Green Eggs & Ham

Well I wouldn't say green eggs and ham...it was more like green egg and bacon! I guess that's close enough...well it was for the kids anyway!
Do you remember the chickens we hatched earlier this year? Well, a couple of them were an Ameraucana mix (mom was an Ameraucana and Dad was a Rhode Island Red) and one of them laid her first egg today! We, especially my bouncing babies, were so excited when we saw that it was green. I'm thinking she was a little stressed laying her first egg with all the rain we've been getting because she laid her egg right in the mud. Poor thing, better luck tomorrow now that she knows what's happening.

Chicken Pen

I'm so sorry that I have neglected my blog over the last couple of weeks, but we've been VERY busy trying to finish several projects before we went on vacation. Today we left town to attend the annual Memorial Day gospel singing at Dominion Valley Park in Stuart, VA. All of our favorite gospel music bands are playing this coming weekend and we are so excited, but we have to wait until Friday. So until then, we are just sitting outside enjoying some beautiful country air, family and wonderful friends.
The big project we were determined to complete before we left town was our chicken pen. We have a protable chicken tractor, but we have 4 little ones that we need to introduce to the flock and our coop would be a little crowded with my 6 hens and the 4 biddies. SO, I begged my wonderful, talented, and very handy hubby (hope he reads this) to build me a pen for my chickens. We were worried we wouldn't finish before we it was time to leave town, but 4 nights of working past dark with head lamps on our head after a long day of work, paid off! We finished our pen, my girls are VERY happy, and the babies have moved in!


Here it is! My big beautiful chicken pen! The coop fits right inside! We wanted to be able to move the coop in and out in case of a bad storm or hurricane. We'd just roll the coop (with the girls) into the shed or garage.


Is it ok that my children like being in the pen?


My girls love that I can come right in and visit with them.


I've linked this post over at the Barn Hop where you can check out other homesteads.

Easter Surprise!

Peeeeep! Peeeeep! Peeeeep! I kept hearing a crying chick. Thinking that maybe one of the babies hopped out of the brooder, I kept peeking in on them and all was fine. So, back to cleaning the kitchen I went...then while I was wiping off the table, I just happened to glance at the incubator and there it was, a cute little baby had hatched! That's were all the peeping was coming from! Now that's strange, because the incubator still reads 6 more days...WHAT? I'm thinking a hen was doing some sitting prior to me getting the eggs! The crazy stuff always happens on my watch! Thankfully, this time wasn't a scare, it was a tiny Easter surprise!


Peeeeep! Peeeeep! Peeeeep!


Here's the new arrival next to Butterscotch (20 days old today)! It's amazing how fast they grow!

10 and 11 days old!

The one with the white in its wings is 11 days old and I believe it's a girl. The other one with the dark strip down its back is 10 days old and I believe it's a boy. I won't tell you why I think one's a boy and one's a girl...lets just say I saw something on one and not the other!
Aren't they SO CUTE...they're fun too! Everyone in the house stops to talk to the babies every time we walk past the brooder. So I decided to take the babies out into the big world today...OK, we actually introduced them the other day, but they looked like they wanted to go outside and enjoy the beautiful sunshine again today!


"Let me get that!"


"You shouldn't rush through grooming!"


Look at those pretty feathers coming in!


Didn't expect that breeze!


Sure looks big out there!

Two Sweet Babies!

You know the incubating eggs I showed you a couple of weeks ago? Well, two babies made it and we are SO excited! We actually saw the first one hatch. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!


Here's the first sign of hatching! It took the first one about 12 hours to hatch out! You could see the crack a little, then it would get tuckered out and rest a while. Then we could hear it peep and try again...this went on for the next 12 hours! Finally right at the end, the crack made a complete circle and then the end popped off...just like in cartoons!


It's out! Next it wiggled its way between the other two eggs for some snuggling and encouragement.


This is what we woke up to the next morning! Arent' they SO SWEET!


See it's egg tooth? Here's my little powder puff before it moved into the brooder! SO SWEET!


