Harvesting the Bounty (or Fall is the Color Orange)

I love Autumn!  And I love the color orange.  It seems the two go hand in hand so well.  Take this beautiful bowl of peachcots, for instance.  Beautiful (free!!) fruit makes canning a joy!  Yes, it takes all day, (sometimes all week) & I am usually swearing off ever canning again by the end of it all, but ohhh... how lovely all that beautiful fruit is!  It just begs to be put up & brought back out again in the depth of dreary winter ~ to remind you that indeed the sun will shine again, earth will give up her bounty, & you will once again know the flavors & scents of fresh produce, straight from either your own backyard or your neighbors.

In this instance, my neighbor has a lovely peachcot tree that she no longer can harvest, so myself & another neighbor went & picked all that we could, canned it, & then went & shared some of the results with that neighbor.  That's how we do it around here.  If you happen to come across a tree that is just dropping produce on the ground, you find the owner, ask if you could maybe pay to pick some of the fruit ( this is the polite thing to do), they of course will deny that & just give you the fruit for free ( that's also the polite thing to do), & then once you've made up some of the goods, you of course return & give the kind neighbor some of the tasty end results.  It works out well for all involved. 

Here are some of the peachcots all halved & ready to go in the top of my Nutri-steamer.  Once again, I must pronounce happiness upon the heads of the Nutri-steamer manufacture'ers (sp?).  This product is one of my awesomest & most beloved pieces of canning equipment EVER!  I'm putting it right up there with the pressure cooker.  Seriously, if you can ever put enough away to get one, DO IT! They are worth every penny & then some!  This one cost me $120 or so ( it's been a few years) & I bought it off of eBay.  The stainless steel pot on the bottom of the set-up alone is worth it.  It just makes canning so EASY!

You have minimal preparation, stick the fruit in the top of the juicer, ( fill the bottom pot with water & a few tbspn's of vinegar to retard hard water staining), let it go a few hours on simmer, & VIOLAA!, the middle section fills up with juice or nectar, ready to drain off ( has a handy dandy drain hose & pinch) at 220+ degrees F right into your hot jar, pop on the dome & lid, & it's done, baby!

Of course, some of those peachcots & some of the apricots that another neighbor brought over got put into the dehydrator.  They will make great additions to trail mix when the family goes hiking next summer.  I also made up about 10 sheets of peachcot fruit leather.  ( For every 1 cup of fruit, add 1/2 cup of honey.)  One thing about fruit leather, however, don't forget to put a very thin sheen of olive oil or saffola oil onto the dehydrator sheet, or you will be cursing every little tug & tear of that leather! ;-D

Here's another awesome thing about that Nutri-steamer ~ if you love fruit leathers, you can simply use the left-over pulp in the top of the steamer for your fruit leather. (provided you pitted the produce, otherwise, you'll have to pick pits first.)   Easy sqweezy!

More peachcots ~ they were just so beautiful!

This is some of the peachcot nectar produced in the Nutri-steamer.  Have you ever bought apricot nectar from the store, in that big old can?  Have you ever looked on the back & been dissapointed to find out that it's only a stupid 20% juice?  The rest of it is high fructose corn syrup & crap?  Well, this home canned golden treasure in the bottles is 100% true nectar, & I would even say somewhat of a concentrate, as you can water it down some & STILL get a better flavor & healthfulness at HALF potency than that horrid store-bought excuse for fruit juice.

This is the pureed peachcots just before I added some other goodies to make a very unusual & yet highly delicious mixed fruit jam.

As it happens, I had some leftover strawberries in the freezer from last year ( I usually freeze berries, since we make a lot of smoothies) that I wanted to use up, so I decided to make up a jam after my daughter's favorite smoothie combination.  I used about 2 lbs of frozen strawberries, 1 can of orange juice concentrate, & probably 12 to 18 cups of peachcot puree, all blendered together, then sugar (5 or six cups) & 2 or 3 tablespoons vinegar.  Cook till thickened, & waterbath process for 10 minutes.

