Healthy Eggs.

 

Eggs of all shapes and Sizes 

 

Chickens can lay all different sizes and colors of eggs. For instance, my Rhode Island Red lay the darker brown egg pictured in this photo...bottom left. My Wyandotte lays a light cream, Barred Rock lays a nice beige and so do my Buff Orpingtons. and My Ameraucana that I bought specifically for Green / Blue eggs, turned out to be a cross bred and not pure and therefore lays a light tan egg with a white chalky coating. Grrr. My husband and I bought her for the sole purpose of the color of egg and this is what happens. Turns out Hazel-Bail (as we call her) is our most friendly girl and the cutest personality out of the bunch. Nature works in mysterious ways.

A warm welcome home

 

 

Hazel, here, is very interested in the camera.

 



 

 

As Always, as soon as I get home from errands, I go out to my beloved coop and check on the girls. And as always, Hazel came running like a T-Rex and pretty much leaped into my arms. Well, she ran and stood at my feet, tilting her head sideways left to right, trying to find a way to fly up to my shoulder where she used to sit as a little baby. So I had to pick her up! She I my cuddle by and my 5 year old daughter's  favorite chicken. She carries her everywhere with her! Like a little baby doll. Hazel doesn't mind one bit. She has always been the one who likes to be held the most. It's funny how their personalities as chicks, carry on into their adult years. Do YOU have a favorite girl that loves to be held?

 

 

 

                          

             Hazel Photo-BOMB                                                                My special girl





Husband and Honey gettin' a snack.

What? Your husband doesn't carry broody chickens into the house? Oh, well. Umm. Ya he claims to not care about our animals, but he's a big fat liar. Lol. The girls are his friends. He talks to them all the time, holds them, nurses them back to health and brings them inside to have 1:1 time. Especially when they go broody. He feels bad that they won't be hatching babies. Well that's my guess. He's a keeper for sure. Looks like they decided on a nectarine and lettuce scraps!!

My almost 30 birthday list.

So whay does a 29 year old yearn for for her birthday you ponder? Well I happen to know that answer:
1) Blue Vintage Ball mason jars
2) Any Mason jars
3) Sushi Making Kit
4) Large crochet hooks
5) Gift card to Ulta Cosmetics ( next to Old Navy)
6) Gift Card to Half Price Books/Sally Beauty supply

So there you have it.
And yes, yes you will be asking for kitchen supplies as you age. Trust me!

Like Mother Like Daughter

This is my daughter Arayli and me in our chicken yard. She is holding Hazel and I have Buffy. Hazel is the sweetest thing...she was the one who got bit by our dog and spent two weeks cuddling with us in bed at night! She loves cuddling and cleaning her sisters and eating melons. Buffy just loves food. Period. End of story. She can hear you coming a mile away and always thinks your bringing her treats. Chickens are my favorite pet.

My naughty garden!

So. If y'all know me than you know my wicked and dirty sense of humor. Well, my garden knows me all too well. I pulled my carrotts this afternoon and this little guy caught my eye. Looks like a man! Legs and penis. Lol hilarious!! Smile  lifes too short to follow ALL of the rules! Get dirty! Curse! And fall in LUST!

Two New Egg Layers in One Day!

(Left to Right: Buffy, Hazel and Franchesca)

 

So today we noticed all kinds of commotion going on in the chicken yard. Buffy was pacing back and forth making all kinds of noise. Our little Bella-Boo was in the nesting box for the first time! Her mouth was open, almost panting, and I knew she was going to lay her first egg! I ran up to the house to get the kids. Before they could even get run back down to the coop Bella had pushed it out. She pushed and pulled the egg around the bottom of the box before deciding to lay down NEXT to her egg...instead of on it. LOL Silly girl.

 

An hour or so had passed and I heard another set of clucking from watchdog Buffy. Low and behold! HAZEL was sitting in the nesting box, mouth open and trying to lay her first egg also! Two new layers in one day...and these two are best-buddies so it was cute to see both of their first eggs on the same day. It took Hazel over an hour to lay it. WTH??? IT wasn't greenish blue! It was light brown with white specks. Why did she lay that color? She is an Americauna mix. Should lay "Easter" eggs. Interesting. It was teeny tiny and perfect. Now we have 5/6 of our girls laying eggs. One freeloader left. Little Miss Lucy-Lou our Silver Laced Wyandotte.

