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.