Christmas 2010

Darling Nickie

Christmas 2010 was, like everything else, a mixed bag. Sure, our house flooded and we had to move furniture and rip out carpets on Christmas Eve, but we also got together as a family and made candy to give as Christmas gifts. And even the act of cleaning up after the flood done as a family put a silver lining on a dark cloud.

Nickie's pretty brown egg

Nickie began laying eggs a few days before Christmas, and now she and Esther lay almost an egg a day. It's been two weeks since they were medicated, so their eggs are now safe to eat again.

Bumble

The silkies started eating from my hand a few days ago, and now they go nuts whenever they see me, not because they love me but because they love spinach. Although, today, Bumble jumped out of the brooder and onto the table and when I picked her up to put her back in, she didn't freak out. In fact, I even got her to eat from my hand while I held her for a minute. That felt like progress.

Happy Holidays!

It's Christmas week and I'm not quite ready for it. I've been sewing and stringing my little heart out, but somehow I am not quite prepared. Christmas sneaks up on me just about every year but this year it was almost Ninja. They say that time flies whether you're having fun or not and it hasn't been that fun on the old homestead of late. We lost two of our beloved birds, Mary and Bev. Mary was such a sweetie, and so beautiful I was thinking about showing her. Her silver feathers looked like someone outlined each one with charcoal pencil, really quite lovely. Bev looked like a picture from a catalog. Classic White-crested Black Polish. She was also very sweet and she was my little pal in the yard. Being virtually blinded by her giant crest, she would get separated from the flock and then would cry like a kitten. I would call her,  "kittykitty" and she would rush over to me so I could lead her to where the rest of the girls were gathered.

Bev's loss was so sudden it really caught us by surprise. When I let the girls out Friday morning she seemed quite healthy and was patiently waiting for Esther to finish using the nest so that she could lay her egg. Saturday when I went to let them out, she was obviously quite ill. I did what I could, but she was gone by noon. I did more research and settled on the theory that the ladies had succumbed to tracheal worms. Yes, it sounds disgusting, but most animals have parasites, including humans. All of the research and planning I did convinced me that free ranging was the best and healthiest way to raise backyard chickens, but in the end it's what did them in. Now the birds that I had hoped to raise free of chemicals needed to be given poison, basically. The eggs that we had waited for now were unfit for consumption for two weeks after the treatment. Sigh. Live and learn.

We wormed the flock and now we are trying a more organic anti-worm regimen, diatomaceous earth, cayenne and garlic. At least it makes their poop smell a little better.

No Such Things As a Chicken Expert...

Our lil flock lives in a coop made from re-purposed materials, put together with barely a plan other than to make it comfortable and secure. It's set in the yard is an unobtrusive spot where it sort of blend in with the landscape. It looks nice and homey and it works for us. If I had it to do again, I would have designed it a little better. It would be impossible to get power to it where it is in the center of our large yard and solar is out of the question so the birds are only exposed to natural light. My family came over for Thanksgiving dinner, and everyone wondered about the eggs, so I explained how their laying is directly affected by the hours of daylight and since they get no artificial light, they probably wouldn't lay til Spring. I'm fine with that and my husband told me he didn't care if they ever laid eggs, as long as they make me happy. Which they do. The day after Thanksgiving I was cleaning out the coop when I noticed that the grass in the nest box was very trampled. I thought it was odd, so I peeked inside and found three eggs! Needless to say I was shocked. I had given up checking it because I was so sure they wouldn't lay til Spring, and they never gave any of the 'signs' that they would be laying soon. No shell-less eggs, no squatting, no new chicken sounds. One of the main lessons I have learned through my recent experiences is that there are no absolute truths when it comes to raising poultry. Just a lot of probably. For example, everything I've read says that chickens lay their eggs usually by 9:00 or 10:00. Not my girls. I've seen them lay in the afternoon, and in fact I went to clean their coop a few days ago and there was Bev, laying an egg. It was 4:00pm.

My 'egg-citement' was short lived however, because I noticed that Mary wasn't acting quite right. I went online to see if I could find any help. Based on the symptoms and the fact that the girls were starting to lay, I was leaning towards a diagnosis of egg binding, a condition where the egg gets stuck inside the chicken. Sounds awful and unfortunately, it can be fatal. I didn't feel an egg inside her when I rubbed her belly, and she was pretty skinny, but I tried the home remedy anyway. At least it wouldn't harm her. I gave her a nice warm bath in my old dish tub. Surprisingly, she really liked it. I rubbed her belly while she soaked and when the water cooled off, I dried her off and wrapped her it a towel and carried her around for a while. The next morning, she acted a little better, scratching and pecking with the other girls. But soon she was off by herself, displaying sick symptoms again. I felt again for an egg, but didn't find one. I went online again to see if there was any information out there. Very few vets will treat a chicken, and I don't have money to run a bunch of expensive lab tests anyway, so I had to rely on home treatments. It seemed there was no definitive diagnosis out in cyberspace. I didn't know what to do except to isolate her and try to get her to eat and drink. I fixed her some "chicken soup" which is made FOR chickens, not FROM chickens, but she didn't really want it. She passed that night. She was such a sweetie, and she was so pretty. I was sad.

The next day, I was giving the flock their scratch and I noticed Bev wasn't joining in on the feast, so I called her, "Kitty kitty!" That's how I call my birds. I think it sounds better than "Chick chick". Bev is almost always that first to come running when I call out. She is so blinded by her crest that I frequently have to lead her around the yard to the food. No Bev, and I started to worry, then I saw her huddled up in the corner of the side yard and my heart sank. She was laying down with her feathers all fluffed up, just like Mary had done. Oh no. I picked her up to comfort her and to my astonishment, uncovered a clutch of five eggs. Bev was setting on a nest of eggs. Whew!! What a relief.

I realize now that there is no such thing as a chicken expert. Chickens are all different and do pretty much what they want. My Easter-egger, Esther, is not sweet and lovable like the 'experts' said she would be. She is a nice bird, but does not want to sit in my lap and be petted. My Polish pullet, Bev, is a prolific layer, even though the experts say Polish are only so-so. And the Dominique hasn't laid yet. Of course, with these short days, I wasn't even expecting any eggs, so they are all welcome surprises.

 

R.I.P. Mary

Ups and Downs Part II

They quail were happily living in their new home and I just love to listen to their sweet songs.  Time to roll out Phase 2 of my plan.  Trust me, I have a plan. See, the whole thing with the ducks was that we wanted eggs, but we also wanted meat. I much prefer chicken, but my little flock is part of the family, and there will be no baby chicks because there is no rooster. That's why we went with ducks. Male ducks are no more noisy than female ducks, which, as it turns out, are kind of noisy. Although I would have loved and cared for my ducks, once they were gone I didn't want to replace them with more ducks. It was a failed endeavor, so I scrapped that plan and came up with another. Quail will lay eggs with no males present, but they will also breed readily, or so I have read. We are still waiting. My quail flock was about a mix of male and female so the plan was to split them into breeding groups of one male to two females and, gosh I hate to say this but we'll probably eat the extra males. Sounds harsh, I know, but I eat meat every day and I think it would be hypocritical of me to balk at killing and eating animals I raised. The fly in this ointment is that domesticated quail rarely set on their own eggs. The eggs must be incubated, or set under a foster mother.