 

 

 

Buffy laid us a double yolker!

 

Buffy, one of our Buff Orpingtons, laid a huge egg two morning ago. The kids love making fresh scrambled eggs and the first large egg she has laid was up for cracking...as it hit the bowl I heard the kids yell, "Wow!" " Oh my gosh! Two yolks!" I jumped up from the front porch and ran into the kitchen (yes we all get excited over chicken news) and sure enough. A DOUBLE YOLKED EGG laid right in our back yard. It is so cool. Just look at the dark color. IT shows that we have some spoiled girls. They eat all kinds of bugs, grass, flowers and plants, their layer feed Nutrena's brand, and cool treats like fruit, veggies and mealworms-Delish!

 

Look at that!

 

Size Comparison

So the egg on the right side is an egg from our Barred Rock Franchesca that was laid yesterday. The egg on the left is also from Frankie but laid just this morning. Holy Smokes Batman look at the size of that egg today! Since my girls are new layers, the eggs always start off small. Teeny tiny in some cases. But perfect nonetheless. Frankie's first egg was so small but perfectly shaped and colored. As you can see, the size of her eggs has jumped tremendously. It's so neat to be able to say that you raised this hen from a baby day old chick. I felt so proud when she laid her first one. I could watch them in their boxes for hours! I actually have once. It's so fascinating.

Grow-your-own Pumpkins!

Throw some pumpkin seeds down in early Spring and what do you get? Awesome pumpkins growing in your own backyard! I swear...on one plant alone I have counted over 20 flowering buds that should produce some kind of pumpkin.  Organically grown and so fun to keep an eye on. The vine is a bit spiney but other than that they are sweet! In the sun the flower blooms open up, then they close overnight. Leave a good 6 feet of room for these things to spread for maximum harvest. These are "Spirit Pumpkins" Great for carving at Halloween, pies, bread and other recipes. Or just decorating the outside with paint. Cheap to grow and so much fun to pick! Invite the neighbor kids to come over if you have pumpkins in abundance! You'll be the talk of the block for sure...the "Cool Parents" ;)

The girls new curtains

 

I knew I saved those ugly bed sheets for something! AHA, curtains for the chicken coop nest boxes. Genius! I whipped these bad boys up in under 30 minutes. Since it was coop cleaning time anyway and half of our girls are already laying...I figured Why the heck not! It's cute and girly and perfect. Thor (yes my fiancé's name is amazing) had actually given me the brilliant idea, except he was talking about curtains for the actual windows in the coop LOL. He thought I was the unusual one after he saw these. I think they need a little valance running across the top of them all. Whadda you think??

Our first egg!

July 1st. The girls are 18 weeks now. I had noticed some nesting patterns in the boxes so I knew they were getting ready! I was outside in the garden and noticed Frankie making noises I'd never heard before...excited, I ran over to find her inside the box! I got excited and ran like hell to get the kids and hubby. We looked, starred and told Frankie "Good Job" and continued my gardening. About an hour later I heard a 'Thunk' noise. I ran over and Voila...a teeny light brown perfect egg. Hot and ready. It was amazing!!!

Fish Pond Project

Above Ground Koi Pond Project

 

I was browsing Pinterest one day and came across a photo of a cute little deck pond. Since we do not own our property as of yet, I didn't want to invest too much time and money on a big permanent in ground pond. I brought it up to Thor (my fiance who can build anything) just in passing one day before work. When I came home I had this waiting for me. I am so excited to be able to share how to make one for your deck or garden. We spent nothing out of pocket. Here it goes: Thor first looked through our scrap wood pile for pallet boards that all measured the same length. He used pieces from a friend's deck that they replaced...we took the old deck home. The deck measures:
Then we cut the bottom plastic lining from a kiddie pool we had from two summers ago to act as the pond liner. Using a staple gun (industrial not office size :) You could get a liner or thick plastic from any hardware store. Thor added some larger sized rocks from our yard to use for decoration. A simple filter we got off craigslist for $20...you do not need a filter if you donot have one yet, just keep your eye out for one during the summer months. It hlps keep it clean. And the blue piece is an old kitchen plastic bowl that he cut a hole in to place on top of the filter for the water feature. At the momnent we have 3 koi fish and 6 goldfish. Do not feed them during the winter as they hibernate when the water gets cold. When the water warms...feed them slowly. Once every 2-4 days then once a day as you see them become fully active again. Koi fish can become very tame, hand feed bread, fish food and other dried fish treats to get them used to you.
*Make sure your pond is on a sturday and level surface.

