Foxes in broad daylight?! Fox + Hen + Dog = drama!!!

We have had to stop letting our girls free range, because in ONE day, three of our girls disappeared... as well as our handsome rooster, Heff. I knew something was after them in broad daylight and with the size of some of the chickens it did away with without leaving a single feather, I knew it was pretty serious. I'm down to 16 chickens (some injured, some butchered, some lost to various predators, etc) from 32 since April... so we're not playing around anymore.

This afternoon, Jackson and I walked out to the chicken coop to take the ladies some fruit (smushy banana and too soft peach- very appreciated, by the way!) and one of our newest hens got out- one of the ones we got off of Craigslist when her owners moved! Cake is her name and this chicken was clearly terrorized at some point in her life- she is absolutely scared to death of humans. Ugh! Makes her a nightmare to interact with, especially if I need to get within ten feet of her!

I tried to entice her back into the fenced run, but it wasn't gonna happen. She went head first into the woods. I decided to wait and see if she would come back out and let me open the door for her.

All I saw was a flash of ORANGE, saw feathers fly, and I started yelling. The fox looked at me and then ran off. No wonder I was losing chickens- it was a freakin' buffet for a fox family out there! One that is clearly not afraid to come into my yard in broad daylight.

My dogs, in their dog run since a chicken was out and they have strong prey drives, were going INSANE. I have a 65lb Boxer and a 70lb Lab. Them losing their mess did NOT help the situation- the chicken was terrified, I couldn't catch her, and I knew the fox would come back. It was ballsy enough. So I waited.

All of the sudden, the darn fox (which was HUGE, by the way) hurls itself out of the woods and starts chasing my hen around the yard. They were not 4 feet from me by the time I started yelling for Tim to get a gun. NC has pretty high instances of rabies and I wasn't screwing around anymore. Unfortunately, he didn't hear me inside the house- he was on a business call. I grabbed Jackson, our two year old, and was going to get inside- the chicken be darned- since I had no idea if it was safe to be out there at this point.

Right then, the chicken ran head first into the dog run. Max, our Boxer, was ready and waiting for something to come within his reach, so he practically swallowed her head and neck. I hurled a rock at the fox, it ran into the woods, and I ran over to Max who was trying to pull the chicken into his dog run!

I was going to be SO upset if the fox didn't get the chicken, but my dumb dog did!

I pried the chicken out of the dog's mouth and she had not a scratch on her!! I looked her over carefully and then put her in the chicken coop to go on and live another day. I, on the other hand, have decided that the foxes have gotta go. I'm setting humane traps tonight and as far as I'm concerned, we're serving their eviction notice.

*sigh*

Our own personal soap opera- "As The Coop Turns!"

Jackson, by the way, was incredibly entertained.

A simple EGG!

Just one of the many joys of having your own chickens.

I love fried eggs with toast!

That is a yolk that you won't find in a storebought, factory farmed egg.

That is bright, yolky goodness!

Who has pink and blue eggs?! WE DO!

On Monday, I went out to the chicken coop after lunch to take the chickens a treat- some stale bread!

I glanced into the nesting boxes, out of habit more than expectation, and what did I see?!

Our first egg! Courtesy of our "mutt" chicken, a grey hen named Paula Deen!

It's definitely tinted, almost pink! Pretty small, too.

And on Tuesday, I got another egg! Monday and Tuesdays eggs!

We also got another egg on Wednesday!

You guys that keep chickens were so right- once they start laying, they lay!

I also keep hearing that when one hen starts laying, it "encourages" other hens to start laying, so yesterday we started speculating as to which hens might start laying (since we have 5 that are old enough to lay) next!

This morning, I went out and there was our first BLUE egg!

And the layer was Keelin's big Araucana hen, Reeses!

Here are the eggs so far from this week!

Paula Deen is an afternoon layer (and I wrote this post around lunch time on Thursday), so my guess is that after I lay Jackson down for a nap there will be another pinkish egg waiting for me in the nesting box!

I feel SO relieved, you guys.

We spent money getting the coop ready, getting the hens, feeding all of the chickens-

It's like waiting for water to boil, waiting for them to start laying.

But now we know that we have two laying hens

and hopefully, the rest will follow :)

Just a quick coop update!

Just a quick update on the chicken coop-

Otherwise known as the soap opera,

"As the Coop Turns"

;)

The bottom of the chicken wire wasn't quite as safe as I wanted it, since the ground is uneven and there were a few places that a determined snake or something could get under.

Tim remedied the issue by cutting trees that fell in the storm and putting them around the entire length of the chicken fence. He stuck a chair our there for me and we now jokingly refer to it as "the Observation Deck."

The other new thing is the left side of the fence. It all used to be super low to the ground, but Tim wanted me to be able to get in there easily even when my belly gets ginormous, so he built a frame and lifted it up! He's pretty awesome! I was just going to squat down and hope for the best, but thanks to my hubby, I don't have to worry about it anymore!

It did require the purchase of some chicken wire, but all of the wood was leftover from other projects, found in the woods/yard, or recycled!

Everyone, meet Hugh Heffner. He's our new Silver-Laced Wyandotte rooster! Isn't he handsome? Tim named him, saying it was only appropriate for the only rooster in the hen house! And so far, he seems to be quite the ladies man! He's been pretty polite with the crowing and he's got lovely manners, so hopefully it stays that way!

