which comes to a total of 165,000 Colones or $258 for the chicken coop and 18,800 Colones or $29 for the four hens.

The chicken coop is made of Chilean Pine and seasoned Laurel with an exterior finish and a reinforced green screen smooth zinc roof. The wood treatment is mothproof against ultraviolet rays and humidity.

It’s a cool-looking coop. Julian and his helper delivered the finished chicken coop and four young hens on an early Saturday morning, and it took them about an hour to set up everything and deposit the hens. He left us with a starter pack of food and a large bottle of vitamin-enriched water.

I was a bit concerned about a couple of cats we regularly feed if that would be a problem for the chickens, and he assured me that it wouldn’t be an issue.

We’ve had the chickens for one week, and they are doing great. The two cats are curious but friendly with their new visitors. We’ll keep you posted.