 



Beautiful Nesting Boxes

Cleaning the Coop

 



So today I decided to clean the girls coop. I like to do it about every month or so. When Thor built our coop we decised we wanted it big enough for us to walk into. Considering Thor is 6'4", the coop needed to be accommodating. It has 6 nesting boxes, a ramp to the second story boxes, windows on two sides and a wood shelf that I planned on using for fresh flowers in pots. The girls had other plans...(it's their goodnight roosting perch) It's too cute, however the shelf gets covered in chicken poo. I only use Apple Cider Vinegar to clean the coop. It smells good, is inexpensive and gets the job done without the use of hash chemicals...so why not? The vinegar kills all bacteria and fungi and keeps odors down. We use a layer of good pine bedding along with straw in the boxes. I also use fresh herbs from our garden in the boxes. The use of herbs in the coop and boxes is to keep mites ad insects away while the girls are nesting. Not to mention keep the eggs clean. It also helps their overall health. I mean...we use them in our medicine right?? A few of the herbs we grow are Lavendar, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Spearmint and Apple Mint. All can be used in the boxes along with Violets if you have them. They grow native/wild here in Seattle, WA. The end result will be a gorgeously decorated box for your girls along with the "protection" that comforts us Chicken Mom's. Plan to clean out your Coop at least every Month, and nesting boxes weekly for optimal health and egg production.

Herbs in the Nesting Boxes

The Nesting Box Blend

Our girls are now 16 weeks and the last few days that I have gone outside to visit them (I go out like 10 times a day ;) I have noticed that the nesting boxes have been layed in!!I got excited and searched high and low for an egg. Ok we're not there yet but we are getting close. So off to the feed store we went. Our ladys have been upgraded to Layer Feed. I stuck with crumbled feed since that's what they are used to. To celebrate, we got a nice big bag of dried mealworms...it's their favorite. And since chickens sit in the nesting box for quite some time every time they lay an egg, I use fresh herbs and flower pedals divided into all of the boxes to help with mites, parasites and as a laying stimulant. You can use any herbs you like or grow some with specifics in mind. Lavendar is good for stress relief, Parsley is a great laying stimulant as well as Sweet Marjoram, Taragon is an antioxidant as well as Sage, and Lemon Balm is one of my favorites to keep rodents away from the coop (just plant some out front). Rosemary is good for keeping flies away, I pick some and tie it up inside their coop and out by the gate enterance. Basil is an anti-bacterial. Oregano has a bunch of uses for good health in the girls. Kills salmonella, avian flu and ecoli and other things so throw some in their feed to get the best benefits. Mint is a good and fun one to grow. I have Apple Mint and Spearmint. They keep rodents away on top of smelling amazing! Sunflowers are good to grow and dry for seed for the chickens also. Herbs grow pretty easily and are a safe effective way to keep your flock happy and healthy without having to purchase anything...just grow your own.



Today is the Day

<------New Blogger here. So, where to start. OK so I am a mother of two (kids that is) and we have 6 chickens and a dog Sheba (Shiba Inu). If any of you have chickens then you know that there is never a dull moment! We have had two casualties already...(I almost had a heart attack but I am ok now). I garden, raise chickens and am an avid DIY'er. I'm almost 30 now and realize that I am tired of depending on others as much as we do these days so I started my garden and chicken coop. My Fiance Thor, Ya it's pretty much the best name EVER, is the best. He built the coop from all recycled materials in just one weekend. I will post the pictures shortly. My plan with this blog is to get people to come together. Share ideas, laughs, losses, ideas and sucess stories. I have to admit...I'm a cheese ball at times so keep that in mind when you come across some lame jokes ;)