First Egg

Well those chickens are starting to earn their keep as we got our first egg this past weekend!  Although that's not a fair statement really, they've already been earning their keep with all their bug eating!  They are like vacuums all day long! The bug population on our property is way down compared to last year!  Last year you would walk across the lawn and every step you'd take it seemed like 20 crickets and grasshoppers would pop up, scorpion sightings are down as well.  Anyways, the spider population is a lot less too.  Last year we had big spider webs on every window of our house and every morning when I would walk outside I would always get some thick sticky spider web on me, even though we kept cleaning and yes, killing spiders.  So far there has only been one big spider on a window which was super gross but I got that taken care of with a vacuum.  Anyways, now our biggest chicken, a barred rock has started laying eggs! 

B is watching her work on laying her egg

She took a little break to come say hello

It was on saturday and we were outside and letting the girls free range and heard loud weird chicken sounds coming from the coop, my husband looked at me like what the?  Then I remembered when I took the kids to Farmer Sue's on a field trip and we watched a chicken lay and egg and all the noise she made and told the kids we better go check...sure enough she was in the coop pacing around, squatting and making loud noise then pacing around again....the kids were fascinated!  After a while we decided to give her some privacy so we followed the other chickens down our path in the woods my hubby made and started making some art with nature while we waited.  First the kids made a nature lady and then B and I made a "long neck" dinosaur.

After a while we checked back on the chicken and the other chickens had all come back and were on the ramp to the coop very curious as to what the heck was going on in there with all that racket.  They were standing on the tippy toes with necks stretched out towards the door, creeping closer but very hesitant.  Finally she laid her egg, ate a bunch of feed and then went about the rest of her day as normal.  J was so excited she called her uncle right away who also has chickens close in age to ours and then called her papa and told him the exciting news as well as informing him "...the egg was warm and smelled like a chicken butt!" lol it didn't really stink, just had a bit of a farmy smell but I wouldn't say it smelled like a chicken butt FYI.

I went to peek in the window on the hen and my hubby casually says "watch out for that spider right by your head" I didn't think much, then saw THIS THING!!! Can you say ARACHNOPHOBIA!  And look at that weird zipper like thing it made!  Anyways, last year we had spiders like this on all our bushes...havent seen any since the hens are out eating all the time.  This is the first one and it's way away from the house. But still....EEEEEEWWWWWW!

So we haven't tried them yet, they are kinda small at this point so we were going to wait to get a couple of them and then give them a try :)

Chasing Chickens and Beginning Gardening

Chasing Chickens

So the other day a storm was coming in and the chickens were out free ranging so we wanted to get them all back in the coop before we got dumped on.  So far it's been relatively easy to get the chickens back in the coop when we are ready to do so, half the time they are already waiting inside when we go down there and then just shut the door otherwise it's been pretty easy to just pick them all up and put them in.  Well, this time the big ones were already ready to go in, I think they sensed the weather was changing and getting more skiddish.  We got all of the in fairly easily except for Buffy, she was an elusive pain in the leg! Seriously, look what happened to my leg during one of my attempts to catch her....I didn't see a small tree stump and smashed my leg on it.  

(ok it's not that bad but my skin is so light and scars easily and it's hot here and now I have this ugly thing to show off!)

Oh and yes, our grass in the back yard is actually a mix of grasses and weeds and clovers...but right after we (as in he) mows the lawn, it looks like it might be grass if you don't get too close! lol

She kept hiding under the coop, then running all over the place, darting between trees...I was impressed really, I heard Buff Orpingtons were the most docile and likely to get eaten by an animal or picked on by the other chickens but she's insanely quick and elusive, I think she'll be OK.  I finally had enough of us running after her like idiots...I'm sure we made a hilarious sight, but after bashing my leg I realized "This is stupid!  The chicken is too scared to stay out here by itself, the other chickens aren't trying to come out...I'm done!  I bet if we leave and come back in 2 minutes she'll go in by herself"...and that's what happened.  

Yesterday we had them out again , when Tyler asked me if I would go start rounding them up and getting them in the coop.  I went and checked on them...they weren't done foraging.  It was getting closer to dusk and I was just like, "nope, I'm not doing THAT again...They'll probably go in in the next 20 minutes. I'm not dodging through trees trying to catch them."  And they did.  So....lesson learned...don't kill yourself trying to catch a chicken to put it in the coop.....now I'll probably have a scar on my leg. They will go in on their own if we just be patient.  And if you MUST get them put away for some reason and they aren't ready to go back in, go for the easy ones first and once they are in, if you leave the more elusive ones alone, the will go hop in by themselves to be with the others.  Don't break a leg over it!