I called it strawberry peachcot surprise.  My kids said "what's the surprise?"  I said "It tastes divine!"   They said " good point".  ;-D

This is a whole counter full of peachcot goodness.  We put up 28 quarts total! 

Aren't they lovely?

Hehehe, had to insert a pic of the eggs in here.  We got a whole new flock of hens this year, & they finally ( finally!!!) began producing!  I was so thankful, I just had to take a pic to show you all.  Note the very large brown egg on the right, middle ~ yes, it looks larger because it's sitting next to a fart egg, but it really

IS larger as well ~ we have a buff orp consistently dropping doubles every other week. I love it!  Twinner eggs rock!

Here is a pic of some of the delicious peach butter my daughter & I canned today.  We put up 14 pints!  My daughters are doing canning as part of their home ec classes, & tomorrow my 14 yr old will be passing off her canning requirement by putting up another 14 pints entirely by herself!  I am really proud of her, because today she answered all of the questions correctly, she knew what to do, & tomorrow ( although I will be right there for just in case) she will be doing it herself!  I know, I know, I just repeated myself, but I am really quite proud of her.  I'm a bit of a stickler on asepsis, produce, & process, (you know, botulism,  flat-sour, & all that.. death.. nothing much..), so she actually has had quite a bit to learn, but I guess they HAVE all been canning with me ever since... well, since they were old enough to use a sharp knife.  ;-D

AHHH, & here we have the last ( so far!) little orange-ish gem.  It's actually more amber.  ;-D  This is honey that I cold processed into smaller, more use-able quantities.  What it WAS was a giant ( I am talking SIXTY [60!!] pounds!!) tin of pure raw honey from 1958 that we have been lugging around for Lo, These Many Years.  But in that form, it just wasn't very usable (obviously, still in the original square tin!).

I was a little nervous about it to begin with, but I did a TON of studying on the matter, & honey just doesn't go bad if it's pure. Also, I didn't want to heat it up, because I didn't want to ruin any of the beneficial enzymes & properties, so I wasn't quite sure how to proceed.  But here is where I had a stroke of genius ~ ok, ok, so it wasn't me, it was divine inspiration ~ I just bi-passed the whole idea of pouring it out or heating it up or anything, & got a can opener & rolled it around the top, & it came off beautifully!! 

Then I carefully inspected the honey ( it was quite granulated, as was to be expected), and I VERY carefully scooped away all the parts that had touched the top of the tin & seemed to be in any way tainted by rust.  (Although I later determined that it was just darker honey, not rust)

Then, I just used a flat, heavy-duty icecream scoop ( NOT the ball kind) & proceeded to scoop out the honey & put it into pint jars, put a dome & a ring on them, washed them all up with a cloth, & called it good.

I will also say, I was very careful to cover most of the honey while I packing it, with a piece of plastic wrap pressed right down on top of it, to keep off any yeasts or molds that might settle on it.  ( I guess yeasts & molds float around invisible in the air all the time... who knew?)

Cool thing about this honey ~ the flavor is SOO delicious!  Very intense, & the honey is a beautiful dark amber.  I have not ever heated it up enough to completely de-crystalize it, because I don't want to destroy any enzymes, but the grains are very tiny, so it's not a problem.  It has a look of dark creamed honey, or maybe a honey/butter, but it is just pure honey.