Phase 2: Silkies. Doing research online I found that overall, Silkies were thought to be the best foster parents for hatching the eggs of other birds. There were a few other choices such as Cochins, but since quail eggs are so small, I thought Silkie Bantams would make more sense, plus they are super cool looking and have a reputation of being very sweet birds. Time to get some Silkies! Of course, mid-Fall is not the best time to order day old chicks. And there is only on place that offers sexed day-old Silkies, My Pet Chicken. No problem, really, because that's where my lil chicken flock came from and besides having an amazing selection of chicks, they are super nice and give great customer service. As Fate would have it, just about the only chicks available in November were Blue Silkies. After my experience with not being able to tell the ducks apart, I would have preferred to order a variety of chick colors, but since that was not possible I felt the next best solution was to order the Blue. Having ordered three Blue Polish chicks for my lil chicken flock, I knew that they can turn out looking quite different from one another, and with the Silkies, it would be even more so. There were color variations, as well as possibilities for different crests and beards.

Two weeks later I was picking up a peeping box at my local Post Office. So exciting! The chicks were incredibly adorable. They were so tiny and fuzzy. I got them all set up in their nice warm brooder and just stared at them most of the afternoon. The first day they sleep a lot, but it's still hilarious to me. They will just fall asleep, mid action. So cute. That night, I noticed something was a little off. One of the chicks seemed to have a hurt leg. It wasn't as active as the other babies and was having a hard time getting around to the food and water. I knew that chicks can live for a few day without food, it's what makes them perfect for mail order, but soon this baby was going to need to be able to feed itself. The next morning I called MPC to ask them what I should do and they were super helpful providing me with information sources, but basically my only option was to try some home remedies and let Nature take it's course. I tried stretching the leg to get the tendon back into place, to no avail. I tried to splint it but the chick freaked out. I tried to isolate the chick but it wasn't having any of that either. It seemed like my attempts to aid the chick were only causing it pain and stress so I just decided to back off and hope that it would get right on its own. I was beside myself with worry over this chick, meanwhile I was eating chicken for dinner. It made me feel even worse.

The chicks were two weeks old Monday and the injured bird is still hanging on. It is terrified of me. I really wanted these chickens to trust me and be very comfortable around me, after all I need them to adopt my quail eggs and hatch them as their own. I chose them for their loving personalities, but they are scared whenever I put my hand into their cage. I'm hoping this fear will fade once they realize the food they eat comes from me. It's a great way to win over just about any creature.

Ups and Downs Are Great...On a Merry-Go-Round

Wow, it's been pretty crazy here at the homestead these past couple of weeks. Let's travel back in time and I'll explain it all.

Way back in October, a terrible tragedy occurred when my little dogs snuffed an entire flock of ducklings while I was out running an errand. I didn't really have time to properly grieve, because my husband and I were taking a road trip to the Bay Area just two days later and I still hadn't done my laundry. We were headed up north to check out some neighborhoods in case we did decide to make the big move. We needed to see if our 'Plan B' was a possibility or a pipe dream. Suffice to say that the trip did not yield any hopeful results as far as that went, but we did have some enjoyable moments. The day before we were set to leave, we made a quick trip to Chinatown in search of a calendar scroll. I collect them and I have one for every year for the past ten years, always bought on one of our trips. I never cheated and bought one of the Internet, so I really needed a 2010 scroll if I didn't want to break my streak. No luck finding a 2010 scroll in October if you can imagine that, but one shop had something I found even more amazing. A little cage full of little quails. The shop was selling dressed birds and quail eggs, but they also had live quails available for purchase. My husband is really the best ever because I said to him, " I want one!" and he said, "Get one." No, no, no, that would be ridiculous, right? I mean what would I do with 4 quail in a hotel room (they were 4 for $5) and then on an eight hour drive? In my old age, I am finally acting like a grown-up, because I resisted the very strong urge to buy four quails that day, even though it would have been super cool to have quails from my very fave city!

Although I abstained, those quails were all I could think of. I kicked myself for days for not buying those special SF quail. What a coup that would have been! I am not exaggerating that probably half of my knick-knacks & decor is from San Francisco. I love it that much. But I told myself to get over it, those quail were no longer a possibility and we were never taking another road trip to the Bay Area. I knew there was no way in hell my husband was ever going to make that drive again, because he told me so. The duck pen looked so empty, I just couldn't bear to keep seeing it that way. I did research on keeping quail and decided I could totally pull it off. I began looking daily on Craigslist for quail. I had seen them before but, of course, now that I was looking for them they were not to be found. It took a couple of weeks before I finally hooked up with a lady who had hatched and raised some Coturnix Quail, and now was re-homing them. That's what they call it on Craigslist because technically you are not supposed to sell animals. Whatever. She needed to find a new home for them because they were being picked on by her flock of tiny button quail. Coturnix are so docile that they were being abused by the much smaller button quail and they looked mighty raggedy. Some of them were completely bald on their backs. It was a pathetic sight.

We got them home and into their new pen. They seemed to really like it. No more bullying by birds half their size and lots of grass to burrow in. Watching them joyfully frolic in their new home made me feel happy.

Time to face facts...

When I started this blog, I was hoping it would be a chronicle of the start of something new and life changing. So far, it hasn't worked out that way. I know it was naive of me to think that I would be able to make a living without having to get a real job. Now I am trying to figure out how to keep  my creative outlets rolling while working a 9-5 job. If I ever get one. I put in a lot of effort to keep my Etsy shop going, but realistically it's a business that has to be grown slowly over time. Selling a bracelet every once in a while is not going to cut it. I have branched out and have begun to sell supplies to make the bracelets and I even put together a kit you can buy with all the "ingredients" to make your own very personal bracelet. I am constantly reading and researching ways to grow my business. It just takes time, which is something I have a lot of, and then again, something I don't have much more of. I need a job and soon.

So, my garden has never come to fruition. All I really have to show are a handful of tiny tomatoes and some peppers that are very pretty but way too hot for me to enjoy. I haven't given up completely, but I know that when I get a job, it's the first thing that will suffer. I forget to water all the time. It's probably the biggest reason my garden is so pathetic, my poor plants are always subjected to drought.

And I've given up the notion of making soap or cheese, at least for now. The soap I could probably get into making. If I took a class to walk me through the process, I would probably feel comfortable and confident enough to try it at home. The cheese making is on hold mainly because raw milk is impossible to find in California. I decided that cheese making would be practical only if I had a dairy animal and consequently my own steady supply of raw milk. So those two "homestead standards" are on the back burner, at least for now. Who knows what will happen in the future? Certainly not me.

