Making Our Chickens a Home: Part 1

This weekend Dave and I began the journey into making our chickens a home. We have a large yard, but over the years due to neglect and a lack of effort, about half of the yard had become an overgrown urban jungle. Today that changed.

Dave and I got ourselves pumped up and hit the ground running with pruners, machete and chain saw in hand. I can not believe that we tackled so much in so little time. I had avoided that side of the yard for years! Now it seems like our yard has magically doubled in size. 

Here is a before picture. I had already started cutting stuff down, though.

Here are the piles of cut down backyard jungle.

Everything cut down!

We still have to get a bobcat back here to get the roots out of the ground. 30 year old root balls are not easy to dig up and there are many of them! I wish that we could just Roundup them away. A few things are going to stay, like azaleas. I just gave them a hard pruning. They should grow back lovely and easy to maintain. They will miss next years bloom, but it is worth it! We are also keeping the oakleaf hydrangea and some flowering quince. 

After bobcatting the place up, we will get a load of mulch to spread out over most of the area. We are going to plant grass in one small area. We also have to pick a new site for out Japanese Maple. That is a hard one. I think we might try to plant some blueberry bushes and an apple tree too, but I am thinking too far ahead. The chicken coop comes first! I will post pictures of our progression and keep you all up to date! Thanks for reading and anticipating our chicken home.

Incubation...

I am learning a lot about my eggs! First, I don't mind turning them. I thought that I would, but it makes me check on them. I am borrowing an automatic egg turner for the rest of the incubation. It will definitely make things easier. Think of it! Three turns a day, times forty eggs, times 18 days. That is a lot of turns! The automatic egg turner turns them more frequently. Also, it takes 21 days to hatch but you don't turn them the last 3 days. 

I have had a problem getting my temperatures right too. The incubator is supposed to be 99 degrees. It seemed to be hovering around 97 on my standard thermometers. Then I got a hygrometer. It measures humidity and temperature. Humidity is important during incubation and hatching. The hygrometer measured temps at 95. I finally got them to go up to 97. Today I will try to raise it to 99, before I put the automatic egg turner in place. Whew! I have been stressing like a mother hen! I still have to get the humidity right. It is a little high. It should be 40-50% during incubation and 100% during hatch time. 

I have so much to learn! I will take some pictures of the incubator with and without the egg turner so that you get a good idea. I can't believe that it has almost been one week. The time is flying. I will have baby chicks in no time!

Stay tuned....

Back to Baking

I have meaning to bake bread for a few days now. I broke down this weekend and bought a loaf. 

But tonight I baked my best looking loaf of bread yet! 

I used a potato bread recipe from Cooking Light. This is the second time I that I have made it. Both times it was easy. I thought that I messed it up this time. Nope. Look at this loaf! Dave thought it was great to put a ruler in front of it. He was pretty impressed with my bread.

Here is the money shot. Is your mouth watering?

The recipe makes a loaf of bread and a pan of rolls. We ate some of the rolls with dinner. I am going to try freezing the rest of the rolls and see how they do. I'll let you know. 

This is one recipe that you have to try!

Question?

Does any one know of a group that helps save plants from houses that are being demolished or landscapes being ripped out? I would love for my plants to go to loving homes, but we have to rip them out. They are over grown. 

Let me know if you can think of anyone. I am trying to search for some myself. Anyone know of any Master Gardeners? They are usually into that kind of thing too. 

All of this for my chicken coop. I can't wait! I will keep you posted. I am turning the eggs 3 times a day. That is 120 turns every day. Hopefully I will get an automatic turner soon.

Thanks for reading!

This really happened by accident...

On my chicken adventure, I truly thought that I would get some day old chicks to get my small flock started. They are so cute and fluffy! I pictured opening the box when they arrived and them chirping out, " Are you my Mother?" just like in the Dr. Seuss book.

My plans changed quickly on Friday. A teacher at school had borrowed a small incubator to hatch some eggs in her classroom. She asked me to help and we anxiously awaited our shipment of eggs. They finally arrived at lunch time and when we opened the box there were 4 eggs instead of 3. Oh no! Our classroom incubator only holds 3 eggs! What would we do with a 4th egg? I quickly decided that I would try to incubate it. 

