Backyard Update

Chicks have turned 6 weeks old on Father's Day (June 15, 2014).  Time flies.  I have not been able to keep up with the blog.  It's been almost 3 weeks since my last entry. ^^;  Chicks are not the only thing that have grown in that time...

Here's a pic of Sage at 5+ weeks.  They have outgrown the old watering bowl.  I have bought the larger waterer.  It is placed slightly raised above ground level, but it still gets dirty from the chicks bathing in the dirt, kicking it everywhere.

Mocha and Vanilla at 5+ weeks, with Chaba the cat photo bombing.  LOL  She and a couple of cats just can't get enough of the chicks.  ^^;

Swiss Chard in the Spring Veggies Box looking beautiful.  My salad greens have started bolting in the heat.  Various flowers are about to bloom.  I kind of have fun watching them grow flowers.  Adds to the color.

Because it has gotten so hot, the broccolis have no time but form a rather small head before buds start to open.  This is what you have to deal with when you have a rather short spring (and late start in the garden).  ^^;

Because it is consistently in the 90s for mid-day high these days, I have a record short pea plants.  At least they're producing.  ^^;

I have some chrysanthemums interplanted in the Summer Veggies Box and found these baby ladybugs.  They're good for eating aphids that are bothering the broccoli plants.

The "Indigo Rose" tomato plants have fruits forming. :D  Purple on top and green at the bottom.  More fruits are forming.  The plant is still rather small...

The "German Queen" heirloom tomato that was planted way back in the old garden plot with plenty of room.  We have the tomato support, and on the outside of it, chicken wire fencing to protect from our free-ranging chickens.    Last year, we had a tomato plant grow wide in the SFG box and it was touching the fence.  Chickens were pecking on the tomato fruits through the fence material.  They do like tomatoes.  At any rate, this tomato plant is doing well.  Currently about 18 inches tall.

The sunflowers along the back fence line are doing well.  Most are about 10 inches tall and have been thinned once.  When they reach a foot tall, I will thin them again for 1 per spot.  They are still so short, compared to the volunteer sunflowers that grew from last year's seeds.  I have neighbors with sunflowers that are already blooming, too.  ^^;

Hubby and I made an exciting addition to our baby coop - a chicken run! :D  It's 8 feet long and 2 feet wide.  Connects to the end access door of the coop we purchased.  This is painted to match the coop.  It's been a big hit with the babies.  Sage was the first to come out past the threshold and venture out into the new run.  I see the girls running back and forth.  They do some funny hop-step-jump kind of stunts, and do a lot of chest bump with running starts. XD   It seems Sage has established herself as the boss bird of the three.  Brave and inquisitive, despite her small size.   These last two photos were taken today.

Mocha is starting to develop a rather cool pattern.  She also seems to be growing crest-like feathers on the sides of her head.  After the run was set up and the babies were venturing out, Dorito, once again, acted all annoyed and upset, squawking like a rooster, trying to peck at the little ones through the wirecloth...  The babies were just so curious about the big ladies that roam freely around them.

At the end of June, they will be 8 weeks old and we will be switching their food from 'chick starter' to the 'grower' type.  Although they seem to have grown so much since they first arrived, they're still a fraction of the fully-mature chickens in size.  But these babies will most likely start laying eggs at about 5 months, which will be end of September. :D

Chicks at 3 Weeks

Time flies when you're having fun!  The chicks seem to grow so fast, too.  Now they're 3 weeks old as of Sunday, May 25, 2014, and going through the awkward stage of half down/half feather look. Vanilla's 'chirp' is also starting to sound less like the chick and just 'oddly older'.

Sage standing on the inverted glass inside the waterer.  Feeling tall and adventurous as always.

We haven't seen a lot of chest-bumping like we saw with the first flock 2 years ago.  We have seen a little bit of that go on between Vanilla and Mocha, but it seems that the pecking order has already been established among these girls.  Vanilla, being the biggest of the three, is the boss bird.  And Sage, being the smallest, seems perfectly OK at the bottom of the pecking order.  They don't peck at one another at all, even when a treat of fresh green is offered.  Sage is the most fearless and friendly, so she gets to the treat first, while the larger, but more timid girls are perfectly happy checking  to make sure everything is safe before jumping in.

Vanilla and Mocha.  Pretty feathers are coming in.

Not only more of their feathers are coming in and they look more like chickens than chicks, a start of their comb is visible.  Since they're still chicks, the beginning of their tiny combs look yellow like the beaks.

