Carter Schultz, left and Keagan Nicol build the walls of a new chicken coop for their friend Abby Underhill after an electrical fire burned down her previous barn that housed her animals. (Photo submitted)
After fire, friends rebuild chicken coop
It has been a rough year for Abby Underhill. A senior at Fairbanks, her last year as a high school student has been shortened by the coronavirus, prom was cancelled, graduation was altered and her barn full of animals caught fire.
In the early morning hours of April 29, an electrical issue caused the barn to go up in flames. Underhill used the barn to house her chickens, a rabbit and a few goats. She was able to save only the goats.
“It was pretty tragic,” she said. “I put hours and hours into the barn to try and make it a home suitable for my animals.”
Underhill has been collecting animals for the past several years.
“I started showing chickens at the fair as a freshmen,” Underhill states. “I like to show new ones each year.”
But instead of selling the animals Underhill would keep the chickens. This grew her flock considerably to the point were she also had an egg business on the side. Underhill’s love of the animals didn’t stop once her brood of chicken’s stopped laying though.
“I could have sold them, but I wanted to keep them as pets,” she explained.
Her love grew from a flock of chickens, to a rabbit that Underhill showed as a 4-H project one year. Then it was on to goats. Underhill had the idea to purchase a pair of breeding goats to make a little money.
“I got a few kids, but now they are just my hobbies,” she said.
But all of that changed once her barn caught fire. Underhill went from having a menagerie of backyard farm animals to only a handful.
But there is a silver lining in Underhill’s tragedy. She normally keeps more of animals in the barn, but on that night her turkeys were in the basement because it was cold.
“They usually live in the barn, but due to winter they have been living in the basement, which I am thankful for,” Underhill said.
Even though she was going through some bad times, she had some good friends that were ready to step in and help. Members from Underhill’s Future Farmers of America chapter decided that they wanted to do something.
So Wyatt Rausch met up with his friends and they came to the conclusion that they were going to build a new chicken coop.
“I knew it had to hurt losing her animals,” Rausch said. “She loved her chickens more than anything and we wanted to give her a space to raise chickens as soon as possible.”
And they did. Rausch and friends started work on the Sunday following the accident and had a new coop build in seven days. Rausch was surprised by the support that came after members of the community became aware of the plans to build a new coop.
“People wanted to help,” Rausch said. “They donated money and supplies. Even the stores were we went to buy stuff donated things when they heard about what we were doing.”
All of the building took place is secrecy. Rausch wanted the coop to be a surprise.
“I saw the (barn) coming down the road and then it pulled into my driveway,” Underhill said. “I couldn’t believe that they made it for me. I can’t believe they care so much.”
Rausch said the feeling of helping Underhill in her time of need felt ‘wonderful.’
With the new coop in place, Underhill is now in the process of rebuilding her backyard farm. She recently purchased more chicken and moved her turkeys from the basement to the their new home.