We added 6 chickens to our flock in the spring of 2011.  Petunia, Violet, Bubbles, Beatrice, Tina & Louise (we can’t tell Tina & Louise apart, so we usually just call them Tina-Louise).

We’ve been through sickness, pecking, moulting, heat and cold.  But the girls are all doing pretty well!

Our Chicken Coop in June 2010

Multi Colored Eggs!

Big Ginger!

Violet

3 In A Row!

I’ve been out of town a lot this month – leaving Rob at home to care for the dogs and cats and chickens and house…  Spent the first week of August at Camp Star Trail with a bunch of UUs from the Prairie Star District, then I went up to Sitches Midwest with The Yarn Barn folks, to help in their booth from August 19th-23rd – it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.

Personally I’m ready for some down time.

The chickens are now pretty “free-range” while we’re at home.

The dogs mostly leave them alone.  Henrietta will sneak up to the dogs and cats and start scrutinizing a tail, or bugs or dander … and begin to peck.  She’s quite adventurous, and her beak is quite pointy and painful.  Let’s hope to not walk outside and find her headless after one of her over-zealous pecking sessions.

There was a heat wave in the Midwest during the first half of August – and it was miserably hot.  The dogs and cats and persons were able to take refuge in the cooled house; however, the chickens were outside huffing and puffing away.  I never knew that chickens panted – their exposed skin turns red from heat (or excitement), and they open their beaks and pant.  We tried to keep their water cool with frozen bottles of water.  They would often nestle into their sand box, trying to cool off.

It’s cooled down since then and has been gorgeous.  We’re rising back up into the 90s for a few days, but it should be all down hill from there… I’m going to try to not turn the A/C back on – it seems pointless, but we’ll see how strong I am.  Pretty soon we’ll be experiencing the frigid, fruitless temperatures of January and February, and we’ll be longing for the 90 degree temperatures.  Let’s just hope for a nice fall before the winter comes.

We had a little taste of the coming week on Thursday, when the temperatures stayed in the 80s.  It was a gorgeous day!  Rob and I took the opportunity to take the Kayaks down to Osage County Lake and paddle around.  I even tried my hand at fishing!  Yes, me!  The huntress of the fishies.

Of course the weather turned right back around, reaching into the mid nineties, and steaming us with the heavy humidity.  The chickens have been spending the afternoons panting.  We’ve been trying to add ice and frozen water bottles to their waterer on a regular basis.  Thankfully they have plenty of shade (a little less after the Hackberry dropped that limb on the run last week).

Today we have lots of chores on the list – Rob is downstairs brewing a batch of homemade beer, and made some yummy crepes for me this morning (yes!).  Dishes were done, chickens were watered, but there is an ever growing list of things that need to be completed (Chicken and non-chicken related).  Groceries to buy, coop windows to wire in, socks to knit, 3 acres to mow, a garden to weed, dogs to get played with (they’re seriously lacking in exercise with the heat lately), the neighbor’s car to work on, etc…

I went to bed late, after mulling over an “important” yarn decision for a desired upcoming project.  So, at 11am, I’m ready to go back to bed!

With the coop and the chicken run finished we’ve had more time for other fun activities, such as yard work and house cleaning!  Yea!   Though, last week a branch fell from the Hackberry tree – right onto our newly finished chicken run – that took up three hours of our evening, and involved a lot of naughty words.

Hackberry Branch

We saw a few people fishing from “our” bridge this weekend, after the floods came through (did I mention the creek flooded last week?)… we decided to give it a shot.  We sat in the creek, with our feet cooling off in the creek, casting fishing line into the water with turkey hot-dog bait… we were unsuccessful.  The next day we tried stinky cat fish bait… and we were still unsuccessful.  We’ve given up on our creek fishing… but it was a nice way to stay cool!

Chicken Predator

We finally got the chicken wire up and the bird netting over the top of the chicken run. We brought down the kennel that the chickens have been sleeping in for the last 6 weeks and put it in the chicken coop while we are getting some details finished up.

We’ve had chickens in our house for the last 6 weeks. And now it’s time to clean up a bit, and kick them out of the nest.

Trying to get the wild bird netting up

It’s such a relief to have them outside, but at the same time… something new to worry about. There are lots of natural predators: Raccoons are the biggest trouble, but hawks and owls, neighborhood dogs, OUR dogs, foxes and coyotes…

I really want a baby monitor to put out there! But, I’m sure it will get easier as we learn that our coop and run are safe from predators and that the chicks enjoy their time out there. It will be a bit cooler than they’re used to out there in the “wild”!!

Photos by Susan

The Run Takes Shape

Well, we’re kindof in a hurry to get the Chicken Run done – but this weekend we are getting rain, and more rain.  We made some progress today.  Rob, of course, did the bulk of the work, and I was more of a support role: getting a hair cut, making dinner and tea, chiseling, and clean up.

The weather forecast is not working in our favor.  Tonight we have pretty good chances for more storms, with more likely over the next few days.  We may just have to work in the rain to get our Chick coop and Run completed.

Corrugated Metal Wall

Chicken Coop

The Chicken Run in Progress

Oh dear, the rain and the thunder have put us behind schedule for the morning.  Our plan was to complete the chicken run today, at the very least this weekend – so that our little chickens could move outside!

They are quickly outgrowing their dog kennel.  Ten square feet for 6 growing birds is just a smidge tight, and we can hear them getting annoyed with each other.

This morning it has been rain, rain and rain.  With intermittent downpours and rumbling thunder.  Not exactly a construction dream.  We are hoping that it passes soon, that we can move onto heat and humidity while we complete the run, and make other finishing touches to get the birds outside.

Hopefully we can keep it updated with our latest adventures…

We bought some baby chicks in May, and now have six chickens – they’re pretty darned cute, and Rob is working away on the coop and chicken run.