In other news, only a few more things need to happen to the yard before we are ready to let the chickens roam free some during the day! I am looking forward to seeing them go nuts in the yard after Tim mows and the bugs are out! They're going to be in hen heaven!

Chicken Coop Update

As promised, we have a chicken coop update!

We still had one of our brooders (a box with a heat lamp set up for itty bitty chicks) in the sunroom, which was driving Tim nuts. He asked me what we could do to get the chicks out into the coop and I told him that since they were still not completely feathered they needed to have access to a heat source and since they were so small compared to our other chickens they needed to be separated somehow until proper introductions had been made :)

My smart hubby's solution to the problem?

This!

From materials that we already had (including the wood from the free pallets we picked up!), he arranged for the chicks to join the big chickens!

The sloped top makes it hard for chickens to roost on it, the chicken wire keeps the chicks safe from the pecking order while they grow, and the hinged lid makes it easy for me to clean, love on the chicks, feed and water them, etc.

Keelin was at school (this was done last week, by the way) and Jackson wanted to help us take the last 3 small chicks out to the coop. He wanted to carry one of our Buff Orpington pullets and that is my arm trying to encourage him to be gentle with her wings.

I think it's precious how gentle they try to be, even Jackson in his 2yr old way.

While Daddy arranges the new chick box, Jackson hangs out with the "beebee kickin'" and enjoys the sun!

A little hug for the chick *sigh* and in the background there, you can see one of our rain barrels sitting by the dog run. And yes, that is a big, blue plastic kiddie pool- for the dogs :)

The new setup. I was a bit concerned about putting the box right under the roost, but so far, the hens have stayed away from it! The water has been put up on a wooden pallet to keep the shavings out and been very successful at keeping the 26 free roaming chickens from mucking up their water.

The 2 wooden boxes under the roost are what I transported the  now-4 grown chickens home in a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the people I got the chickens from, the pullets can now reach the roosts, which they enjoy!

The heat lamp has since been moved to a corner of the chicken box and thanks to the beautiful weather, is only on at night now.

One of our Black Australorp pullets checking out the chicks new digs!

Jackson and Big Bird?

I just feel the need to celebrate my wild guy!

This morning, Tim and I took him outside after we took Keelin to school.

It was time to check on the chickens water/food and open the door for them to go outside!

"Mommy, it's BIG BIRD!!!"

So, the chicken Jackson is pointing to is officially his special hen.

She's an Araucana hen named Big Bird.

Big Bird decided that she'd had enough.

Jackson WILL find you, Chicken... in his pjs and flip flops!

Jackson holding Big Bird.

I have never seen that little boy just stand still...

He really enjoyed getting to love on his feathered friend!

The first week of Spring!

The first week of Spring was really kind to us, aside from the last couple of days being a little chilly for my taste! I was really productive at home and we got some great news. Tim got a great job offer from a company he was interested in working with, so he officially is employed for when he gets out of the Army two weeks from today!

I felt the baby kick from the outside for the first time last night! I'm almost 17 weeks and felt the baby start moving around right before I was 13 weeks. I guess with this being my third and final baby, I know what to look for- or this baby is just wild at heart!

Speaking of the baby, I believe we are going to name him Finn. It's a Gaelic name that means "fair." And yeah, all of my kids are pale- go figure. :) Having a hard time choosing a middle name, though. We'll let you know when we come up with something, but it will definitely be a tough decision.


I made a tablecloth for the kidlet's table! We eat a lot of yogurt and fruit, all of which were ending up on the unvarnished wooden table. Had to protect it somehow. My elastic wasn't tight enough on 2 of the corners, but it was my first shot at it, so I will tighten it up at a later time. For now, we're loving the easy cleanup!


The results of my first knitting lesson with my friend Kate! I've practiced a bit since then, so I hope that eventually I will actually start trying to make something :)

One of my 2011 Resolutions was to learn to knit and it was the last thing on my list I had yet to start, so I'm really excited. Progress- and it is so relaxing!



Short rows tilled in the garden, two peach trees planted (now we get to just wait about 5 more years for peaches), marigolds planted (help with bug control and pollination), and some of our seedlings put in the ground.

We did have a little cold snap, so I'm afraid that some of them aren't looking so good. I think I have enough seedlings left to make up for it if those kick the bucket, though, and end up in the compost bin.





Diapers on the line right above my daffodils! See the brownish colored diaper? I heard that you can dye fabric with tea, so I tried it and the color looks really strange. I think I did something wrong, but I definitely will try again. Some of the fabric I've seen dyed with tea is just lovely, so we'll see if I can't get the hang of it :)


My beautiful seedlings! Can't believe that I grew these from seeds and only killed a few of them :) My thumb is slowly changing colors!

Our upcycled chicken coop! It is finally finished and our 10 oldest chickens are spending their second night out there (with a heat lamp, of course) tonight. They love it! I've never seen them happier! It's 88 square feet, 44 feet of perches, 7 nesting boxes, a large fenced run is just beyond the window, and there is a closeable "chicken door" on the bottom left, so I can shut them in at night to protect them from predators. There is electricity out there, so our feathered family members will have a heat lamp as long as they need it and a fan in the summer.