SUNSHINE

Today, we finally woke up to some sunshine!!

At Port Townsend:

A fort (prior to getting the cool fort making kits from Grandma)

Visiting the navy base:

Back on Addison's birthday:

Dinner

Addison found one of Angelina's eggs last night when we were cleaning the coop area. She insisted on carrying it around the yard for a couple of hours and then had it for dinner. She was very proud of her foraging, and I was happy to see her eating our healthy, happy, organic eggs!

It was fitting that she had on this adorable new hair clip from the Shining Star Boutique on Etsy

Angelina (the redhead) and Uma:

(Don't worry - she isn't pulling. She is actually very gentle with all the animals, so they LOVE her when she sits still long enough to cuddle.)

Uma thought that Henry must be getting a treat from Addison, so she ran over there to check it out:

Sweet Henry:

Hillbilly Christmas

So.... we've spent hundreds of dollars making a chicken fortress. And now that the weather outside is frightful and all, we even made a nice eyesore out of the darn thing by covering the whole chicken yard in tarps. It's ugly, but my ladies are dry.

Then we started noticing the past couple of weeks that something seemed to be bothering my chickens...

Something had them afraid to go in their coop at night, even when it was below freezing and they had a nice heat lamp in their cozy home.

This weekend the mystery was solved.

We've got Possums.

At least three.

And now we have to EVICT the POSSUMS.

We don't even know how the darn things got in there in the first place. Remember - it's a fortress, reinforced on top and bottom by wire mesh - a cube of wire.

But I'm a peacenik, so we've gotta do it without harming the smart little dudes. After all, they're just thinking they found the jackpot - free food, water, shelter, and even heat!

Of course the live trap didn't work.

We had to go in there like real men and take care of the problem OLD SCHOOL.

In the dark,

the pouring rain,

and with a rake as our only defense.

The chickens are surely thinking it's Armageddon as their little coop is jostled up and down like a carnival ride.

Here is a very anticlimactic video of our efforts:

Turns out I'm not such a real man when it comes to creepy crawlies at night...

Cruelty-Free

The New Chicks

So here they are; my new chicks. I'm one step closer to my "live on a farm" dream. They've already proven to be sassy little gals with their own little set of idiosyncrasies. They eat like they've never before seen the corn, peas, oatmeal and bananas I give them every day along with their organic feed..... maybe they've been deprived in their life before Momma 'Chae. At dusk, I start to hear them screeching at me. I'm sure the neighbors down the road can hear them as well. Once I hear the call, I walk outside to find them all sitting on the roof on the coop. They don't quite get the whole coop "concept" yet, so they are confused. I have to pluck them one at a time and place them in the coop and close the door for the night. In the coop, they have fluffy beds of pine shavings and a roost, which is the usual chicken choice for optimum comfort. My gals, however, are clueless about the roost. They just sit in the pine all night, looking confused when I put them in, and dumbfounded when I let them out in the morning.
I think my hens are claustrophobic. Go figure. It makes total sense that I would have claustrophobic chickens. I have a cat with spring allergies that causes his skin to fall off if I don't medicate him twice a day, (who also has gone swimming in my parents' pool) and used to have a cat who ate wool hats, mittens, blankets... and a paraplegic mouse who was rescued from my feline warriors. I also have a golden lab/retriever who is afraid of water. That's right - a retriever who won't swim..... unless I call to him and he thinks I'm drowning. (yes, I know. This is cruel. I was just trying to "encourage" him.)
In other words - I have pets with issues.
The up side of having claustrophobic chickens is that when they do go into their coop for a few minutes a day to lay eggs, it is in an almost pristine environment. Since they don't hang out and poop in the coop, the eggs are perfectly clean and only need a quick rinse.

The fortress:
This baby is reinforced on top and under the whole bottom with wire mesh. Nothing can climb over, in, or under this fence. It also has a fiberglass roof to keep away the rain and snow and a double layer of wire mesh along the bottom to prevent the boldest of raccoons from reaching their little hands in and grabbing at my girls. (they have my garbage to eat, so they'll be just fine without murdering my hens.) At night they are locked in the actual coop,which has nice air vents , plush pine bedding, and a roost.
After a few more days, I'll start letting them free-range when we're home. For now, I want to make sure they get to know the area and feel safe in their little nest so they learn where their home sweet home is.

This is Oprah:

And Angelina:


and all Three.
Uma wouldn't sit still for a solo shot. This is the best I could do. She was too busy doing martial arts and plotting revenge on her ex boyfriends. (Hell hath no fury, you know...)

Vote

I was hoping for a repeat performance... last week, Aidan prayed to Jesus to "Help me stop kissing girls."

ALSO ---- take a second to VOTE for your favorite name on the right. I'm going to be adding some new chicken ladies to my life and would like to put some good vibes and good luck on them by giving them some tough chick names. You know - names that no one would mess with. These hens need to be tough as nails, divas of the first degree, and impervious to all that is foul in their feathered world. I am a pet owner extraordinaire, but have recently suffered a loss with my first beloved chickens. These new ladies will be entering our fortified fortress tomorrow and will be living in the lap of luxury with armed guard babysitters, hand chosen from the local snipers' club, the next time we go on vacation.

P.S. - I'll cheat if you don't vote for Angelina and Oprah. I definitely think those two are "Must Haves." :)

Hot Corn Thursday

Do you know where your eggs came from? I'll be polite and spare you the gory details at the moment, so that I can show you where MY eggs come from.
These spoiled girls (and Opal, the boy) are enjoying steaming hot corn on a rainy day. (not too hot, of course. I don't want to burn their bellies.)

Do the Puyallup

And lastly --- My poor, poor, poor chicken. Look at the size of her eggs!