Spring in the Hen House

My chickens are truly excited about the idea of Spring arriving.  While they do stay dry and warm in their lovely home my hubby built for them - we can't do much about the lack of sunshine around here in the winter.  They are thrilled about the lengthening days!!! 

My hens are doing a great job of eating up the weed seeds and bugs in my yet-to-be planted garden

 

 This young hen in particular is especially excited about Spring.  She has it in her head that she is going to hatch a few eggs!!  She isn't, as there is no Daddy around (roosters would be most unwelcome to my neighbors!)  But that fact does not stop her from her broody ways.  She has plucked all the feathers off her chest to make the eggs she is sitting on even warmer.

We have to kick her off the nesting box to get to our eggs and to make her eat and drink - silly girl.  I am contemplating getting a chick from the feed store and stuffing it under her wings so she has a baby to care for.

This never fails to give me a thrill - a wonderful source of healthy food for my family!!!

Mmmm mmmm good!!!

During the brief day of sunshine we had I got out and cleaned the food and water dispensers for my ladies - see, nice and clean - do you think they will appreciate it?!!  Next stop at the feed store will give them new straw to scratch in too!!  Spring in the Hen House is always good!!!

Blessings,
Christine

Backyard News

First from the Hen House:

We're getting anywhere from 4 to 6 eggs a day!! Yay!! Go chickies!!
We are hoping that soon we'll be averaging 7 to 8 a day but for pullets they're doing great!!
Some days it's more brown eggs:

And on others we get more blue:

And from the garden:

For late planting and a rather dreary summer it's doing better than I expected - a bit small but the last two weeks have seen a huge growth spurt!! Maybe I'll get a harvest after all!! Yay!! Go Garden!!!

In front of my zucchini there are tiny baby cabbage making their way up for a fall harvest.

And that's all for backyard news!!

Blessings,

Christine

Eggs!!!!

My chicken coop is one of my favorite things!!  I love my chickens.  They are so quirky and goofy!

Each chicken has such a unique personality - just like people.  They aren't the smartest creatures on earth but that just adds to their charm and there is a reason the phrase "you're a chicken" refers to being afraid!!  They are so flighty it's funny!!

But we have chickens for another reason besides entertainment - and my girls have grown up from cute little chicks and are now doing their job!!!

I'm so happy - we are now getting eggs!!!  Not 9 a day yet - just one or two as each hen is learning how to do it.  But soon we will be having an abundance of yummy, wholesome organic eggs!!

I think that's why I love my chickens so much - and why I love my garden too - knowing my work is making our backyard a place of provision for my family.  All the digging, weeding, feeding, watering, straw pitching, seed planting, composting is actually feeding my children.  It is such a great feeling to put a salad on the table for dinner that was grown in the garden or to  pull some green beans from the freezer in the winter that came from the back yard during the summer.  Going out to the coop and getting eggs and bringing them in to scramble for breakfast or put into some baked goods is so wonderful!!   And to know it was all grown without hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, or chemicals is the very best!!  I can't help but praise God every day for the satisfying job he has given me!!

Update on Daniel:  He seems to be doing very well since his seizure.  After a day of every muscle being very sore and a very bad headache (probably from banging his head very hard on the pavement repeatedly) he is back to normal.  He is seeing a neurologist tomorrow morning - so we will have more information soon.  Thank you for your prayers - they are so appreciated!!!

Blessings,

Christine

Not Quite Summer

We've had storm after storm roll through our area lately. Nothing like the storm that my friend Cinnamon blogged about but the typical Pacific Northwest storm that looks like this:
all day long for many days!!! Very chilly, grey and wet!!

The sun came out for a few minutes yesterday so I ran out and took a few pictures of my garden:
Yep - nothin'!!! It's just too wet!! :(
After talking about it with hubby I decided to let my garden lie fallow this summer - and spend the time amending my soil. I'm going to try and find a friendly farmer to share some of his animal manure (probably won't be too hard to persuade him!!) and add that and other goodies to my dirt to make it all nice and rich again!!

So what to do for someone that must get their fingers in the dirt? Well, I'm going to concentrate on my flower beds. They look pretty nice right now - from a distance:

But really, they have icky things like fungus problems and slugs - you know the kinds of things that like wet weather!

Thankfully, I have something new to keep me happy in the yard:
My new chicken coop:

And the ladies that live there:

Aren't they cute? We have nine chickens. Mrs. Chicken, Daisy, Stripey (pronounced Dripey by little man) and Brown Betty all live here along with five other lovely ladies that would be named if we could tell them apart :0)!! We are expecting eggs soon and we are so excited!!!

I would like to put up a sign on my coop but I am stumped when it comes to thinking up a cute name for it. I am looking for ideas - so if you have a cute name for a chicken coop just leave a comment.

Have a blessed weekend!!!

Christine

A Field Trip

A field trip to the local feed store was on the calender for today:

To check out these sweet creatures that just arrived:

We added a few to our family - three Araucanas and three Red Stars to be exact. Aren't they cute?!!!

They are already well loved!!! Names will be announced (at the moment, I am vetoing names like Batman and Iron Man - they are girls after all!!!)

After several years without chickens I am super excited to be having them back in our family! Homegrown eggs are the BEST!!! We will be adding six more as the feed store gets more varieties in over the Spring for an even dozen!!