Here is the recent progress on the coop....Tyler's working on the run out the back...he got the frame up and a trench dug out, now he just needs to get the wire in place and make a door...I helped a little ;) But really, he's the main man on the job!  GO BABE!

 We are excited to see we have lots of blueberries coming in!  We had one pretty unfruitful blueberry plant that produced 3 berries last year, but I guess blueberries do better if you have at least 3 plants for cross pollination.  A couple weeks back we stopped at some small nursery on the side of the road on our way back from a hike.  We picked up a couple more blueberry plants and some tomato plants.  It was WAY cheaper than getting them at a place like Home Depot, these plants were already a good size and only a couple dollars each!

 Here's hubby checking out the little tomato on one of the plants.  We alternated blueberry plants and tomato plants...We aren't that experienced in gardening, so there was not any reason for this...just did it that way.  My mom is a gardening superwoman and my mother in law is also a big gardener so hopefully we can follow in their footsteps. :)  We want to get more tomato plants, we want tons of tomatos, plenty to eat fresh but also we want to roast and can a WHOLE bunch for making homemade pasta sauce.  So, our beginning garden consists of blueberries and tomatoes so far...But I hope to add more over time and make a real vegetable and herb garden and I also REALLY want to plant lots of hydrangeas, peonies and lavender!  I even got curious today about having a bee colony on the property, I looked it up and 1 beehive can produce 50 pounds of honey a year!  WOW!  BUT for now I'm good with 6 chickens and a beta fish!

Looking at these little blueberries is getting me thinking about making my 

gluten free blueberry lemon muffins with coconut streusel!

Teenage Chickens and the Chicken Poop..I Mean Coop

Teenage Poopin' Ninja Chickens

So let me see here, we got our first 2 chicks on March 24, so that means when we went camping 2 weekends ago they were right at a month old, but for chickens that means they are pretty decent sized teenager chickens.  Our 2nd flock is 2 weeks younger than the first flock.  Anyways, so 2 weekends ago we went on a family camping trip with our American Heritage Girls troop.  My husband was going to get the coop ready for them the weekend prior but wasn't able to because he got sick and then we had this campout, so we had them in a box in the house (we don't have a garage otherwise they would have been out in there).  We had a great time at the campout but left early Sunday morning as quickly as possible so we could get home and get to work on the coop.  Well, when we got home we found POOP all over the place.  My husband had put their box in the playroom with screens on top and then closed the doors to that room just in case they somehow got out...which they never had even come close....but they did and before we left one of the kids must have run in there for something and maybe bumped the box or something and then left the doors open because those chickens got out and free ranged around the house.  They were huddled around the box when we got back and most of the poop was in that room, but we found droppings throughout the house, up and down as they pretty much explored everywhere.  So that was super fun to clean up!  I will give my hubby credit for that one, he cleaned up most of it, I did the spot cleaning on the carpets but he cleaned up the main room that was full of it.  I just don't like the chicken poop, I know I deal with kid and baby poop all the time but still, the chicken droppings make me want to puke.  So I was thankful he took care of it.  Anyways, you gotta watch those teenager chickens, they are naughty and will have a house party when you are away and leave their crap everywhere!

Here is one of the naughty girls!

So anyways, after researching Chicken Coops and getting all inspired and wanting to build something cool, Tyler realized the little shed we already had was practically the same size we were planning on building and we didn't have that much stuff in it so he decided to repurpose it...but it was right next to our driveway and not a good spot for a chicken coop so he took it apart to the frame and was going to continue to disassemble it when our neighbor came over to see what Tyler was up to after hearing him banging away and suggested they just move it as is and not take it all the way apart....so Tyler and our neighbor rolled the shed across the property, back into the woods on logs (trees that Tyler had previously cut down) and wow, it looked like a LOT of work!  But in the end, it worked out and Tyler got it put back together....mostly....enough to be functional and get the chickens out of the house.  It still needs the trim and ramp put back on and we still need to build a chicken run out the back and give it a fresh coat of paint.  We moved all 6 chickens out there finally and they are all enjoying it and they love when we let them out in the yard, they stick together in their little packs of 3.  It was so cute tonight was the 2nd time we let the younger ones out and they had a ball but when we were ready to put them back in the coop, they had already gone in by themselves.  

