new coop part 2

Here is the inside of the new coop. So far, there is this one rimmed shelf running all around the edges. We can add more shelves above or below this one as we get more chickens. See? They like it. Today was the first day one of them actually laid an egg in the new coop!
Here is Lucy, mad as heck that she is on the inside when there are bugs to eat (I was weeding- she loves to follow me around and eat the slugs off my garden gloves), trying to peck Winnie, who seems fascinated by the big lady-birds. The white bits on the ground are shredded paper bits the Girl had used when we were out of cedar shavings.
Here is Piano Girl, holding one of the new babes. Again- except for Winnie, they all look the same to me, so who knows which one she has! Look how grownup and serious my Girly looks!
Here is the Boy, sitting in the bed he is supposed to be weeding, taking a wee break with one of the babes. I think this was Sweetie. Look how long my Boy's hair was. It was all poking out in all directions from his head. I say was, because we shaved it all off for him this morning, just about a half hour after this was taken. He looks very handsome. And serious.
That's it for chicken photos for now. Thanks for visiting the homestead. Amy, are you hyperventilating at all the bird photos? I promise I make the kids wash very good with your soap when they are done holding the birds.
LB

New Coop part 1

Howdy folks! How 'bout a chicken update? Before I show and tell the new coop and the new babies, I would like to let you know that we lost the Girl's favorite pet chicken, Goldie, while I was in AL. She got sick, seemed to get better, and then I got the fateful phone call from a teary Girl, all in the space of a few days. We don't know what was wrong, but none of the other chickens are sick, so that is good. My Girly handled it all by herself, with her usual grace and strength, prying the dead chicken's cold feet off the perch, wrapping her in an old towel, digging the grave, and giving Goldie a nice prayer and a few kind words, before burying her next to her chicken-sisters' graves. Only at this point did she let herself shed a few tears. I was so sad for her, and so proud of her. Rest in peace, Goldie, you were a great chicken, and a good pet to the Girl.

(Click to enlarge the photos, if desired.) Here is the part of the chicken yard where the coops and runs are. On the left, is the little coop where the 8 new babies are staying. Then you see the run next to it, where the old girls are for now. When the babies get a wee bit bigger, we will move them into the run, and the old girls will go into the little coop at night. Inside is the old rabbit hutch that came with the chickens we rescued 2 years ago. The boxes poking out from the sides of the hutch open up, as does the top of the hutch itself, for easy egg gathering and cleaning. If you click on the photo, you can see six of the new little girls exploring the yard.

Sorry about the chicken wire, but that is the way it goes. Here is a good shot of the remaining three old girls- Annabelle is the Rhode Island Red in the hutch, and Chickie-Boo (the Golden) and Lucy (the silver one), the Wyandottes are on the ground inside the run, trying to peck the littles on the outside there. The little white one is Winnie the Peep, and I have no idea which one is with her- they all look alike to me. Look how big they are getting though! For the record, the new babies' names are as follows: Annie, Clarabelle, Henrietta (these three are all inspired from Thomas the Tank Engine stories, in honor of our two-yr old friends), Dottie, Hannah, Sally, Sweetie, and Winnie.

Here is the door to the run, and the new coop.
Sigh. I took these on the Boy's camera, and don't know how to make the photos go right side up, but will post it anyhow. Here is the new coop. It butts up against the shed. That is Lucy in front, and Annabelle's behind there to the left of the door opening.
See the next post for more coop photos.

Wordless Wednesday- Bonus round

Tidbits: New Car, Hens, and Self-portrait-Before

Hey folks, How was your Monday? Hope it went well.