The one thing I know for sure that will continue is the backyard flock. As scatterbrained as I can be at times, I'm not going to forget to feed and water my birds. I have been a very responsible farm girl, getting up and tending to my animals no matter how badly I want to sleep, no matter how cold it is or how hot it is. Like they would let me off the hook anyway. Maybe the quail, but the chickens are very demanding and they squawk loudly if I'm not out there early enough with their scratch. They are spoiled. I just love them. I'm sure it's just that they want food and they know I' am often a source for it, but it just makes a person feel good when their animals rush out to see them as soon as they step into the yard. Even if I'm not feeding them, they hang around with me while I do my backyard stuff. I never thought I could be so attached to birds, but they bring a lot of joy into my life. I need that.

A Teaching Opportunity...

In my last post I said I was 'over' the ducks, but...
It took me a while to blog about what happened to the flock of ducks, mostly because I was embarrassed about it. They suffered from my mistakes and lack of experience. I mentioned to my husband that I didn't even want to have to share the news on my blog and he told me that I really needed to. One of the reasons I write this blog is to share my experiences so others can learn. Good or bad. I can't just gloss over the bad stuff, that wouldn't be helpful at all. Of course, as usual, he's right. In fact, one of the reasons I ran into trouble was that there is just not a lot of info out there on backyard ducks and what little there is paints a pretty rosy picture. I believed the hype about ducks being better, easier and friendlier than chickens. Wow, easier than chickens? Chickens have been pretty darn easy so far. And friendly too. Before the ducklings had even arrived I envisioned myself as the leader of the backyard ducks movement. I was going to take this ball and run with it.

And when the ducklings finally arrived, they were cuter that I even imagined. They made adorable peeping sounds and slurped their water in such a comical way. After a couple of days, however, I discovered that it wasn't all sunshine and daffodils. Ducks are messy, way messier than chickens. They wash their food down with water which means that their water is constantly being spoiled by food. When the chickens were babies, I dumped their spoiled water out a couple times a day. The duck's water needed to be freshened every 30 minutes it seemed. Also, it was easy to keep  the chicken brooder clean by adding bedding every day or two and changing it once a week. Not so with ducks.
First of all, they splash water everywhere. If I had made a duck-specific brooder, I could have eliminated some of the problems caused by their splashing. I've seen pictures of brooders made from cardboard boxes where the food and water was kept outside the brooder so the ducklings have to access it through a 'window'. That seems like the way to go, unfortunately I wasn't able to use that type of brooder because we don't have a garage or enclosed shelter to house the brooder. I used a wire cage as a brooder to keep them safe from predators, so I had to put the food and water in the brooder with them. Very messy. I 'redecorated' the brooder many times, trying to find a less messy way to offer them water. I ended up setting their water in a plastic tray to keep the water from pooling in the bottom of the brooder and also putting their nest in another tray, slightly higher than the water tray in hopes of keeping their bed dry. These things helped but didn't completely solve the problem.

Even worse that water is poop. Ducks drink a TON of water, so their poop is very liquidy. And ducklings eat basically cereal, so they are pooping out liquid cereal all day, which, if left to sit, smells like spoiled beer. There is no way you can just throw some shavings on that and make it last a week. The duck brooder had to be cleaned out daily. Fortunately it was warm enough that I could transfer the flock to a tub with a few inches water and they could take a little swim while I washed their house out an a daily basis. Also fortunate (?) that I am unemployed and have the time to so such things.

While chickens require eight weeks in the brooder, ducks can get by with three or four, depending on the weather, which is a big plus because by three weeks, they are fouling their brooder at an alarming rate.
Our flock was moved to their pen at four weeks because of construction delays, and it was not a moment too soon. Sadly, what seemed like a benefit turned out to be instrumental in their demise. They were hardy enough to stand up to the weather, but had no defense against two little dogs. The chickens weren't allowed to free-range until they were nine weeks old, basically full grown. A nine week old chicken flock could probably defend against a dog attack, at least by my little dogs who notoriously back down from any challenge. Four week old ducks just try to escape, and even my candy-assed dogs will give chase.

So, what are the lessons we've learned?

• Ducks are NOT easier than chickens. They are more hardy but NOT easier.
• The right brooder makes all the difference.
• Ducklings shouldn't be allowed to free-range until they are big enough to defend themselves.

And on that note, I will leave you with the last video of my dear departed duckling flock, taken the very day of their expiry. Some day I will have another flock of ducks and I will take proper care of them. They are just too fun to give up on.

When the going gets tough...

So we suffered quite a set-back with the loss of our duck flock.  It has taken me a while to get over it, but as the saying goes,  "Where there's livestock, there's going to be deadstock" and if I really want to be a farm girl, I have to accept that.

I also need to shake off this black cloud and persevere. Not everything is going to work out as planned, but I need to keep going and moving forward if I want to succeed. No crying over spilled milk.

As sad as I am about how the duck project ended, I now realize that the plan wasn't going to work out for my situation. If we ever move to our dream farm I will try ducks again, but they are too loud and our yard is just too open to have roaming ducks. It's a poop issue, really.

But on the bright side...

The chickens are doing wonderfully well.

I've been avoiding you...

I've been dreading writing this post because it's a little painful and sort of embarrassing. But here goes...

October 13th started off quite nicely. The ducks were awake at sunrise, but so was I so I fed them their chopped greens and that seemed to satisfy them for a while. I brought out my camera and took pictures and video of the ducklings joyfully gobbling their "greens soup", then I led them down to the "swimming pool" . It was a little too early for swimming, so they rooted around in the compost heap for a minute and then headed back to their coop to finish breakfast and do their ducky stuff. I had a very busy day ahead of me so I finished my chores and headed off for a Costco trip with my mom and sister.

After shopping, my mom and my sister stopped by with my niece and nephew. It was a lovely sunny day and the kids wanted to see the animals so we went to the backyard & fed the chickens and ducks and dogs whole wheat spaghetti. Frank got some vegetable scraps. Everyone was having such a good time. My nephew Ryan wasn't too impressed by the chickens, but he was fascinated by the ducks. Everyone left, I had more errands, and when I got back home, I downloaded the pictures I took in the morning and posted them on my Facebook page. I was just about to write a blog post when my daughter called me from downstairs. She sounded troubled, but I figured she was going to tell me that our little dog Lola was limping. I already knew that. I had checked it out and it didn't seem too serious. Instead she told me something was wrong with the ducks.

"What do you mean?" I asked.
"They're all dead" she answered.

How was that possible? I was confused. I just saw the ducks, they were fine. How could they all get sick and die so fast? When I went outside to check, I understood. They didn't get sick. They were murdered. I was totally in shock. It wasn't gory or gross or anything, but just sad. Very sad. Five little ducklings, just dead. I knew that my dogs had done it. I knew they probably didn't mean to, and I knew that I had failed as a duck mommy. The dogs had never bothered the chickens, probably because the chickens are ornery. The poor ducklings had no defense. If they had been a little older maybe.

