Fried Chicken

It's hot here. The Girls are turning into fried chicken. Every time I go out to the coop, they're panting and looking forlorn. We should get a break from the heat by Sunday, with temperatures dipping down into the 80's!

Without fail, at 5:45 every morning, I have a chicken watching for me. I get an excited 'bawk-bawk' when I'm spotted, and the minute their chicken run door is open, they make a dash for it. I always feed them grass right away, so they anxiously stand by the big run door waiting.

Last night when I closed the coop, I noticed a stray cat wandering close to the fence line in back. The yellow dog went on a barking spree, which scared the stray away. I hope that cat understands the yard is closely guarded, and that white dog has no mercy.

Speaking of cats, we have a visitor living in our basement. Both kitchen doors stay shut at all times, giving an extra barrier of protection to the basement door (which is also closed) so the dogs and Ms. Kitty never meet.

Visiting Kitty







As a side bar, the garden is growing quite well this year. Keeping my fingers crossed that it continues this way. The pumpkins are twice the size of grapefruits and every tomato plant is flowered and full of tomatoes. The hot peppers are huge and the herb garden has provided some delicious treats so far, like mint tea, tomato basil salad, cilantro salsa, and an Italian sauce for our lasagna several weeks ago. Yum!

The updates to the blog should occur more frequently, now that I'm done with teacher license renewal classes. Thanks for stopping by.

The Chicken Tenders

Update 2: Henhouse on Monroe

At long last the Ladies are living outside! They spent their first night in the henhouse six days ago. That first night was a little rocky. Karana didn't want to be left alone, so she hopped on my back where I couldn't reach her, and wouldn't get off. Meanwhile, two more chickens hopped on me too, one on my forearm and one on my shoulder. It took some doing to get all those chickens off me. As Junie B. Jones says, "I thought they were going to peck my head into a nub."

And the weird one wouldn't walk on the floor of the coop. She just laid right by the chicken door until I picked her up and moved her. Crazy chickens.

Anyway, the following pictures show where we're at. You'll notice we have a few items to finish up; the windows and a few exterior cosmetic things. All that matters is the Ladies are outside, their coop is secure, and our porch doesn't smell like barnyard anymore!

The yellow dog still thinks the chickens are his! What do you think of this cool vinyl floor we put in?

Only one of the Ladies has figured out where she should roost. Of course, it's Karana. I guess if the other ones are happy on the cross brace, so be it.

The Chicken Tenders



Update: Henhouse on Monroe

Between a Memorial Day camping trip, work, end-of-school activities, and a bout of the summer flu, we've been working as much as possible on the henhouse. I'm happy to report we are getting closer. The following pictures are not the most recent. We've added chicken wire to almost the entire coop, leaving just a door, two windows, two vents, and a vinyl floor to finish. It sounds like a lot, but it's better than where we were.

Here are some recent pix of the Ladies. Since they are still living in their brooder pen, we bring them outside and let them roam the yard during the day. They love running under this big pine tree in the backyard.

The Chicken Tenders

Henhouse on Monroe

The Girls are now Ladies. I got back from my conference and I think they doubled in size!

Which means the race is on to get the Henhouse on Monroe finished. Here's where we're at:



The yellow dog enjoys checking out the progress. It seems to meet with his approval.

Since the Ladies are a bit big for their brooder pen (which we moved to the porch), we've been letting them flap around in the garden whenever we're outside. Fun for them and fun for my daughter!

Brooder pen





The Chicken Tenders

Great Big World

The Girls got a taste of the outdoors a few days ago. They didn't like it at first. None of them wanted to walk on the grass, so I moved them into my garden (which is not fully planted yet) and that went a bit better. They seemed to enjoy the dirt. I told them they better get used to it, as they'll be living outside very soon (hopefully).

One Girl is a little weird, though. She's the smallest and most timid. She's afraid of everything, and when I would put her on the ground outside, she would tip over. Finally, after watching her sisters walk around, she got the idea. I wish I'd snapped a picture of her when she wouldn't move. She's a goofball, that's for sure.

This dandelion was a very interesting find for the Girls. They enjoyed pecking it, watching it bob around, and pecking it again.

Our most pressing issue (other than sneaky Rocky, who hasn't been seen since the last post... but who has a trap waiting for him) is the fact that we have no coop yet. And these chickens can't live in their brooder pen much longer. Look how big they are!





So, while I'm away this weekend enjoying a fabulous conference (check it out here; http://www.kathrynmitschelen.blogspot.com ), my dear husband and daughter will hopefully get a coop finished. A big shout out to Dan Quigley for the cedar.... thanks to you, my Girls will have a place to live! You're first up on the list of fresh eggs this fall.

The Chicken Tenders

Trouble in the tree

We have trouble in the tree. Trouble for our chicks. Trouble for us. What could it be?

Sneaky Rocky



Rocky Raccoon discovered we have chickens. We've caught him hanging out in the Tulip tree outside my computer room window several times, most recently last night. When the windows are open, we think he's catching a whiff of the girls. 

The Girls are a bit nervous about this most recent development.

They would prefer staying inside where it's safe, rather than living in their coop with sneaky Rocky watching from above. Lucky for them, their coop isn't finished.

We'll keep you updated on the trouble in the Tulip tree.

The Chicken Tenders 

Bits and Peepses

We've had lots of eggcitement involving the chicks, so this post will cover all the bits and peepses of the last few days.

First, we've named the very brave girl. She's been the one to attempt new tricks (such as flying, roosting, and climbing) before all the other chick-a-poos. So my daughter decided to name her Karana, after the main character in the book Island of the Blue Dolphins, because the girl in that story was also very brave.

Karana



Look at the wings on this girl! Those wings really motivated us to get building the coop. After a full day of work Saturday, the framing is finished. Of course, we had to make sure the work passed the yellow dog's inspection.

And, lots of visitors have stopped by to hold a chick or two.



The Girls are thriving and the coop is coming along. We've got lots more work to do, but that coop will be finished by the time Karana and friends are ready for the big outdoors!

The Chicken Tenders