It looks like the one is whispering something to the other...If I had to guess it'd probably be something like, "That crazy lady with the flashing thing is back!"

I'll be posting on their progress over the next several weeks!

So much to be thankful for

I'm sure everyone is keeping up with the happenings in Japan and the devastation it is suffering. I don't know about you, but events like this usually cause me to evaluate all that I have and how thankful I am for it. God has blessed me and my family abundantly and for that I am very grateful. I do question if we'd be prepared if we were to suffer a devastating natural disaster. Yes, I have more put away than other's, but could we sustain ourselves and help others for any length of time...No, I don't believe so. Got some work to do!

Speaking of being blessed, we visited some friends that we just don't visit enough and I have to say, am in awe of their talents and wish to learn more. I didn't snap any picture's of the quilts my dear friend was working on (like 25 different and absolutely amazing quilt tops) most of which were for project Linus! What a ministry...I'm definitely inspired!

I did however snap some photo's of their other hobbies; chickens, gardening, and bees!

We were on standby all week for the birth of some little chic's and we got the call Friday evening. Already in PJ's we rushed down to see the new arrival! The poor little baby had a tough time, but it finally arrived Saturday morning and the little fluff ball was precious!

Here's one of the little darlings that hatched the night before! Sadly, we missed the arrival of the first two, so I was determined not to miss #3! They are SO SWEET!


So we went back to their house Sunday between church services to see all the little critters. Like me, they are loving the beautiful warm weather we are having!


This is Big Daddy! He is a very beautiful and sweet Rhode Island Red Rooster.


I could have watched these amazing honey bees all day. They didn't bother me a bit, in fact I comfortably stood just a couple of feet from their hive. The buzz of hundreds (maybe thousands) of bees is incredible. I did have to crouch down, because I stood right in their flight path, but still they weren't concerned with me...only their mission! Honey bees are very fascinating and I'm looking forward to learning more.


Aren't these peach blossoms beautiful? I was hoping to catch a busy bee in action, but they were traveling to some blossoming pear trees in the neighbor's yard.


What is this? Well it is my gracious neighbor's egg incubator! When I was given the offer to borrow this, I was like a kid at Christmas! We are hatching 2 Americana's (those are the green one's) and 1 Barred Rock (the dark brown one). Well, they won't be pure breeds because Big Daddy is the daddy. So, what kind of chick's will I have? They will be referred to as sex lings which is a term for chick's with parents of different breeds. As far as their looks, I'm not sure, but I can't wait to find out!




I'll definitely keep you posted on these little ones! Their due date is in about 20 days...check back to see the little peeps! Today, I am thankful for the wonderful people God has put in my path!

FREEDOM!

Cassie doesn't usually collect the eggs by herself, but today, she thought she'd give it a try. I was busy in the kitchen and didn't think much of her going out in the backyard. When I peeked out the window she was running to the house with her hands folded to her neck. As she got closer I realized she had her arms filled with eggs. She was so excited that there were 5 eggs, that she left the coop open and the girls ran for freedom.

I had just finished making my Broccoli Cheddar Soup and my Chicken Pot Pie had a few more minutes in the oven (more on those in another post...MMMM). I grabbed my scrap bowl and headed out to gather the girls. When I have the scrap bowl in hand, they come running!

So, I corralled them into the coop and gave them their scraps and headed back to the house. Only to realize I didn't close the side door on the coop that Cassie left open. Yup...they got their treat and ran for freedom...AGAIN!


"Hey, you got anymore of those scraps?"

Chicken Drama

As you may know, there is some severe weather in our area. Yesterday, Danny was in the back yard securing our trailer and saw this hawk scoping out our chickens! I guess all of it's regular food took cover?! I was mortified at the thought that this hawk wanted my girls for dinner. I couldn't believe how close the hawk was...look at it sitting on the fence thinking, "So close, yet so far!" Makes me a little weary of letting our Chihuahua out doors by himself...YIKES!
If the hawk wasn't enough to worry about, our large chicken out casted one of the babies. We noticed that she was laying on the ground and honestly thought she was dead. As we took a closer look, Penelope was just laying on the ground soaking wet. So, we decided to bring her indoors and clean her up. We gave her a blow dry, which she seemed to like. Then, I remembered coming across some diapers in the car...yes, you know what's next! I cut a hole in the diaper for her tail and strapped it on her! My little Penelope has had an exhausting day, so she's just hanging out and enjoying being warm and dry. I hope that's all the chicken drama for today!

