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.

Chickens in the Bathtub Week 3

The chicks are growing and are quite vocal, especially when we come to visit.

New Feathers

I haven't (and won't) repurpose my kitchen scale for daily weigh ins, but the chicks seem to be a little bit bigger every time we check in on them.

They also seem to have new feathers almost hourly.

Digby and Cleo have a band of new feathers (I'll call them their "boas") around their necks, and all four have longer tail feathers coming in.

It's pretty amazing to watch the transformation.

Digby Learns a New Trick

Digby learned how to use her wings to get up on top of the feeder today.

We thought it was cute, so took her picture, and then returned back downstairs to watch a little TV. A little while into our program, we started hearing a loud chirp. We didn't think too much of it, especially since we had recently turned the lights out and they always chirp a little more and a little louder when it's dark. When the chirping picked up in intensity, I decided to go up and check on them to see what all the fuss was about.

Turns out Digby had flown completely out of the tub and was lost and lonely on the other side of the perimeter. Poor Digby!

She was much happier once she was reunited with her pals. And to help her stay in our makeshift pen, we realized we're going to have to build the tub walls up a little taller. In the meantime, the shower curtain will have to suffice.

Simone intends to remain vigilant. No more escapees!

And the flock grows...

We added two more to our flock today, both Ameraucanas as we had hoped. Gary went over to Del's Feed Store in Philomath after work and picked them up.

Meet Cleo and Digby Chicken Caesar.


The salesman at the feed store said they are about three weeks old. Pinky and Patsy are about their size too, so at least they are all at about the same development stage.

You will notice there are five chicks in the group photo below. The extra one is one we are holding onto for our friend Chad who wanted to add a blue-egg layer to his new flock too. She races around the pen like a madwoman and has a very decorated head that makes me think of a helmet, so I call her Maverick.

Guess who's living in the bathtub?

After several years of discussion, we decided to take the plunge and get a few chickens.

Simone isn't too sure about this.

She's only known birds as fun flying creatures good for chasing, and now there are two of them living in our bathtub for the next several weeks. Until they get bigger and we have time to build them a proper chicken coop, that is.


In the meantime, we're taking time to sit with her and the birds and hope that her ability to listen to us will outweigh her desire to pick them up and shake them. Or devour them.

Against the advice of others, we've decided to go ahead and name them.

Meet Pinky, a Golden Laced Wyandotte.


And Patsy, a Buff Orphingon.


We also have plans to add two more to the flock, a couple of Ameraucanas (a.k.a the ones that lay the blue or green eggs) as soon as we are able to locate them.

In the meantime, Simone will be patiently watching.