So, no more ducks. My duck plan is on hold for now. I really liked them and I thought they were super cute, but they were much more demanding than I thought they would be, and our yard isn't suited for so many roving birds. It's hard enough to keep the patio clean with chickens, I can't even imagine how it would be with ducks pooping all over it.

I leave you with the final video of ducklings enjoying their morning greens. R.I.P., little birdies.

Duck and Chicken Pictures...

Here are a few current photos of the flock. Enjoy!

Hot Hot Hot!

Record heat yesterday. It was 105º where I live. Yuck! Have you ever seen ducklings pant? It is cute and sad at the same time. At least ducklings can take a dip in their "swimming pool" to cool off. Poor chickens just have to scratch a cool spot in the dirt to try to get some comfort.

Thankfully we finished building the ducks' new home right in the nick of time. Poor Greg has been working extra-long hours just about every day, and has had to work the past two Saturdays on top of that, so I really hate to ask him to work on my projects in his very limited free time, but there is just no way I could have done it without him. I consider myself to be a fairly talented individual, but carpentry is not one of my skills. I am a total spazz when it comes to building stuff.

For some reason, this project ended up being one of the hardest things we've done. Actually, I know the reason. I didn't want to buy any materials unless absolutely necessary. We have a pretty significant wood pile going, overflowing with all of the extra boards and scraps from previous projects. I wanted to save money first of all, but also use up the pile of wood before it got all yucky and spider-laden. Respectable goals, for sure, but it hampers the design and execution of a construction project when you are trying to make due with random sizes and lengths of boards. It got built, but it was an ugly job and it's an ugly structure. But it's safe and comfortable, and lucky for us ducks aren't that picky about looks. You can't really tell how ugly it is until you are standing right next to it. From across the yard it looks perfectly fine.

So the ducks got moved into their new home, and like I said, not a moment too soon, especially with this heat wave. They needed some space. Their wire pen kept them safe and it sure was easy for me to clean out, not like the cardboard chicken brooder, but it was getting too small too fast. The ducklings are growing like mad, much quicker that the chicks, at least that's how it seems to everyone here. I thought chicks pooped a lot but ducks win that contest hands down. Now that I've phased out their starter crumbles, they seem to poop a little less but for a while there I had to change their bedding twice a day, it was that bad. Just one of the many differences between ducks and chickens...

They grow up so fast...

Cute fuzzy chicks and ducklings don't stay that way for long. In fact, they grow up so fast that they are considered full grown at just six weeks old. Wow.  Our little duckling flock has just about outgrown their wire pen, so it's time to get on the ball and build their permanent living quarters.  Poor Greg has been working more hours than ever, and now has to put in a half day on Saturdays. I hate to ask him to do chores in his very limited time off, so I may attempt this project myself. Fingers crossed! Carpentry is not one of my proven skills to say the least.

Although our baby ducks are no longer little fluffy ducky balls,  they are still very cute. They are slimming down and their necks are getting long. When they hear my voice, they just know something good is coming, and by that I mean food, so they start peeping like mad. They are food obsessed. Way more than chicks. I used to throw away so much chick food, I think at least half of it ended up in the trash. Not so with ducklings. Those lil piggies practically lick the dish clean. Unlike chicks, ducks will eat more than is good for them and fat ducklings could cause laying problems later on. At least, that's what I read from one duck 'expert'. Other sources say they will self regulate. So far, I have found that my ducklings will eat everything in the dish and peep for more, so I am regulating the amount of feed they get. They are also fed lots of chopped up greens. I don't think they can get too many calories from greens, but I limit those too because I don't want to upset their digestive systems. Like I mentioned before, there is not a lot of information out there regarding backyard ducks and much of it is conflicting. Therefore, I am taking it all with a grain of salt and a lot of common sense. All I can say is that the ducklings seem healthy and happy, so I must be doing something right.

Duckling Pictures!

Baby ducks are super adorable, in case you didn't know that. They are actually cuter than baby chickens in my opinion. I mean, it's a pretty close contest, for sure, but ducklings have the edge. And they are easier in some ways than raising chicks, They are not so fussy about temps, which is a really good thing because the ceramic heat lamp that I just bought in June is acting up. The first night in the brooder I could not get the temp up above 72º.  The ducklings will only need to be in the brooder for about 3 weeks, as opposed to 6-8 for chicks.  Another key advantage to raising ducks is that we can keep a male duck in our flock for breeding ducklings (fingers crossed).

A definite disadvantage with baby ducks is that they are even messier than chicks. Chicks make a bit of mess by throwing their food around and pooping in their water, but ducklings throw water around like mad and can turn an ounce of food into a pound of poop. I exaggerate slightly, but they are little poop machines.

Here are some adorable pictures to get you through the day...

that is 15 minutes worth of poop right there...

two days old

learning to drink water

Something New!!

I have been slacking in my blogging duties in part because I've been working on getting certified in MS Excel 2007 (which I did. yay!) but also because I was sitting on some fantastic news. Five baby ducklings have joined our flock! They arrived last night, but not without some drama.

They were scheduled to be shipped Tuesday the 7th, due to Monday being a holiday, and since the hatchery is in California, I expected them to arrive Wednesday. Wednesday morning came and went, and no call from the Post Office telling me my babies had arrived. That sucked, but no big deal. I chalked it up to the holiday mail delay and planned on picking them up Thursday. Thursday morning rolls around and I'm feeling pretty anxious. I really want to play with my ducklings! And I knew this was holding up my blog. Remember how I told you I'm very methodical? I already had it in my mind that my next blog would be about ducklings and nothing would change that. But mostly I was worried about those poor little birdies. If they were shipped out on Tuesday, they haven't had anything to drink for 2 days. Fortunately we were experiencing unseasonably cool weather here in SoCal. 8:30...8:45...9:00...I told myself I would wait until 9:05 before I called the P.O. and convinced myself that everything was fine, I'll call and they will say, "Oh yes, they are right here. So sorry." But they didn't say that, instead they said they had no birds and they had received all of their inbound shipments for the day. Gasp. Now what? I called the hatchery to see if maybe they didn't get shipped out on Tuesday as expected, but they had. There was no way to track them, so i just had to wait until the next morning.  I was devastated. That bit of news ruined my day. I just kept picturing my poor little ducklings languishing in a tiny box somewhere and it was breaking my heart.

About 4:00, my phone rang and I didn't recognize the number, but I have been applying for jobs every day so I was hoping it was a call-back. Even better! It was the Post Office distribution center! They had my ducks! Oh happy day! They wanted to know if I wished to pick my package up or wait til the morning and get it from my local PO. Heck no I don't want to wait! My babies are thirsty!

We got them home safe and sound and seemingly healthy. I dipped their beaks in water and offered them some chopped up greens and they went to town. Two and a half days in a box is a long time.

