Check in with my flock

August 23, 2014 / Jeanette / 1 Comment

It’s been a while since I have done a chicken post. Mostly because I have been waiting for an egg, but they are almost 19 weeks and nothing so far. So that will have to be another post later; whenever it happens. Let me start by saying that everyone is right. Having chickens is addicting! I am already planning a bigger run for them because they are spoiled rotten. But anyone that knows me knew that was gonna happen.

Photo Bomb! I’m the center of attention!

This journey hasn’t been without bumps in the road though. In the beginning, we lost two of our baby chicks to Coccidiosis. It is fatal to chickens, but thankfully because of the internet and some wonderful bloggers, I was able to treat the rest and have had no problems with that.

Then there was the too many rooster problems. I ended up with 3 and one became aggressive towards the others. We had a lot of injuries. So it was time to relocate him to our next door neighbors, where he found a hen that is his twin and fell deeply in love.

Be nice to your new girlfriend, Speckles.

Next, was the summer cold of 2014. It hit a few of our girls pretty hard. I didn’t want too, but had to give out antibiotics. Within a day, they were all good. I am trying to do the natural thing, but with this the oregano, which acts as a natural antibiotic, wasn’t cutting it.

Lastly, I had to escapees. Two different times, two different hens! They got so excited that Mommy was coming in with treats that they ran out the door. As soon as they realized they were out and the others were in, they paced the fence trying to get back. So I was able to easily catch them.

Okay~ on to the chickens now.

Little baby at the beginning of summer.

Little baby now

Big Bertha then

Nutmeg then

Big Bertha (right) and Nutmeg (left)

Midnight then

Midnight now

Precious then

Precious now

Thing 1 and Thing 2 then

Thing 1 now

Thing 2 now

Luna then

Luna now

And last, but not least

Ninja then

Ninja now

And I just want to add he is the perfect Rooster. Let’s the girls eat first, watches out for predators and is the first out in the morning and the last one in at night.

UPDATE: I started writing this 2 days ago and as of 15 minutes ago, Thing 1 is in the coop making a nest. We are hoping for an egg by the end of the day. Follow me on Facebook or Instagram for updates.

Here comes the chicks…..

June 13, 2014 / Jeanette / 5 Comments

Now that our babies are getting bigger and have their feathers coming in, I am able to give them proper names to fit them and their personality.

Introducing our flock……

This is Big Bertha. She is the oldest by a few days and the biggest of our chickens.

This is Luna. It took me forever to come up with a name for her. She is starting to get more comfortable with me and will jump on me every once and a while.

This is Precious. This one belongs to Brianna. Which is appropriate because she is the same age as Luna but so much smaller, just like her owner.

Twinsies! They were easy to name because they are always into something. Thing 1 is at the top, she has a smaller and lighter colored beak. Thing 2 at the bottom, much larger beak and even has some black lines running through it.

This is Speckles. This one belongs to Alissa. UMMM I am not sure what it is; girl or boy! But it’s pretty.

This is Nutmeg. She has adopted herself as mine. When she sees me, she finds a way to jump on my back. She likes to look me eye to eye and talk to me. She is a gossiper.

This is Midnight. She too has become a Momma’s girl. Her and Nutmeg like to fight over who sits where on Momma’s back.

This is Ninja and in case you can’t tell; yup he’s a rooster. No eggs from this little fellow. He belongs to Cailin. And she changed his name from Fizzy to Ninja when he started running around and karate kicking the other chickens. Now before you say what happened to his feathers. It’s okay; He is a Frizzle chicken. Let me just say if anyone was going to pick the odd ball of the bunch it was going to be Cailin. And she is very proud of herself.

Last but not least, Lil Baby. This one was named by Dakota. He took a liking to the youngest of the group. I am 95% sure Lil baby is a rooster. But he is so darn cute!

Look at that he could be a chicken model! Adorable!

So here they are! We have had no health problems and they are the highlight of our day. Someone is always checking on them, feeding them snacks or thinking of something new to make for them. It really has been a fun family project.

Building our coop deville

May 13, 2014 / Jeanette / 6 Comments

As my husband puts it, I put the cart before the horse. I bought the chickens and then looked for a coop only to realize that all of the reviews were awful. I wanted something nice that would hold up more than 6 months. And then when I bought 6 more chicks, well it sealed our fate. We were building a coop.

Before I even got home with our new babies, my hubby had already found and print out of one he liked and was making a material list. Luckily, he was between jobs and had the time or else I am not sure what we would have done. After that we were off to Lowes for one of our 2-3 hour shopping trips. That place is the equivalent of a mall to my hubby.

By the time we got home, we only had enough time to get the outline laid out.

Day 2: The girls and I dug out all of the grass and leveled the dirt while Hubby was working. When he got home, we laid some hardware netting and rocks under the timbers for support where the ground was uneven.

Day 3: I didn’t get any pictures because I had a lunch date with some family from out of town and then we had a severe storm come through. But the kids basically painted all the roof support beams and hubby started cutting and assembling. All of this was done in the his workshop since we knew we had bad weather coming.

Day 4: After a very early morning run to Lowes for more material, we finished painting all of the structure pieces and started assembling in the yard.

Day 4 was Easter so I was busy in the kitchen and didn’t get pics. But all we got done was painting the coop.

Day 5: we were making doors and painting them and adding the trim around everything.

Day 6: We added the hardware cloth around the outside except where we are putting the entrance door.

We had to take a break because Hubby had an important job he needed to work on. But after a couple weeks off, we were back at it to finish it up. Which is good because my chicks weren’t so little anymore and were trying to fly the coop. (Haha)

Finally, we were able to get some gravel to put on the bottom. It was more like dirt and some rocks but it works.