Another cool thing about this honey ~ Several times now, we have been getting sick with a cold, & have eaten this honey, & the cold has gone away.  Headache, sinus issues, cough... all gone.  Even the allergies!  How cool is THAT? ;-D

Holy Cow! ~uh~ I mean HOLY CHICKEN COOP! ~

Well, whoaa ~ lol ~ sorry for the severe lack of communication ~ as it happens, my dorky computer had a little run-in with static electricity, and as a result, I am now on an older one, without all of the modern conveniences of my other one ~ eerrgghhh ~ all of my pictures, my word docs, EVERY THING~ AAAaarrgghhh ~ ok ~ frustration overflow there ~ at least they say that the hard drive can be saved, which is good, because all of our business docs are on there, not to mention the bazillion & one pics ( yes, I know I mentioned this already, I just had to re-hash it for ol' times sake ~ ).....I will not obsess ~ I will NOT obsess, I WILL not obsess, I will not OBSESS.....All right... deep breath.. now ~ to answer some of the awesome commentary left on here.... naah, you know what? I will just put this in a new post ~ ~Red

This was supposed to be my answer to the comments, but then I had the brilliant flash of intuition ~ why not make it a whole new POST? waahaa ~

so, here are the comments pertaining to the chicken coop project ~ And the answers will be listed after each comment. (Hain't I cleever?? :-D)



Lawanda said...
Well isn't that a dandy chicken coop! I never heard of a chicken tractor before! Did you do it like that because you'll need to move it?I loved the butt shot! LOLAnd definitely the barn red. Very cool!!
5:28 PM
Mrs. Organic said...
I'll have to send this link to my uncle, he's getting his chickens soon and wants a tractor too.
6:59 PM
redhead83402 said...
hi lawanda!! :-D Yes, we will need to move it, just so that the chickens can get all the grubs in the grass for us, also so that they can poo fertilize patches of lawn, & eat the weeds. Also, I am intending to leave them in about 2 spots during the winter, so that they can tillup the ground for my garden for next year. I only wish they had already been going at it for this years garden.ROFLLL about the butt shot! He won't be happy, lol,lol,lol. But I will laugh.... hehehehehe. :-D~Red
7:02 PM
redhead83402 said...
corrie ~ awesome! I hope this helps ~ if he needs dimensions or material sizes or anything, just ask, Wood Genius can send him an email with any of the particulars.~Red
7:05 PM

Well, as you can see, I already sorta answered back to lawanda & corrie, in fact, they probably think I completely quit blogging and totally left the whole blog-universe forever & ever amen, since I haven't blogged, since... oh about april..... ( I seem to have a nasty little habit of blogging for every day for a month, and then skipping 5 months.... I don't know ~ my strange urges to write, document, and photograph ~ dumb & dumber....)


Pale Ophelia Floats said...
Hey the coop/tractor/thingy looks great! I'm sensing a backyard color theme which is really frightening since I'm the colorblind one, but meh. Looking forward to the meme. heheh
10:40 AM

Lol ~ ok Madame M. ( pale ophelia, floating about, is she in an underground cistern? why is she so pale? you would think floating about, she would at least catch a feww rays.... perhaps it is on a cloud, but here too, she WOULD be catching some serious ozone.....) ~ I know I promised to meme, but, as you can see, ahem... ~ 'twas futile ~
( toying with the idea of answering the meme right here & now... nahh, I think I will at the bottom, since the other commenters likely don't want to have to scroll through my o-so-dull answers ~ lol ~ may as well save as many as possible, right? :-D)


Tammy said...
Carol - that is one fine chicken coop. Wood Genius is correct.You will need to charge the chickens rent, or maybe sell timeshares.You need high rent chickens, for such an awesome coop.love ya sis, Tammy
8:44 PM

Tammy ~ lol ~ those chickens really SHOULD be paying rent ~ & it adds up to an egg a day ~ the little turds ~ but I suppose I should be patient, afterall, it is the 31st of July, which puts those hens at 17 wks EXACTLY ~ and really only 2 of them are really ~bred~ to give up eggs at 17 wks, the rest will come in some time after that. At least they better ~ lol ~
By the way, we went to a ladies house a week or so ago, and picked a ton of cherries, thought of you, and how kind you were to share your cherries when we came & visited that once ~ I miss you & love you ~
~carer