Chicken Stalkers

No, my chickens are not being stalked. It is they who are the stalkers! Every time I go outside the flock comes running over to meet me. You'd think I was the Beatles, or Justin Bieber, or somebody else famous who draws a crowd. I only have myself to blame. I convinced them I was their Mommy and I bring them delicious treats all the time, but all this worship can be a little much. You know how cats like to walk really close to your feet and how, if you're not careful, you can accidentally kick them while taking a step? Imagine a flock of cats at your feet. That's what it's like whenever I go into the backyard, which I must do if I want to do laundry or take out the trash. I have accidentally stepped on a chicken's foot more than once, and you know that's gotta hurt. I love to visit with the flock and I make time to hang out with them every day but they are taking it too far. I am a busy person with lots to do!

Dogs and Chickens, Living Together...

We have two adorable Boston terriers. My biggest concern regarding the chicken's ability to free-range was that the dogs would create problems for the flock. They are adorable, but not at all rational. For example, they never chase the squirrels or rabbits that make our backyard their playground. The varmints have no respect for the dogs. I mean, how humiliating.  But for some reason, Gladys hates Frank, our Sulcata tortoise. Of course, this video may show why Gladys barks like mad at Frank whenever he makes an appearance in the yard.

Likewise, Gladys cannot stand when our neighbor's dog is out in their yard. She makes quite a ruckus as she insanely barks at the dog through the fence. We had to put chicken wire on a section of the fence because she would claw at it so much, we thought she would dig a hole right through.

Compared to Lola, however, Gladys is the picture of rationality. Gladys is a very pretty Boston, with a shiny black coat and pointy ears. I call her "The Princess" because of her regal look. Lola, on the other hand, is an exceptionally adorable dog. She is very small for a Boston and has a very puppyish appearance, with a big round head and giant eyes and cute little eyelashes.  But she's nuts.

Although she never tried to get at the chicks when they were in their brooder, something I was concerned about, whenever I tried to acquaint her with them, she would get all stiff and shaky and her eyes would bug out even more than usual. Which is her normal reaction under the circumstances.

Understandably, I was a little nervous about co-mingling dogs and chickens. I was hoping that it would work out nice and easy, but i was preparing for the drudgery of bringing the dogs in the house, letting the chickens range for a few hours and then somehow getting the birds back into the coop so the dogs could have their yard back. I started to socialize them little by little. About the third night of the chicken's backyard forays I took the dogs out one at a time on their leashes to interact with the flock. I really needn't have worried I guess because the chickens pretty much showed the dogs who was boss, and they had numbers. I had to bring the dogs in because they were actually getting bullied by the flock. The next night I let them out, off leash but one at a time. Two dogs are too unpredictable and they get a "pack mentality" that can be dangerous. Gladys, no problem. She went about her business and I only had to rescue her from the flock of thugs a couple of times. Lola, well, it wasn't really a problem, but she stayed about two inches away from me and shivered with her eyes bugging out the whole time. After a couple nights of this, we decided everyone was properly initiated and appropriate boundaries were established, so it was full speed ahead.

The chickens still make Lola a little on edge, and when they are pecking at the ground sometimes she just can't resist snapping at their bobbing backsides, but they quickly put her in her place.

PS: Frank gets along with the chickens just fine.

Full-On Free Ranging

It's been a slow and careful process, letting the flock out of the coop for a few minutes, then about half an hour, an hour, half day, but they are now officially "Free Range Chickens"! As entertaining as they were in their coop, they are just fascinating to watch as they navigate the big backyard. Before the chickens, we had only had the pleasure of owning dogs and sometimes a cat (but not for a while as I have developed a raging cat allergy). Dogs hang out together sometimes but for the most part, at least the dogs in our family, they do their own thing. They get together to bark at the neighbor's dog through the fence or if one of them finds something interesting, or treats are being passed out, but they usually prefer to chill in different areas of the yard. Gladys loves to be outside and Lola would just stay inside all day if we didn't make her go out.

Chickens, on the other hand, hang out in a tight group all day. Maybe you are saying to yourself, "Duh. They are a FLOCK of chickens." and I get that, but they never break from the flock, at least not that I've seen.  Occasionally, Bev gets left behind somewhere, since she is practically blinded by her enormous crest, and she cries and cries till one of the others, usually Shirley, comes to guide her back to the flock. It's so sad and kind of cute. She sounds like a kitten.

The flock is getting a little more adventurous each day, although they still hang out pretty close to the house which really annoys my husband, since they poop on the patio. As the days pass, they go a little further out and there is less poop on the patio so I think it will be ok.

Chickens Are Not Smart...

I like my chicken flock. They have lots of personality and are fun to watch. But they are not smart. I read a lot of books about backyard chickens and did tons of research online before making the commitment to raise my own flock, and I read more than once that chickens are much smarter than people give them credit for. With my limited experience in raising chickens I feel I can say with confidence that chickens are not smart. Some are clever, I will go that far. Nickie knows that I set the colander full of treats on top of the coop while I dole them out, so she jumps up on top of the coop and help herself. Maybe that isn't a good example, since Nickie prefers it when I hold her treat in my hand so she can daintily nibble on it. See? Not smart.

Every night I go out into the yard while the chickens are roaming free and I bring them treats in an old yellow colander. They are smart enough to recognize that this colander holds chicken goodies, like spinach or tomatoes or pasta or some such. Every night I sit in my same chair along side the coop and set the colander on the coop. Nickie gets that, none of the others do and actually that is probably a good thing. Just about every night, Nickie and Shirley rally at my feet and demand a snack, while Esther, Mary and Bev run back inside the coop and pace excitedly back and forth along the chicken wire barricade, peeping loudly and wondering where their yummy treat is. I have to get out of my seat and guide them to the outside of the coop and over to my chair. Esther will snatch a treat and run back into the coop at least two or three times before it finally clicks that the goodies are being distributed on the outside. Not smart.

Probably the not smartest thing that chickens do is they poop in their food and water. I mean really, who does that? Just about every other animal in existence realizes that pooping in their food is bad policy. It's not even like they are pooping in their dining room or kitchen, they are pooping in their dinner plate. Totally gross. I still like them though. They are hilarious and watching their silly antics is a great stress reliever. But they are not smart.

Home on the Range...

The fence is fixed and so the flock was free to range! We let them out about an hour before dusk last night so they had a little more time to explore. We're trying to ease them into the notion of free-ranging because our yard is so big and crazy. It's a quarter of an acre, but it's not a nice flat rectangle of a yard. We live on a hill, so the yard slopes back to front and also left to right, and it's terraced so there are four levels. There are trees and shrubs everywhere. It's pretty cool, but it would be fairly easy for a chicken to get lost back there. The first night we let them out they stayed right close to their coop. Last night, they must have felt a little braver so they expanded their circle a bit. I brought out a colander full of spinach and tried to get them to sit on my lap and let me feed them, but only Nickie was into that. The others sat there and took some bites, but they weren't really enjoying it.

After a few minutes outside, they got a little more daring. They were running around and goofing off like kids on a playground. There were a few minor scuffles as they challenged each other for position in the pecking order. I'm still not sure if they've got that figured out yet. There is no clear order as far as I can tell.