And I like them more seeing them OUTSIDE and not in my house :)

The little yellow one is a Buff Orpington so I named her Buffy the Scorpion Slayer.....it's her destiny to help put a dent in the scorpion population around here :)

check out that awesome car jack...yep I bought that for Tyler as an anniversary or birthday gift like when we were 19...he was always working on his mustang back then...now his mustang (we still have it) needs a new top so bad last year it had like a foot of water sitting in it and was like a jungle inside...not quite as cool as it was back then!  But at least the car jack still comes in handy for other things, like leveling the chicken coop!

Chicks 3 weeks - Such Chickens!

Chicken Chicks!

This is Trouble.  

See that tail? My kids are determined that means it's a rooster-which would be disappointing, we were looking forward to blue eggs!

So here are the chicks at around 3 weeks old.  After talking to a local farmer who raises chickens and other animals that also is part of our local Classical Conversations group was talking about getting her chicks out on pasture and mine were a whole week older so it was warm out and we gave it a try.

I first took Trouble out and tried to put him/her on the grass....that chick was REALLY chicken and scared of the grass...Trouble kept jumping back up onto my lap and chirping at me like "Save me mommy!"  When my daughter brought out the other two, the 2nd largest one (Trouble is the biggest) did the same thing, flew into my lap and was terrified of the ground.  The runt was the only one who hesitated for a second before walking around and exploring.  After a while the 2nd barred rock was watching the other and decided to give it a try...finally Trouble was like "OK, I'm the Rooster/Top Hen around here, those 2 are making me look bad I guess I'll try it out"  So he/she hopped down, tried walking on the grass for a few seconds and then got so terrified, he/she flew up towards me, landed on the back of my hand and then RAN flapping it's wings al the way up my arm and onto my shoulder, where Trouble then immediately pooped and it landed right in my lap....which I quickly shook off my dress but BUMMER because I have to wash that dress by hand!  ugh!  But in any event, the whole thing 

was quite amusing.  

Tyler, my hubby is definitely the chick magnet.  They like him the most, but he likes them more than I do too so I guess it's mutual.  Don't get me wrong, I like them well enough and think they're cute...I'm just not real comfortable/natural with animals...I had some hamsters growing up and a dog that was untrainable and a horrible pet and some cats that I really enjoyed, but I really haven't spent much time around animals in years and being a mom of 3 littles, cuddling with animals just isn't something I even think about.  So anyways, my hubby comes home and sweet talks the chicks, holds them and pets them...the love it.  My daughter also gives them lots of attention and is really good with them.  At night the chicks make a lot of noise, My daughter told them it was time to stop and be quiet...they listened...or so it seemed.  She now thinks she has magical animal powers or something lol, I told her that maybe God blessed her with a gift to be good with animals, not so much "magical powers".

These things grow so fast I can't believe it, By the time I uploaded these pictures they are already outdated!  I was looking at them today and they are really filling out!  Oh and last week when they turned 3 weeks old we picked up 3 more chicks, we got 2 Rhode Island Reds and 1 Buff Oprington...they are so cute and this batch of chicks seems even more friendly and chill than the first.  The Araucana definitively likes attention, but it's a bit more hyper and just different.  The Barred Rocks will let you hold them but they probably prefer to be left alone, whenever my husband is trying to pick them up, The Araucana (Trouble) flies onto his hand...such an attention hog.

Baby Chicks...One Week Old

Week Old Baby Chicks

I am pretty sure the chicks were about a day old when we got them so lets just say they are a week old here, I took this pictures on Monday, a week from when we got them :)  They are SO much bigger and starting to sprout feathers and test out their wings!

The brown Araucana is the only one with a name so far, We called her "Trouble" the first day because she was the most hyper and out of sorts when we first set them up in their box.  Last Tuesday J did her presentation at Classical Conversations on her new pet chicks and when she told her class the brown one was named Trouble she smirked and then said "cuz you know...(then started to sing) I knew you were trouble when you walked in...." lol.  

So far Trouble has the biggest wings and is the first to test them out..."flying" across the brooder (aka large cardboard box).  Trouble also seems to enjoy being held the most so far as well.  My husband comes home after work, goes into my closet (where they love right now) and says "Hey girls!" and they run up to him and look up at him...then Trouble will step up onto his hand when he lowers it into the box and just hang out with him.  So yeah, I can officially say I don't get jealous when my husband "picks up chicks"...lol ok lame joke but I had to do it :P

Check out Trouble's tail feathers poking out the back!  If she turns out to be a HE then HE really will be TROUBLE! lol

The Barred Rock chicks don't have names yet but my husband's great aunts came to mind the other day and suggested naming them Helen and Margaret, my hubby seemed to like that idea but we haven't actually officially named any of them...