LillyZoo said...
How manh chickens have put in it and how many eggs do you get per day? Great Coop!
4:09 AM

Lillyzoo ~ well, now, I suppose what we did may have been a bit unconventional ~ we actually got away with sticking 15 chickens in there to begin with, since they were young & small when we did it. We knew there would likely be at least one roo in the lot, turns out there were 2, so we ended up eating them ( we live in town, can't have roo's, otherwise, I never would have eaten fluffernutter & max, they were gorgeous birds... but anyway, I digress...) & then our little toddler neighbor kids went & let them out of the coop one day, and only three were left in there ~ I managed to round up all but the last one ~ so... long story short, we now have 12 birds in there.
It's a nice fit, and they don't mind eachother at all. We also don't move the thing around near so much as we used to, in fact, it's practically grown permanent legs where it's at right now, and the chickens don't seem to mind at all. They are not stressed, they don't peck at eachother, they waddle around & catch bugs & eat any weeds or garden clippings, bread, & general kitchen leftovers (except potato & meat products), & they are totally loveable, and happy, healthy birds. So for us, the space given works for the number of birds we have. They aren't crowded into a cage, but they don't have the Taj Mahal either.
As to the number of eggs we get ~ this is the hard part ~ so far, none ~ but it's because theya re still too young to be producing them. Only the white leghorns are supposed to give up eggs as soon as 17 wks, the rest are somewhere between 18 & 20 wks. Since literally today will be the very 1st day of 17 wks, I'm not concerned.


Christy said...
We found your blog while doing a search for chicken coop "ark" plans. Would you be willing to share the dimensions with us. 4greenfrogs@gmail.com. Thank you!
3:22 PM

Christy ~ hi, we would absolutely be willing to post the dimensions, and If I had my other computer up, I could even post a pic with the dimensions on it & everything, but for now, the best I can do is to give them to you longhand ~ so here you go ~

If you look at the coop from one end ( & therefore see a large triangle, with the nest box doors) & measure that from the very center of the triangle, from the very top to the very bottom ( it's all so VERY :-D) you come up with 68".
Then, if you look at the footprint of the coop, it measures 60" x 96". ( or 5 ft x 8 ft)
They have 21" of headroom when they are down on the ground, underneath.
*One word of caution on this ark ~ it can get very heavy, very fast. As it stands, only Tony can actually move it by himself ~ all the rest of us are wimps, and it takes 2 or 3 of us to move it around. *
While Tony used 2 x 2's, he says he could have gotten away with 1 x 2's. Also, we kind of beefed it up, because of our heavy winters, and don't intend to move it around in the winter. For those who have mild winters, you could use thinner materials & get away with it easily.
We also get summers in the high 90's , & sometimes into the 100's ( but we do always have a nice breeze, as well), & the insulation has been EXCELLENT for keeping the internal coop temps nice & mild. That is with the vents open night & day. During the winter, of course, we will only have the one vent open, or maybe not either, if the ramp being down provides enough ventilation during the day.



Comment deleted
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
7:57 PM

This comment was deleted by me, since it was just some dude advertizing ~ :-D


twinshiner said...
Hello, we were in the process of building our own chix arks when i found your blog. thanks for all the photos. the visuals sure helped me *see* and refine our arks. So, what about an update on the chix now that they're several months old. Is the ark still accomdating them? And design tenets you'd like to do differently? I've been watching your blog hoping for an update from you. Sure hope you've not stopped blogging as I enjoyed reading another homeschooling red-heads thoughts and humour. I added your site to my links on my blog. Hope you don't mind. ~the twinshinerhttp://twinshiner.blogspot.com/
1:07 PM

Twinshiner ~ hello! yes, it IS still accomodating them ( see my reply to lillyzoo above), however, as noted, there are now only 12 chickens in there, instead of the original 15.