First I hatched a plan for a basic incubator consisting of a light bulb and a box. Driving home from work with my little egg in the seat next to me, I remembered that my uncle had an incubator. He had just hatched ducklings. Whew. Now I knew that I had an incubator, but was it worth it to hatch just one egg? I contacted Little Gem Hatchery. I had been in contact with them about picking up some day old chicks. They are just a 40 minute drive away. I decided to see if they had any hatching eggs. 

I got a response back very quickly! Ginny and Lee told me that they had a lot of hatching eggs ready and waiting. Could I pick them up on Sunday? Woohoo!!! I was all set. I followed the instructions that they gave me for my one lonely egg and waited anxiously. Sunday morning Dave and I drove out to the hatchery. We saw all kinds of chickens and roosters, guineas, ducks, geese and a turkey! Ginny had already filled up two egg cartons for us filled with different kind of eggs. After our tour and some advice, I paid for our eggs and headed home.

Here is what we got!
 

I really wanted to hatch Cuckoo Marans. They are pretty birds and lay pretty eggs. Yes, I judge a chicken by it's looks and eggs. Actually, I was looking for 3 things when I was looking at chicks and it applies to getting hatching eggs, too. First was what a chicken looks like. Like any pet, you want to enjoy looking at it every day. There are so many varieties! I looked for hours online. The second factor was egg production and looks. I want a decent amount of eggs and pretty eggs. I love speckled eggs, brown eggs, almond eggs. Ok, I love any eggs. The third thing I looked for was the chicken's disposition. I wanted a docile chicken that did not tend to go broody. That means that she gets moody and wants to sit on her eggs all of the time. Little Gem Hatchery has chickens that fit my bill! 

Ok, our varieties and total.

3  Blue Laced Red Wyandotte

3  Blue Cuckoo Maran

3  Welsummer

6  Blue splash Maran

6  Lakenvelder

6  Golden Lakenvelder

12 Cuckoo Maran

1 Black Australorp(form the classroom shipment)

Whew! Let's look at them again.

After they go into the incubator it will take 21 days for them to hatch. That gives us an expected arrival date of May 24th. I have to turn them 3 times a day so that the embryos do not stick to their shells. We don't have a fancy automatic egg turner. The eggs are not viable until they are in the incubator. I mean, they aren't embryos until then, just egg and sperm hanging out separately. Interesting huh? I hope that all of the eggs hatch. If I do my job, we should have success. Some never develop and that can't be helped. This will be an adventure!

40 baby chicks! I will have to sell some to good homes and the hatchery said that they would take back any we can't handle or any roosters. You can't always distinguish a boy from a girl chick for 3-6 months. It depends on the variety of chicken. We only want girls so that they can lay eggs. You don't need a rooster to have eggs. 

I think I will start sharing some things that I learned from my class on here. What do you guys think? It was so informative! They really are not difficult to care for. They take work just like any pet. 

I will keep you all updated on the incubating process and on our coop building process.

Thinking about having chickens in your backyard? Maybe I can help! I am going to have some chicks soon and I know a really handy carpenter who can build your coop. =)

Chicks in the City

Last Saturday I spent the day taking a class on chickens. Yes. Chickens.It was at Oakhurst Community Gardens in Decatur taught by a great couple, Andy and Jen. Andy is the Chicken Whisperer. He has tons of links on his blog with good chicken information. Warning: It is addictive!

 The class was so great. It was really a crash course on keeping chickens in your backyard. I have been dreaming about this for a while now. Dave is on board and we have been trying to get our backyard ready to build a coop. We have a ways to go. I think we're gonna need a bobcat to rip out old growth though! We can do it! Anyone want to help?

Here are some pics from the coop tour. We got to go to local homes that keep chickens to see their coops, chickens and ask questions. I went with my friend Kristie. We rode our bikes all over Decatur to see these chicken homes. We felt like amazing women.

Here are a few chickens scratching through some hay and scraps.

Here is a pretty lady. I think that she is striking in her black and red ensemble! The ladies were enjoying the shade of this holly bush. And let me just tell you, it was a hot day! The hottest in quite a while!

This was my favorite coop, well both of ours really. The owner did a great job. He took the best options from different coops and put them together into this one. We are going to try to recreate this in our backyard. I know that Dave can do it. I am so glad that I have such a handy husband!

These are some pretty ladies feeding in another yard. I love the black and white look!

And last a such a pretty buff chicken.

