Introducing

Dr. Teeth! Sweetums!

Shelley!

Henrietta!

Rizzo!

Our new Chicken Family!

I picked up our new little flock of chickens last night from my husband's cousin who just had too many babies. Shelley - our one and only solid black hen is named for our wonderful cousin! Shelley, Rizzo, Sweetums, and Dr. Teeth are one little hatching family - they had a good momma who raised them, and they are totally inseperable. Henrietta has become my little pet project. She was an only child and her momma didn't raise her well and abandoned her a little too early. She's a loner but seems curious and friendly - so I'm going to try to make her my little buddy.

I'm trying to win them all over quickly - I went down to visit them with treats and I figure I'll do that everyday for a few weeks and they'll be totally tame in no time. I'm trying not to scare them too much the first few days though, I figure last night was pretty traumatic...

Sad Day...

Something got into the pen and killed all our chickens.

I'm devastated. I was expecting to find an egg today but instead I was met with mass chicken murder.

Based on the scene and everything I've read it was a weasel attack. I didn't even know there were weasels in Pennsylvania....

Anyway, I'm going to reinforce the chicken pen hardcore and try again. With 2 RIR and 2 Barred Rocks.

I'm just so broken-hearted, I've been crying all night. They were looking so beautiful, really just looking perfect and they were going to start laying any day. I didn't even realize how much it would affect me, I guess they were really growing on me.

RIP Little Chicken Flock

What's Going on in the Gardens

Hydrangea and Caladium Sunset Coneflower

Black Hollyhock

Ripening Tomatoes

Our Roma Tomatoes A Baby Cucumber

Red Chili Peppers

Our Veggie Garden - We have 3 types of tomatoes and 3 types of cucumbers in pots, many varieties of peppers (sweet and hot) in front of the bushes, green beans growing up the porch rails and a carrot border along the front.

Pictures

Our recycled Chicken Pen and Coop. When we moved in, there was a dog house and run that was left behind - so we moved it to the backyard, reinforced the pen, and altered the doghouse to be chicken friendly! Looks pretty good - chickies are happy - and didn't cost much money! Can't ask for more :) All of our Chickies

Barred RocksRhode Island Red

Our little Homestead!

So, my first post!

I guess I'll just quickly introduce myself! My husband (J), our puggle Hoosick, and I moved into our home almost a year ago. We have a cute little house on just under an acre of land. We've been renovating the interior since we moved and it finally looks GREAT! Now, with Spring approaching, we've started on the outside!!

I was laid off in June of 2009, just a few months before our wedding in September. We went on our honeymoon (2 week road trip out west) and when we got home being unemployed really got to me. To pass the time, in between looking for a new job (started on Feb 1 and loving it!) and finishing renovations, I started researching and planning edible landscaping - berry bushes and veggies throughout the areas where we actually get enough sun.

I then found a lot of info on raising backyard chickens and was totally SOLD on the idea. Selling J on the idea, though, took a little (lot!) of time, and research. He finally said if I could get permission from the township and neighbors we could get a few. I know he was thinking that at least one would say "No" but they all said "Sure!" and just before Easter we got 4 little chicks - 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Barred Rocks.

So, now we are raising our 4 little babies, I'm building a chicken coop, and we're (im)patiently waiting for it to get warm enough to plant our flowers and veggies.

I'll post "then" and "now" pictures of the chickies in my next post!