Also ( sorry, I seemed to have answered a number of your questions already, if I weren't so lazy, I'd just re-type them, or even copy & paste them, but, there you have it, laziness at it's finest, asking you to please scroll up several times, filter through on your own... I know, I know, laaazzzyyy blogging, lol .... sorry... sorta.. :-D) yes, indeedy, there are some things we'd do differently, just check out the answer I gave Christy up above.

One good thing about the size of our ark, however, it IS large enough for all of those 12 chickens, even though it IS also quite heavy. And it has proven quite predator proof ( except for the toddlers, didn't see that one coming) Still, it CAN be moved, just not so easily as I'd like. ( For instance, it would be nice to be able to move it on my own ~ yes, I am a 5 ft nuthin wimpo-deluxe, however, I'm not totally incapable of lifting & etc... but this IS pretty heavy.) Also, with regards to the nest boxes, I think we are going to have to make the entrance hole for the chickens a little larger ( though we have seen them in there, so they can fit just fine), and we really need to add a little stick of wood or something right where the nest box door opens, as the wood shavings can just fall out. ( yah, yah, this was my whole wood working contribution to the ark, & I haven't done it yet ~ on the other hand, those ladies haven't started laying yet, either... )

Another thing I'd change ~ those blasted knobs ~ we have these two little wandering toddlers in our neighborhood that just waltzed right in, & let the chickens all out ( "we were wookin at da chickies..). So NOW, we had to put some new closures on them, with little padlocks, which is more of a pain in the tooshy, but at least ~da chickies~ are safe.
Also, you linked to me? SHHWEEET ~ I will stop by your blog & link to you as well ~ thanks for the link!


Pebel said...
Hi,This is a geat Coop! I too found it when looking for plans for our own coop. I am starting homeschooling this year and we have acquired 4 chicks that are soon to be in desparate need of a coop. Would you all be willing to share the dimensions? The pics were great, but I can't quite figure out how everythng fits at the apex. I would love any pointers you or "wood genius" have. I am definately not a wood genius but am trying. My email is pebel@hotmail.com. Thanks! Patrick
1:55 PM

Hi Pebel! Thanks! Believe me, for 4 chickens, this coop is a PALACE. Personally, I wouldn't make one this big for just 4, since you could definitely get away with half the size, and therefore make it WAY more transportable. However, if you are planning on more later or something, check out my answer to Christy up above for the dimensions. ( I know, I know, more LAAAZZZYYY blogging.....it's a habit, I admit it....)

Congrats on the starting homeschooling!! It's a big leap, but it's SOOO worth it! My son is able to excel at Scouts, my daughters get to excel at their hobbies, and they all get to expand on their talents, & have so much FUN, because they don't have the snasty strict schedule of meaningless line-ups, ridiculous homeworks, & asinine no-child-left-behind- ISAT- test teaching. I do not even CARE about the ISATS, ( or the state standards, for that matter, shhh.. madame M, you didn't see anything....), nor do I teach to ISATS or standards, yet somehow, my kids seem to do just fine on them. If you haven't read it before, I HIGHLY reccomend the book "A Thomas Jefferson Education", by Oliver Demille. It is the one book about homeschooling that I have found absolutely INVALUABLE! I could go on & on about the whole homeschooling thing, but I guess I should save that for another post, eh?

~Red

Guess What? Chicken BUTT! Coop is DONE! It's a Chicken Tractor!

UPDATE ~ If you scroll all the way to end, I added the finished product ~ so the tractor is done ~ now for the real coop........... ( better not mention this to Wood Genius just yet... best to let it lie for a day or three..... hehehehe... BWAAAHAHAHAHA... ;-D )

WOO HOO!! SO ~ we got the chicken coop done!! Well, ok, ALLLLLmost done ~ the kids & I still have to paint it. And I am thinking that good ol' Barn Red with white accents is just gonna be IT ~ what do you all think? Afterall, that WOULD tie in with the shed & the treehouse.

So ~ I know what you all are waiting for ~ PICTURES!
And we DO have pictures!