I miss my girls....

As you may know, we are away on vacation and have been for a little over a week. Before we left, I had 3 hens laying and it's been so exciting...we hated to miss the eggs, but out dear friends/neighbor's have been able to enjoy them for us. Tending to my girls has been a pretty big job this time because hurricane Earl brushed the area. My girls had to spend the night in the garage...sure wish I could have seen that! Chrissy is an avid photographer and knew I was missing my girls, so she sent me some pictures. Thanks, Chrissy

What's a chicken grandma called?

It finally happened! One of my girls laid an egg! YIPPY, I'm a chicken-ma! We about fell over laughing because it is literally the size of a shooter marble! We've been getting farm fresh eggs from a friend while we've been waiting for our chickens to lay! So, I decided to take a picture of a regular brown egg next to my chicken's egg! We are curious to see the proportions of the insides.

Busy Backyard

Today the chicks are a month old so we decided to introduce them to the big backyard. They really liked running around and Colin and Cassie had fun trying to keep them corralled. At one point, Cassie did panic because one of the babies ran through the fence!
The next couple of pictures are of some flowers I have around my yard. The lilies are transplants that my neighbor gave me last summer and believe it or not, the wild flowers grew from a box of dollar store mix!
You might be wondering what the next picture is of, well, after the wheat is harvested, the leftover stalks are burned. Since wheat drains the nutrients from the soil, the nitrogen from the ash replenishes it for the next crop. This picture is a field near my house that was burning one evening. It was neat watching the flames crawl across the field.
So, I was picking my garden and like usual it was full of zucchini! I thought I was getting them all, but I must have missed this giant one a couple of times! I couldn't believe how big it was!

Shrinking chickens?

No, my chickens aren't shrinking. I got more...six more! They are tiny little yellow fuzz balls. They are too cute and so funny to watch. They hatched on Thursday and came in the mail on Friday. Believe it or not, they were half this size when they arrived! To give you an idea of how little they are, I snapped a pic of Colin holding one.
The one looking at me in the last photo is so cute! I need help thinking of a caption for this photo. If you have any idea's, please leave me a comment.

Cruisin'

I just thought this was too cute not to post! Cassie and Colin love riding in this jeep. It's no ordinary power wheels jeep! This jeep is special to Colin because it was his 16 year old brother's. Since my hubby is an electrician, he improved on it a bit. For starters, it has a lawn mower battery! If that weren't enough, he also installed a car stereo and speakers, a working car horn, and working head and tail lights! Colin loves to carry his chicken everywhere and today, he decided he would take Maude for a luxury ride!!

What's wrong with this picture?

Up close it's hard to tell what this picture is of. It's my chicken coop...and yes, that mocking bird is on the inside! I haven't a clue how it got in, but it certainly wasn't happy that it couldn't get out! Once I snapped this picture I let it free. It flew to a nearby tree and just made all sorts of racket as if it were saying, "That was close"!

Dusting???

I was warned about this...the lady I bought my chickens from thought she had some sick chickens when she first encountered them behaving this way. It's actually quite funny to see them roll around in the dirt with their legs waving around in the air! What they are doing is called dusting...it's a way for them to clean themselves. Yes, with dirt! The dirt knocks off any bugs or yucky stuff that gets in their feathers and on their skin. When they are all done "dusting" they shake all the dirt off.

All my chicks!

As if I didn't have enough to do with the 3 "chicks" I already have, we decided to add 4 more! Myrtle, Maude, Bernice, and Jenny are our new little Buff Orpington chickens. We have a protable little coop for them and they are so much fun for us all!