homeofthebudds

Chickens who sleep in trees...

...are prone to a bit of frost.

(Dave took these pictures by the way)

"Whatchyou lookin at??"

The chickens

A raccoon has discovered our chickens.

Dave has taken to locking the chickens up in their coop again. Yesterday he worked from home and got them put away before they made their way to the tops of the trees.

Tonight, the chickens had been in the trees for at least an hour before he made it home. I, of course, had forgotten all about the poor birds.

So, Dave - concerned chicken owner that he is, got out the ladder, his gloves, a flashlight & a couple jackets and was up in our trees (near the power lines!!!) "coaxing" the chickens (aka tossing them) down to Ellen to put into the coop. I was pretty amazed at his chicken dedication.

 

Silly chickens

We decided it was time to confine the chickens a bit more, so Dave built them a nice chicken pen.

I'm pretty excited to have the back deck back.

Speaking of which, does anyone have a pressure washer I can borrow?

In other chicken news, the new set like to perch up on the fence at night. They've been doing this for weeks and only once did I have to rescue one from the other side of the yard.

Some of them like to go a little higher than the back fence.

Way up in the sky high.

See it up there? About an inch from the top of the picture?

There were five up there and three of them were perched up higher than this one.

Silly chickens.

in which the chicks get to experience the great outdoors for the first time ever

Our new set of chicks got to see the sun last weekend.

They had lots of supervision.

For those of you who have never had chickens, you can't put chicks and grown chickens together - let's just say the grown chickens aren't exactly friendly and welcoming to a new set. You know that term "pecking order"? It comes from chickens.

So, our lovely Brownie and Chocolate Chip were sequestered for the big field trip.

They kept a close eye on the newbies and pondered things like:

"Why is this grass so high?"

"I wonder if it will ever be cut again?"

They didn't have to wonder long. I felt their disdain for my dismal lawn mowing lately and cut it right down.

After the chicks went home, of course.

Ellen's interest in the chickens has been renewed. Rather surprisingly, at least to me. She's been going out to take them fresh water in the mornings, and to bring back the frozen bowl from the day before. This morning she came back to tell me she was going to sit by Chocolate (her same favorite chicken with a new special name) while she was laying, because she (Chocolate) wanted someone near her and no one else was. So she bundled up properly and informed me "it might be an hour or so" before she returns.

I sincerely hope Chocolate is appreciating her (Ellen's) new found dedication.

*updated: Ellen just let me in on the new wintertime nickname for her beloved Chocolate Chip: Hot Chocolate.

will they or won't they?

The kids and I were experimenting with paper bag kites, trying to determine if they really would fly. Isaiah thought tying it around his waste to run might be the most effective way to go.

Brennan thought waving it around might work well...

Hmmmmm. The chasing the chicken method does not seem to be getting the kite very high up at all.

Blackie is obviously not amused.

Dave was an enthusiastic cheering section, regardless.

(In case you're wondering, the answer is No. Paper bag kites don't really go anywhere. This might have something to do with only giving the kids about three feet of string. Possibly.)

Now, that my friends, is a big egg.

It's at least twice the size of a normal egg. It doesn't fit in the egg carton holder. That poor chicken.

Dude!

I totally forgot to mention that we are now roosterless!

These two joined our group and with the others were named "Molly". As they matured, some names were changed. One white chicken became "Snowy". The other, "Agressive White." Later, Snowy was renamed "Bothersome White". At this very moment they probably have new names as they have gone to a nice man's house in Portland who doesn't think his neighbors will mind their cock-a-doodle-dooing. I hope he's right.

We were outside trying to cool off and being slightly silly.

Brennan wanted to pick a flower since Zaiah got to, but his looked a little different.

I'm not sure what he saw...

but it was not good.

Ahhh, rest. Cool, sweet rest.

But wait, what's this??

Two Mollys (aka Brownies) found a way into the front yard and decided to come join our little party.

They were quite excited about all the new plants to chew on. Mmmm mmm.

A multitude of chicken photos

They loooove melon rinds.

And sitting in dry leaves and dirt.

I'm gonna be patient and find out for sure, but those white ones are looking more and more like roosters to me.

mmmmm...honeydew!

These two seem to be buddies. While the other four go roost inside the coop, these two are here, side by side, every single night.