Wow, its New Year's Eve...hope everyone is having a great last day of the year.  Here in beautiful Northern California, the Sun is shining and I have been working in my garden, cleaning up leaves and debris and getting all ready for a brand new year.  I am sending love and best wishes to all my friends and family and pray the new year will be healthy and prosperous for all.  My chickies continue to give me pleasure and eggs, what more could I ask for from them.  My Patti is doing a little better with her Chemo and I figured out today and she will be done with all her treatments by her birthday and be cancer free once more.  Love to all from the coop.

Merry Christmas from the Coop

December 22nd, how did that happen, LOL.  Gave the chickens their Christmas present a little early, its Cracked Chicken Scratch and boy do they love it.  I can't feed them from my hand with this because I would not have a had left, they are kinda greedy for it and boy can they eat fast.

Here are a couple pics of them enjoying their gift and their coop decked out for the holidays.  I have been "keeping the light on" til about 8:30 or 9:00 each night and they have rewarded me by going back to laying 4 eggs a day!

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year.  We are still dealing with my daughter's breast cancer, now in Chemo and hating it, but trying to remember that along with the nausea is the knowledge that the drugs are doing a number on any wandering cancer cells.

Happy Holidays!

Halloween is Tomorrow?!

My family has had a very difficult time since my last post, as my youngest daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has had her surgery and is recovering well, and will now face chemo therapy.  We are all praying for her and expect a full recovery!   

As for the chickies, they just keep me busy, not caring about the events in my "real life".  My clever husband came up with an idea to fence off part of our yard so that the chickens are happy and my lawn is MUCH happier, tee hee.  They still have plenty of room and are very happy with the new "gated community".

And, to make things even better, they are donating four eggs a day, every day, its like magic!  There is nothing better than opening the lid on the nest box and seeing a daily surprise!

And the daily trip allows me to see the glory of the fall colors, even if I do live in California, like God sprinkling a little magic in my life.  

We had our first Fall rain over the weekend, not much, but just enough to make it seem that Fall is really here.  It inspired me to get busy on my papercrafting and so I made this Fall card for everyone.  I hope you enjoy the beautiful season as much as I do.  Enjoy.

Friday the 13th!

Wow, sorry to be so long in posting.  Life sometimes gets in the way.  But, apparently my chickens, or at least one of them, totally believes in the Friday the 13th myth, cuz it seemed to have scared the "EGG" out of her.  I mean, come on, we have all heard of "super size me", but this borders on chicken abuse, don't you think?  Or perhaps a goose sneaked into the coop just to mess with my head.  Anyway, here are a few pics of Ms. Meringue's latest marvel!  I mean we will have to create a new egg name because "jumbo" just won't do, will it?

Wow, how can it be AUGUST ?  The days are flying by this summer.  I guess because I am getting a new kitchen which is wonderful and fabulous and . . . SLOW.  So I am camping out, sort of, by cooking on the camp stove in the back yard, which my chickies love, and make much noise about.

The other day, I learned that chickies ALL holler when anyone lays an egg, and boy did they holler loud!  When I went out to gather the offerings, I found a GIANT egg laid just for me....I have not used it yet, but it has to be at least a double yolk.  This would make number two of double yolks for Ms. Meringue, my white chicken, who, by the way is more of a soot color this summer from all the dust baths she has been having....if you have not already purchased your chicks, stay clear of white, cuz it doesn't stay that way.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and, like me, way too busy having fun to blog...LOL.

Happy Birthday....to me!  What a great birthday gift, Ms. Souffle presented me with her FIRST egg, a pale blue-green beauty, kinda small, but it is her first.  And, her bunkmate, Ms. Meringue also gifted me with her daily egg.  Wow, two eggs a day, what a great start to a yummy breakfast.  Check out the proud gifters:

Hooray!  Finally!  We have eggs!  So far, it appears that only one chickie is laying eggs, I ASSUME its either Ms. Meringue or Ms. Quiche because the Easter Eggers are supposed to lay blue/green eggs, but you know about "assume".  Anyway, one day I had two eggs, one big and one little, the next day, two the same size and color, the third day nothing, etc.  I think the ladies are just trying to get the hang of this, so I am being patient (not), until everyone joins in.

The other news is that the chickies are screaming...I can't think of any other way to say it.  They are so very LOUD in the morning its unbelievable.  I think they are announcing the arrival of the eggs, but who knows?

Well, since my kitchen is gone, yes we are remodeling, I have been a little lax in the blog area, but soon the kitchen will be done (August?), and things will get back to semi-normal around here.

Here is a pic of two of the first eggs!

Where has the time gone?

Wow, I can't believe the 4th of July has come and gone.  I guess it must be summer because it hit 112 here in Northern California.  The good news is that the chickens are not "fried" and the heat wave has finally broken...it is a balmy 90 something today and it feels great.

The chickens have developed a new skill which I don't think I am too happy about.  They have become escape artists!  No matter how hard I try to "pen them in" just part of the back-yard, they still manage to show up in the "wrong" half.  They climb and fly over short fences and wiggle between bushes that seem way to tight to get through and love to walk on the retaining wall just outside my family room window as if to say, "hey, your coop is nicer than ours, what's up with that?"

So, I am off to the back-yard, again, to try to figure out the escape route this time!  I really wouldn't mind giving them free range to the whole yard, which is what they really want, except I wish they would stay off the patio because what they leave behind gets really slippery on my Spanish tile patio!

