Lark Rise to Candleford

I love Netflix and Hulu.  Together they are so much cheaper than cable, and you can find great shows on both.  The down side to Hulu is there are no parental controls and you can see some really freaky shows when you're searching.  I contacted them, and they are working on that problem.  For now, they have changed my profile age to 17, God love em!  LOL

Anywho, at the end of last year, at the urging of friends, I started to watch Downton Abby.  Next thing I know, I am watching it for hours at a time (like 3-4 hours a day).  I was determined to get caught up before season 4 began.  I was hooked!  Like in I stopped cleaning and cooking.  Like in I needed an intervention.  But my family survived, and now I only watch it on Sunday evening.  Well, the other day I was skimming through the "regular" channels (we have an antenna on our roof and enjoy local channels) and on PBS I came across a new show, "Lark Rise to Candleford".  I love it!  So I did a quick search on Hulu, and guess what?  I'm going to need an intervention!

And for your viewing pleasure, guess where my white chickens choose to sleep at night...

in our neighbor's magnolia tree.  We have the best neighbors. hahaha

What is on your watching list, or secret guilty pleasure?

Be blessed,

Debbi

My girl is feeding my girls

It took her some time for her to get comfortable, but Hannah has discovered the fun of having a chicken peck at her fingers while feeding them from her hand.

She started to freak out when all 13 came running after I called them, but now she sits and feeds them every chance she gets.  It helps her learn to sit still and calm, that's for sure. hahaha

 Here's a few close ups of my babies.  This is Red, and he is "the master", except at feeding time.  Whenever I give him something special, sure enough, one of the girls will come running and take it right out of his beak.  And he let's them, hence the term "hen pecked".

 This is Spot.  She lays green eggs.  Really.  But only whenever she feels like it.  She's getting to the age where she will soon stop laying altogether.

In case you are wondering about my ducks, here they are...

the one with the curl in the tail is our male, Daffy.  And he really is daffy.  I think he's the reason behind the phrase "dumb duck".  The other is our female Quakers.  She spends most of her time following Daffy yelling at him.  He is really hen pecked. lol

Believe it or not, Quakers climbs up into this old chicken coop to lay her eggs.  Surprisingly they are not that much bigger then the chicken eggs.  I was hoping for big eggs that I can use for Psanky Eggs.  Maybe as she matures and gets bigger.  If the eggs do get bigger, I'll get a few more female ducks.

No these are not my eggs.  I forgot to take pictures of the eggs I did make before I sold them (or broke them) in a move.

Until tomorrow....

Be blessed,

Debbi

I now have a poop deck!

My baby hens are growing by leaps and bounds every day.  And for the past week, they have decided that they like my back porch more then their own coop.  In fact, one day I was at the kitchen sink washing dishes, and I looked up, and there was a chicken looking at me through the window.
Scared me half to death! hahaha.  So I went out and took some pictures.

Now every night, after dusk, I pick up one of the hens, and walk to their coop, and the rest follow me.  Chuck says it's time to put chicken wire around railing, or we will have a "poop deck". LOL

Be blessed,

Debbi

My babies are getting big

I sat, staring at my computer screen this morning, trying to figure out something to blog about, and I couldn't think of a thing. So I got up and went outside to let the chickens out. Then it hit me just how big they have gotten, so I grabbed my phone to take some pictures. Tonight I'm going to try and take a video of my ducks ( who thinks they are chickens) as they follow the chicks and climb into the coop and try to sit on the perch. They keep falling off and it is too funny.

The photos aren't the best, I used my phone, and they kept moving. lol  But the are cute. :0)

Be blessed,

Debbi

We're free!

Yesterday we let the baby chicks out of the coop. They were very hesitant and ran back in as soon as the hens came to investigate. So today we left the hens in their coop and I left the door open for the babies while I filled their water. Once one came out, it didn't take long for the rest to follow. The old ladies aren't happy. They are hollering up a storm at not getting out.

Family News...