I'm not sure which one it is, but one of the Barred Rock chicks is afraid of the dark...we have to keep a lamp in the closet with them at night because she starts crying when it's too dark.  Our neighbors have a heat lamp from their chicks we were going to borrow but so far we have been controlling their temperature in my walk in closet with a little space heater and a digital thermometer.

I love that the dark barred rock chicks have a soft yellow underside!

Trouble startled me this morning when I went in there, she was looking up at me and then tryied to fly straight up towards my face...she got pretty high! Not high enough to get out of the box yet though!

I set their water dish up n a brick to help keep it clean and they also seem to just enjoy the brick to stand on and peck at.

I also put a small branch in there for them to perch on....I wanted them to have some entertainment so I also cut up a toilet paper roll into a couple smaller tubes and then also seem to like playing(pecking) with them.  They do poop quite a bit but Tyler just laid down a bunch of newspaper so each day I just remove the top layer of paper and reveal the fresh paper underneath so it really is no big deal....I remember having hamsters as a kid..This is not any more work that that....actually less with with easy system of the newspapers we have going.  Once they are big and in a coop...I don't mind taking care of that because at least they earn their keep with the bug eating and egg laying!

New Additions! Baby Chicks!

Baby Chicks! 

We took the plunge!  Ever since we moved into this house about 7 months ago, we thought it would be great to have chickens, we loved the idea before but our old house was in a golf course community...I'm pretty sure backyard chickens weren't allowed!  Our neighbors here have an awesome chicken coop and we sometimes get to have some of their delicious eggs, but we wanted to raise our own chickens...so on Monday this past week we stopped in the local feed store and picked out 3 brand new baby chicks.  They are just too stinkin cute!

I recently took the kids on a field trip through our homeschool group to Farmer Sue's Art Barn which was just awesome and she is fabulous!  After the trip I was emailing with her about chickens and through talking to her and through researching the website My Pet Chicken I knew I really wanted some Barred Rock and Rhode Island Red chickens.  When we stopped by the feed store just to "look" they actually had the Barred Rock chicks as well as Ameraucana which lay blue eggs!  I ran into another homeschool mom there with her boys and they were raving about the blue eggs and how they were the best tasting eggs they've ever had so I decided to try one of those.  Here is a picture of our future blue egg layer! (I HOPE! They are supposed to be sexed but there is a small chance some might turn out to be roosters).  

I REALLY love the Barred Rock Cochin (or as Farmer Sue calls them...Pajama Pants!) But I think we would have to special order...this is a picture of J holding one of Farmer Sue's Barred Rock Cochin - Pajama Pants Chickens in her barnyard...they are beautiful!  I got 2 Barred Rock and they will look sort of like the one in the picture below minus "pajama pants".

I read a lot about the Barred Rock and Rhode Island Reds both being smart, ferocious hunters, and having good personalities which make them fun pets.  Both are known to be pretty hardy and good egg layers, producing large brown eggs.  We get plenty of crickets and other bugs in our yard so I think we will all be happy when these girls are out there feasting on all the bugs!  I'm also hoping they might put a dent in the scorpion population around here!

I love the Barred Rock chicks... they remind me of baby penguins...little dark balls of fluff...So far it's been easy, we have them in a large box lined with paper that we change daily, we gently handle them quite a bit so they get used to being held.  I've been adding a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar to their fresh water each day to help with the PH as well as help with their digestive health...and a little garlic powder to their feed as well, which I learned about doing from Fresh Eggs Daily's post about The Holistic Trinity for chickens.  Now I am having fun adding to my Backyard Chickens pinboard, learning all I can about the best tips for building our coop and keeping the chickens and coop as clean and healthy as possible!  And of course enjoying watching these cutie puff balls chip and grow and enjoying watching my kids enjoy them!

 We have a thermometer in the box with them and adjusting their temp as needed...they currently seem happiest between 82-84 degrees F.  The Rhode Island Reds come in April 8 so we will get some of those then and will have to keep them separate for a while so the older ones don't pick on the younger ones...hence the term "pecking order".