I have been asked for photos of my new (to me) car. Here he is, in all his glory. His name is Almanzo, and I call him Manny and Manly for nicknames. Y'all know how much I like nicknames. And yes, it is straight out of the Little House books. You can see the old van in the background. I need to get it ready to be sold. Sigh. Something else on my to-do list today. (I did make my to do list for the week, and it is long!!)Here I am, posing. This is it- if you want a sexy, leggy blond slung over the hood of a car, you will have to look elsewhere.
And here is a closeup- consider it my before photo. I am keeping it real here folks, thus the bags under the eyes, the little mustache I have going, brows that need to be plucked (unless you like the Freida look), and that hair- oh the hair. It is so long! It is starting to curl up over my collar in the back, and is starting to bug me around the ears. And those dutch-boy bangs. Ick. Like I said though, this is the before photo- not sure what the new haircut will look like- I am at the point where I just may take the scissors to it myself, or hand the clippers to a kid. But by the end of this week, it will be short again- the way I like it! One thing I do like about this photo is that it shows my thinner neck and my lack of a double chin. Losing that 20 pounds really shows in my face (before the camera puts the weight back on). I am starting to look more like myself. Now if I can just lose another 20 pounds before my vacation in May.
And this next photo has nothing to do with cars or makeovers. Our version of The Chicken Sisters were apparently starving this afternoon, and were following me around as I was taking photos outside. I gave them some feed and then snapped this photo. From left to right, we have Chickie-Boo, Goldie, and Lucy. Annabelle, our adopted red hen, was in the coop at the time.
There ya' go- photos and everything!
LB

She's baaaaaccckkk. Again.

The Girl just came screaming into the house. Apparently Ida is back. And apparently, whatever scared her off ripped out every single tail feather but one on Virginia, one of the other hens. Man, this chicken keeping is stressful!
LB

Sad chicken news

We were gone all afternoon and evening. When we got home, I sent the kids out to put the chickens to bed. I looked out the window to see my Girl crying. I think to myself, "Oh crap!", and head out. Something (I'm thinking dog) crashed through the fencing fabric, tearing out two fence posts on the way, into the chicken yard, and took Ida. Remember, just 2 weeks ago, when something got her but she escaped? Judging by the trail of feathers, I don't think she was so lucky this time. THere were feathers from some of the other chickens strewn around in the same area, so whatever it was attacked several of the birds.
Girl is so very sad, this was one of her favorites of the 5 chickens we rescued earlier this year. She also feels like they aren't safe out when we aren't home. We will have to do some remodeling of the chicken run when Papa gets home.

It has been a tough day, one of those that makes you thankful for all the good ones!
TTFN,
LB

Chicken-sitting

Taking care of the Girl's chickens has been good. This is hard work! I think we will be visiting the Seattle Titlth Garden as soon as she gets back. The day PG is due home, they are having a chicken/garden fair. We will miss that, but I think it will be good for her to have her chicken interest to offset the intensity of her piano work.

Ok, so here are some pictures of the mean and nasty blueberry blossom eating chickens. Not really mean and nasty, so much as dusty, but that's okay.THis one is either Goldie, or Chicky-Boo, and no, I can't tell which one is my bird, and which one is the Girl's. They are both golden-laced Wyandottes that look the same to me. Anyway, which exact chicken it is of not the issue. The issue is that she is underneath my blueberry bushes- the bushes my family has been giving me for the last 4 years, on my birthday.

This one is Lucy. Miss K, from our nature study group named her. Lucy is a white-laced wyandotte. Look at the way she is just sitting there, like she owns the whole bed, not just this one poor, berry-less bush. Darn birds.
Now this darn bird has a story to tell! This is Ida, who is some kind of white chicken. (Yeah, Yeah, I know the Girl would know her breed.)

She was out wandering the yard on about Tuesday, and when it came time to put the chickens in, she was no where to be found. The Men took to the road, and I searched the back yard. All we came up with were feathers rom a pile two houses down the road. We thought for sure she had been carried away. I wondered how I was going to tell the Girl I lost a chicken on my watch. Anyhow, the Boy and I slept in the following morning, so I didn't get out to the chickens till about 10 am. Who is waiting at the gate, but Ida. I picked her up, and it looks like she is just missing one row of feathers right down her breast bone- no blood, no teethmarks. Whew! Boy did I luck out- now I have a cool story to tell the GIrl, rather than an admission of guilt from the chicken-sitter. And again, I say, "Whew!".

TTFN,

LB

Garden update

Well, after reading about everything that KathyJo and Ernie are up to on their new farm, I started feeling bad that I haven't got my garden in yet, so I really focused on that this weekend.

