update on the chicken tractor...;)

so, the plan was to cut the coop in half  & make our third tractor.  well, it totally worked!  it didn't take long either, just a bit of planning here & there.  i wound up gutting the coop first thing.  then with just the frame in front of me, i would cut a board or two in half, add the supporting side bits & move along to the next chunk. 

ira (the neighbor who i bought this coop from) added a couple of 2x4x12's in to the deal (thank you!!!) as well.  between that, the plywood that we had leftover from replacing a bit of our bathroom floor &  the wood from the coop that i was able to re purpose....i was able top keep the total cost under $50.  i had to make one trip to lowes, & figure i spent $10 tops on latches, wheel bolts, washers & hooks. 

this is a side view.  the ramp, sliding door are on the right...the two doors on the back are for cleaning & food/water.

a view into the coop/cleaning door.  you might notice there are no nesting boxes.  i didn't bother with them in this tractor.  why??  well, other 2 tractors have them, but the hens lay their eggs anywhere & everywhere in the coop.  i still need to add a roosting branch.

this door is also for my cleaning the coop out...easy access, you know.

this is the food/water access door.  i put it under the coop this go round.  the other tractors have them hanging out front, in the run section, but the food ALWAYS gets wet when it rains.  thought i'd give this a go & see if it works out better...

now a lick of paint!!  unfortunately i was so excited about getting the chicks in their coop that i forgot to paint BEFORE i added the chicken wire...

this made things just a smidge bit difficult & a whole lot messier!!

 why yes, i am covered almost entirely in paint!!  & no, it did NOT come off in the shower...;)  but i suppose that is yet another perk of being a stay-@-home mama. ;)

 this finished tractor...
we had a bit of blue outdoor paint & some white, so the paint job is a bit hodge podge.  i am in the in the process of hunting down paint leftover that we can use to personalize the coop.  the blue is a bit calm & the white, MUCH too plain!!  i have plans for a cooperative collage with the boys & i &  whoever else happens to stop by on painting day...

side view...

but the chicks are absolutely LOVING it & that is what really matters, right??

 it was funny seeing them take their first steps on the grass, just little toddlers...

but growing ever so fast!!


and what or your "little ones"?? 

we are back...!

well, HELLO! & thank you for not giving up on us as we took quite the hiatus...

my plan was to take april off from computer & internet, etc., which i did... it was hard to come back after that though. i would pop in to list things in our etsy shop & to check me email, but i was pretty much on & off in under an hour. too much to do y'know...with it being spring, the garden was calling, not to mention the beautiful sunny weather. so i didn't intentionally give up on the blog...

@ any rate, we are now back & have much to share. it'll take a bit to get everyone caught up on where we are right now. today, though, is about our new batch of chicklets! HOORAY!!! we are definitely a chicken loving family & well, when you have sweet little peeps in the house, it is easy to see why...

they are just so cute & FLUFFY!!!

we ordered 8 chicks this go round, 4 ameraucana bantams

http://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?session.category=Bantams&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT%5fID%20%3d%20%27AMABS%27

& 4 golden laced wyandottes

http://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?session.category=Chickens&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT%5fID%20%3d%20%27GLWS%27

they are all so much more adventurous that our first lot!

now, for a few introductions...

this is marshmellow, one the bantams, named by our 4 yr old ehren.

this is shadow, another bantam.

& this is thunder chicken, he is a superhero. he lept over 3 of the other chicks in a single bound! & though he is the smallest by far, he is the only one who has flown out of the box i put them in while i clean out the brooder...

i *think* he is a bantam b/c of his size, but his coloring leads me to think he might just be the wyandotte runt...only time will tell.

more chickens means another tractor in the works...;)

i bought this coop from our neighbor for $40, a pretty good deal seeing as how they were selling cheap plastic dog houses for $30 on craigslist. my plan is to cut it right down the middle & have 2 tractors.

this coop needs quite a bit of tlc & a gutting, but i am super excited. i am going to strip the lattice fencing from the bottom & add on a solid plywood floor. i also need to add the run, a roosting perch & entrance ramp, along with raising the coop up on a platform so that the chicks can get out of the rain when they need to...

actually, i am headed to work on the first bit right now, so i'll keep you updated with photos & whatnot. hoping that i can repurpose a lot of the wood already on the coop for my own modifications... we'll see...

happy summer everyone!!

