A lot of changes here on the Farmette...

I have been so MIA lately! It's the curse of my illnesses I suppose. But don't worry. We've been making loads of spring chicken plans!!

On a sad note, we lost our 1st Biggie Smalls...our beautiful blue Silkie roo. He passed away 2 days ago. We do have plans to get a 'real' Biggie Smalls, a black Silkie cockerel chick this spring...along with a multitude of other chicks... Anyway, I wanted to take a moment & write about our biosecurity breech and why my ignorance killed the roo and has made our chickens all have a cold (AKA infectious bronchitis). I bought him from a local girl who thought she had a black Silkie roo, about a year old. He was a blue Silkie roo, might have been around a year old (I don't know for sure), but she had him in a dog cage next to a Buff Polish roo, who was also in a dog cage. I just didn't have the heart to leave him. My bad. The poor little guy was sick. He died. Because of my ignorance. I noticed he had a wheez, but honestly totally dismissed it after a month and a half...making a fatal assumption (for him) that it was just the way he was. Wrong. Chickens do not wheez or rattle or cough or sneeze on a regular basis unless something is wrong. Please learn from my mistake!!

My layer coop currently houses 16 females & our Buff Orpington roo, Jake. The females consist of 6 Red Star's (or Red Sex Link's - Ginger, Penny, Rhody, Rhonda, Reba & Roxanne), 2 Black Star's (or Black Sex Link's - Aussie & Ducky), 1 Silver-Laced Wyandotte (Angel),1 Gold-Laced Wyandotte (Goldie), 4 Brown Leghorn's (all 4 affectionately known as Leggy because they are VERY difficult to tell apart!!) & 2 Buff Brahma Bantam's (Gracie & George). We are adding 2 Ameracuana's, 2 Black Jersey Giant's, 2 Salmon Faverolle's, 4 Dark Rhode Island Red's, 2 Black Australorp's, 2 Buff Orpington's, 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte's, 1 Columbian Wyandotte and 2 Exchequer Leghorn's. We were going for egg laying capabilities as well as beauty and friendly personalities.

Our 'front yard' birds will consist of 1 Welsummer roo and 2 hens.

We also have an exotic coop which includes 1 Polish (and 1 Sumatra pullet), 4 Silkie's and 1 Cochin pullet. We have 1 Cochin cockerel and 1 Polish cockerel. In the Polish crib, we have Marley, our 'original rooster', who isn't quite a year old yet. He currently has a Gold Laced Polish pullet named Elvis (compliments of my baby sister) and Sammy, our little black Sumatra pullet. We are adding 1 Buff Laced pullet, 1 White Crested Black pullet and 1 Silver Laced pullet to his group. Next we have the Silkie's. We, of course, just lost our blue Silkie, so we will be purchasing a new roo...a Black one. We currently have Eleanor (white Silkie), Buffy & Suzy (buff Silkie's) and Baloo (blue Silkie). We are adding both the Black Silkie roo and 1 Partridge Silkie pullet. Last, we have our Cochins. They consist of Ikey, a spit fire of a li'l cockerel and his partridge, very tiny GF, Freddie. We are adding 4 'assorted' Giant Cochin pullets, 1 black Frizzle Cochin pullet and 1 white Cochin pullet.

This arrangement should make all 4 of the Roo's happy and of course the hen's could really care less as long as there is food available at all times. Gotta love those easy hens!! LOL!

We are also getting ready to enlarge our chicken coops. I'm so excited with what this coming spring is bringing!

I started selling my beautiful eggs for $1 per dozen a couple of weeks ago. We have already made enough money to pay for 1/2 of the chickens' monthly feed! Yay! My goal is to have the eggs pay for the chickens' feed along with the dogs' feed...maybe even pay for the extra supplies we occasionally or regularly need like antibiotics, pine chips, straw, etc. And wouldn't it be grand if the chicken egg sales also paid for the dogs yearly vaccines and heart guard/flea med's?! Wow. That would definitely be great.

My husband built me a chicken water heater yesterday. It works amazingly well!! I'm so happy and proud to have a husband who knows how to build and fix stuff!!

I have also been working on making some new recipe's...I will post a few when I have more time.

If you want info on our homemade chicken water heater, just ask!

The Coop

Well, after much discussion, Chuck & I decided we (as in he) want to use 2 matching - or close to matching - sheds and convert them into 2 chicken coops. Coop #1 will be our layers and Jake. Coop #2 will belong to the Polish and also have a tac room to keep all the chicken supplies.
Here's the shed-to-become-a-coop being delivered by Menard's...