Here, you can see Sage's 'baby comb'.  Of the three, Vanilla and Mocha are Easter Eggers, so they will have what they call 'pea combs' - just a much smaller, 'crumbled' kind of comb, and their wattles (these flappy things under the chins of the chickens) will be hidden with their feathers.  Sage, on the other hand, will have visible comb and wattles.

The baby girls are healthy, active, and friendly.  Chickens are such joy!!  As I've said before, the eggs are just the bonus of keeping chickens as pets, I feel. ^_^  The little ones are quite good at "flying".  They can go straight up from the ground level to the top of the ramp by flying.  They sometimes do the same coming down.  Having fun with shortcuts... just because!

Now, off to the garden pics.  This season, I have minions of chamomile all around the herb box.  They were the volunteer plants that germinated from seeds dropped from last year's cluster that I grew from seeds.  I love the scent of this herb and I wouldn't mind if we end up with an even larger patch... :D

The clusters of Sweet Williams (Dianthus) by the goldfish pond are doing well, too.  We had more rain than usual this spring and everything in the backyard is really enjoying it (although we had a much later start of spring growing season due to harsh winter and late cold snaps well into May).

Our goldfish pond is small, but we have a waterlily, which seems to be spreading just fine.  After a ho-hum performance last year, it's coming back with vigor this spring.  We've already had 5 blooms and more are on the way.

Had a terribly late start on the peas.  I almost gave up on the idea of spring veggies altogether.  By the time it was finally starting to warm up, it was already April, and we still had multiple killing frosts after that.  These guys were planted in April, and just now starting to really take off.  But now the temperature is expected to reach 90 degrees for daily highs...  I'll probably get some shade cloth for these.

After not planting window boxes for 2 seasons, finally got some new boxes for my birthday at the end of April.  Got a little crazy shopping for flowers and the extra flowers found their way into pots in the backyard.  I have them inside the fenced-in area for now to keep them safe from the older chickens that free range.

In the front yard, on both sides of the walkway, we have bachelor's buttons that I don't remember planting.  Not only do I not remember planting the seeds, these guys have managed to get 3 1/2 to 4 feet in height.  I've never seen them grow quite so tall.  The bees love these flowers and there's a hum of them all day long in the front yard near these clumps.  Spring is such a beautiful time of the year~!!

The vegetables (3 tomatoes, 2 eggplants, 1 sweet bell pepper) have been planted this weekend.  I've decided to plant "German Queen" alone in the old garden area way back by herself since it's an heirloom and heirlooms have done rather poorly in the past in SFG boxes in my backyard.  The other hybrid tomatoes are in the SFG  boxes with different veggies.

Almost finished with the planting for the season, with the roses and delphinium finally in the bed in the front, annual bed has been planted, and the sunflower fence in the back has also been sown.  Now we have two large pots and a dedicated flower SFG to plant.  My husband is building another SFG box, which will also require protection from our free-ranging chickens (fence time!), so I still don't have all the details figured out yet.  It's a work-in-progress. :D

Chicks Have Arrived!

For the second time, I was picking up the supplies for the chicken brooder at Walmart (thermometer, water bowl, heat lamp bulb, etc.) when my phone rang and it was the local post office letting me know that my chicks have arrived and they're ready to be picked up.  :D  The most exciting kind of phone call!  It's also kind of fun to go to the back of the post office and ring the service bell and get to go into the receiving and sorting area.   I saw a double boxed package with round holes and heard it chirping~!!  It's always a good sign when they sound strong and demanding in the box. LOL

I hurried home and set up the brooder in a hurry.  Put the light bulb in the fixture, put the pine shavings on the floor, place the thermometer, put the feed and water out.  Always last minute.  I don't know how this is always the case... ^^;

I tried to open to box inside the house to take a peek, but as soon as I got to the inner box's lid, I could see the little one trying to jump out.  And of course, the cats started to congregate as soon as they heard the chirping, I had to bring the box outside to the coop and open it inside there.

I was thrilled to see one Easter Egger chick that was light yellow with patches of grey on top.  Looks a lot like how Coco looked as a chick! :D  And the other Easter Egger chick is brown and black, so I'm guessing that she'll look like Fiona. :D  The dark girl already has the fluffy cheeks!!  So adorable~!!  This one was not as sure-footed as the other girls, so I was a bit worried, but she found water right away, and perked up very quickly after a drink and pecking on the crumbs.  All good!