Meanwhile, on the egg front, there are none!  The nice lady at the feed store said that no matter what the internet says, chickens don't lay eggs until they are at least 6 months old, which would put it about August 20th or so, as far as I can determine.  So, I am off to the store to BUY eggs, how wrong is that!

Happy Father's Day

Just a quick post this Sunday because it is Father's Day and lots to do.  But I just had to share with you that chickens do NOT like sprinklers.  My chickens have been exploring more and more of my backyard, which is kinda broken into two main areas.  Anyway, they wandered over to the "other side" this morning, just about the time the sprinklers came on.  Well, they were trapped!  They all huddled over in the veg garden (a no no for sure), but still it seemed way to close to the water, after all, they will melt.  So, the bravest of the brave took flight!  She flew up and onto the wooden umbrella I have set up over my blueberry bushes.  It is covered with BIRD netting for obvious reasons.  Since it is an umbrella, it does move slightly in the breeze and just after these photos she flew up ON THE ROOF of the house!  Since I was shocked, I did not take any pictures of the actual flight and soon after she hopped off the roof where it is low and onto the terraced lawn.  Then they ALL made haste to the safety of the run and the coop and I am sure had many tales to tell one another.

Since I did feel sorry for them, I offered my last night's dinner left-overs from Panda Express, which was, ta da CHICKEN-fried rice.  I know what you are thinking, its wrong, but, they loved it!

Pedicures...hmmm, not something you would think you would read about in a Chicken blog right?  Well, I have learned, the hard way, that chickens think pretty red toenails are....edible!  And, in case you are wondering, yes, it does hurt to get your pinkie toe pecked by a chicken. 

Anyway, yesterday it was 108 degrees here in Northern California and my poor chickens just hid out in the shade and survived.  But today, the temp has dropped almost twenty degrees and they are out and about and running like crazy!  It's as if they are saying, thank goodness its cooler today.    Although the heat was not so great for chickens (or humans for that matter), my bougainvillea vine LOVED the heat and is putting out several blooms...I think it will look great in a month or less!

 and despite the heat, the hydrangea is putting out giant flower heads!

 And, I did learn something new about chickens, besides the ban on red nail polish.  They never go far from each other.  I put out a tray of some feed to try to get a decent picture of one chicken and before I could pick up the camera, they all came running over, knocked over the feed and pushed and shoved to get the best bite, even though its all the same.  And of course, Ms Bossy had to stand tall and tell everyone what to do.

And, just when you think they couldn't get any cuter, they all waddled off together to take a nap in the shade.  And before you ask, no eggs yet!

Wow, time flies, doesn't it?  I can't believe that tomorrow is Memorial Day already.  We have begun to think about camping and leaving our "girls" alone for a few days, with our real "girls" as caretakers.  And, feeding the chickies is kinda a pain every day.  On top of that, they can't seem to eat without depositing pine shavings and you know what in the feeder.  Enter my clever husband!  He bought some PVC pipe and connectors and made an auto chickie feeder and hung it from the door, up off the ground so it was harder for them to make a, ah, "deposit"...LOL.

Here are a couple pics, here is where you put the food in:

Then, here is where it is attached, to the door on the inside:

And a close up:

and it took the chickies about two minutes to figure out how to eat our it!

Dave was smart enough to be sure it was not UNDER the perch because, well, you know why.

by the way, the "girls" are getting quite big, here is a picture of them eating out of our hands to give you an idea.  they eat so fast, sometimes they are just a blur in the camera!

Have a wonderful holiday everyone.

My little chickies are now 10 weeks old, 2 1/2 months already, hard to believe.  They are so big and so busy.  Today was coop cleaning day (not my favorite, I will admit), but 10 minutes and done, so I shouldn't complain.  Here is a picture of what a clean coop looks like, look quick because it won't stay this way for long.

Keeping the floor covered with pine shavings makes cleaning a snap, just rake it out and start over, LOL.

The chickens are beginning to get nicknames, and one is Ms. Bossy because wherever she goes, everyone runs to catch up....guess that's the way of the pecking order.  The good news about having your white chicken designated as Ms. Bossy is that you can FIND your other chickens because she is white and everyone always hangs with her....otherwise, I would never find the others, especially the "twins".  Now honestly, would YOU have found her under the wheelbarrow, if Ms. Bossy was not there?

As for the "twins", they really do look different from one another, sort of like real twins.  Ms. Souffle's feathers are much more colorful than Ms. Omelet, and Ms. Souffle holds her tail feathers in a neat wedge shape...hmmm, maybe she should be called Dorothy Hammel?  Wow, I need a life.

And the final nickname has to be "Legs" because Ms. Quiche certainly has some...I am afraid she is going to be a nine foot tall chicken if she doesn't stop growing.  But she is the most gentle and most friendly of the flock and always comes and eats out of my hand and comes when called.  She is finally becoming a young lady and is much more attractive than she was in her teens....

As a side-note, the yard is looking fantastic, no wonder the little chickies (I guess they need a new group name), are loving it too.

Bye from the coop.

Free Range!

Wow, how much do chickens love to free range?  Well, I just have to walk NEAR the coop in the morning and they are yelling to get out.  Its like when you take a bag of potato chips camping and when you get to the camp, the bag just bursts open.  They all try to be first out the door...LOL.  Here are some pics of us enjoying the experience.....

And, poor Dave.  He has been trying to re-do the bad plaster job on the top pond of our three-tiered waterfall, but the girls are so curious...they want to be in the middle of everything!