Here's Chuck reading directions... Impressed? LOL!

Chuck & Dustin carrying the front of the shed-to-become-a-coop to the driveway for a flat surface to work on...

Chuck & Dustin raising the front wall into place...

Wendy helping me dig out the pavers to use both for leveling the shed-to-become-a-coop and for a less 'muddy' entrance into the coops...

The shed-to-become-a-coop framed...

Here's Jake & his ladies, patiently waiting and being content with their current living situation - even if we aren't...

This was all done on the 1st day. We are hoping to get it completed this weekend - fingers crossed for decent weather!

Rhode Island Red Hens

I purchased 4 new ladies - Rhode Island Red's - 1 year old. They have been horribly mistreated. They were originally 3 to a cage & used strictly for egg production. Somehow they ended up being sold, along with about 196 others to a lady who was trying to slaughter as many as possible before winter came. Technically I rescued these four by buying them from her. Considering everything they've been through, they are incredibly sweet!! I feel awful about their beaks, though. I definitely do not believe in de-beaking!! Grr.

Now I'm trying to get their health back up to par. I'm feeding layer pellets, oyster shells, fresh fruits & veggies and scrambled eggs with the eggshells crushed. I was thinking about purchasing some poultry vitamins. Anyone have a brand they prefer? Or any other advice on how I can help them recover faster?

I just know they are going to be so beautiful in a couple weeks!! And even though I do not support de-beaking, I do think their little under bites are kinda cute...in an ugly sorta way. LOL!

I'll get some more pic's this weekend - as well as before, during & after pic's of my shed converted to coop. =) For now, I need to get some sleep! 3 concussions in less than 45 days... I think I could use some RnR.

Night!

New babies have arrived!

Marley, my little Polish roo. Yes, he's under our dining room table. LOL! He's such a sweetie...a little quirky, but sweet as all get out!

These are my newest babies. 1 Golden Polish Hen, 1 White Silkie Bantam Hen, 1 Black Sumatra Hen, 2 Silver Bantam Cochin's & 1 Black Bantam Cochin's - I don't know whether the Cochin's are hens or roo's yet. Hoping for hens, though! LOL!

This is one my new babies, a Silver Bantam Cochin. Hoping it's a hen!! LOL!

My Black Bantam Cochin. Such a doll baby. Again, hoping it's a hen!! LOL!

Elvis, my Golden Polish Hen. I'm already head-over-heels in love with her!! My baby sister named her...I have to admit, she does look a little Elvisy flashy. LOL!

Sammy, our Black Sumatra Hen. She's a real sweetie!!

My beautiful white Silkie Bantam Hen. She's another one that has already stole my heart! I can't wait until she gets all white & fluffy! LOL!

Well, once again I am going to try to quit smoking. Tomorrow. Yuk. I know I really need to quit - when I wake up in the morning's, I can literally feel how tight my chest is. Screw that! Plus, $100/week for what?? Geesh. Enough is enough already!!

Anyhoo, I'm hoping to be able to put the new chickies in with the elders (who are only 6 weeks) in a month. Hopefully everything goes well. Fingers crossed!

Most of a nighter...

Cole & Marley...so cute! He was a little concerned about being poo'd on, but it was definitely a Kodak moment!! LOL!

I'm being tested, tested, tested lately. I'm sincerely trying to be tolerant & patient...but there are times I can honestly say I truly understand why some animals in the wild eat their own kind. :)

The chicks are growing up so fast!! Here are a few more pictures...

Baloo at 33 days old. Isn't she adorable??

The sandbox hubby & I made for the chicks...they LOVE it!

Ginger - 33 days old. She's my 'baby'. LOL!

One of the Buff Silkie's...no name yet. But, she's happy anyway. LOL!

Ginger going night-night for the night. Such a cute little chicky butt! ;o)

Angel - 33 days old. Her name is Angel because of her gorgeous silver-laced feathers - which will become more & more beautiful as she grows.

My baby & one of our Golden Laced Wyandotte's (33 days old).

The Crib with my $6 "The Hen House" outdoor thermometer & cute little stars. Awww!

Kita, our pretty little Mini Rex bunny...I call her Puppy. =)

Last, but definitely notleast...my baby... He's SO gorgeous!!

Tomorrow I have bunches to do! Chicks & "Puppy" to care for 1st thing in the A.M. Then I have some more painting to do - mostly in Cole's bedroom, but I also want to start taping off & possibly even painting, at least the trim, the laundry room...especially since the hardwood isn't down yet - it's still the laminate. I'm hoping to have the paneling up in the computer room by the end of the week. Wish me luck! LOL!