This is meant to be the portable chicken tractor, or also known as the chicken arc. It is based loosely ( ever so loosely) on the boughton forsham models that can be found online. Since we have 16 chickens right now, and will have 10 after the fair, we needed to make our tractor a little larger.

We decided to go with the A-frame style, as it made up for less mass in the long run to transport. And with Wood Genius making it, we knew it could get complicated fast. Here is a pic of the basic frame with supports in the corners, so that nothing wracks when it is being transported.

oops ~ lazy blogging, sorry ~ sideways pic. Just a close-up of the joinery ~ easy sqeazy so far.

Here is a pic of the feeders, on extending drawer guide arms. Wood Genius used a 3/8 drill to drill through 3 times in a line so that the arms could extend out, thus saving your back. That way, the feeder & waterer can just be hooked on and slid back, or slid forward to remove & re-fill.

These are heavy-duty drawer guides, and will easily hold the weight of the galvanized metal 2 gallon double walled waterer & the five gallon feeder.

(Had to move it back into the shop to work on it, as it was getting quite dark out.) Here you can see the flooring going in. It should be mentioned that the wood being used is 2x2's, & I believe 3/8 material.

Here you can see the chicken ramp on hinges, plus the framework for the ramp.

This shows the nest boxes & the flooring installed. There are 3 nest boxes, and we made them a little larger inside, but still a nice snug hole to crawl through & feel safe with.

Now you can see the roosts installed, as well as the back and top of the tractor. You can also see the vents at the apex. We used a very strong wire for this. Also visible is the 1 1/2" gap between the inner melamine wall and the outer 3/8" sheeting wall. This, & the back side, is where Wood Genius installed 1 1/2" styrofoam core insulation. The door is also insulated.

Vents are a bit more visible here. Also visible is the pulley system to raise & lower the chicken ramp. There is the rope & the nail to hold it when the ramp is closed.

Follow the rope over, and down it goes through a hole drilled in the flooring.

This is the pulley in the roof. These pulleys make sure that the rope doesn't get run ragged by snagging on the wood. The pulley is just hanging by a screw screwed through.

oops, another sideways pic. The rope is shown here heading through the vent above the nest boxes, to another pulley.

Voila! A close-up of the outside pulley above the nest boxes.

Ok, this is just showing the foamcore.

And what have we here? A BUTT shot! Can't say "Guess what? Chicken BUTT!" without a butt shot at least SOMEwhere. heheheh. Wouldn't he be so annoyed if he saw this? :-D

However, I actually have a better reason for the pic. It is showing the door fitting on.

I forgot to add that this is actually one of those ~green~ coops, because almost every single bit of wood on here was harvested from left-overs, the dump ( see that pile of 2x4's?), old fence parts, and various other places.


And here is the door on. The handles are close enough together for one person to lift if they are bigger, & far enough apart for two smaller kids to lift off together. (It's good for them, makes them work as a team.....) :-D

Hmmmmm... trying to remember why I uploaded this pic... Maybe just to show the ramp in closed position. Also, see the rungs are spaced so that even with a fair amount of snow or chicken goo, the ramp can still be closed completely. Also showing the roosts, which are positioned higher than the nest boxes to discourage pooey eggs. ( The chickens will choose to roost in the nest boxes if they are higher... I don't know why, it's a chicken thing..)

Here's the whole contraption, alMOST all the way finished. From the side/back.

From the side/front. Note the wooden latches to make sure the nest boxes are all the way shut. The little doors will make egg gathering easy.

Latches secure the door as well, just for predators' sake. (Little kids in the neighborhood can't reach that high... that's pretty much the main concern.) Also, the vents open and latch shut... We get winters down to -20F, so the chickens will need to be warm. While not shown, the heat lamp will be able to be dropped down through a hole drilled in the roof, and we will just use an extension cord ( heavy duty, shop type) to either light the heat lamp or, when they are older, to extend their perception of daylight so that egg-laying continues through the winter.

