Chick update #3

It's gorgeous outside so we took the chicks out for a few minutes.

Blaze desperately wanted to play with them.  Not that I would ever let her do so, but I honestly think she just wants to play and wouldn't hurt them on purpose.

The chicks are growing like weeds, and are starting to tame a little bit.  I got them to eat mealworms out of my hand today, and they're doing better about being handled. 

I've noticed that their little "voices" are starting to change, too.

We've changed Chaps' name, since both the araucanas are developing tails.  We've decided on the name "Norway," since there's a running joke in the house that The Architect thinks that anything with ear tufts is a Norwegian Forest Cat, and one of the araucanas has very distinct ear tufts.  :)

Garden 2.0

Well, here we go!

I started some seeds yesterday.  Bush beans, tomatoes, cucumber, melon, peppers, etc.  The Architect and I are totally going gung-ho this year and making a much larger garden than what we had.

Bubba and Crash have offered to give me a bunch of their compost, so we'll be attaining that in a couple weeks to till in.  After that, I've got to lime.  I didn't lime the garden last year, but it still did very well. 

One other thing I didn't do last year that I meant to do was to mulch.  I'm going to make sure that I mulch my garden this year.  Weeding what little I had last year was bad enough, and now we're making it bigger?  Ugh, my back would absolutely rebel.

I still need to get a couple window boxes so I can keep salad greens and broccoli in the house since they tend to not do so well in the summer heat.

The Architect built me this awesome seed starter/light box for my seeds.

It's made from PVC and has two 120 watt grow lights.  All the parts were about $80, and took us about an hour to put together.

Unfortunately, the way our house is situated, none of our windows get direct sunlight, so the light box is kind of imperative.  I hope it works out.

Chick update #2

I went to PetSmart and got about half a dozen tiny crickets for the girls.  They loved them!  Those crickets were all gone in less than a minute.

Here they are getting super excited about the crickets:

Chick update #1

I am absolutely astounded at how fast these chicks grow.

...I'm also astounded at the amount of poop they create...

The chicks are so cute, and they seem to be getting used to people once they're held.  They flee when you try to catch them.

I can't wait to get some mealworms or crickets from PetSmart to give them.  I might go get some tomorrow and see if they like them.

In the meantime, The Architect set up a chickie cam since he's an IT nerd.  :)
http://www.knightsanddreams.com

Take care!

The Girls

Excuse me.  I'm a little excited.

OOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGG CHICKIES!!!

Two buff orpingtons and two araucanas pullets.  They have hereby been deemed Petunia, Gertrude, Lucille, and Chaps (as in buttless chaps, since some auraucanas don't have tailfeathers).

I'm going to have The Architect set up a streaming Chick Cam tomorrow so everyone can see them grow!  :)

Incoming.

My lack of posting has been the calm before the spring storm of projects.

Wednesday, I visited a local feed store, owned by a woman who spoke at the Board of Commissioners meeting where backyard chickens were legalized in my county.  I reserved four baby chicks - two Buff Orpingtons and two Araucanas.  They arrive in two weeks.  I'm so excited!

The Architect and I have been trying to figure out what style of chicken coop/run we want.  I think we've settled on an A-frame with the coop on top and the run below.

Here in the next week or two, I'll start my seeds. 

At the end of March is when I'm supposed to get my rabbits.  So many new things to look forward to this spring!