Nummies 911

Handprints

Squaring off the Firepit

CHICKENS ARE HERE!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! I finally have chickens!  As someone said to me recently, "You've wanted chickens longer than you've wanted children." How true!

Meet the girls

 

There's Alice, Eartha, Mary and Hazel.  Two Araucanas and two Rhode Island Reds. Here they are a few days old, maybe a week.

 

I bought plans for a coop online at Catawba Coops.

Here is the finished product. Chez Poulet. (More photos in the album labeled Chickens.)

Here they are checking out the roost, or attic as Camille calls it. They are now about 4-5 weeks old.

We have a huge backyard for a city lot. I chose the movable chicken coop, commonly called a chicken tractor because I didn't want to build a permanent structure. I thought this would provide a better way to protect them in the winter and eliminate the need to "shovel chicken poop." There were in a brooder box, and they love being in the back yard so much more.

Our favorite activity so far is chicken football. We throw an earthworm in the coop and one takes it and the others try and get it away from her. They run like crazy until they realize they've fumbled and lost the ball...er, worm.

The cat has lost interest, but the dogs who ignored the chicks inside the house, have now deemed them fair game since their move to the outside. Sadie especially pants at the coop as if to quote the shark on Nemo, "I'm having chicken tonight!!" I took one out and let her sniff it. She did well until she got the tail and then she tried to nibble as if to say, "Just a bite!" We'll keep working on that. Good thing is, she's just as interested in the raccoons that come around so maybe we won't lose a chicken to them either. Besides, I keep reminding her that I'll share the eggs with her soon.

Anna was disappointed to know that the hens won't lay for another 5-6 months. I'm not sure what she was expecting, but it will be exciting to get those first eggs this fall. For now, we got the coop finished and I'll be working on a chicken run later.

I'm a chicken novice, so I welcome any comments or advice.

More than a Mom

I love being a mother more than I ever thought I would. However, that is not my defining measure. I want people to know that there are many things I love. There are many things I am.

I am a

• birth advocate
• baker
• nurse (neonatal and labor & delivery)
• an artist and writer
• gardener
• knitter
• environmentalist

I love

• being outside when the weather is cool
• snow
• sweet confections with a multi-layered texture, such as tiramisu and tarts
• meditating in a new place
• the soft fur of my cat when he snuggles in the morning
• buying new art supplies
• watching a garden grow and produce and then turn back to soil with so little to waste and so much to gain
• seeing a woman give birth on her own terms with no unwanted intervention
• being in the room when a baby is born and takes its first breath
• beginning a new journal even when my last one isn't quite finished
• the thought of raising chickens for eggs
• buying yarn and roving from people who own the animals
• reading about almost everything
  

And while the list is by no means exhaustive, it is a start. Comment on your own interests outside of parenting.