chickens vs cat

This past week the chickens have started free ranging in the yard, and are good about going to roost at night.  The dogs can't be trusted still when the chickens are out, but the cats are fine with the chickens.  They can handle themselves, as seen in this video where Henrietta runs off Elliott.

Also, today I dug up some wild black raspberry bushes growing at various places in the neighborhood (in the alley, the park) and transplanted them in our yard. Hopefully some will have fruit next summer!

Getting into the routine

I am getting into the chicken routine.  They really don't require that much time/effort after the initial set up. I finally fixed the floor of the coop yesterday, and cleaned it out. It was difficult b/c I had to put them in a temporary pen so I could get in there and fix it.  Anyhow, now our routine is about 15 minutes in the morning of care (put out fresh feed/water, open up the coop to the run).  In the evenings the girls go to roost all by themselves at 6:20 (it gets dark about 6:40).  We find it cute/funny, that they go up to the roost and get  settled in all by themselves.  Our evening routine is that we empty the run, close up the run access, move the coop (it takes 2 people), and pick up the food for the evening. All in all, in the evenings it runs about 15 minutes as well.  I, of course, spend more time outside w/them during the day, watching them or giving them treats or kitchen scraps.  Today I took this video of the dogs/chickens, after I gave the chickens some milk as a treat. They loved it!

Ladies Arrived

All 4 girls

 Last night Gail brought over my ladies. It was almost dark, so they'd be ready to roost for the evening.  We clipped their flight feathers, as she thought since are still young and light enough to try for our 6ft fence.  Next molt when their new feathers come in they'll be too heavy to even try for the fence.

The farm co-op warehouse didn't have wateres, just nipples to make do it yourself waterers.  I don't think they've figured out how to drink from the nipples yet, so I put a dish of water out for them. I went to Hayes feed store on my back from the doctors and they were out of regular waterers. Ick. Ill have to go back Friday when they have more in stock.

Oddly, Charlie was more interested in the ladies than Chloe. I thought it'd be her, since she has a high prey drive when it comes to small animals, but she is fine.  Charlie now is fine off leash in the yard when they are in their tractor (its fully enclosed). 

Coop stress

Yesterday we took both cars to pick up the coop. I thought the coop can go in one car, the run in the other.  The run itself is 8ft long w/1ft handles on each end.  That wasn't going to happen.  So, we had to go to Uhaul and get a pickup truck.  After a tedious drive home, we got the coop in the back yard, and returned the truck before they closed at 5pm. Whew!

I am slightly disappointed w/certain aspects of the coop, that seem to make no sense to me.  For example, the wire on the run isn't even chicken wire. The holes are 1inx4inches!  Totally useless!  And the whole floor drops out to be a ramp into the run. Stupid for 2 reasons - 1) it blocks the yard access door when the floor is down 2)  what if some chickens want to be in the coop while others are in the run?!  Needless to say there need to be some alterations on it, that I think we can handle.

The problem is I started putting up galvanized 1/2inch wire last night on the run (in the dark, with a headlamp on), but I needed help to hold it down and staple it on.  So Im freaking out and in tears, b/c chicks arrive Monday and hubby will be at work all day Monday. I at least want to get that up before the ladies arrive Monday - we can alter the floor later in the week. So here it is, Monday morning, and Im stressed out. 

I figured out how to post pictures today, so that will add some variety to my posts.

birds & coop

This past week I got the yard cleaned up. Composter is in the ground and rodent proof. 

The guy who is building my coop expects it to be done next week, so this week I set about finding some laying hens. Ideally, I wanted pullets (juveniles 10-20 weeks old about to start laying).  I'd prefer them closer to 20 weeks, when they start laying.  So I looked on craigslist, and posted on a local forum asking around if anyone knew of anyone selling some.

A lady on the forum emailed me and said she'd give me some FOR FREE!  They are 10 weeks old (younger than I had wanted) but are Rhode Island Reds and Black Stars. Both breeds are good layers, docile, and hearty breeds.  Being that I already spent a lot of money on the coop instead of building it myself, Im feeling guilty for all the $ Im spending on the chickens since Im not working right now.  So I emailed her and told her I'd take 2 of each (after I got over being freaked out that a total stranger would GIVE me birds for free).   Yay!!!!  So I tentatively have some girls arranged!

Up and Running

I am excited to have the blog up and running to document the progress on everything.  My main reason for blogging is that I wanted to 'diary' the progress on the house/property, but didn't like the idea of an old school hand-written diary.  I also wanted a forum to share details with my close friends and family who are interested in the more minute details of our urban farming ordeal.

Last week we moved into the house. 1950's goodness - the kitchen is all original and needs to be remodeled (more details on that in a later post).   We've now been in the house for 6 days, and are mostly unpacked.  Being that hubby works and I have not sought employment yet, I've been able to get a good bit done around the house.  The most notable projects were replacing the fence (hired contractor for), moving a failed compost pile, laying some brickwork, and clearing out the yard of debris.  Hubby installed wonderful rain barrels over the weekend, and they are already almost full!

I also ordered the chicken coop yesterday. I had originally wanted to build one myself, however, I have so much other stuff to do around the house I feel like I'd never get around to doing it. 

My vision for our property is: living as simply and as sustainably as possible while growing as much of our own food as possible.


Today:  yardwork out front, digging holes for the composters.