Girls' First Snow

The girls' first snow.

They weren't sure what this cold white stuff was. I couldn't even get them to set foot in the yard. They took one look and headed right back into the coop!

Peek-a-boo

First Dozen

Well, the first dozen we kept for ourselves, anyway! We gave the first five to our friend Laurie who so kindly supplied us with more than a dozen empty egg cartons, and then started collecting for ourselves. We figure these eggs are worth about $50 a piece right now. We made a huge bowl of scrambled eggs with them for breakfast with Gary's family. Next carton will be for our neighbors, for putting up with our chicken noises...

Blue Egg!

We got our first blue egg today, and also another green! Everyone is laying now!

Pinky's Comb

Pinky's comb has been coming in nicely!

Green Egg!

We had a three egg day today. Patsy laid one, Pinky laid one, and one of the Ameraucanas did too! We found our first green egg!

Not sure if it was Digby or Cleo, but we're excited that three of them are laying now. Egg value is quickly depreciating...no longer worth hundreds of dollars a piece. Can't wait to see what color egg our fourth chicken will lay...hopefully soon!

Second Egg!

A few hours after we found our first egg, a second one appeared!

Gary took it from Patsy while she was still sitting on it, much to her disdain. She made a horrible racket for a good five minutes after it was removed. I think we will try and wait until the nest box is unoccupied before collecting in the future.

The Girls Begin Earning their Keep

We found our first egg this morning!

It was actually in the nest box when Gary went to clean it out this morning. And it's good sized and a good shape. Not an extra large egg by far, but also not tiny or oddly formed. It's beautiful! We think either Pasty or Pinky must have laid it. Both have been making some new, rather loud, and sometimes unsettling clucking noises this past week, so we wonder if approaching egg production might have been the cause. We decided to celebrate the accomplishment by frying it up.

We can't wait to see what's out there tomorrow morning!

Squaking Chickens

The girls have begun making some new, very loud clucking sounds....
we wonder if this isn't a precursor to impending egg laying?

Coop Visitor

The girls had a visitor today. See him down there in the wood shavings?

Gary came home to find all four chickens huddled in a corner.
They knew something wasn't right, and figured it was best to stay away from the uninvited slithery guest.

Just a garter snake, and only about a foot long, but menacing nonetheless. Gary helped the snake remember it had a prior engagement, and sent him packing. Hopefully the snake won't be back, but we'll be keeping an eye out for him.

19 Weeks

Although we haven't seen any eggs yet, the girls continue to grow and change

(and occasionally play Reservoir Dogs).

Check out Pinky's new comb:

Patsy's comb is starting to come in as well:

Millie has also been sneaking out into the backyard lately to take a look.

She has managed to keep her distance thus far, but we are leery of letting her get too close...

...as is Pinky.

17 Weeks and Counting...

The girls have continued to grow and change, and are now about 17 weeks old. We let them out to run around the yard after work, and most of the day on weekends. Much to my disdain, they have figured out how to break through the barrier protecting our vegetable garden. They have also learned how to squeeze through the openings in the baby gate to get onto the back deck, much to Gary's disdain.

We are still enjoying having them around, and look forward to when they start to lay eggs, probably sometime late next month. We've been gradually increasing the amount of time that they can be outside, although the cooler weather has found them huddled up in the coop more often than not. Hopefully soon the weather will start to act more like summer than winter, and maybe they'll want to be out and about and getting more exposure to that FSH-stimulating sunlight. No rush though, as we don't want them laying too soon!

Getting Bigger

We let the girls out today to "free range" it a little, and also to get a closer look at everyone's feathers. Look at Digby's new beard! It's coming in quite nicely.

Although Digby has recovered from her round at the chicken fight club, Cleo continues to be a victim of the bullying. Despite the appearance of the fullness of her tail feathers in the photo below, she's missing a few back there.
Shame on you, Patsy and Pinky. Really, girls, it's gotta end.

And then because we were on a roll, we thought we'd try and get a few photos of ourselves with the chickens. Gary went first:

Then it was my turn:

I think by the time I tried to get Cleo to sit on my wrist, she'd had about enough of that, and promptly tried to scurry up the back of my neck to escape. Can't say I blame her!

