Our First Eggs

I was having a particularly hard day. The roosters are becoming more and more of a problem with their teenage hormone-fueled asinine behavior. They like to target my favorite hen and gang up on her...jumping on her back and tearing into her with their claws and beaks. This morning, when letting the chickens out of the coop for the day, we found our poor Beauty limping around. I thought her foot was broken but upon inspection I found a small cut on her toe. I soaked it in warm water and Epsom salt and cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide and then irrigated with a diluted iodine solution.  Neosporin and bandaged up, I kept her close to me for the day. Made it tough to get much done.  I had the hose close by and had to spray off the gang of roosters that kept trying to get close to her. When Mark got home we rounded the boys up and they went into their fenced in chicken run. We let the girls have some peace and quiet to continue their free-ranging, lol. Well...that is when we found them!!! Our first eggs!!!

Aren't they beautiful?! 

Oh, and the boys' days are numbered.  Nine more days and they are freezer-bound!!



She's a Beauty

Beauty is top hen in the pecking order. And she is so friendly, too. She comes right up to us, jumps up on us, snuggles with us, and lets us pick her up.

Meet Beauty...

More chicken fun

Girls and their chickens

It is so fun to watch the chickens. The way they walk, and run, and try to fly.  The way the chase a fly, scratch for bugs, even the way they drink their water.  Their little fluffy butts and the way the walk remind me of lil toddlers running around. And the way they stretch their legs...all of a sudden stretching one behind them...so cute.

The girls spend a lot of time with the chickens.  They let them out in the morning, check their water and feed, make the final count before shutting them in for the night.

We've found they love strawberries and tomatoes the most. They don't care for raspberries as much. They try to sneak in the garden and eat zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, and melons. But they won't eat tomato hornworms!

When evening nears and the sun starts going down, the chickens start heading towards their coop...which happens to be near the garden. At this time of day the garden is shaded...so we have to make sure to round them up and keep them in their run, a 40' by 40' fenced area, until they head in for the night.

Molly the dog has captured a raccoon and two opossums...one of which was actually IN the coop with the chickens.

And at least one of the ladies can jump the gate out of their run.

Chickens....who knew we would find so much joy in keeping them! It's been a great experience.

Couscous and Molly

I just like this photo.

Roaming Chickens

The chickens have been exploring a little bit further each day. 

They've discovered the orchard.

Their favorite hangout is under one of the mulberry trees.  They like the shade...to take dust baths...and to eat the fallen mulberries.

Chicks helping with the garden

We have been tilling up some new garden plots for this year's garden. The girls like to search for worms and grubs to feed the chicks.

Until they decided to search for some themselves.

and they had a look-see through the compost pile as well...



Chicks in the Coop

The chicks are getting comfortable in their "new" coop.  We converted a part of the barn for their new home. We still need to make a ladder perch and put up the nest boxes. In the mean time we have added some limbs that a storm helped procure for us.

They are four weeks old now!

Chicks day out

Took the chicks outside for the first time today.  It has been quite windy, so we tried to find a sheltered spot for their first taste of the great outdoors.

They loved it!

Molly enjoyed it, too!

Getting spots

The chicks continue to grow and change every day.  They are now starting to get their spots! And they love to roost on the stick we gave them!

We've also made available some chick grit and have given them a piece of sod dug up from the yard. It is fun to watch them scratch it up looking for bugs and worms. 

With the wet weather we have had, the girls collected worms and had fun feeding them to our lil ones.



Also, after a bit of research and internet surfing we have a few indicators as to whether they are male or female.  Females will have a dark wash on their legs. And males will develop their tail feathers and combs first.  There is also supposed to be a way to tell by the dot of white on their forehead.  Males have larger white spots. These methods are not 100% accurate, however, going by those indicators we are in trouble.  Looks like we will have more males than females.  Yikes!  

Chicks are one week old!

Chicks have been with us now for one week.  We enjoy watching them and interacting with them. They are so darn cute!

What happened.....

 Oops! 

They are still cute, though, lol.

Our New Chickies!!!

Our newest addition to our lil farm.....chickies!!!!

We got a dozen Barred Plymouth Rock chicks. 

We are hoping for more females than males but at this age they are hard to tell apart.

They are so cute, aren't they!