We've been busy here at the "farm", the chickens are growing like crazy, and the ducks are even crazier.  We moved them from the heat box in the shop, to their own coop outside.  Of course we had to add boards  and plastic to the sides since our nights are still too cold for them.  In fact, I have the sugar water out, but haven't seen beak nor feather of my hummingbirds yet. :0(

We named the ducks Daffy and Quakers.  Quakers is super loud and a big chicken! lol  They run from us and try to hide under the smaller chicks.  Hannah likes to crawl into the pen with them, but I can't squat down enough to get in there. Besides, crawling around in chicken poop is not my idea of a fun time.

Speaking of a fun time....

Wednesday was Hannah's 12th birthday, so she has now officially been with us more than half of her life. She was 5 1/2 when she came to us, and it's been a trying and difficult journey, but with a lot of love, prayer, and therapy, things are getting better every day.  

Yep, she asked for, and got, makeup!  Aghhhh!  I had to talk Chuck into it, because he hates it when any of our kids grow up...and she will be our last, except for grandchildren.

Speaking of grandkids,  I was notified yesterday that my son Greg and his wife Kristen are having a boy!  Quintin Lee will be here around August 8th....I'm so excited.  This will be their first baby, and it's about time. hahahaha.

Now I'll leave you with this, Tuesday was Hannah's spring concert for school, and she auditioned for the solo part and got it.  We are very proud of her.  Here she is singing "livin in the rain" originally by Jeff and Sherri Easter.

Be blessed,

Debbi

ok, who put miracle grow in the chicken feed???

It was just 2 weeks ago that we got ourselves some more baby chicks, and 2 ducks.  And in those 2 weeks they have finished off a 20 pound bag of feed and almost doubled in size, the ducks more then double.  I used to be able to grab and hold them with one hand, now I need both.  But they are sooo cute!

Now let's see what I can find to satisfy my chicken need...
at Handmade Artsits I found these cute chicken related items.

This pottery spoon rest is hand thrown, then drawn and carved with an original design by VirginiaRoseStudio.  So this is a unique one of a kind gift to beautify your kitchen.  It will make cooking more fun also. :0)

This wooden sign for farm fresh eggs is wonderfully country!  A lovely way to add a rustic touch to your kitchen decor.  You can find this 8.5" x 5.5" sign in the shop of WestWindDreams.

Over on Etsy I found these adorable crochet egg warmers by Marta Carlin.  This is a brand new shop, so keep a look out for more items in the future.

And Etsy can always be counted on for the unusual, and in the shop of PartyFowl I found this duck diaper harness gizmo.  I love it!!!  I showed it to Chuck so we can bring Daffy and Quakers into the house and for walks.  He just looked at me and laughed, so I think that's a no. hahaha.

So, what do you think of my big babies?



Be blessed,
Debbi

Look what we got today!!!

Well, spring is just around the corner, the sun is shining, the air is warm(er), so Chuck and I went out for lunch (a date!!!) and then off to Tractor Supply (one of our top 10 favorite stores),
 and picked up these...

NEW BABY CHICKS!  Blogger is being freaky lately and not letting me load pictures normally, or placing them where I want them...I have been working on this post since yesterday...so aggravating.  But here they are, the newest additions to the family

farm.  These bring the total to 1 rooster, 8 adult hens, 9 chicks (hopefully all hens), and 2 ducks.  There will be no walking barefoot in our yard this summer. lol.
We also stopped at the post office today and picked up hubbys birthday gift surprise...this absolutely beautiful mosaic dove is from MyEuropeanTouch.  It is hugh!  I have it laying on the arm of my Adirondack chair (trying to hide from Chuck during the photo shoot) and it took up the whole arm.  And the colors are great, blues and pearls and oh so pretty.  And for me, she sent this lovely hand quilted stocking ornament, and this flower pin/hairbow with a vintage rhinestone center.  AND she included 2 wonderful letters, one of her history (very interesting) and one of her technique. I love this!  So if you love this too, pop on over to Monika's shop and get some for yourself.

 

Until next time...