Nickie was the only chicken to figure out where the spinach was coming from. Alas, Darling Nickie prefers to nibble her spinach like a lady whilst you hold it for her, so this was not working out in her favor. She mostly just flung spinach everywhere to the delight of her flock-mates awaiting on the ground below.

Backyard chickens...

So the foxtail crisis was dealt with, however, both dogs are now having sneezing fits. It seems they have allergies, according to the vet,and have to be on allergy meds. I find that kind of amusing.

The chickens have taken their first tentative steps out into the yard. We've only let them out in the evening because we don't want them to go too far just yet. The yard is still pretty messed up and dangerous for chickens. In fact, when I walked the yard last week to survey its condition, I discovered that one section of the fence was basically hanging on by about two nails and that the ground underneath it had eroded pretty badly. Poor Greg got dragged away from whatever he was doing that day to repair the fence. Ah, homesteading.

So far, the chickens have only explored the area right around the coop. Maybe it's because we only let them out just before dusk, or maybe they are just very cautious, but they like to hang out close to home. And they travel around in a tight little cluster almost like a school of fish but with more personality.

A Trip to the Animal Hospital

Rabbits and squirrels aren't the only bad guys taking up residence in my big backyard.  Nope, in fact the worst pests of all are the foxtails. Rabbits and squirrels are definitely annoying and have caused a lot of damage to my garden but the foxtails have injured my poor sweet little dogs on more than one occasion. Tuesday morning when my husband let the dogs out before work, they were just fine. By the time my daughter fed them about two hours later, Lola had snorted a foxtail up her nose and it was making her very ill. My little darling was sneezing violently and was acting completely lethargic. I knew I had no choice but to take her to the vet. I also knew it was going to be expensive. This wasn't the first time Lola had sniffed up a foxtail, so I already knew she would have to be anesthetized in order to have it removed. Lola's big sister Gladys had a foxtail in her ear once. Those are much easier and cheaper to yank out. So off to the Vet we went. When they gave me the estimate, it was just as expensive as I had expected. I realize that it is not standard practice to bargain for medical services, but I had to ask if this was the only way to get out the offending foxtail. Of course I was willing to do what it took to relieve my pet's suffering, I just wanted to know if there were any options. Lo and behold, there were options. Lola was 'intact', meaning she had not been spayed. If we chose to get her spayed, it would be much less, almost half the cost, and they would look up her nose for free. Sounds good to me! The next day after her surgery, Lola was back to her bright and bubbly self again and everyone except Gladys was very glad to have her back home.

So, that's the story of how Lola went to the vet have a foxtail taken out of her nose and ended up getting her uterus removed.

Chickens Love Spinach

Even though I know I need to get a job, I am really enjoying my time at home playing "homestead".
I love to get up and feed the chickens, tend to the garden, cook and even clean. Along with job hunting and computer class, I've been sewing and making jewelry. I've also been researching making homesteading a reality and not just a fantasy.

After doing my chores, I love to kick back in the yard with the dogs and the chickens and sometimes Frank the Tank, the tortoise. I bring treats for everyone and they all gather around and we have lunch together. So far I have discovered that chickens LOVE spinach and so do tortoises, but dogs, not so much. Dogs eat carrots 'Muppet style', which means they will take them from you, chew them up and let the pieces fall out of their mouths and all over the ground. Tortoises will eat carrots, but they have to be cut into small pieces. Chickens politely refuse. Dogs and tortoises do like pineapple, but the chickens do not. The chickens love grapes though. I think grapes are their favorite treat so far. They just go crazy over them.  I have to give Esther whole grapes so that she will run off to the corner and peck it to bits, otherwise she will just gobble down the cut-up grapes before the other birds even have a chance . Haven't offered grapes to Frank so I don't know how he feels about them, but I bet he would be a fan. The dogs also eat grapes 'Muppet style'. Everyone likes tomatoes, figs, peaches and bok choy. And now you know that.

Ripe Tomatoes!

Moving the tomato plants was surely the right thing to do, because we finally have ripe tomatoes!! Nothing beats home grown tomatoes. If you have never had one, you need to get yourself a tomato plant right now and grow some. You don't need a big garden. As you can see, they will do just fine in a pot, as long as they get lots of sunlight.

  When I went to water them today, I got a very pleasant surprise. See those tiny little green tomatoes? They were as big as BBs just two days ago, now they are the size of grapes!

I gave the first ripe tomato to my niece on her birthday. She absolutely loves tomatoes, so I always give her the first ripe fruit of the season.

Don't want to jinx it....

One of the areas of 'self-sufficiency' I have been struggling with has been my garden. Every time I try to plant something, it gets eaten up before it can even get started. I was about to throw in the towel when I found some super cheap gallon size tomato and pepper plants at the Home Depot. Some of them already had fruit on them, which is normally not a plus, but it was so late in the season I knew if I didn't get cracking there would be no tomatoes this year. What the heck, they were only two bucks each, so I went for it. I decided that putting them in the ground was not going to work out so I would try to grow them in containers on my upstairs deck, out of the sight of those devious squirrels and rabbits.

 I'm afraid to even say anything. but so far moving the plants to the upstairs deck has worked out beautifully. I am knocking on wood now. The two tomato plants have three tomatoes each and several more flower blossoms that are in the process of becoming tomatoes. The basil plant is suffering, only because we just don't use very much basil so the leaves are just getting droopy. The pepper plant has lots of little buds which I hope will all turn into peppers. Or maybe not...when I bought the plant I chose it for its lovely green and curly leaves. I had never heard of "Caribbean Red" peppers before. Did a little research and discovered that they are one of the hottest peppers in the world! Twice as hot as habeneros! No bueno for me, I am a real lightweight when it comes to spicy food.

I picked up a couple more of those super bargain plants at the Depot yesterday. This time I went with what I knew and got "California Wonder".

What's new...

I've been slacking on my posting duties. Been busy with my chores, and taking classes at the Career Center so I can get certified in Office 2007. I need to be able to put it on my resume'. I am also trying to re-learn touch typing so I can get a typing certificate. I am typing without looking at the keys right now, so this post will take about 10 times as long as usual. I gotta practice though, no matter how frustrating it is. It is really embarrassing to be at the Career Center and be typing this slow. I type about 22 words a minute, which is not very good.

The chickens are doing great, though. They love being out in their pen, and as soon as we finish securing the yard, they will be able to range freely for part of the day. They are so cute, they get so excited when they see me coming out into the yard. I bring them treats, like the ends of the tomato (the part you don't eat) and grapes, and they love spinach. I have a table and chair set up next to the pen, so I can eat my lunch outside and of course I must bring goodies for the animals. It's like Dr. Doolittle out there, me eating my lunch while dogs, chickens and a tortoise all beg for treats. I love it.

Here's a short video of the chicks enjoying some corncobs that I saved from our dinner last night...

The Chicks Have Moved Out...