Last night & today, Wood Genius installed the hardware fabric around the base. ( which, by the way, isn't really fabric at all ~ what a cruel joke to play on a fabriholic...it's really just metal wire with a whole bunch of little bitty square holes in it. ) And now he is off buying the wheel set-up, which will consist of large lawn mower wheels, connected & used in the same manner as the boughton forsham chicken arc/tractor. These will be installed on the nest box side, as it is the heaviest. He will also install a large bar on the end opposite the nest boxes, so that we can reposition the tractor once a week. (During the winter, this will obviously not be easily moved, so we will add additional run space, connected to the bottom of the tractor, via the removable screen end.)

And the last thing to do will be to paint it up, and add chickens! {:>)=

Well, I am going to keep adding pics here as he finishes it up ~ I keep running out there to take pics for each phase.

Ok, so here you can kind of see the removable screen door there on the end, with a latch to close it up tightly. You might also notice the dolly and the suspiciously wet ground.

Yup, it's true! Here in Idaho, it could be shining one minute and literally SNOWING the next!! Where is the justice in that?!? See that? Green grass with a snowy blanket ~ AAARRGGHHHHH !!!!

UPDATE!!! ~ YEAH! It stopped snowing and actually got sunny enough that Bek painted the tractor ~ Next post ~ the Garden project!!

Chicken Adventures ~ Baby Chicks!

So this is our latest homeschool adventure ~ we now have 12 little peeping balls of fuzz!!! And they are SOO cute!! And we are SOOO popular with all the neighborhood kids! And I'll be SOOOO impressed if half of them make it into adult-hood ~ cuz they are SOOOOOO loved!

Ok, so ~ enough of that ~ :-D ~ Let's look at the little ladies. {:^-- (<<<--isn't that a cute chicken-head?)

First, we read up on chickens, & egg-layers for our area, & what it takes to brood them, & raise pullets for laying, and all of that. Then we went to a wonderful little family-run farm (small world, turned out Wood Genius knew the gentleman who owned it through Scouting) where they let us go & look at their hens, along with all the other animals they had. ( There were goats, lambs, peacocks, & I think even a cow or two.)

They had mostly Rhode Island Reds & Sex-links, but they also said that some are ~indiscriminate mix & match~.

Our next step was to prepare a brooder, & order the chicks. On the day of their arrival, we heated up the brooder so it would be all nice & warm for the chicks, & then waited with baited breath. And finally, AT LAST ~ They came!

This is a Rhode Island Red, a Barred Rock, & an Auracauna.

Here you can also see the Buff Orpington's, and the White Leghorns. Also, notice that mason jar feeder. These little ladies are only on their second day of life, first day at our house, and they have already consumed almost an entire mason jar of medicated chick starter. AND, they have gone through an entire mason jar of water as well. Which makes for quite the lovely toodles ( or shall we say *chicken gravy*).

These are Liz's Buff Orpington's.

This is is Izzy's Auracauna.

Bek chose Barred Plymouth Rocks.

Aren't they SOOO SWEETTT??

And perky, too. So far, we haven't had any problems with mean chickens, but they have already established a pecking order.


Kat chose White Leghorns.

And Jess & I chose Rhode Island Red's.

This little lady is the only one I am worried about ~ She is sort of listless, sleeps more than the other chicks, & she is also tinier than the other ones. She toddles around with her wings sort of dragging. Here she is, ~ going.....

Gooooiiinnnggg..........

Gone! The next step, is where she lays her beak down on the ground and just sort of hunches there, snoring away.

Anyway, more on the Chicken Adventures soon! Hopefully, they make it through the night, other wise, we'll have 5 highly distraught youth, as well as about 7 sad little neighbors. (All of whom wish, on a regular basis, that they too could be homeschooled.)

(:^-- {;>)= (:^--