Be blessed,

Debbi

my chickens today

My wonderful husband is so good to try and meet my whims...and you'll remember that Amanda and I told him we wanted to raise some chickens for fresh eggs.  Well, you can read here when we got our 6 chicks this past spring.  Chuck worked so hard building the coop.  And you can read here how much they've grown in just 3 months.



Well, as it turned out, 3 of the chickens were actually ROOSTERS, so there goes my dreams of lots of eggs, lol.  We allow our chickens to free range during the day, and I love how it has cut down on the bugs in the yard.  But we have to keep the roosters penned up separate because while my black one looks amazing, he is a mean little sucker.  He had my Hannah running full tilt one day, it was actually kind of funny.  We've learned to not turn our backs on him.  LOL.  In this picture you will only see 2 roosters because one stayed out and didn't come home to roost at night, and while we found his feathers, he hasn't been seen since.

 

A few weekends ago, we went out and purchased 3 more hens, and added them to our hens.  I figured they were just chickens, so no problem.  Well, they fought over everything for the first week.  The 3 new hens versus the 3 old hens.  It was like watching teens girls in high school. hahaha.  And they all tried to lay their eggs in the same spot.  So if there was a hen in the nest, Pearl would stand at the bottom of the ladder and fuss like crazy.  We were getting 2-3 eggs a day before we got the new hens, but while we were still getting 2-3 eggs, we should have been getting 6 since each hen will lay 1 egg per day.  Chuck figured they just didn't have enough room so...



Chuck revamped our horse stable.  So much room!  While Chuck was building this coop, the hens would scratch around his feet.  They are very calm and will come right up to you when you're outside.  Owen loves to try and feed them.
 

 

Come and meet my girls.  These are the 3 we've raised from chicks.  The black one is named Blackie and the other 2 are Whitey and Pearl.  Yeah, I know, real original.  But it's not like they come when called anyway.  The white ones are Leghorns.  They are the most prolific layers and lay white eggs.  They have been laying a lot of double yokes too.  Blackie is a Plymouth Rock and she lays brown eggs.  Her's are usually smaller than the white ones.

 

These are the "new" girls.  They are actually older then my original girls, but we wanted eggs NOW, hahaha.  They are all Americana's.  The roosters of this breed are absolutely gorgeous and colorful, but Chuck said no more roosters.  Oh well.  From left to right we have Coco, Chuckie (Owen named her), and Spot.  They lay large GREEN eggs.  They look really cool.  Now hopefully with all the ladies having this much elbow room they will all lay every day.  I have noticed that while the shells are much thicker then store bought eggs, the yolk is more yellow, the the taste is better.

 

So, what's going on at your place???

Be blessed.

Debbi

My how they've grown...the chickens

Just over 7 weeks ago we brought home our baby chicks.  Here's the first story if you want to read it. 

 They were such cute little things, and fit right into the palm of my hand.  But now????

They are HUGH!  So much so, that Chuck is expanding their coop and pen.  In fact, we have one who believes she is the boss of the flock.  She even crows like a rooster, lol.  She looks at you mean when you approach the pen, but then will come right up to you for a little pet behind the ear.

Now all I'm waiting for are....eggs!
Be blessed,
Debbi

spring time is for chickens

Last week I was looking through the sales papers and discovered that Tractor Supply was running a sale on baby chickens, and had a really good deal on a roost and coop, so we took the plunge.

This is the spot we chose for our chickens, shady with still lots of sun.

The coop...it's one you (Chuck) assembles yourself.  We got the last one in the store.

Owen loved the chicks.  He giggled every time he put his hand in there and they scattered.

Hubby's handywork.  He only put one side on upside down. LOL

Say "chickens".

All finished.  We plan to modify it and put wire on the ground so no animals can dig up under the fencing.  We are starting to have some issues with coyotes in this area, and of course, all the neighborhood cats likes chickens.  But for now, we are keeping my new "babies" in the box in Chuck's workshop under a heat lamp until they get bigger.

Now all they need are names.  Any suggestions?
Debbi