Humor me!

The next couple of posts are going to be about chickens (surprise, surprise!), vegetables, food, and all the other things that are going on around this city farm!  I know, you are probably getting tired of me talking about my chickens and vegetables but we are having so much fun!  And I have taken pictures of everything so I am having fun sharing it all with you!  Above is the finished product.  It has a two roosts, a bordwalk, all the locks and latches in place, and hay now.  The chickens seem quite happy!  They peck around and eat bugs.  John has now taught them how to roost when they sleep (which is what chickens prefer) and how to come and go down the boardwalk to go into the enclosed part of the coop or out in the open air part of the coop.  The kids dug up a bunch of worms out of the flower bed yesterday and I have never seen such a funny sight.  Those chickens got so excited...they flew, and scampered, and fought over them...they chased each other and ran around.....They LOVE WORMS!  We have now also let them roam in the yard a bit...they don't wander far...they just walk around pecking at bugs! 

Life in the City having a farm

I could only dream and hope of having a farm or maybe I just think I want one but right now it is fun having a "farm" in the city!  Update on our little projects:  The garden is great although we don't see much "fruit"....so farm we have the most beautiful tomatoes on the bushes but they will not turn red!!!  We have baby green pepers and baby cucumbers coming up.  The zuchinni plants and flowers are gorgeous but we have no vegetable....I look everyday.  John planted a new bed of potatoes, onions, and strawberies that our nice County Worker gave us but it is a little late for potatoes so we shall see!  John is constantly working...and working...and working outside!  I don't think he has sat down once the past two weeks!  I love a working man!  WE HAVE CHICKS. The coop is done except for their boardwalk and the door isn't painted but we had to move fast because they were too big for the box.  I have learned sooo much about chickens!  Here are some of the things I have learned:

1.  You don't need a rooster to get eggs.  You need a rooster to get baby chics.
2.  Pullets are chickens in between chicks and hens...so I guess you could say teenage chickens.
3.  Hens will start laying eggs around 17 weeks of age.
4.  You will most likely get an egg every 24 hours per chicken
4.  There are soooo many different breeds and you can read about the moods, attitudes, personalities of the different breeds online.
5.  Chickens like to roost when they sleep. (John put them on the roost....a piece of wood he nailed across the house in the air...to show them...they remembered and now roost everynight)...its hilarious...all he had to do was show them once and now we find them roosting in their house every morning when we go to wake them up!
6.  They lay eggs in a nesting box and sometimes you have to put a golf ball in the nesting box to show them where to go until they get use to it if you don't have an older hen to mentor them.
7.  They love to eat bugs.
8.  They also can eat table scraps, pieces of old veggies, fruits, etc for a treat.....they love it when I give them diced squash!
9.  Some chickens are better fliers than others.  Sometimes you have to clip the edge of one side of their wings to keep them from flying in trees.
10.  Different breeds lay different colored eggs.
11.  Chickens stop laying eggs every 24 hours after about 1 year..then it becomes about 1 egg every other day....the jumbo eggs you get at the store are more expensive because they are from older more mature chickens that lay less frequently.
12.  chicken poop is a great fertilizer and compost additive.

Its been a wonderful learning experience!  We can't wait to get eggs and learn more.  They are the cutest little things!  I feel very motherly over them.  The kids and I go out every evening, change their water, take them out of the coop (screened part) and put them in the closed house part to sleep...They are very friendly.  Emily named her Brown Leghorn, Betsy.  John Daniel named his Brown Leghorn, Brownie.  Molly's Amberlink chick is named Penelope. 

They seem to be very happy!

Coop

COOP UPDATE:

Our little chicken coop is coming along quite nicely!  On a side note, before John went and bought wood at Home Depot, he happen to come across some old wood at Water Oak Plantation.  He was out there taking Emily to piano lessons one day and saw that behind the barn, they had lots of old wood piled up.  He decided to ask if they were throwing it away.  Aunt Laura said he could have any of it that he wanted!  So he brought home tons of old barn and fence wood that has now become our chicken coop.  It was a litte harder but John is always up for a challenge.  He had to find wood to fit all the measurements he needed which meant he had to make some weird cuts here and there but so far so  good and he hasn't had to buy wood yet!  He also is using a lot of our old hinges from our doors in the house that he replaced when he did our remoldeling and our old towel rack from the bathroom is going to be the chicken perch....so the coop is mostly recycled stuff!  My Aunt D'Anna and my Mother will be so proud!  It also makes it kind of "farm-like."  He will be painting it barn red.  Looks like it might be ready next week!  Now we just have to find chickens!

A phase

So now that John and I have decided to homeschool, we have started telling people....we have told a few people at church, a few at John's job, a few at my job, etc.  It is hilarious to hear the different responses we get.  Now John has found it amusing to tell people that he is building a chicken coop for the backyard.  Those are even funnier responses!  John said to me today after he told a fire fighter that we saw in Home Depot about our chicken coop in the works..."I love the way people look at me after you tell them we are homeschooling, growing a garden and getting chickens.....We are becoming weirder by the moment."  John mentioned it to my 88 year old grandfather the other day and my grandfather's response was..."Well John (looking kind of perplexed), I guess all of us have to go through phases like that!  I had chickens once too!"  I about fell off my chair laughing...my grandfather is not the type to discourage or talk negatively but he is so sweet in his responses....even when he thinks we are going through a phase!  It was so funny and sooooo my granddad!  It may indeed be a phase but isn't life an adventure and aren't we all so blessed to live in America where we still have choices and can be different and have different ideas and go through life's "phases!"  P.S.  We have checked with the City and the County and there are no ordinances against chickens outside the city limits in which we are.  Now the homeowners association doesn't know and I don't think we are going to ask permission, maybe just forgiveness if we get in trouble!  My brother said he would be my lawyer!  And we found out today that several other Killearn residents have chickens, pet pigeons, and other strange birds....and we have been told the "girls" don't make that much noise!  We are just calling it our "RABBIT" project....I mean rabbits are allowed right!?!?