Chicken Mayhem

My husband hates chickens and has been firm in his emphatic "NO!" every time they would come up. But a man who can buy cars more often than he changes his toothbrush, well, I can't say I feared pushing the issue. So I pushed.

I laid my plans, bought the wood and asked him questions every two seconds (where's the hammer? do you have a staple gun? do we need screws? how and where should I put up a cross brace? etc). And because of my importunity, he took my case. You see how much he loves me!

Well, we have chickens. And yes, they are just as stupid as all the people, blogs and websites have claimed. However, even my husband gets a chuckle out of them from time to time. These are not meat birds, nor are they a money-making venture. These are simply a way to have fresh eggs so we don't have to go to the store quite as often. We are egg fiends around here! Plus, it's just kinda fun. =)

Here are the kids in late May with our five girls. We got three Australorps(black) and two Ameracaunas(brown). The Australorps were a huge fav of mine after reading all about them, they lay over 300 eggs a year, are friendly, not too broody, winter hardy, you get the drift. And the Ameracaunas I got for a bit of change and interest. They only lay moderately and small eggs at that. But I have to say, cheek and chin whiskers and all, they are really friendly!

We began to build the coop after the chicks began to fly out of their box. It's the only way I get things done, I have to force my own hand! So I built the coop with help from Shane and Marian along the way.

After we put this together on the driveway, we carried it to the far corner of the yard and later I stained it for sun/water protection.

We placed their coop over luxuriant weeds and grass, but in about a week they reduced it to dust and poop. However, I was quickly beating fence posts into the ground with my husbands 33lb bench press weights. So I got the fence up and now the girls can roam without ruining our yard or the soles of my husbands shoes.

I'm in the process of coaxing raspberries to live and become hearty in this high desert, hence the shovel and fertilizer... we'll see how that goes. But here's a shot of the coop nestled in the corner of the yard next to my raised garden bed. Now, there are plants in the raised bed, but I ran out of "oomph" in getting it filled with dirt. Maybe next year the dirt will be higher. I can only get to so many projects at once!

Lucas took a shot of me with one of the Australorps, who protested vociferously about being embraced. But at least we can pretend for a moment that she's domesticated!

And in typical fashion, here I am on the phone doing whatever it is I'm doing. This chick is BCOS, Brynna Cora Olivia Stafford. I call her "my girl". She's so sweet and follows me around like we're buds. She has the most charming beard and cheek tufts that stick out on the sides.

Check out all her majesty! This was the best pic of her face from the batch Lucas took.

Here is the best pix of the day, though. I found this gem amongst the pictures Lucas took of blurry chickens, my feet, clouds and the compost heap. This is actually a typical view for Lucas, since the wild sunflowers are way over his head. Some are over mine, but none of them are backdropped against the sky like this. I love it and made it my desktop!

That's our chicken escapades so far. They should be old enough to lay eggs come October, so we'll be sure to take pictures of that! Our brown girls lay green eggs, our black girls lay brown. So we'll have lots of color! And when the girls are full grown, we expect some pretty large birds. And maybe we can teach them a few tricks! =)