We had our garden party last weekend, and came home with tons of plant starts that needed to get into the ground. Got a bunch in this weekend.

In the ground now are large and small pumpkins, green zucchini, pattypan and yellow squash, green and lemon cukes, watermelon, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, eggplant, chard, and a few basil plants.

We only got in about 30 toms instead of the 45 or so we had last year. This year we are focusing on the squashes- should have tons of those! I am hoping the melons grow this year. I had only one watermelon last year- it only got as big as a softball, and never ripened.

Going into pots tomorrow are strawberries and peppers. Also need to plant the celery and cantelope starts.

Still need to get in beans, greens (lettuces and spinich), radishes, carrots, and beets. All the beds are worked up, though they need some horse doo asap.

I could have easily killed and had for supper one of the Girl's chickens. She has been getting out of the run and sleeping under my blueberry bushes. I would not mind this, but she ate all the tender little white flowers off 2 of the bushes. Now, the deal is, I haven't had to share my blueberries with anyone in my family- they all know how much I love them, and the bushes are always my birthday presents. So to have her dingbat bird eat the flowers off was just untolerable. Good thing I don't have a gun, because I just might have used it on this bird!

We have baby plums this year, and my baby fig tree has 13 figs on it!!! This is the first year it has given me fruit! I love figs as much as blueberries, so this is very exciting.

I have seen a few baby pears, but not as many as I was hoping for.

Tons to do in the garden, but thought I would give a bit of an update as to what is done.
TTFN,
LB

Long awaited chicken post

OK, the long awaited post on chickens. Probably mostly pics, I will have the Young Miss do an entry on what kind they are, and care, etc. as she is the one who does all that, for they are HER chickens. Here is a view that shows where the chicken yard is in location to my root bed. You can see my clotheslines in the front, too. This pic was taken before we weeded the root bed today. It looks so good! The big tall tree behind the green coop is our apple tree and is as far as the run goes in the back. Now that they are fenced in, we aren't having to interrupt our day every ten minutes to herd chickens back to their area. It is so much nicer this way!
This is a little homemade coop Mr. B. made that started the whole chicken adventure. This is where the "Dots" (Gold and Silver-laced Wyandottes) live. Young Miss has 3 left from the ten she originally started with (the infamous wild dog incident took the other seven.), and this is where they bunk.

These are the new girls, and their hutch. It started as a rabbit hutch and had a few additions. THey have a ladder they climb up to get to the hutch. The day we rescued these girls, we were up till 10 at night, (one of us with a 102 degree fever), buiding this run. We needed to have this separate run so the two groups of chickens wouldn't peck each other to death. They are just now starting to be able to be out together the whole day without pecking each other. I think two weeks is a fairly short time for them to have come that far!
Here are the "Dots", from left to right: ChickieBoo, Goldie, and Lucy. Lucy is the siver-laced, the other two, golden-laced. ChickieBoo is my pal, and lets me hold her, but I don't do it as often as I used to, cuz once she pecked my tooth when I was holding her, and it scared the bejiggers out of me!
The new girls on the block from left to right, fromt row: Ida, AnnaBelle, Virginia, Mavis. Agnes is the one in the back. Ida is bossy, but funny. The others I am still getting to know. I can't remember what breeds they are, but they are close to five years old. They lay huge eggs, and this morning, we had 3 double yolkers in a row! How cool is that? I should get a better pic of them, now that they are all in the big fenced area together. See the squash there in the front of the fence? They hadn't gotten to it yet. What I think I love the most about these chickens today, is that they eat huge piles of weeds in a very short amount of time. Good birds!
We were at the feed store yesterday, and the man working there said they would have baby chicks probably next week. We have a big cardboard box ready to use as a brooder, and the big chickens don't need the lamp anymore, now that it is warmer at night, so we will probably set them up in the garage when we get them.

I am not sure what all else to tell you about the chickens. Do you have any specific questions, that I can have the chicken expert answer for you? She would love that. That's all for now, I gotta get myself off to bed, so I can be at the dentist by 7 am!
TTFN,
LB