New coop pics

Finially, pics of the new coop. It's our first ever attempt to build something ourselves. We managed without killing each other. :)

Sides put together

Sides attached to each other

Door in, roof on, partially screened

Nest box from old kitchen drawer

New coop

We are in the process of building a new, open air coop. We are using this design: http://myoutdoorplans.com/animals/simple-chicken-coop-plans/ but without anything on the inside (except a perch).  They will just roost there at night, with access to their run during the day.  I plan on building a freestanding nest box in their large run. I also purchase an electronic door opener, that will open and close with sunrise/sunset.

I will post pics soon of the progress!

A tribute to Buffy & Zippy....

You have nourished myself, my friends, and family well. Thank You.  I hope you have had the best possible chickeny life- able to run, dust bath, chase bugs, and scratch around in the dirt, as chickens should.

Zippy was smart, and an escape artist. Buffy was a kind leader, she never picked on the others.

I am honoring your life and death the best way I know how.  I spent a few minutes holding each of you, thanking you for your life and nourishment before I did deed quickly, quietly, and humanely.  I will continue to honor you by using all of your parts -you will continue to nourish us through rich, flavorful broth that we will enjoy in the months to come.

Bees arrive today!

Today I'm picking up a package of bees.  Im quite nervous, I did a few installs last year with my mentor, but it was over a year ago, and I had guidance. This is all on my own. Im nervous because it's also supposed to be kind of crappy out today and dont want to have to decide what is "too crappy" to install them into their new home.

The installation process is fairly easy. You take out the queen, set her aside, inspect her, hang her between frames in the new hive, and literally dump and pour the bees over her and into their new home. Then quickly close up the hive, and put some food on them to nourish them while the settle in, and are able to bring in food of their own. Im going to ask hubby to take a video of the install.

Ok, so here are pics hubby took during install.

 The package

Prepping the hive for install

Dumping the bees into their new home

Shaking the last few from the box (video)

Puttin' the girls to work....

I hate weeding. And have neglected the flower beds out front all winter long.  Weeding garden beds is one thing, but flower beds is another. They don't feed me, and are just to look pretty, so I don't usually want to weed them.  So, we built a 'grazing pen' out of PVC so we can move it across the flower beds, and the hens will eat the weeds for us.  I just have to put a couple of the hens in it, and take them out when they're done.  In the winter, it can also double as a cloche over the vegetable beds if we put plastic over it.

The RIR's are hard at work!

Shades of Green

My newest and largest creation. It measures about 50 inches across, and 35 inches deep.

Getting better at making rugs

I'm getting getter at making the rag rug with the toothbrush method.  I'm figuring out what works and what doesn't work for me.  Below is a picture of my 2nd attempt at rug making, measuring  35in x 22in.

And my 3rd attempt, my first try at doing a round one, pictured below. It is 28 inches across. I wanted to make this one bigger, but sadly ran out of yellow material. Note to self: don't by twin sheets, they are too small! Which is a shame, because I really love the buttery yellow color of this one.