A look at the chicken coop

We call this the "Chick Mahal."  Bret, being an architect, couldn't just make a coop. Noooooo  This coop came with 3 dimensional plans done up on a computer program.

I'm kind of partial to the color red, but apparently all paint isn't made the same. After careful selection (ok, an hour of looking) of just the right farm color of red, I took the card to the paint counter. The helpful guy told me he could only get that tint with the really expensive paint. (That's not exactly the way he said it, but that's what he meant.) I looked at him and said "Really? This is for a chicken coop. Can't you get close?"  I think he did pretty darn good, don't you?

The girls seem to like it ok! They're really starting to give a good amount of eggs and we're oh so thankful for that! Having chickens is something I never knew I loved!

TTFN

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

We got some new chicks today and let me tell you there is nothing cuter than brand new baby chicks! Their little cheeping is so sweet to hear and we even have one that plays dead for us.

These are some pictures of our older girls (and boys). They're finally earning their keep around here and producing eggs. They love to roam about the place looking for bugs, mostly ticks I hope! While we were on vacation they got a little wander lust and found the neighbor's yard which is quite a feat. The only access they have to the neighbor's yard is 200 feet of barbed wire in some pretty dense woods. I guess they missed their chicken charmer!

These are the roosters (in case you couldn't tell!) Their names are Popcorn and Buttercup boy. If you want to have roosters, Bantam roosters are nice to have. They stay small and I think they realize this fact. They don't torment the people around here like bigger roosters are prone to do.

See these pretty eggs? Ok, ok, I know what you're going to say. One is pretty small, huh?  Well, being the chicken amateurs that we are we didn't know what a Bantam chicken was. Do you? They're pretty small chickens. So pretty small chickens lay.....you guessed it... pretty small eggs.  But now Jeffrey has become a bit of a pet so I guess we'll keep her around even though it'll take six of her eggs to make a decent omelet. And in case you're wondering, yes, we named a female chicken Jeffrey. Don't ask.

TTFN

Hay vs. Straw

Do you know the difference between the two?  If your learning curve is as steep as mine, this post will be very informative. We had to clean the dog house thoroughly for the second time in a week. We want to put some bedding down for the puppies for the winter. I called my friend to find out where she gets her hay and she gave me a great little tip that I'm going to pass along.  Hay is for eating, straw is for pooping on. Now I'll never get the two mixed up again!  If you'd do me a favor though, and not share this little tip with my little boys, I'd appreciate it. They're liable to take it to heart.  Thanks so much!

TTFN

Meet the fam

I thought I'd do a post introducing the family. The oldest and first born son is Joshua. He's helping to improve his parents' prayer life. Yep. He's driving. Next is Annabelle, but don't call her that. She prefers Anna. Next is Rachel and she's pretty much a girly girl. After her is Abigayle, but we had to shorten her name to Abi. She has the longest name in the family and is pretty much the smallest in stature. (Don't ask her middle name!)  Then we have the demolition brothers Elijah and Aaron. It's pretty much their mission in life to make a mess of everything. Things just seem to jump off the walls and shelves when they walk into a room. Seriously.  Last, but certainly not least, we have Micah. He's pretty much following in his brothers' footsteps. It's a good thing we've got all this space for them to burn off their boy energy.  Oh, and then there's the fellow that makes my staying home and writing this blog possible, Bret, my Knight in Shining Armour.

Those are the two legged beings anyway. Do you really want to know about the furry ones? Ok. There's Her Highness CC (short for Chocolate Chip). She's a dachshund who thinks we are all here to do her bidding.  Then there's Mittens. She's a rescue cat and if you've ever seen the movie Bolt, well, that's our cat. We never see her. She stays in hiding because of the demolition crew, but, hey at least we can say we have a cat, right? Next there are the puppies.  Cagney and Lacey. You know where those names come from, don't you?  How old are you anyway?? They're collie puppies. Very smart dogs. We make them work, guarding (read: chasing) the chickens. Somebody needs to work with them more!  Last (cause we don't need anymore) there are the chickens.  I told them not to name the chickens. I was afraid of what would happen when we lost some. I was right.  Please don't ask me the names of the chickens.  I'm doing good to remember my own name most days.

That's the fam. Nice to meet ya!

TTFN