Our Flock

Perhaps we should have broken down our flock sooner.

We have :

three Australorp - one of them is a rooster that's been nice so far (all black)

three Barred Rock - one of them is a rooster that's not very nice (black and white ones)

three Buff Orpingtons - one seems a little "special" (beige/tan ones)

two Silver Laced Wyandottes (black and white ones)

one Gold Laced Wyandottes (black and tan/gold)

two Rhode Island Reds (dark brown)

two ISA brown (lighter brown)

From left:  Australorp, Buff Orp, Silver Laced x 2, Rhode Island/Australorp/Buff together, Barred Rock x2, Rhode Island

From left: Rhode Island, ISA Brown, Buff Orp, Silver Laced, Australorp rooster

In the coop from left: ISA Brown, Silver Laced, Buff Orp from behind, Australorp, Barred Rocks, Rhode Island in the dark shadow

Barred Rock in front, Buff Orpingtons giving you "the eye", and an ISA brown behind her.  The two black ones are Australorps

You don't belong here

We had guests over yesterday that said one of our chickens was down by the road.  I was surprised that one would be alone or that they would be very close to the road but didn't think anything of it since all of them were safely in the coop at bedtime.

Then this morning my youngest son called me outside.

Our closest neighbors have 4 barred rock hens, no roosters.  The next closest neighbors really aren't that close.  We have no idea where this guy came from.  His neck looks like it's been plucked of feathers and his tail is a little beat up.

I went out a few minutes later and he was gone, no idea where he's run off to.

Our first eggs - again

I found out first eggs last night!  They were laying on the coop floor (not cool chickens!) and were so tiny and cute!  

Penny for scale size

We have several breeds and they all lay brown eggs, so that doesn't help us to figure out who might have started leaving us breakfast treats.

We've been flocked

Our community does a Library Fundraiser where people pay money to "flock" someone's house.  The Flamingo flock arrived at our home for a few days.

Do you see something wrong here?

On the 4th of July I went to lock up the chickens and was happy to see that none of them were on the ground or trying to sit on the nest boxes.  But there's definitely something wrong in this picture.

Cash and Paisley still run this place

No words needed.

A project that came too soon

Three of the bedrooms have carpet, and after a little peek at the corner I knew there were original hardwood floors underneath.  My goal is to one day pull them up and finish them myself.  I thought that project might happen next year.  

And then we had a bad house guest that ruined the carpet in our main guest room.  I had no choices but to take on the project now.

 So I started here.  Thinking I'd tear up this section first to see what was underneath.

And I lucked out, big time!

Chickens are finally free range

They got their first taste of freedom!

16 birds, 2 are males.  

And we finally have nest boxes

We still have another two months before our birds start to lay, but I'm about a month late getting nest boxes installed in the coop. I decided to go with the bucket idea this time.  They are right above the chicken door so if I ever install an automatic opener, I hope these aren't in the way.

Where have we been

Two years ago we decided that we wanted to move to Iowa. I had done a lot of research on cost of living and teacher salaries and came up for a weekend visit.

We had to downsize everything. Our chicken flock had gotten really small due to predators and we sold the rest. We sold nearly all possessions that weren't family memories and heirlooms. Then we listed the house for sale.

The house sold and in June of 2017 we drove to Iowa with a uhaul.  We planned to rent for a year while we found a town and house that we loved but it was only 5 months later that we found my dream home.

We have a lot of things to do in our new home but we've started on some.

We have 16 chickies they are set up in a new chicken coop. We have fruit trees that are ready to be planted when the weather gets a little warmer. And we are in the planning stages of a small garden with the plans of having a huge one next year.

So weve been quiet for awhile, but the adventure continues.