I'm also getting ready to start doing some of my freehand 'stenciling' on the walls. Jacki's gonna have to help me with quite a bit of it (cuz I am by no means an artist, but I think I can handle some of it on my own. :o)

Aww...almost the weekend!

They always send a free "exotic" chicken with an order...so I'm hoping for either a 2nd white Silkie hen or a 2nd Polish hen. I'm definitely using food color & dying my white Silkie PINK for Easter next year! LOL!

See?? You can do it!! If I get a 2nd white Silkie, I'll dye it green. Definitely!

I haven't taken my roo or Silkies 1 month old pic's yet. I will get around to it something this weekend...I've been extremely tired this past week. I think it's the weather - it's affecting my fibro. Fibro sucks. :/ Seriously.

I have been working on cleaning up the main living area's of our home the past couple of days. Getting the living room, dining room, kitchen, computer room & laundry room back in some remotely respectable, livable space. It's been obnoxious this past month with all the stripping of wallpaper, painting & hardwood flooring going on. Ugh. Exhausting doesn't even begin to describe it! LOL! Chuck & I put the tilt-out in under the sink for our sponges, etc. I'm so happy about that! Gay, I know. But it will make my new stainless sink much more attractive!! Ha ha.

So...my dogs have fleas. Ick. We treated them, flea bathed them...still have flea's. I'm ordering the good stuff from Drs. Foster & Smith 1st thing tomorrow morning. Of course, if Z & R hadn't brought their flea-infested dogs to our home a little over a month ago, this would have never happened. But, what can you expect from idiots? So yeah...

We do finally have a TV back. We had moved ours to the basement during the major renovations in the living room so we didn't have to worry about it getting damaged...hey, when you spend almost $1,000 on a big ol' flat screen, you don't trash it, right? LOL!

This is one of the flowers from my Hibiscus tree. There are 4 trees intertwined - 2 coral & 2 pink. This is one of my favorite flowers! I even have a Hibiscus flower tattoo...with a turtle...because I love both! Ha ha. Guess I'm going to need to find a really cool Polish Rooster tat now! =)

Well, it's going on midnight...time for bed!

Night all! Hope everyone has had a great week so far!!

The rest of my hens - 1 White Silkie, 1 Gold Polish & 1 Black Sumatra are coming the week of August 10th. I'm SO excited!!

I decided to get chickens!

I have always lived in town up until 3 years ago. But, I can remember all the times at my Grandparents farm...the smell of hay & alfalfa, the cows...and the chickens at my Great-Grandmother's. I loved them!! I loved the cows, too...but I need more land for them! LOL!

I found MyPetChicken.com by accident while looking for inexpensive, but aesthetically pleasing, coops. I ordered everything from them. I ordered 4 brown Leghorns, 2 golden laced Wyandotte's, 2 silver laced Wyandotte's, 2 buff Brahma Bantams, 2 Black Stars, 2 Red Stars, 1 Buff Silkie & 1 white-crested blue Polish Roosters. What I received was 4 brown Leghorns, 3 golden laced Wyandotte's, 1 silver laced Wyandotte, 2 buff Brahma Bantams, 1 Black Star, 2 Red Stars, 2 Buff Silkies, 1 Blue Silkie & 1 blue-crested Polish Rooster. Good order! I love my Silkies!! I just put another order in for 1 white Silkie, a gold Polish hen & a Sumatra black hen. Everything but my rooster are hens...don't want any cock fights!! LOL!

The chicks spent the 1st 3 weeks of life in our garage in a large industrial tub. For the 3rd week of life they lived in the coop with a puppy play pen as a yard. This past weekend my husband & son built the Chick Yard...

The cute little bench will ultimately be in the Chick Yard for me to sit & enjoy my chickens. They are SO MUCH FUN!! I really enjoy watching them. They have to be the dumbest animal on earth, but for some reason, they make me smile. Ahhhh...the important things in life, right??

This is my Chick Crib...with my motto sign being hung by hubby & my son. They hung this before we even received the chicks. Such good guys!!

Random photo's of my chicks:

They are 1 day old, 1 week, 2 weeks & 3 weeks here...Silkie's & my Polish Rooster.

I have named my Rooster - Marley. My Blue Silkie is Baloo. My white Silkie, which I don't even have yet, is Daisy. My Polish hen is Elvis. LOL!

My Red's are Ginger & Penny and my Black Star is Ducky. That's all we have so far. LOL!

Here are some of gilrs coming down the pank.