Then we put in a top layer of sand to complete the run area.

We also finished up the ramp and added our roosting poles to the inside.

Now to test it out…..

Success! The chicks loved their new home. Of course right now, I only put them out in the daytime and then bring them in the house at night. I am still protective of my little babies.

Ford Funny Farm

May 1, 2014 / Jeanette / 9 Comments

When we decided to move out to the country 7 years ago, my Grandpa and I always talked about having a garden and chickens. Grandpa passed a few years ago, but I feel like I am honoring him by enjoying the things he wanted us to do together.

I started a garden last year and it did okay. But this year, I expanded it and did A LOT more research to know what I am doing. I am really good at growing tomatoes until the plant all of a sudden dies on me. That’s okay. Learning is living. More on my garden in another post.

And a couple weeks ago, I decided that I needed some chickens. So the kids and I loaded up in the car and headed to Tractor Supply.

We got 6 to begin with.

Look at Justice, our cocker spaniel! Such a good momma, unfortunately someone forgot to tell him he is a boy. It drove him crazy not to be able to get to the chicks.

Then a few days later, I went back to get something else and instead got 6 more. I couldn’t resist! They were so cute!

We did lose 2 of the smaller ones. But the rest are doing great.

I have a confession to make! I am not a bird person at all. I mean to the point where I fear when groups are flying over me that they are going to poop on me. Or attack and peck my eyes out. You know lovely thoughts like that. I have never owned chickens and neither has Hubby. So why would I decide to raise chickens?

The eggs, of course. I get about 3 dozen fresh eggs from my neighbor every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. They only charge me a $1 a dozen. But there for a while, something was getting their chickens and they were running low. I felt bad asking for the eggs. And the farm fresh eggs in the store are outrageous in price.

Another reason was for my special needs daughter. I noticed that unless someone had a job for her or wanted to do the same things as her, she would just lay around and sleep all day. She had no initiative to get up and find something to do. She had no hobbies except watching TV. She wouldn’t play with any of the toys we got her. She just laid there on the couch and slept. So I thought by getting chickens it would give her some responsibilities. She is an animal lover so maybe this will be good for her.

I have to admit, I do find their little chirps to be soothing and relaxing. It wasn’t as hard as training a dog and easier than a kitten because they stay contained in one area.

At first, Hubby acted like he wasn’t thrilled with the idea. It took me weeks of convincing before he said whatever you want. But when I brought home the first 6, he was really interactive and interested. He likes to try to get them to stand on his hand. When I brought home the second bunch, he decided we were building a chicken coop. But that is another post.

Our week in homeschooling~

April 22, 2012April 30, 2012 / Jeanette / Leave a comment

This week has been full of hands on activities. Which my kids have really enjoyed, I think I may continue it for our summer learning camp. We finished up our yearly testing a couple of weeks ago and are now just coasting through the last month of “real” school.

Science~

We are learning about Birds. This has been a very exciting lesson for my girls as we have set up a bird feeder area in our yard. This week we learned about bird wings by doing a dissection of a chicken wing. I just bought a pack of chicken wings from the meat department. The girls got to see all the muscles and tendons. They thought it was interesting to see how the joints worked. This was a favorite in the house. We also learned about the different types of nest and the girls had to try to create their own nest. Needless to say this was a messy activity and required showers afterwards.

History~

We are studying World History and have been learning about the Egyptians. Which we have also tied in with Geography and started learning about the country also. Last week we made a replica of the Nile River. We then filled it until the water overflowed to represent the flooding of the Nile. And this is what we got after a week.

We also learned about the types of writing the Egyptians used. The girls made a paper scroll with hieroglyphics on it and a clay tablet using cuneiform writing.

Little Man even had to get in on the fun!

These came out SOOOO good! Proud momma moment!

We also read about mummies and decided to start our 6 week project of making a mummified chicken. The kids really liked this idea.

This is a very lengthy and involved project but it was something we all really wanted to do.

This is day 2.

Sunday Mornings

February 6, 2012 / Jeanette / Leave a comment

AHHH Sunday Mornings! A time for peace and quiet. Some may go to church. Some may relax at home. Around here I like to catch up with my DVR and clip coupons.

But on this particular Sunday I spent my morning running around my yard chasing a rooster!

Hubby was leaving for work when he saw the rooster around the front of the gate. I jokingly said let him in; he can be our first chicken. And hubby did! Then I asked when the rooster made himself at home; how do we get him out? Hubby tells Cailin to go chase after him. Well we know that is not going to happen because Cailin is our little chicken of the sea. So I said I would do it. I ran around behind this rooster for 10 minutes trying to corral him back out the gate when hubby says OK I have to go work but make sure you get the chicken out. If looks could kill I tell ya that man would be a dead one!

By the way Koda was cracking up at the rooster and us running behind it. He thought it was the craziest thing!

So I opened every gate in the yard and tried for another 30 minutes to get him to go out one of them. Then I almost had him out the back gate when he turned and did this ninja kick with the wings flapping and I took off the opposite way and thought oh heck no!

I decided he could stay after that. I figured he would leave eventually. And I decided I needed some high fat football food for the Super Bowl. The girls called when I was at the store to tell me our neighbor came and got him. And that he used a net! Go figure!

But I have learned a very valuable lesson.

1) No Roosters! They will try to rule the roost! HAHA

2) Get my chickens as young as possible so they will be nice and docile.

3) Own a net!

By the way here is the culprit of the morning chaos.

Growing a Large Family

The ups and downs of raising a large family

chickens