Coop Tour

Watch the video below to take a three minute tour of our finished chicken coop:

Comfy Condo Living

The girls roost in the condo together on a chilly April afternoon.

Synchronized Sunbathing

It was nice today, nearly 70°F and the girls decided to spend a little time soaking up the rays. Here Digby and Cleo engage in a little synchronized sunbathing:

And here is Patsy and Pinky's valiant effort:

I'd have to give Team Digby & Cleo a 9.8 for form and style.
Patsy and Pinky have a lot they could learn from them.

Moving Day

Today was moving day!

Gary worked on the condo most nights after work this week so the girls would be able to move in this weekend. Simone was there to help supervise their transition from bathtub and storage container living to fancy condo life.


We made sure the girls were comfortably settled before we closed them in for the night.

As of today, Digby and Cleo's feathers have begun to grow back in and they are looking better. They are also a little bit bigger, so we hope they are in a little better position to defend themselves if bullied again. We're keeping our fingers crossed that they will be able to successfully cohabitate now that they have a little more space and that we won't have any more problems.

Major Progress on the Condo

We made serious progress on the chicken coop, or chicken condo as we are calling it, this weekend.

Gary got the walls up, nest box built, and roosts installed.

We decided to cedar shingle the outside to give it that upscale condo look.

All we have left to do is finish encasing the whole thing in chicken wire, get the feeder/water hung, construct the door, and build a ramp. Then we can move the girls in!

Mother Hen

Simone keeps watch over the chickens during one of their outdoor field trips.

The Iso Tank

I was disturbed to discover over the weekend that both Cleo and Digby appear to have been the victims of chicken bullying. Both were bleeding and missing a good number of feathers on their backs when I checked on them Saturday afternoon. I suppose it's possible they they could have done it to themselves, or that they could have done it to each other, but I think Patsy is to blame. I've caught her a few times picking at the other birds, and for some reason she's decided that the two Ameraucanas are on her hit list.

I had no choice but to separate them. I put Cleo and Digby into the storage container, and then headed off to Bi-Mart to pick up another one in the event that Cleo and Digby were doing this to each other. When I got back, I set up the second cage and then separated them. Before I could get the cover on top, Digby hopped out of her container and into Cleo's. I grabbed Digby and put her back in her own container, only to have Cleo hop over into Digby's cage. They both made it pretty clear that they didn't want to be alone, so I opted to just give in and leave them both in one.

My next task was to then get a better look at their owies.


This photo only shows a small section of the hurt area. Poor chicks. I took each of them out separately and then managed to coat the picked area with an antibiotic ointment. I imagine the whole scene was fairly comical as I was alone, had Simone at my heels when carrying each bird into the other bathroom, and then couldn't stop Simone from whining excitedly in each of their faces as I tried to hold the bird and have her remain calm while I smeared a cold oily substance on an area of her body that I'm sure was quite tender. Both Digby and Cleo let me do it though, and then I returned them to their iso tank.

I checked on them again Sunday morning, and their backs appeared to be much better. The ointment seemed to be helping, so I gave each of them another coat. I had also read in my Encyclopedia of Country Living that coating a chicken's feathers with petroleum jelly can help in cases of picking as whoever is doing the picking will get a beak full of goo. So I thought since they were both salved-up that I would try putting them back into the tub with Patsy and Pinky. I quickly learned that was a mistake.

I heard squawking and pulled back the curtain to see Patsy picking on Cleo. I shooed them apart, and then went back to what I was doing. A little while later I went in and Digby and Cleo were both on the other side of the plastic lining the tub. Fortunately they didn't suffocate. I put them back into the tub while I answered the phone and contemplated moving them back into the iso tank. I think Cleo and Digby pretty much made up my mind when they both hopped up onto the edge of the tub and made themselves comfortable, presumably to get away from the other two chicks.

So the iso tank is where they will stay until we are able to build the coop, which we have decided can no longer be postponed. Hopefully it will be up and completed by the end of this coming weekend.

