Picture Time!!!

Everyone in for the night 

Our roo, Kristoff (he's a handsome fellow)

Everyone hanging out

They all want to come on the back porch

Losing her balance on the handrail.

Ladies trying to sneak in the door when I go in. They didn't make it.

Miss Priss. Thought she was going to go broody on us, but no such luck. 

One nest, they seem to prefer this one to the other. Old re-purposed litter box

Our new family members, The EE and 3 black links that have adopted her as Mama. 

The EE is almost 5 weeks old now and the blacks are almost 2 weeks. 

Waiting, Eggs, More Waiting

So, we have our hens and a rooster. Hen and Rooster get 'friendly' and those eggs should get sat on by hen until little chicks come out right?? As of right now, we have a nest with 6 eggs in it, but no hen setting on there yet. The first egg was laid Monday, the last one today. I'm hoping that over the next day or two we will start to see some hen setting going on in the coop.

According to The Old Farmers Almanac  

How to Calculate Dates to Set Eggs

• Chicks take about 21 days to hatch.
• Those born under a waxing Moon, in the fruitful signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, are healthier and mature faster.
• To ensure that chicks are born during these times, determine the best days to "set eggs" (to place eggs in an incubator or under a hen.)
• To calculate the best days to set eggs, find the three fruitful birth signs. Find in your Almanac or purchase your own Moon's Sign Calendar here.
• Using only the fruitful dates between the new and full Moons, count back 21 days to find the best days to set eggs. See Moon phases for your area.
• Example: the Moon is new on June 12 and full on June 26. Between these dates, on June 13 and 14, the Moon is in the sign of Cancer. To have chicks born on June 13, count back 21 days; set eggs on May 23.

2014 Best Days to Set Eggs

• January: 11, 12, 20–22
• February: 8, 16–18
• March: 16, 17, 25
• April: 12, 13, 22, 23
• May: 9–11, 19, 20
• June: 6, 7, 16, 17
• July: 13, 14
• August: 9, 10, 18
• September: 5–7, 14, 15
• October: 3, 4, 11–13
• November: 8, 9
• December: 5, 6, 14

I have discovered that waiting on a hen to do something...well, it can drive you batty! I keep checking to see if there are more eggs or what's going on out there and nada. I think I might be driving them crazy. 

We tried to candle the eggs earlier to see if they are fertile, but it was still too light out. So, we get to brave the mosquitoes and try again in a little while. Yay, love those mosquitoes.  ;-) We (I) am really hoping they are fertile and chickies are just waiting until there are enough eggs in there to complete their clutch for them to hatch. 

I've read so much information online that I don't even believe I am processing it anymore.  But mostly, I found that average time you should candle the eggs is 7 days and that yes, the hens wait until they have the right number before they sit. So, now for more waiting. No candling until Monday night :-( 

Today's work

Got some pictures to share with everyone... We started around 10am with

Then

 Added the end walls and wiring next

 Then wire across the back top

 Open nest boxes, hopefully they'll use them

 Their old roosting posts

 Door is crooked but secure!

 Ramp to the back.

 Ramp when closed

 Side Angle view

 Happy, slightly confused chicks... enjoy a treat of some chick starter.

 And we are proud to say that we didn't buy any of the materials that we used. They were all parts from the previous coop plus stuff found in the yard and house. We have 2 nests with straw/leaves, and then 2 other nest with a top that have grass clippings in them. Going to see which the hens like the best, since they are used to laying in the yard. We finished this in about 6 hours, not too bad since we didn't get to prepping it all like we should have before hand. But, our chicks are happy and safe!!!!

Working On The New Coop

Work on the chicken coop starts tomorrow and hopefully, the plan is to finish it tomorrow.

This is the area they will be going

We are going to clapboard both ends and have openings in the front and back. That will be wire covered, also buried wire around the perimeter. The top is vented front and back for good air flow and we are not closing in the bottom to keep air flow there as well. Their yard space will be to the left on the picture, the house is to the right about 100 feet away or so. Of course, all the wood has to be moved (yay) and then away we go with tearing down the old coop and building them a new safe home. Thinking of painting the coop this time, but not certain yet. We have three plastic containers that we are going to mount in on the sides as nest boxes, hopefully they will use them. Right now, I have to do the yard walk daily because they don't like to nest in their current cramped quarters. I am going to use a few plastic balls or eggs in the boxes to help them get the hint, I hope it works!

Within the next week or so, we are going to get a rooster and possibly some more hens that are about 6 weeks old or so.  :-D

The coop is for protection and feeding and laying and hopefully, nesting. The chicks all get to free range during the day all over the yard. The only time we switch is bad weather and if the dog is out (she doesn't play well), so we keep them separated.

I'm loving our chicks and can't wait to get more!

Backyard Chickens.com

These are some of the places I head to when looking things up that are chicken or garden related.

Backyard Chickens

The Best, in my opinion, chicken site I have found. There is SO much information on that site, from getting started with chicks to swapping and selling them. Plus, there is an entire forum full of helpful folks that can and will give you their opinions on any subject matter you bring up. For the visual folks, many pictures of different breeds as well as random shots of folks, their flocks, coops and everything in between.

Welcome

Welcome to our new spot on blogger :-) 

We are hoping to share our adventures outdoors with 2 children, 3 cats, 1 dog, several chickens and the wide world outside our house. We are currently building a new home for our 3 hens that we have and will be adding some chicks and hopefully a rooster soon, stay tuned for pictures! 

The garden is planted, now it's the waiting game for sprouts. All from seeds this year and smaller so that we can handle it better. I'm fairly certain that I see sprouts for tomatoes, cantaloupes and pumpkins. Hopefully, here soon we will see more tomatoes, watermelons, green onions and all the herbs. I'll add pictures as it all grows. 

  The beginning of our garden.

2 of our hens, the third was being camera shy. We have one Dominique, and 2 reds.