Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Bird Flu!




Not really. Just a virus. Computer virus that is :-). One of our banks called today. Somehow they noticed a virus on my computer when I made a transaction yesterday. It's a bad one. Something that can't be removed by regular anti-virus software. ING has a client for life. If they had not notified us we could have ended up with a real problem on our hands.

Back to the girls! They love being in the coop. If it would ever stop raining they would really get to enjoy the run. Even in the rain they are out there walking around and pecking everything in sight. We give them treats to keep them happy and busy. The favorites so far are yogurt and watermelon.



The nights have been cool so we have a light on inside the coop. They like to huddle together in one of the nesting boxes. It's pretty cute.




Lunch is almost totally feathered out now. Dinner isn't far behind, just some stomach feathers to go. Breakfast is finally starting to catch up. Overnight her chest filled out. She is in that dinosaur phase the others were in a couple weeks ago.




Tomorrow we say a final good bye to our friend Don. Skipper lost his battle with cancer last week. We'll think of him on those summer days that are perfect for sailing, when enjoying Italian food and sipping his favorite, "glass of the house Cabernet". 1230 GO.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Hallelujah! The coop is here.








The girls have been in the guest room for 3 weeks now. That was enough for us. Them too. They were really starting to get bored. Letting them run around on the carpet a few times a day just wasn't cutting it. The coop arrived via tractor trailer Wednesday night. Steve and Peter were able to assemble it in just a few hours. At 350lbs, it was harder than it looked.









They will be locked in the "house" portion at night and allowed to choose either inside or out during the day. A night light will keep the indoor temp in the 70's until they get all of their feathers.


Norman and Spencer are beside themselves. Norman is much less concerned than Spencer. Lots of barking, panting, and digging. We are hoping they get better over time. A few visits on leashes and training collars should help too.






Just need to work out some summer screens for the side door, running electricity up from the pond and naming the coop!






Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Food for thought....sort of




Nearly a month old and the girls are doing well. Lots of rapid physical growth as well as bonding going on. They are still skittish, but happy to be affectionate on their own terms. They like to hop up on your lap and sit for a while. They especially like to peck at my ring or freckles on my arm.

As much as we've enjoyed getting little fuzzy chicks to care for and watch grow, we will never go the hatchery/feed store route again. Only local farms and rescues for us. I've spent some time on line researching how to properly care for the chickens we have. That has led me to learn more than I ever wanted to know about production hatcheries, egg farms, battery hens, and meat birds. Here is a quick and VERY mild excerpt from one site. www.brittonclouse.com/chickenrunrescue#hatcheries . I've been reading "The Omivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan (http://www.michaelpollan.com/ ). I highly recommend this book. I think if everyone was aware of where their food actually comes from, we might make different choices. One more link and I will get off my soap box. I'm not sure I will see the movie, but this is an interesting op-ed. www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/opinion/21kristof.html .




Thursday, June 18, 2009

Talk'n 'bout an Evolution


Lunch, our suspected roo is looking like quite the little dinosaur. You can't see enough detail in the pictures to appreciate the drastic change in the birds from day to day. They are getting bigger by the minute. Breakfast is adding feathers much slower than the others but she is catching up in overall size. Excuse the red picture. The heat lamp has a red bulb.


The girls are getting more comfortable with us. They still don't like being held but they will eat out of your hand, especially if offering them some fresh grass from the lawn. They'll hop out of the brooder and walk around the room but don't like to be too far from home. Dinner, the dark colored Easter Egger (EE) is the most friendly. She hops over to see you when you open the brooder and seems to be the most curious of the trio.
We would have loved to build the coop ourselves. There are so many cute and fun ideas out there. We aren't that handy so we've ordered ours from a small builder who uses sustainable lumber and Eco-friendly paint. It should ship this week from Michigan and take 3 or 4 days to get here. They will need the heat lamp until the night time temps stay in the high 60's consistently. A picture of the coop style is below. Ours will be white.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Cockadoodle Boo

I'm starting to think that Lunch (I think. Peter hasn't decided yet. Anyway the big buff Orpington) is a rooster. "She" is starting to show a little comb already. Orpington hens have combs so this could be fine, I just feel like she is too young to have one already. Maybe she is 3 weeks old rather than 2? This would be terrible for a couple of reasons. First, no eggs and second, our poor neighbors. We have neighbors that are rather close to us and in one case who's veggie garden will be about 30 feet from the coop. Although we try to be good neighbors, these people put up with Norman and his barking habit without complaint. Adding a roo to the mix is too much to ask. We wont know for sure for another month or maybe even two. I'm going to try and be positive that they are all hens and go from there. Eeeks.


Lots of feathers as we enter our third week. Especially on Lunch and Dinner. Breakfast is still quite fluffy but her wings work! Her breed is slow to develop but she is getting bigger. Probably twice the size she was a week ago. I posted a video last week but it takes so long to load that it's useless. Just pictures this time.


We put a little roost in the temporary coop. They love it. I can't seem to get a picture of all three on it at once. They are also enjoying scratching around in and eating some grass. Hopefully the coop will arrive this week and we can get them outside. Getting them out of the house would be great I'm sure they will be happier and the pictures will be better too.













Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner it is....





Peter was nice enough to give in and let me have a few chickens so I'm giving in on the names. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner it is. Peter has decided that Breakfast is the little yellow one ( the Brahma). The jury is still out on who is Lunch and who is Dinner.

It is amazing what a difference just a couple of days make. Breakfast is definitely changing, but L&D have really started to feather out, especially on their wings (see pics). We took them out in the sun for the first time yesterday. After about five minutes a neighbor was approaching with their dog so we decided to call it quits. We are trying to keep them from actually being "breakfast, lunch, or dinner".
Seth and I are off to DC to visit Kara for a few days. Peter will hold down the fort and menagerie until the weekend.















Saturday, June 6, 2009

Berk Berk Berk!!


















HANG'N WITH OUR PEEPS!

We're turning the crazy notch "to eleven" here in Groveland. As if two 80lb dogs and a toddler weren't enough fun, we've added 3 chickens (hens) to the mix. Peter is lovingly referring to the girls as Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner but I'm thinking more along the lines of Blanche, Rose and Dorothy. We'll have to see how that plays out. We picked them up at the local feed store today. The two smaller hens (The Brahma is light yellow & Easter Egger/Araucana is the dark chick) are about a week old. The larger hen, a Buff Orpington seems to be a little over two weeks old although they were not totally sure. The Orpington and Brahma are brown egg layers while the Easter Egger is a hybrid that will lay a green or blue egg. We have a couple weeks until the coop arrives. Between now and then they will feather out in a sun dome we have set up in the guest room. We'll be keeping track of their growth and progress in this blog. We hope to post new pictures and updates every couple of days. Please check back often and watch the progression from fuzzy chick to mature hen. Seth is already excited beyond belief.



In a few months the chickens probably wont be as exciting as they are right now. Once they are grown, well keep this blog going with pictures and updates of all things Seth and Marchant family related. Please cyber stalk us on a regualr basis. All for now. Stay tuned...........