Out of the house and into their henhouse, that is. It's about time, too. They were getting mighty stinky. We don't have a garage, only a carport and I didn't think it was safe enough to move them outside in just a cardboard box. Even though we live in the suburbs, there are lots of critters roaming around. As I've mentioned before, we have two or more well established squirrel colonies in our backyard as well as a bunny family.  I doubt squirrels or bunnies would do more that just scrounge chicken feed, but we have also seen raccoons in our front yard and they would love a free chicken dinner for sure. So, we had to wait until the chicken coop was finished before we could safely move our little flock out of the house and into the carport. It's been pretty cool at night so they are still using their heater, but I think that by next week the nights will be warm enough that they can be moved out into the yard.

It may seem small, but when we move it to the yard, there will be a secure chicken run attached to the coop.


One phase of my "simple life" that I have been avoiding is growing a garden. My half-hearted attempts have been met with crushing disappointment, and my very fragile self just cannot handle it. Everything I've planted has been devoured by squirrels or rabbits or raccoons. I have no idea who the culprit is, I just know that when you go out to water your seedlings and some jerky animal has nibbled them to the ground, it is not a good feeling. I am usually a positive person, sometimes delusionally so, and it takes very little to bring me joy. It also takes quite a bit to really crush my spirit. Even with the hardships we've been facing lately, I know my family has it pretty good, and I have so many wonderful people in my life, I feel very blessed and happy most of the time. But a girl can only take so much. Last year, when I poured my heart and soul (I'm also a little dramatic) into my tomato plants only to have very single tomato eaten while still green was almost too much. This year, they've been nibbled to nothing before they could even bloom.

About a week ago I noticed that a bird or squirrel had dropped some sunflower seeds into the planter box where we dump our dogs' water bowl, and the seeds had sprouted. I was so excited! I love sunflowers! I told everyone in the house about the miracle sunflowers that just sprouted up all by themselves. Isn't nature wonderful? Uh, no. About three days later I went back to check on them and guess what...Gone. Eaten. All that was left was a forest of green stems poking out of the soil. Without leaves, plants can't survive, so I knew they'd be shriveled up in a day or so. I felt like crying. I wanted to kick a squirrel so bad that day.  It sounds dramatic I'm sure, but a feeling of doom just poured over me. I want a garden so much, but I have no idea how to stop the squirrels from destroying it.

I scored some cheap tomato and pepper plants from Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. Knock on wood, they are still alive and well. I decided to move them to my upstairs deck. I've had some pretty good success growing tomatoes in containers there. I guess until I solve the squirrel problem, I will just have to be a container gardener and not a farmer.

Chick Update... 4 Weeks Old

It's amazing how much some animals can change in such a short amount of time. It's hard to believe that chickens raised for meat are ready for the table at 6 weeks old. My girls are being raised for eggs, so they won't be ready for at least three more months. They are changing so quickly. Sometimes overnight!

Bread and Cheese...No Soap

I took another step towards my "simple life" by baking bread. I have baked bread before, back in the day when I was young and had more energy than I do today. This time, I brought out the big guns and used my Kitchenaid mixer to help knead the dough. Some people may say it's cheating. Some may say that kneading bread by hand is part of the process and a great stress reliever. I'm sure they are right, but I have some problems with hand strength and numbness, so I'm taking baby steps. I did knead it some, once it was together in a nice ball, and it felt pretty good. And oh man, there is nothing like fresh baked bread. I started with a recipe for foccacia bread because it was quick to make and seemed easy. It turned out really nice, so much better that any foccacia I'd ever had before. I was encouraged by the results, so the next day I tried out a recipe for French bread. Delicious! The next day, I used the French bread recipe to make rolls which we used for sausage sandwiches. They were so perfect! Yummy and soft inside, hearty enough to stand up to the sausage and sauce, but easy to bite into. My mouth is watering just thinking about those sandwiches. I was so empowered my my re-discovered baking skills that I decided to make homemade sweet rolls for Father's Day. Due to timing issues, I had to chill the dough before the second rise, and I don't think they raised enough before I put them in the oven. They were a little too dry and dense. I also used Rapid Rise yeast for the rolls instead of the regular yeast I'd been using for the bread, so that may have been the problem. Now I'm out of flour. I'm heading to the store today to stock up on flour. The mixer makes it so easy to bake fresh bread every day.

I also tried my hand at cheese making. I used a recipe for 30-minute mozzarella and the results were just okay. I had never made cheese before, so I wasn't expecting perfection. Making cheese is very different from the type of cooking I'm used to doing. It requires constant monitoring, adding ingredients at precise temperatures and exact measurements. I rarely even follow a recipe when I cook, so making bread is already way more structure than I am used to. Cheese is like a science experiment! I'm sure the more cheese I make the better it will be. My first attempt wasn't terrible, but it wasn't even as good as store bought and really, when you're making something from scratch you expect at least that.

So that just leaves soap. I discovered through further research that , no, you cannot use drain crystals to make soap. I dug a little more and found a local soap-making supply store right in my neighborhood so my plan is to try out soap making this week. I hope it turns out better than my cheese.

Rise and Shine!

When Greg first started his job, I was really good about getting up at 5am to see him off. My whole life, I have been a chronic sleeper-inner. That is a real condition. From about 5am to 8am is when I do my best sleeping. For some reason, sleep is just extra awesome during that time. I have no willpower. Greg is very good about getting up in the morning. He never pushes the snooze button, he just gets up out of bed. What?!? That's like having dinner with no dessert! (I have food issues too.) The alarm clock I'm using now has a broken snooze button, so I just shut the dang thing off. For about the first month of Greg's new job,  I hopped right up, made the bed, poured myself a cup of coffee and then sat on the couch while Greg got ready for work. Maybe that's why I stopped getting up. I wanted to show my support for him by being up at the same time, but as soon as he got up, he'd take his coffee and his book into the bathroom and I wouldn't see him again until after his shower. He'd get dressed, grab his lunch box and kiss me goodbye.

So I started getting up a little later each day. This past week, I have been sleeping until 8am. That isn't really that late, but I am a slow starter. I need to have my coffee, check my e-mail, search for a job, do my "business"... pretty soon it's 10 o'clock and I'm still in my pajamas. Yesterday I slept until 8am. It threw my whole day off. For one, our coffeepot automatically shuts off after two hours, so by 8am it's been off for an hour and a half. This means when I oversleep, I either drink cold coffee or I have to go downstairs to microwave each cup. What a hassle! Why do I oversleep? I have a problem!! By the time I check my e-mail & search for jobs I'm so depressed I want to go back to bed, but I have so much to do. And because I overslept, I only have about two hours of cool weather left before it starts to warm up. I hate being hot. It would be so much better if I just got up earlier. How am I going to be a farm girl if I can't get up early in the morning?

I got up early today. It feels great. It's not even 7am yet and I'm ready to start my chores. Yay!

Slowly but surely...

