Eat the Pansy's

Looks like GoGo SuzyQ is getting a little more comfortable here at her new home. She has found that she loves to eat the pansys and the others have learned that they like them as well. She is doing very well even though her coop-mates make her feel like she needs to hide on the roost when they are in the coop area. I have been giving her a mix of organic plain yogurt and some chick food for some good high protein- she loves it and eats it in little balls from my hand. Mrs. Claus has learned to eat from my hand as well while Donna is thinking about it and Nana just gets pissy. Good chicken.

Welcome to our home GoGoSuzyQ

We have added a new hen to our little family. Emmett and Harrison have decided that GoGoSuzyQ shall be her new name and so it is. She had a good day after an hour drive to our home on the other side of Tucson. Once introduced the rest of the girls were not pleased but over the course of the day they seem to be easing into the idea...very slowly. She is very sweet little girl, an Araucana, eats from my hand, sat on my lap and seems to want to be by my feet and I am just fine with that. She had watermelon and salad with the girls and I think her fair share of seed, little seedlings under the birdfeeders and more bugs that she could get. She was living in close quarters with several other hens on a lovely homesite in the NW Tucson area. Now she will have the freedom of a large yard- and lots of little buffets everywhere. So happy.

Such a nice breakfast

Breakfast compliments of Nana and Ms. Claus. Their eggs are so pretty and now we know the meaning of "urban farm fresh". Awesome. I must say however the kids were a little disappointed when the green egg wasn't green when we cracked it open.

Venturing from the coop

Ms. Claus and Donna have learned to adventure far away from their coop and here they are seen enjoying some of the 'grass' in our yard. Obviously there is no moisture in Tucson and the grass that we have is a hole we patched for a giant party this past April so nobody would break their ankle. Time to put some irrigation in. It is Bermuda grass and they seem to enjoy chomping on it. Nana is busy inside the coop laying an egg as these two munch. The girls have definitely become very trusting with me out in the yard, Vanessa too. In fact- they cluck until we let them out, like little kids. We are still working on Maxie not chasing them and giving them a heart attack but it seems like we might get there. If she could only be like Ruby.

I am looking to add 3 more hens to our family this week.

Little brown egg...so cute.

Nana has been nesting today and looking happier and healthier. See what she made? A perfet little brown egg. We are so stangely proud of her and happy all at the same time. Like we are doing something right and giving them a new, stable and loving home.

Things are going quite well for us with the exception of a little incident this weekend. Maxie, our Shih Tzu, kind of wants to chase the chickens so she is not allowed out with them. Hopefully this will pass. Our other Shih Tzu, Ruby is fine with the chickens and they don't seem to mind her either. Vanessa accidentally let Maxie out Saturday morning while the girls were grazing in the yard- Donna was so scared that she flew up into an old mesquite tree then into the alley which is loaded with cacti and lots of pokey things. It took 1.5 hours of coaxing and looking for Donna and we found her sitting under a giant agave. Vanessa and I were able to flush her out and get her to walk into the yard through a gate on her own. TRAUMATIC for all involved.

The girls spent the weekend grazing on lots of bugs, fresh produce and lay crumble. Getting used to each other is a little easier than I think. We are thoroughly loving our chickens and our little chicken farm.

The girls.....

We brought Donna, Ms. Claus and Nana home today- they are a little skittish but will adjust fine, I am sure. The only issue we are having is that one of my Shih Tzu's wants to eat the chickens and actually got into the pen with them and it was not a good scene. I felt really bad for the girls but we were able to ambulate through. Here are a couple of pictures.

One step closer to opening for business.

Here are a few shots of the new coop. I just need to attach the gate and arrange the nesting boxes and roosts. Then, pick up some ladies.

As you can see I recycled a playhouse- built it up on some fence block so we could also have a concrete floor. The nesting boxes and roosts I built out of some birch and they are 12" cubes with a 4" lip. The roost I think I am going to use a branch of eucalyptus or mesquite, I haven't decided yet. The posts for the little yard are some Eucalyptus that I scored off of Freecycle. To my luck someone cut a 70' tree down and I was happy to take the wood off of their hands. I bought a few new corrugated metal sheets to provide additional shade and then fixed chicken wire overhead and used the existing Palo Verde to affix it to. I wanted it to be as natural as possible for them and safe, too. I am proud to say that 99% of this little project was created from scrap, recycled items or things that I have found along the way. The boys have been helpful and are very excited to bring some ladies home- so far they are choosing the names Ms. Claus and Donna. Where did they even come up with that ?

Coop Completion Nearing

I am so excited!
Well, I have somehow managed to transform our son's little tykes log cabin into a kick ass hen house! Patting myself on the back for now. I just need to finish the nesting boxes and stick some hens in there and hope I don't kill anything. The kids have been very helpful and SO excited to bring Ms. Claus and Donna home to lay some tasty eggs for us. NOTE: THESE WILL NOT BE MEAT CHICKENS....
Pictures to follow at some point

Setting out on a chicken adventure

I am in the planning stages for a small urban style chicken farm or ranchette- whatever you would like to call it. We live in Tucson, Arizona and have about a half acre for a yard. Plenty of room for chickens. Why chickens? I hate paying $5 a dozen at the grocery for who knows what you are getting, I have 2 boys who eat more eggs than you can imagine and it sounds like a rather cool hobby- I like hobbies. So here we go...going to get on the coop. Chicken tractor or a permanent coop? Stay tuned.