The two Barred Plymouth Rock girls are tiny, but full of engergy.  They look practically egg-size.  So cute!  Frigglish was our first Barred Plymouth Rock chicken and she was exceptionally sweet and smart, so we're hoping the new girls will have similar temperament.  (Our previous Easter Egger, Coco, had a wonderfully sweet personality, too.  Always jumping on me and talking to me. ^_^)

The morning sun was behind me and I could only open the door a crack, so it was a little hard to get good pictures, but I'll keep trying.  To the left are the two Easter Egger girls, that will lay green or blue-green eggs, and the black with light yellow chicks are the Barred Plymouth Rock babies, that will lay brown eggs.  It's always amazing to see how active these chicks are.  Running and jumping at such young age. ^_^

Chickens Are Now 4 Weeks Old

   Our chickens are now 4 weeks old.  Hard to believe it has been that long since they came to our house.  Here's a picture of four of our five chicks (The black one to the left is Frigglish.  The black one next to her is Tapioca.  The light one in the upper right corner is Coco.  And the brown and tan color one in the lower left is Dorito.  Missing from the shot is Puccini.).

   Here's a good look at Puccini.  Her body is pretty much covered with nice feathers except for her neck and head.  She still has fine downs in these areas and looks a little funky. *giggles*  Her face is starting to show some pink colors (will eventually be red) as the comb is starting to grow.  The white-ish blur in the foreground is Coco barging in onto my arm at the last second to photo-bomb.  She is so 'in your face' with everything she does...

   Right after the previous shot, she 'confronts' the camera. XD  My kitty, Marshmallow, looks on right outside the run.

   Frigglish sitting on my knee, perfectly well-behaved.  This girl is so sweet.  She was the first one to warm up to us and never complained being handled by us.  Such a good girl!  We love Frigglish.

   Tapioca, looking pretty.  She is another one that really warmed up to me in the past week.  She likes to sit on my shoulder as I clean their coop.  Very calm, content, friendly, and trusting.  Sweet bird!  She will be all black at maturity.  Should be gorgeous.

   They are growing fast and very healthy, judging from their behavior.  They like coming out of the coop when it's bright and warm outside.  They are scared by the cats lunging onto the chicken wire every so often, but they run quite fast.  It's fun to see them run around when one of them has something in the mouth that everyone wants ... like a piece of leafy green. XD  Chicken football.

Chicks Are Now Two Weeks Old

   It's been two weeks since we got the chicks.  They are all healthy and growing so fast. They look more and more like small chickens than chicks now that they have feathers instead of fluffy downs that made them look so adorable as baby chicks.  But they have become so tame and friendly, it's so fun to go inside the run in the morning and open the coop door for them to come outside.  They usually jump on my feet and arms as if to say "Hi, Mom!"  Just adorable!!

   Tapioca, sitting on my hand.  They don't mind being picked up now, but most of the time, they just jump on us as if we are their perches.  Their feet feel so warm on our skin (Chicken's body temperature is around 102F degrees.).

   Coco.  She is the Easter Egger, which will lay blue/green eggs.  Her feet look kind of green.  And she is the only one that has 'cheeks'.  Cute.

   They come and go and switch places.   Here, I've got Dorito, Frigglish, and Tapioca.  Photo-bombing in the background is my kitty, Marshmallow.

   At one point, I had four chicks on my left arm.  They like to jump and sit on our arms so much. ^^;  Their little claws leave small scratch marks on my skin, but they don't hurt.  I guess it's just dry skin. lol  XD

Fun with Chicks

   It has been warm and sunny lately and some of the chicks have been flapping their wings and jumping to the top edge of the brooder walls, we decided to let them out into the run section of their coop to get some outside experience and exercise.  Chicks seem to love the dirt.  Dorito immediately started sand bathing like a seasoned pro.  We couldn't believe how good at it she was, digging and kicking with her leg and tossing the dirt with her wings onto herself.  They are only a little over a week old and so capable. :D

   They also figured out the exit ramp (a piece of board we put to the coop door) quite well.  The little feet walking up and down the ramp are so cute.  Some of them also just 'fly' off from mid point of the ramp, flapping their wings.  One jumped right off from the coop door and landed clear across on the far wall.  They can kind of 'fly' already.   So cute.