Everything I am doing to re-start my life is taking forever. Right now, we are in the process of building the chicken coop and I just wish it was done already. We are using reclaimed materials to avoid spending any money, but it requires so much more thinking and planning. Time is something I've got lots of, but it is draining my energy and enthusiasm. Of course, it could also be the weather. I can't stand hot dry weather. I realize people move to San Diego just for the weather, but that's not why I'm here. I'm a second generation San Diegan. I'm only here because I was born here and all of my family lives here. I'd love to move, but it would break my mom's heart...

There is so much more to my "simple life" than just chickens. I am also going to start baking bread, and teach myself how to make cheese and soap. I'm having a hard time finding the ingredients for cheese and soap, though. I had to go to three different stores before I could find lye, a crucial ingredient in soap making. And even then, all I could find was 'drain cleaning crystals' which contain sodium hydroxide, so I'm not sure that's even going to work. The cheese project is on hold until the chickens move outside. We don't have a garage, only a carport and even though we live in the city, we have seen raccoons in our yard. I just wouldn't feel good putting the babies outside in a cardboard box. They'll be out in their custom coop pretty soon, then the cheese making can begin. By the way, the chicks don't live in the kitchen. I just feel wary about culturing dairy products with farm animals inside the house. I'm also waiting to begin a sourdough starter.

Emergency Chick Relocation

Chickens are not super smart. Yesterday, I noticed that the chicks were trying to dust-bathe in their bedding, which is a custom mix of shredded newsprint, pine shavings and sand. I thought, "oh, they must want more sand" so I poured some in the center of the brooder. They were terrified of it. They freaked out at first, then finally settled down in the corner of the brooder, away from the scary sand pile.  After a few minutes, they summoned up enough courage to hop up on the perch and look at the sand from a safe distance, but they still wouldn't go near it. I was hoping they'd get over their irrational fear soon because they would have to cross the sand if they wanted to drink.

When I went back to check on the chicks they had overcome their fear of sand in piles and had worked it into the rest of the bedding. Then I realized their heater wasn't working. Yikes! Although you can use a high-wattage light bulb to keep chicks warm, I happened to have an infrared ceramic heater and thermostat which I bought when we got our Sulcata tortoise. Frank the Tank was no longer using the heater because he bailed his nice warm doghouse and found his own shelter out in the 'back 40' a couple of years ago. I chose to use the ceramic heater because I could more easily control the temperature, and because I didn't want to have the poor babies subjected to the constant glare of a red light bulb. Well, last night they didn't have a choice. They had to stay warm, so they had to endure the creepy red glow all night long.

They also needed to be moved to the "Big-Girl Brooder" because the heat lamp I have is so intense, I couldn't hang it far away enough to keep them comfortable in the old brooder. Luckily, I had already built the new brooder. I just wasn't expecting to move them for another week or so. We set up their new digs as fast as possible before it got too cold. Even though their new home is much bigger and the light is further away, it may still be too much for them. When I got up today & checked on them, they were all huddled up in the corner, far away from the heat lamp. I bit the bullet and went out to purchase a replacement heater this morning.

Baby Chick Update - 10 Days Old

The chicks turned 10 days old yesterday. Woohoo! Happy Birthday, lil birdies! They have lost much of their little chick fuzzy-wuzzy roly-poliness but they are still cute to me. They have adorable personalities. I think they are going to grow up to be very pretty chickens.

I chose 3 different breeds of chicks, each for their own special reasons. Three of the five chicks are White Crested Polish, two White Crested Blue and one White Crested Black. The blues aren't guaranteed to come out as true blue due to the genetics of chicken coloring. They have a 50% chance of being blue, 25% chance of being black and 25% chance of ending up splash, which is a mixture of blue, white and black. I was kind of hoping to get one blue and one splash, but it's still too early to tell.  I chose this breed because they look fancy and when I was doing my research, I read that they were a friendly breed and at this point, that's is what I'm looking for. After I ordered them, and upon further research, I read some conflicting information about them. Some books said they were skittish and flighty, others said they were friendly and funny. I guess we'll see. I'm trying to handle them frequently so they stay tame. Of all the chicks, the Polish like to be held the least. They complain loudly when you pick them up. I named them after my grandmother and her sisters because they are scrawny little loudmouths.


I got three of them because my research indicated that they might be picked on by the flock so I figured there would be safety in numbers although the Sisters (as I call them) are usually the ones doing the picking.  Polish aren't known for prolific laying, but hopefully between the five hens, we'll have enough eggs to keep us satisfied. This is Mary. It looks like she is going to turn out true blue.

The fourth chick is a Dominique. I chose her because she had all three of the attributes I was looking for in a hen: good looking, great personality and abundant layer. She makes the prettiest little peeping sounds, and she enjoys being held. The other chicks are sprouting feathers like mad, but darling Nickie is still a little black fluff ball. Even her new tail is fluffy! I'm pretty sure she is in charge of the brooder. Sometimes I offer the babies treat like roly-polies or pincher bugs, and Nickie is almost always the first in line.

The fifth little chicken is an Easter-Egger. Her name is Esther but I call her Kitten. She is the sweetest of the chicks. She loves to be held. She would probably sit in my hand and be petted all day long. She is the biggest chick by far and has the most feathers. I don't know if they are going to stay like this but I hope so. Her markings are absolutely beautiful! She was chosen because of her sweet disposition, dependable egg laying and beautiful egg colors. Easter-Eggers may lay eggs that are green, blue or even pink! We won't know until the first one appears in about 5 months.

For their 10-day Birthday the chicks went on a little field trip. Just to the backyard, but hey, they're only ten days old. I put them in a cage on the lawn while I cleaned out the brooder. At first they were nervous but after a minute or two they got into it and started pecking and scratching at the lawn.

So cute!

Slow Going...

Boy, building a chicken coop is going to be harder than I thought. It's only June 2nd and I am sweating my rear end off out there! I guess I'm going to have to adjust my schedule so I do the yard work in the early morning while it's still cool, then go online and fill out job applications in the afternoon.

My yard is such a mess. Squirrels and rabbits have made it their b!tch. There are burrows everywhere. I'm afraid that I'm going to come across a nest of them while I'm moving stuff around. I try to give them a warning by making lots of noise and jiggling things before I move them because I do not want to be attacked by a squirrel or rabbit! And the spiders, oh my gawd. I have never seen spiders so big in all of my life.

Well, I guess I should get back at it...

Baby Chick Watch...

Baby chicks are hilarious. Every time I pass by the brooder box I have to peek in. They are so comical,  I end up standing there for several minutes watching their goofy antics. It's hard to get anything done! They just crack me up with their child-like exuberance. I know, I know, it's because they are chicken children but it's still funny to me. Maybe it's because they're birds so you don't really expect them to have much personality but they do. They act like pre-schoolers on the playground. They run everywhere they go, scuffle with each other, and scurry around in little packs. The way they hop off their perch totally reminds of a kid, because kids don't just step off of stuff, they jump off of it. Hilarious.

The chicks turned on week old on Monday and I can't believe how much they've changed! They're growing real feathers and losing their baby fat. The changes happen overnight. On Sunday, none of the chicks had tails. By Tuesday, they all did. It's pretty cool.