I am hooked. I can't wait to have chickens. They are so cute, are great pets and they give you something back. Yes, the Sutton farm may open it's gates sooner than we ever imagined. Naw, we are just making good use of the space we have. Chickens seem like the next step to being more self sufficient. And they are so darn adorable! More chicken talk to come!!! 

Something to check out

If you haven't heard about it before, I would like to introduce you. Meet Link. This is a really cool organization working for freedom in North Korea. This is especially dear to my heart. During my time in China I heard word of mouth testimony about the horrible things going on in North Korea. I also stepped foot in North Korea. I need to find that picture.... I also helped to care for many children who were abandoned near the North Korean border with China. They were fortunate to end up in such a loving, God centered orphanage.

Anyway, check out what Link has to say and how you can help. In their Link store they have some great t-shirts that are very affordable. My first purchase, however, will be the DVD "Crossing". I missed the two screenings in Atlanta, but maybe I will hold one of my own. 

  "Taken from a number of true stories of North Korean refugees, Crossing is the first film to accurately depict the trials and hardships faced every day by the North Korean people."

I can't wait to watch it and I can't wait to share it. Now you know. Be informed!

Sketchy...

We live in a pretty quiet, older neighborhood. I love it here. We have a 94 year old neighbor on one side of us and a 80 something couple on the other side. I love them. I also love knowing most of the people on our street, even the business owners. We have a great new renter across the street and a really nice mix of people. 

One of our newer neighbors is sketchy. When they first moved in we thought that they were dealing drugs. Maybe they were. Maybe they are. One thing after another makes us suspicious of them. I am not judgmental, but I do keep an eye out on our neighborhood. We called the owner of the house today and he is close to evicting our new neighbors since they haven't paid rent for two months. He also said that if we know anyone who is willing to rent the house, he will kick them out asap. Anyone want to be our neighbor? It's a cute 3 bedroom, 1 office, 1 bathroom house with all wood floors and a fenced in back yard. If you want info, let me know!

In the words of Fred Rogers,

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.

I have always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.

Since we are together, we might as well say

Won't you please, won't you please?

Please won't you be my neighbor?"

Yes that was straight from memory. Sorry if the words aren't exactly correct.

101st post!

I have been meaning to write for sometime now, but what do you write in your 101st post? Lots of things have been going through my mind. I guess that I will just touch on a few of them.

We spent a few days in Savannah during spring break visiting with friends. It is always relaxing down there. We fished, Dave fished with our buddy Joel, I relaxed and we ate well! We tend to have to get away to catch up on sleep and truly relax! 

We had two huge trees cut down at our house! It opened up so much space. I spent some time reworking a flower bed after having them cut down. I also managed to get a couple of tomato plants in the ground, along with some banana peppers and some serrano peppers. My squash seeds just sprouted and my cucumbers plants are growing. I love spring time!

I guess my biggest news is that we have a new nephew! Walter Eugene was born almost two weeks ago. Dave's sister surprised us all by having him six weeks early. He is healthy and strong. Hopefully he will get to go home soon! We spent yesterday meeting him and visiting with Dave's sister and Mom. We had a great time! Here he is!

And Dave with him.

Whew! Five more weeks of school and then the summer comes. I can't wait. The students are tired of school and so is everyone else! Come on summertime! I know that the weeks will fly by and I love spring so much. I plan to spend sometime in the garden this week. We need to get our squash and cucumbers in the ground, along with a second planting of beans. I also want to try to get some tomatoes and peppers in at my parents place. I hope we have some nice days to do all of the work in!

Today I have been catching up on house work. Six loads of laundry! What? I guess I had been putting that off. I mean, it was sheets and towels too. I have also spent most of the day cooking. I like to cook my oatmeal for the week and try to get one meal ahead for dinner if I can. It has worn me out today though. I have been pretty worn out lately actually. Work is draining. Keeping up with life, friends, the house.... it's draining. But I can't complain. God has been good.

I came across the words to a Hymn in a book that I have been reading. They spoke volumes to me. I hope that they speak to you too. Happy 101st post!

"He Giveth More Grace"

He giveth more grace when the burden grows greater;

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added affliction He addeth His mercy;

To multiplied trial, His multiplied peace.

His love has no limit;

His grace has no measure;

His power has no boundary known unto men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and giveth and giveth again!

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father's full giving is only begun.

                            Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932)