Category Archives: Chickens

Nov14

Thankful Thursdays II

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Thankful Thursdays II

What a week! Many of my things I am grateful for are things that suddenly have been in short supply. Nothing like a good dose of change and challenge to remind you to appreciate when things are good.

1) I am grateful for the days that I get a good night’s sleep. I’ve always had a hard time sleeping, but having a child of my own has really brought “sleep deprivation” to a whole new level. Especially when teething, or growing pains, throws a wrench into the nighttime workings of toddler sleep!

2) I am grateful for warm weather. We’ve hit uncharacteristically cold weather for our locale this week, and it reminds me of several  reasons why I prefer the really hot summers here over the very cold (and snowy…yuck!) winters of my childhood.

3) I am so grateful for our beautiful home. Even with all the maintenance (some of which has been taking FOREVER lately!) and random “Oh no!” moments  of home ownership, it is so neat to have our own home to make memories in with our family.

4) I am grateful for Pinterest! How many amazing, cute ideas have I come across on that site (many of which I will never get to replicating), and how many amazing, quick and easy recipes have I come across to spice up our dinner rotations? And I know there’s always that feeling that sometimes some of these people who do these projects are crazy overachievers, it gives me something to aspire to on the crazier days of being a mom.

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5) I am grateful for crock pots. Seriously, whoever made the crock pot, I love you. Not only does my crock pot help me made chicken and pot roasts so tender they just fall apart to the touch,  it makes it possible for me to make dinner while Evelyn is having some down time, usually mornings. Unlike the days where 4:00PM hits and her separation anxiety is so bad that she must be held constantly or else break down into hysteria. And then I end up calling Jared to pick something from Chick-Fil-A because I get anxiety just thinking about trying to contain her wiggles while trying to cut veggies or cook on the stove!

6) I really enjoy the chickens. In the cooler weather, they haven’t been laying as frequently. (Frankly, that is a relief for me- I have been having a rough time trying to keep up with 3-4 eggs a day! 1-2 are much more manageable!) But they have been a lot more fun than I had anticipated them being, and Evelyn thinks that they are hilarious to watch. She’ll run to the back door and sign bird, squealing “Bir-Bir-Biiiiir!” and I know she’s hoping to catch a glimpse of the chicklets. And it’s kind of fun to be a little more “self sustaining” with having them, too. Maybe we need to get a nanny goat next, Jared?  😉 JUST KIDDING. Mostly.

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7) I LOVE Evelyn snuggles. This girl isn’t the most snuggle-bunny of them, and so the moments that I can get her to sit still next to me and cuddle for a few minutes on the couch are PRICELESS. And when it is snuggling with Mom, Dad, Evelyn, and three doggies on the couch? Nothing beats snuggling with the loves of your life!

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Sep1

First two-egg day!

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First two-egg day!

Sometimes you need to celebrate the small stuff.

Like how our lovely Fliza Minnelli has been laying much more regularly (like 4-5 eggs in this past week!).

Or when we finally got our first BROWN egg from one of our lovely Plymouth Barred Rock ladies  this evening.

And even better, our first brown egg coincided with a green egg day, meaning we had our very first TWO-EGG day.

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And with a teething toddler, today is all about celebrating the small stuff. 🙂

Aug22

Chickens: We be chillin’, right here.

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Chickens: We be chillin’, right here.

Well, it’s time for an update for our fine-feathered friends from the backyard.

Since the last time we talked about those featherbrained birds, we have gotten the grand total of ONE egg. Yes. Today, I am somewhat happy to announce that we received Egg #2.

SAMSUNG(From the same bird, it appears. just slightly larger than the last.)

I have a theory on why it took so long for her to produce again. To make a very long story short, I haven’t been letting them free-range for a while. They love being able to spend at least short amounts of time in the yard, so they were none to pleased with that arrangement. (It was for their own safety, but try telling a chicken that!)

Starting Tuesday this week, I let them out for very short amounts of time every day, and after returning from a lunching event, I was rewarded with that lovely little egg. All things considered, that was very encouraging.

As an extra reward, I let them out for extra time this afternoon. They were thrilled. As in, so thrilled that the most uptight of them all, the Warrior Princess, sprawled out the dirt and let me stroke her during her dust baths. I even got a little video of the cuteness!

Click here to watch the cuteness.

 

SAMSUNG(And please excuse my voice in the video… I guess that’s my sweet-talking-the-chickens voice. Let’s just pretend I don’t normally sound like that.)

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Aug6

Eggs-ellent Discovery!

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Eggs-ellent Discovery!

Sorry for the pun, but anyone who knows my father also knows that it is implanted in my DNA to toss in the occasional pun. Just trying to make you proud, Dad.

ANYWAYS, we finally got our first egg from our girls today, and even better, it was from one of our Easter Eggers, whom apparently usually take longer to lay.
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How can I tell?

Our Barred Plymouth Rocks will (eventually?) lay medium-large brown eggs. The Easter Eggers will lay smaller-to medium slate blue and/or green eggs! And as you can tell, we have a lovely green egg! AHHH! So excited, can’t ya tell?

Oh, and we moved the ladies outside about twoish months ago, too. Here’s their outside diggs (with the dogs checking it out, too):
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We keep them inside the coop for the majority of the time, but they do get some roaming time in the back. We limit it because Bonnie is a born killer (she brought down a full-sized healthy dove a month ago… yikes!) and Stevie thinks he could go for some fresh chicken, so we don’t want to forget that they are out and then let the doggies go out there. Posted Image Also, we have that neighbor dog that has in the past dug under our fence, and while it’s been several months, I wouldn’t put it past her to try and break out again!

Oh, and they look a lot less awkward now. Here’s them enjoying the backyard at the end of May:
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Emily Bronte, the Barred Rock that I was expecting to lay first because her comb and whatnot had been deepening to a nice shade of red (you can see the difference from May!):
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And then Fliza Minnelli, Charlotte Bronte, and Xena Warrior Princess (today’s egg is from Fliza or Xena- not 100% who yet!)
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Just had to share the good news because it’s been a lot of work getting to the point where these little ladies finally are producing eggs, and this was an eggs-ellent early birthday present from the chickens.