It had to happen

One of our neighbor's chickens was killed by some critter last night.
I am very sad for her. She feels really badly too because she forgot to close the gate, and meant to go back and do that, but forgot. We awoke around 5am to a strange sound we couldn't place. Kind of sounded like a goose in trouble. I wish I had run out in my pjs and saved Atilla the Hen. I am for shame.

I am not worried about our own dear girls as their shit is sound. Eric made sure it was critter-proof. I love my neighbor, but her chicken set-up is shaky at best so you run the risk of varmints getting in there.

Coop, before and after

We finally painted the janky ass garage. It really needed it. And now the dear chickens have such a cuter home. Not that they care.

behold.

My babies are women now!

This lovely girl, Margaret (the one on the right) laid some eggs last Saturday. Needless to say, we are overjoyed.



Here are the eggs - 2 medium and one tiny one:

Sweeeet.

Perching is for lovers

I like how they use the window as a perch, well, anything will serve as a perch, really. Greta flew into the small maple that is in their run today and perched there a while.





They are starting to get their "chicken voices" as we call it. Their babyish coos are now turning into the classic chicken "bock" sound. They're pretty quiet overall, unless they get in a skirmish fighting over the pieces of grass we shove through the fence.
The 3 main pigs are Beverly -she's a biter - Margaret, and Marlene. Greta is a little scrapper now, getting underneath all the others to claim her share of whatever is offered.
Coco doesn't seem too concerned with fighting for grass and Daphne hangs back a lot, too.

getting to be friends

hanging with Beverly


Hanging out with Beverly:

chicken antics

Coco is getting ever more beautiful plumage

out into the wonderful world of yard

Since Coco, Daphne, Margaret and Greta seemed like they could practically fly out of the box by this point and had all their feathers, we deemed them old enough to make the transition into their new coop in the early part of June.

They seemed a little out of sorts at the change of scenery and huddled together in a pile inside the coop, but then Larissa said sometimes you have to show them what to do and physically put them outside.

Eric did that and once they discovered the wonderful outdoor world, they were loving it.







The first night they were outside, I was like a nervous, new mother, envisioning all kinds of dangers befalling them: raccoons, my own cat, frostbite even though it was summer, and had trouble sleeping for fear something would happen to them.
I even got up much to Eric's annoyance at 3 in the morning to check on them and was amazed to find them sleeping on the "Front porch" of the coop and not inside. It was a little chilly in P-town still at this point, so it seemed weird and called "chicken larry's help hotline" for advice. She reiterated the bit about showing them what to do and said to shove them inside at nightfall.

growing up!

This is right before we moved them from "Brooder" aka cardboard box with light to their new luxurious coop.

As you can see, the dog was very smitten with them, and whined outside their bedroom door when it was shut. She loves them just a little too much.

Sorry!

I wanted to apologize for the lack of posts lately - we have a ton of pics but our computer died and I just picked it up from the repair dude today. So - I'll be updating this here blog over the next few days.

The chickens have ceased to be cute fuzzy little babies and have grown into vaguely prehistoric creatures who bite me when i try to give them new water. They even pecked the dog yesterday. Hee-larious.

I still love them however and am not going to "just eat them" as several people have suggested.

They're growing up and roosting!

Marlene almost fell asleep on the roost one night!

We're insane. Another new chick!

Greta!
She's a Sumatran. Very cute!

Got a new chick! Marlene!

Picked up an Americauna yesterday from Pistils Nursery where they got a brand new shipment of these beauties. She is gorgeous, but a little meek - gonna have to toughen up to hang with butch dyke (or Rooster) Coco. She runs the box, and if you need cigarettes, you have to go through her.

Here's a few snaps of the new tiny Marlene!

construction of coop

For our coop we decided to punch out the garage. All materials are found and recycled.

The Coop

another pic

This is Beverly - she doesn't squirm too much if you hold her.

Cuteness! Fuzzy Cuteness!

We got 4 baby chicks last Friday.
Well, actually 5, but one died...i won't go into that, makes me too sad. She was Matilda. Should have waited a week to do any naming, but the coast seems clear now.

They are: Coco (black one with marked face)
Daphne (small black one with white spot on head)
Beverly & Margaret (the 2 yellow ones, don't even try to tell them apart!