And hopefully once they have more space, the bullying will stop.

Outdoor Adventure

It was so nice out this afternoon that we decided we wanted to take the chickens outside for a bit. Only problem was we didn't have anything to keep them contained. So we ran off to Del's Farm Store just down the street from us to pick up some chicken wire. We're going to need some for the coop anyway, so we figured we'd just pick some up now. When we got back, we rigged up a make-shift pen and then brought the chickens downstairs for their first outside experience.

They seemed to have a fine time picking around in the jungle that is our lawn. They ate some grass and presumably some bugs before the sneezing attack began. First one chick started sneezing, then another, and within a few minutes they were all doing it with increasing frequency. So, back into the tub they went. Hopefully they don't have allergies....but if they do, do they make Benadryl for chickens?

Chicken Curiosity

Both Cleo and Digby continue to be mesmerized by Simone.

Any time she pokes her head into the tub to check in on them they quickly hop onto one of the feeders to get a better look at her.

Simone's been doing a great job of limiting her interest to sniffing and looking with her eyes. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she will continue to stave off investigation by way of mouth....

Tail Feathers

The gang continues to grow!

Aren't they a cute bunch? We estimate them to be about five weeks old now.
The latest thing we've noticed is that their tail plumes are becoming more and more pronounced.

The Chicks' Newest Trick

As we've mentioned, Simone enjoys checking in on the chickens. We do it at least twice a day, and she would probably sit there all day watching them if she could. We've begun to notice that the feeling is becoming mutual. The chicks are becoming more and more curious about Simone, and wondering who or what this big creature is that keeps sticking her nose into their home. They have become so curious in fact that they have started hopping up onto the edge of the bathtub to get a closer look. In the past 24 hours, their desire to get a closer look has escalated to a closer feel. Digby's done it, Cleo's done it, and so has Pinky.

Simone's head has become the chicks' latest perch:


You will have to excuse our "long lost photo of Bigfoot" approach to photography, but the moment was fleeting, the bathroom was dark, and there simply was not time to adjust the settings or ask Digby or Simone if we could do it from another angle.

We really feel like we're tempting fate here any time one of the birds jumps on top of Simone's noggin!

Feet!

The girls continue to grow, getting larger by the hour.

Lately we've really been noticing the increase in their foot size. The size of their feet seems to be outpacing the rest of their bodies!

Good thing we're not going to have to buy them shoes...

Phase One Complete

Phase one of Camp Chick-A-Riffic construction has been completed!

The roofing is on and our girls will have a dry place to hang out in on rainy afternoons.


Phase two construction (enclosing the north/south sides with chicken wire and doors and construction of the coop itself) is slated to begin in a couple of weeks once we've saved up a little more. More soon!

Bumpy Beaks

The girls' beaks have begun to change a little bit. They seem to have new growths on them. Any attempts at googling "chicken beak development" have proved to be unsuccessful. I don't know what these new lumps and bumps are called, or how I can expect their beaks to change further in the coming weeks. I hope these new changes are normal and don't mean they are genetic mutants, or boys instead of girls.

I suppose I will just have to let nature take its course and wait and watch to see what happens.

Camp Chick-A-Riffic Construction Begins

Last weekend we (and by "we", I mean Gary and Chad) cleared the four dead arbor vitae and also two larger overgrown trees from the west side of our house in preparation for the construction of the chicken coop.

During the week, we started talking more about construction plans. Gary decided we should have a fenced/caged area to enclose the coop and began drawing up plans. We then made a trip to the hardware store yesterday for building supplies. We emerged two hours later with an empty wallet and a truck load of lumber, roofing, and nails.

Gary spent the remainder of yesterday digging post holes and cutting lumber. Today has seen him constructing the framework and pounding about a million nails into what sounds like the side of our house. I trust him implicitly, but I am a little afraid to look.

Remember, this is not the framework for the chicken coop proper....this is just for the coop that will surround the coop. One thing's for sure: these four chickens will be living in the lap of luxury. It will be an enormous chicken palace.