   Our kitties are definitely curious about the little birds in the big cage.  Although I was surprised to see that none of them have been having the 'chatter teeth' reaction to seeing the birds, like they usually do when they see sparrows and doves in the backyard.  They seem to know that these chicks belong to the humans and they are somehow special.  Every time I let the chicks out, the cats gather around the chicken coop and watch.  They have no idea how big these chicks are going to be. *giggles*  Some of our kitties will weight less than the grown hens at maturity.  Puccini is a Buff Orpington, so she will weigh about 7 pounds as a hen, and even more as a rooster (in case she was misidentified as a female as a day-old chick...  It happens.).

   The chicks love the chopped Swiss chard from the Square Foot Garden box in the backyard.  They go crazy pecking on the chopped pieces and stepping all over the bowl -- the little girls have no manners when it comes to food. XD  I'm composting their coop bedding in the compost pile for future use in the gardens.

   My family and I are having so much fun with the chicks.  They have grown used to being handled by us and some even falls asleep in our hands and Friglish (The black chick, which will be black and white marked "Barred Plymouth Rock".) is particularly friendly and casual, routinely jumping onto our arms and backs (when I'm crouching down).  They all seem pretty happy. :)

Chicks Are Here!

It's been over a month since I wrote in this blog.  The month of August was so busy and it just flew!

Lots of update around the garden, but the biggest news has to be our new chicks.  The chicks were ordered in August from ChickensForBackyards.com, a company in Texas, scheduled for delivery in September.  Well, I was notified shortly after placing my order that our chicks will be shipped on September 5th, and we can expect them to arrive at our local post office for pick up within a day or two.

I was doing my final supply shopping for the coop (thermometer and pine shavings for the floor) at Wal-mart at 7 in the morning when my cell phone rang and it was the post office.  I didn't even know that there were people working at the post office at 7 in the morning, but apparently, that's when the stuff start come in the back of the building.  I was instructed to come to the 'dock' in the back of the building and press the service button to get help.  I drove right on over after paying for my stuff.

And this is what I picked up at the post office.  The box is clearly marked with "Live Baby Chicks" on a red sticker, and as if it wasn't enough, the box is chirping. :D  Special delivery, indeed!

I got the special gel food ready for the chicks and the lamp turned on inside the coop where I had set up a brooder zone and took the box out to the coop and carefully removed the outer lid.  This is what the inside the box looked like -- padded with wood shredding and another box inside. ^^

I put the whole box inside the brooder and opened the inside box to see the five chicks huddling in the corner.  CUTE!!!!!

I carefully scooped them up and out of the box one by one and gently put them onto the brooder floor.  They  just ran out of my hands to check out the place.  Amazing how much energy these chicks have after a trip in a box!  Much to my delight, they came right up to my hand and pecked on my rings when I put my hand in the brooder.  I was expecting them to huddle in the corner as far away from me as possible and shiver in fear.  Was I wrong!

Close-up of the chicks.  We got one each of Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Golden Comet, and Easter Egger (Ameraucana).  A variety pack! :D  That was the nice thing about ChickensforBackyards.com.  Their minimum order is 3 chicks (during warm shipping months), and you can mix and match from a wide variety of chicken breeds.

And this is the chicks' home tweet home. ^^  We still have inside door latches to put, more hardware clothes to put at the top where the roof meets the side walls, but it's ready for the chicks.  The brooder area is set up inside the coop.  My daughter decided on the classic American barn color scheme of barn red and white for our coop/run.  The structure is located just past our square foot garden boxes in the backyard.

The morning glory is going crazy on our fence.  I had planted 5 to 7 seeds (I don't remember for sure...) in one small spot, so now the whole thing is densely covering a section of our fence.  Every morning, we see tons of blooms in lavender and magenta.  I don't know what happened to the "Heavenly Blue" I planted or the Moonflower seeds also.  They're there, but no blooms yet.

The broccoli plant in the Summer Veggies box is 3 feet tall and mostly leaves.  I saw this sad excuse of a 'head' the other day.  It's not quite what I expected, but tasted good. ^^;

Also strange is my "Black Krim" tomato.  They taste wonderful with a definite heirloom flavor, but they don't really turn 'black' as the seed catalogs showed in pictures.  The flavor, though, is to die for.

The Swiss Chard (Neon Lights) in the Spring Veggies box is still producing remarkably well.  I have greens to add to my lunch every day from a single square of these guys.  They are, by far, my favorite from the garden.  I also love the eggplant!

The Kamome Pink flowering kale I've been growing from seeds.  The center is looking really dense and the whole 'head' measures 12 inches already.  I'm looking forward to the color change as the weather gets cooler/cold.

Well, this is it for the giant update!  I'll write more about the chicks and my Winter Veggies box (where crops of corn used to grow) in the next update.