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Taking advantage of the sun & clearing off the huge patio of moss, weeds & leaves/pine needles. Helped by DH & occ. by DD, goats & chickens.

photos!

wow, chickens

So much fun this morning with the chickens. I was told they're Cinnamon Queens, but they're not, as those are a hybrid between Silver Laced Wyandotte with a New Hampshire, but these are White Leghorn, White Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island Red crosses. They're theoretically sex linked, and very pretty, despite having had their beaks clipped.

Polka was pretending to be a chicken this morning, clucking and chirping, "flapping her wings" and "pecking" at her reflection in the waterer with the rest of the chickens. She then danced around them singing "twinkle, twinkle little star" and petting them.

Need to add a T-post to the long edge of their enclosure, and we need to do a little bit of fixing to the coop (making a door/ramp with a way to latch it). The top of the coop opens, and there's a nesting box inside.

Oh, goats and chickens both like honeysuckle leaves. :)

In other news, apparently the rest of Buddy's chickens thought ours were making a break for it, so they dug under the fence and about 2/3 of the 300-odd got out. Buddy and I don't know who all else have taken at least a couple of hours to get them all back in!

Photos to come in a little bit!

Polka is enamored of the chickens. I've about decided their names are Bitty, Marilyn, ZsaZsa and Bea. Bea is still under discussion.

yay, chickens!

We now have 4 Cinnamon Queen hens, and my poultry shears are being used to clip their wings as currently the enclosure doesn't have a top (to be fixed ASAP).

For some reason, I'm surprised at how pretty they are! Hoping to get pics in the morning. :)

I'm very excited as they should start laying in the next week or so, and in theory, we should be getting about an egg a day from each. w00t! Looking forward to lots of VERY fresh eggs! :)

Also, starting next weekend, we'll probably start letting them "free range" during the day. Goats and chickens loose during the day! Should be fun for Polka.

Also, finally started getting sprouts from the seeds I planted almost 2 weeks ago. They were on the glassed in patio, but that's still been only around 45F until the last few days. So far we have lettuce, swiss chard and lavender poking through the soil. Have a ton of tomatoes and peppers planted and a handful of squash, zucchini, melons, cukes and some other herbs planted, but not sprouted yet.

Chickens!

So, over the last few weeks Wilhelm and Buddy have been getting ready for 300-odd chickens out at Buddy's place. They were delivered last Friday, and they got more than anticipated. This, plus my deep-seated desire for chickens on the property has led them to build a run and small hen house behind the cottage. The plan is to keep them in their run for a week or so to get them acclimated, then let them free range, kind of the way we did with the goats.

Oh, the chickens are odd in more than number, apparently they're some sort of cross between 3 breeds.

Wilhelm will get four or five chickens tomorrow, and they should start laying in a week or two.

Still no kids. I'm getting impatient, but I know she'll drop them when she's ready.

This was a post from my phone... no clue what it was supposed to be, but it wasn't. Same with the last post. Weirdness!