First Blue Egg!

Yesterday, after Thanksgiving dinner I went outside to close up the coops and found the first blue egg! Which means, one of my Easter Eggers has started laying.  I took a few photos so you can see how small a pullet egg starts out, and how it looks nice in the carton with the rest of the brown and speckled eggs I have.  I also combined both flocks of chickens today.  I will maybe take some video if it warms up above freezing.

DIY Plastic Tote Chicken Nest Box

Just thought I'd post a quick update.  The chickens I got this summer are about to start laying eggs.  I haven't combined both flocks yet because I haven't had a couple of days off in a row so they can be monitored.  In case they begin laying eggs before I combine flocks I've made them a temporary nest box out of a plastic storage tote.  I didn't come up with this idea on my own, I found it on YouTube.  A couple of different videos.  I took a couple of photos and videos.  Here they are!

First Snow!

I thought I'd post a couple of photos from our first snow! 

Fall Update

I haven't updated this in quite awhile, so I've got some photos and a couple of videos for you!  First I'll post the videos and then let you all know whats been happening.

Update on my current flock of chickens!

Recycled Coop Tour

One of the Easter Eggers!

This is Freebie.  My free chick that was included in my hatchery order.

This is mama and the 5 babies she hatched! You can see how small they are in the video post before this!

Construction this summer on the coop.

Tree limb roost

This was how foggy it was this morning! Ended up being a nice photo though.

Not related to the farm really....but its Halloween! Freddy Krueger Pumpkin!

She Hatched Babies!

I had a Buff Orpington hen that went broody about a month ago.  We tried to get her off the nest and she just wouldn't stay off.  So, we decided to place some fertile eggs under her to see if she'd hatch them. Well, hatch date was August 20th and they began hatching on the morning of the 19th!  She hatched 5 babies!  She is very happy and doing much better than she was.  Here is a short video I took this morning of them.  I will get a better video here soon.  

Harvesting, Canning and a Hatch Date!

Hello everyone, I realize it has been awhile since the last update.  I was on vacation and have been working two jobs now for about a month. Busy!  Things are moving along here though. I've got some photos for you!

Here are about half of the tomatoes we have picked so far.  We have been canning already!

So far we used one of these baskets for salsa.  We ended up with 11 pints out of that basket.

We also made my Grandma's Ginger Pickles!  The only sweet pickles I like.

Here is another basket of Yellow Squash, Zucchini, and some misshapen cucumbers!

Here is the most exciting part of this update.  One of my Buff Orpington hens has gone "broody"....meaning she wants to hatch her own babies.  Since I do not have a rooster, we got some fertilized eggs from a friend of ours who has roosters.  He gave us one dozen fertilized eggs and she has been sitting on them for 2 weeks now.  The hatch date is August 20!  There could be hatchlings on the 19th or the 21st too.  We will have to wait and see.  I am hoping for her sake she gets at least a few hatchlings.  Here she is, sitting on the eggs.  I will of course update on or around the 20th to let you know if any of them hatch.  They will be mixed breeds...the fertilized eggs were a mix of cream color, speckled, and blue eggs!  I can't wait!

Stay tuned!!!  Thanks for reading!

Fresh Picked

After at least a week of 90+ degree weather, it has cooled off a bit.  Between rains this morning we picked the first few tomatoes and green beans.  I was also able to pick some Super Thai Chili peppers and jalapenos!  Here are a few photos!

Baby Chicks First Day in the Chicken Tractor

Hello!  We had almost three weeks of rain.  After about one week with dry weather, things are just starting to dry out a bit.  I took a couple of videos this morning of the baby chicks and the garden.  Here they are!

Here are some current photos of the butterfly garden.  Its doing great!

Butterfly Garden, Baby Bunny and Garden Update

Hello!  I just thought I'd take a couple of photos of the garden and while I was out there I saw one of the baby bunnies that I rescued and then let go.  I see them frequently but I generally don't have my camera on me while I'm out there.  Anyway, here are the update photos.

Baby Bunny

Hostas

Annual Butterfly Garden

Butterfly Garden

The baby chicks are growing so fast!

Tomatoes, beans and peppers

Squash Garden

Chicken Videos

Due to some set backs we are just now getting the top over the new grassy area for the chickens.  Most of you know I was mowing grass daily so they'd get plenty of it to eat.  Now they've got a new area to scratch and eat bugs and grass from!  Check out the videos!

                                          A couple of chicken photos!

Collard Greens and a Tomato plant that grew on their own right outside the chicken pen.  They must've scratched out seeds from the leftovers I gave them to eat.  They grew themselves!

Garden Update July 2013

Hello everyone!  I am really working toward updating this blog page as frequently as I can, for both readers and myself.  The great thing about this blog is, not only everyone can see what I'm doing, I can also go back and look at past progress.  I am gaining more readers as well.  Most of you are aware by now, I try to have more informative articles throughout the winter, with photos and basic "how to's" during the summer.  Here are quite a few more photos of how the garden is progressing.  I also took a photo of my two cats since they've never made an appearance on the blog before! Enjoy!

Blueberries are ripening! (I ate a couple but they were still sour.)

The grape vine is producing.  

I picked some jalapenos, green peppers and lettuce that day.

Butterhead Lettuce

Cucumbers!

Super Thai Chile.  Very hot peppers.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash

Tomatoes!

Green Peppers before I picked them.

I am trying shelling beans for the first time this year. I have both Great Northern and Kidney.  I'm also growing Maxibel and Garden of Eden green beans!

I have always loved flowers but never spent a whole lot of time growing them.  My good friend Melissa has gotten me into growing flowers and now I seem to be addicted!  All of these flowers have been an experiment.  I also have a small butterfly garden that I'll photograph once there are some blooms!

Morning Glory 

Knockout Rose (I've had this for 2 years, the blooms were eaten by deer the first year before they opened. This year the blooms were huge!)

I have a Coneflower mix.  The white ones were first to bloom!

Shasta Daisy

Gallardia  

The blog just wouldn't be complete without a couple of chicken photos!

The baby chicks are getting so big and getting feathers!

Here are my cats Wolfie (orange) and Lily (black).  They're not outdoor farm cats....but rather indoor spoiled cats!   Thanks to everyone for reading and spreading the word!  I never imagined I'd be getting this many readers from all over the world!  Thank you!