egg-traordinary news & introducing the ladies...:)

while cleaning out the chicken coops today, i found our very first egg! (woo-hah!)

one of our ameraucanas...love it! :)

you can't really tell in the picture, but it is a very light blue-ish green....

i thought i would take this opportunity to introduce our lovely ladies, as well...

first our speckled sussex, we have 4 of them. none of which have names, yet... *blush*...
(we'll have to get on that)

they are the talking-est chickens ever! always clucking on about something or other...

and now the ameraucanas...this is honolulu, our rooster. we actually ordered our chickens 'sexed', hens only, but we are very glad to have him. the boys are already asking for more chicks...

this is one of the twins, fluffy. (aydin named her :)

some of the ameraucaunas have, what i call, beards & side burns...this one does, so 'fluffy' is actually quite fitting.

this is saradoman (who orin named), she is the most calm & people loving of the lot. always the first to fly up when we let them rummage around in the garden.

and *i think* the egg layer...:)

this is sarafina peckula...(hee, hee!)...is there a more perfect name for a chicken?? i mean really...

you may recognize if from the movie "the golden compass", she was one of the witches...

this is sasquatch, the largest & well...um...well, one of the less good looking-ish ones

(but please do not tell her i said that...)

and lastly, we have our other twin...tallulah. i actually was wanting to name our daughter that, but lance kiboshed it right of the bat! :(

this afternoon, when we got home from running a few errands, we check again in the coops & found another egg!

this is so very exciting...right up there with when we dug our first ever lot of potatoes!

may your day be filled with abundance as well!

june bugs & picture frames....

our yard has been swarming with june bugs all week...

as you know, we have 10 chickens. AND as you might also know chickens LOVE june bugs! so, we spent the morning chasing down & catching june bugs as a special treat for our chickens. they go crazy for them!

our mail lady drove up while we were all running around with our various tubs & saucers & asked what we were doing. when we showed her the jar & told her that we were catching june bugs for our chickens.

i said, "it's kind of mean, isn't it??"

to which she said, "no, when i was little, we sued to catch them & tie a string around their legs & turn them into a toy."

seriously! (i don't feel so bad now. :)

our daily rhythm for friday is "project day". we will be spending the afternoon adding watercolors to the back of our photos frame from last week & then adding a treating them with a bit of mama kopp's beeswax finish.

these frames really have turned out quite lovely.

i spotted them on our last trip to michael's (craft store), they were unfinished & only $1.00 each. so, i picked up four, one for each of us (well, not bebe) to paint. and conveniently enough, 1 for a grandmother's birthday & 3 for father's day (i know, we are a bit late.)

we soaked then for about 5 min each as i wanted our watercolors to blend on the wood, but as they were only $1.00 each, i did not want them to end up warping.

i think i may well get quite a few more next time we are in town & stock them away for christmas gifts!

happy crafting!

chickens, gardens & the squids...

here are a few random, but nonetheless lovely photos from our past few weeks...enjoy!

the chicks, now 3 months old, in their chicken tractor...

a toad we discovered while weeding in the garden...

evyn, our 15 month old, is half rabbit, i think! we weed for 1 hour each week (tuesday is gardening day, you know) and she keeps herself busy nibbling on this & that until we are through...i love it!

more love for the toad...

what odes a toad feel like, mommy??

evyn is intrigued by this little warty creature... ;)

blueberries bushes...you might notice that they are picked clean (this would be evyn's work as well)

tomatoes & okra...

hunting down the baby chicks in their "fort" (aka our mountain of lemon balm)...

aha! there they are!...

6 ameraucana & 4 speckled sussex...

they absolutely love it in there...

sibling love...

happy gardening!

chickens...

these photos of our sweet baby chicks were taken on may 2nd...enjoy!

(i also threw in a few random shots for good measure...:)

this was taken when we first started letting them out into the tractor part-time (out in the day & into the brooder again at night)

our friend randy & our sweet chicks...

i am the egg, er...bird man...

the lot of them...6 ameraucanas & 5 speckled sussex...

our sweet ehren...binoculars work much better with dandelions atop them!

a pair of felted shoes that our firend jenny gave us when ehren was just baby...his FAVORITE shoes EVER! though we finally had to retire them...too small, but he would insist on wearing them anyway.

after sweing up *new* holes weekly, i finally had to just pack them away. perhaps i can mend them well enough for bebe to wear them...

simply gorgeous...